Does PR Have A Conscience?

PR without a conscience.  That’s the scary part.  Publicists can be like defense lawyers who don’t need to know – don’t want to know – if their client is guilty or innocent – in order to put on the best possible defense. The facts, the evidence, the witnesses don’t matter as to their veracity or legitimacy. 

The proof is not in documentation but in manipulating perceptions of what is said or not said.  It’s not about what’s presented, only how it is presented.  The skills of a publicist and defense attorney overlap more than either would care to admit.  What’s worse about the PR person’s actions is he or she corrupts two valuable worlds – the news media and the people.  And a publicist affects more people than a defense attorney.  We influence society – its styles, its beliefs, its actions, its politics, its laws, its economy – everything. If how you feel, think or see things matters, that perspective is generated in large part based on how the mass media portrays things.

The conscience regulates us.  It makes us question our actions, feel guilt or shame, and as a result influences new and future actions, only to have the whole cycle reproduce itself.  But when we ignore our conscience, we act like a person going off her diet.  We expand on junk and the more we consume, the less muscle we have, the less substance there is. 

Getting fatter dwarfs the healthy parts and getting a bigger wallet, a bigger image, a bigger ego off of acts that are illegal, unethical, beneath industry ideals, and out of character for a respectable person, the publicist could cause everyone to lose in the end. But the publicist with a conscience can set thnigs right and keep things balanced and fair.

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Brian Feinblum’s views, opinions, and ideas expressed in this blog are his alone and not that of his employer, the nation’s largest book promoter. You can follow him on Twitter @theprexpert and email him at brianfeinblum@gmail.com. He feels more important when discussed in the third-person. This is copyrighted by BookMarketingBuzzBlog © 2013