It seems that the public relations industry is always trying to distance itself from the image that its main business is in providing “spin” or “spinning the news for its clients. This is true to a certain extent throughout both the public and private sector PR types. Afterall, who doesn’t want to put a good face on corporate earnings or home sales prices, or any other news of import that may reflect on one’s business.
But the spin-doctoring is especially awful among the PR corps that provides PR messages for beltway politicians. This is probably because these people view the voters and the public in general as a mass of fools and morons who can be manipulated to no end. It’s hard to argue that historically, this hasn’t often been true, but in recent years, it’s becoming increasingly difficult for anyone to spin the news, and this has included the PR “gurus” in Washington.
In a recent study by PR firm Burson-Marstetter, it was found that “Messages that were transparent and tied back to brand essence were better represented than messages with aspirational language,” said Ashley Welde, director of research at Burson. Bloggers, Welde said, are a new area for companies to navigate and tend to be independent and insert more opinion. “You have to be transparent with them because bloggers are really going to dig,” she said. “You are better off being up front.”
