Delivering the right spin on PR

By IRENE CHAPPLE

With the instructions of his client echoing in his ears, the spin doctor checks his teeth and straightens his tie.

After a long lunch of Bollinger, caviar and crackers, he is ready to meet the media, ready to spin them lies and half-truths.

It is a common image, but it offends Tim Marshall, the new president of the Public Relations Institute.

After his appointment last month, Marshall started a charm offensive to enhance the perception of public relations.

He has taken on the ultimate PR challenge, one that none of his predecessors managed. He intends to polish the image of the public relations industry.

Marshall says the industry deserves a little respect.

Public relations practitioners are not spin doctors, says Marshall. They are communicators who play a vital role in society.

When "spin doctors" was used in the Herald last week Marshall shot back in a letter to the editor: "I just wonder if you had written an appointment notice for the head of a professional association of doctors you would have referred to her as a quack, or the head of accountants as a bean counter."

He was aggrieved at a column by Gordon McLauchlan who compared teachers' salaries to that of a 27-year-old public relations consultant paid more than $86,000 by Auckland City Council for less than a year's work.

"Is it just me being oversensitive or is it open season on the public relations profession?" bemoaned Marshall. "McLauchlan singles out one young, allegedly overpaid PR practitioner as the launchpad for an uncalled-for attack on the PR industry."

Marshall was not impressed either by the satirical television programme Spin Doctors. He watched it once, thought it was lame and has not watched it since.

PR colleagues previously lambasted the show with comments as "puerile, hammy" or "best viewed with the sound down".

The show, which depicts public relations practitioners as greedy, grog-swilling money-grubbers, has not helped Marshall's mission.

He worries that other publications focus on the term spin.

Marshall says the spin-doctor stereotype is inaccurate and disrespectful.

He argues that public relations comes in many forms and should be taken seriously. It is also in increasing demand.

"The need for public relations, public affairs, strategic communications, community affairs, community relations," he takes a breath, "any of those things, [the clients] have decided there is a function that needs to be done and it is quite important."

Marshall feels the bad reputation has come from the industry's inability to promote itself effectively.

But he also blames the media, which he says does not appreciate the role of the public relations industry.

"I think there are issues between journalists and public relations people," he says.

"I suppose there is a fundamental conflict at times - journalists are seeking to do their particular role and get information for their publication, but it is not always in the interests of the public relations people to release that information."

He compares the public relations role to that of the policeman partway through an investigation.

In both cases, there can be valid reasons for withholding information.

Marshall says those in public relations need to explain to journalists why information needs to be withheld.

Marshall, like many in his profession, was once a journalist. He left the now defunct Auckland Star in 1985 and immediately tripled his $200 a week salary. After eight years with a small firm, he began his own consultancy, Communication By Design.

While he crossed the fence for the money, Marshall says he has been converted and is now a firm believer in the value of public relations.

Marshall cites the Land Transport Safety Authority's campaign to lower the road toll and the Red Socks during the America's Cup as effective public relations campaigns.

He also promotes public relations as an effective tool for building New Zealand's reputation overseas.

As head of the institute, which has 670 members from the 2000-odd PR practitioners in New Zealand, Marshall intends to research what the industry is worth, what people think about it and how it can be improved.

John Shattock, of Shattock Communications, has given the institute a research proposal.

Shattock says the industry is woefully misunderstood because of varied perceptions and underestimation of its importance.

Surveys of practitioners would show the industry's value, which Shattock believes is well over $1.5 billion a year. It would also gather information on all who claim to fall under the public relations umbrella.

Research is needed to help define the industry and its place in society, he says.

As for the nasty spin doctor description, Marshall thinks he may have lost that battle, and he can't immediately think of a better nickname.