Nicole’s PRspective

What is going on the PR profession when Gov. Blagojevich’s spokesperson comes out and says “It’s business as usual”

Business as usual, does the usual in Illinois include being arrested by the FBI and having everyone from the President-elect to my mom calling for you resignation. If this is usual I don’t want to see a bad day.

But more than that by willingly telling the press that everything is fine, we’re going to leave our heads buried in the sand – Ms. Quinn is damaging the profession. Right now she is a high-profile PR person, by ignoring her ethical duties to acknowledge the situation and answer to it, she is damaging her credibility. Much in the way Scott McClellan damaged his credibility with President Bush. When high-profile people in any profession damage themselves they damage the profession. This is especially true in a profession like public relations that already has questions surrounding it.

Should you have to sacrifice your job to keep your ethics? [if everything about him is true he would have fired her] Are your moral standards more important? I know mine are, but then again he would have come back to work on Wednesday to find my resignation on his desk. But if she had done that we would be talking about someone else right now. Maybe it’s time to reexamine the PRSA Code of Ethics and figure out where that line really is (or isn’t).

But who knows maybe she can write a best-selling tell all that really tells very little. (Though I did like McClellan’s book)

Today on Pardon the Interruption, an ESPN commentary program the hosts dicussed the good PR the Boston Red Sox are receiving right now.

You can listen here on the PTI Podcast
The Red Sox section starts at 08:11

In a nutshell the Red Sox are not going to raise ticket prices for next season (they have for the last 14). The club pres says they are showing compassion for their fans.

The question the hosts ask is: is this real relief or a calculated PR move?

The best line from the segment-

“If you get good public relations out of this why is that a crime in America, why does anybody automatically assume that good public relations means something is wrong with you and you need to go to jail.”

Excellent line Mr. Kornheiser. I can’t convince some of the students I know that PR is a worthwhile major and that we are not “spin doctors”. This astute observation about our field came from a sports reporter and Monday Night Football host.

Now, if we could just convince the rest of America (or at least a few more Cameron students) that PR really is a good thing

I just finished watching a McCain campaign spokesman (read: PR person) get blasted on CNN, I was watching CNN out of curiosity on how the different networks were covering both the GNC and Hurricane Gustav.

CNN’s Campbell Brown was letting this guy have it over VP nominee Palin’s foreign relations experience, or as she saw lack thereof. Now, I am not declaring for or against anybody here – this is not the place.

However, did McCain’s people not see this question coming, seriously. They have spent a lot of time recently declaring that Obama is not fit to be president because of his lack of experience. How do they not have a comeback when asked how she is different?

Lack of planning (no forward thinking) or just the wrong guy for the job?

On a side note – the reason I was watching CNN; CNN, FOX news and MSNBC all seem to be devoting the same amount of time to the GNC, roughly not even close to the amount of time devoted to Hurricane Gustav.

UPDATE

The McCain’s spokespersons name is Tucker Bounds and here is the appearance on CNN.