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Steve Rubel and Jay Rosen Talk Transparency and PR

Steve Rubel, of CooperKatz, and a BlogOn Bootcamp leader and speaker, interviews Jay Rosen, Chair of the Journalism School at NYU about PR, for Global PR Week 1.0. It's on both Jay's blog and Global PR.

Both Jay and Steve typically do high quality work individually as experts in their fields, but their teaming up is a great thing. A sample question:

RUBEL: Does disintermediation threaten PR? How should the profession react to the changes in how consumers get news?

ROSEN: I think public relations should first understand that to the extent that its art is a form of "spin"--whether it's reasonable spin, accepted spin, good spin, bad spin, terrible spin--it is selling a service for which there is less and less value, and less mind is paid to it. Spin was possible in the era of few-to-many media, and a small number of gatekeepers who could be spun.

There are fewer who listen (or have to listen) and more who hear only dull propaganda, witless repetition, one of the many forms of mindlessness to which citizens are subjected. Spin is also comedy to Americans, and John Stewart speaks with authority on it. PR does not because it believes, on the whole, in some right to spin-- all exceptions cheerfully granted. Plus, there's what Doc Searls once said to all the "pound the message home" pros, in any field: there is no demand for messages. Factor that possibility in if you want a bright future in any media field.

Today many knowledge monopolies are breaking up, and this corresponds with what the British media scholar Anothony Smith once identified as a shift "in the locus of sovereignty over text," a shift toward the public. We could say "toward consumers," but what Smith meant is that more power has fallen into the hands of the people who were mere receivers before. They are more sovereign-- as consumers, yes. But also as producers of their own media. Pickers and choosers.

My advice to PR people is to help citizens become more so-- more sovereign over information goods. Spin is not a good. Neither is a brick wall, or a blatantly one-sided story that cleverly coheres because it leaves out every single inconvenient fact. Public relations, if it wants to do good, should stand for real transparency in organizations, and genuine interactivity with publics. Want an issue in corporate PR? Freedom of speech, freedom of opinion, freedom of interaction for company bloggers: how do we make it a practical reality?

Jay is bright, and when I say that, I don't just mean he's sharp. I mean his language and ideas have a brightness that just makes you want to read more because it's alive, relevant, useful, insightful. So don't be intimidated by the length of the post. He blogs one or two times a week in long essay form, and he once told me that people complain about that. But it's rich, good stuff, and if you care about where PR and journalism are going, and what online culture and activity are doing to this world, it's a must read.

Posted by Mary Hodder at 07:48 AM on July 13, 2004

Comments

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