I was taking in this week’s Time Magazine, and, always on the prowl for good fodder for the blog, ran across a review of a new book on the PR field, called Deadly Spin.
“Wonderful!” I thought, that is until I read the first few words of the review:
Wow, those are fighting words, and they made my blood boil.
First, Kate Pickert, the reviewer, uses an oxymoron, combining “great” with the pejorative flack (yes, I am aware of course that the word “flack” is in the name of this blog – I used it to be irreverent and self deprecating, see my Ragan article on this term).
In the same breath she propogates the misperception that those who are skilled in the field seek to warp the truth at the expense of others. Apparently, in Kate’s view, there is no room for those who are ethical in PR.
Kind of like saying “Great journo hacks have no problem in hatchet jobs to get great headlines and win readers,” isn’t it? Or that journos are really not so different than PR agents, just serving different corporate interests?
Are you reading these words, Ms. Pickert? How do they make you feel?
