Dear Globe and Mail: We are not Monsters
By Donna Lindell, Program Coordinator and Professor, Centennial College Public Relations program
This week, a new class of students enrolled in my post graduate public relations program spent their first class talking about truth, ethics and the importance of integrity. It is the foundation of our profession and of our program, I tell them, which is why we begin this conversation on day one. In week one, they join one of the professional associations, each with its own code of conduct emphasizing ethics and honestly. Their first assignment is a reflection on trust.
This week I also watched the first episode of Flack and as I watched it, thought: this will set our profession back. It focuses on a very thin slice of the profession, celebrity image repair and publicists. Public Relations is defined as the bridge between organizations and its diverse publics “to achieve mutual understanding, realize organizational goals and serve the public interest” as defined by the Canadian Public Relations Society and taught in class two.
And then I saw your very unfair and misleading headline: “Flack: A must-see about PR’s many monsters.” Let me just slide past the monster part and focus on the ‘many’ and that you in fact contradict your own headline when in your first paragraph, you say: “Mostly it’s a cordial relationship. In rare instances, it isn’t.” Emphasis mine. How does rare instances translate to many?? Ok, granted, you don’t write the headline, but that discrepancy and deliberate torque does nothing to favour your own industry, journalism. Speaking of which, equating Flack and Kaleigh McEnany with PR is tantamount to equating journalism with Sean Hannity.
I also find it rich that in the very same paper that highlights the power gap (thank you Robyn Doolittle, Chen Wang and Tavia Grant), you denigrate the industry that is mostly comprised of women.
Prior to teaching, working amicably with journalists was a huge part of my career. Ask any of your reporters and columnists in Report on Business. Ask Sinclair Stewart. It’s a relationship based on mutual respect and one cannot thrive without the other.
Look, we’re not monsters. I am not grooming the next generation of “rude, soulless cranks whose hatred of the press borders on derangement.” We are most certainly not schooling our students to be the next Kayleigh or Sarah. My classroom is full of diverse and bright students wanting to tell stories, to help advance causes and who believe in social justice and the role the communicator plays in the important issues of the day. Do you think organizations could have mobilized their workforces to move online without the help of communications? Will we able to get through this pandemic and vaccinate an entire population without the counsel and support of communicators and public relations professionals? No.
Is the industry perfect? No. But no industry is. Not all female bosses are Julie Payette. Let’s focus on the mostly and do away with headline grabbers.
