Putting the Truth Back into PR

Published on February 3, 2016 at 4:15 p.m.
by Ana Vega.

Public relations are two words that when put together give many people the wrong impression of what this field is all about.People often think that if you work in this profession, you are good at manipulating others and even better at lying.

While I can admit that as PR students, we are trained to carefully select language to avoid a public nightmare, but this doesn’t make us liars. And we know how to manage crises better than anyone. Chances are, we can also save a life in 140 characters or less. But this impressive skill doesn’t mean we are trying to brainwash anyone either.

Developing trust between publics and an organization is what public relations is all about. In fact, it’s one of the main goals that PR professionals strive for. However, this can be quite the challenge at times — especially when made-up stories constantly circulate social media about what a company allegedly said or did.

Lucky for us PR folks, we know a lie when we see one on our timeline. In fact, it’s quite simple to tell a lie from a truth. All you need to do is review the source of the information, preferably before you press the ‘share’ or ‘like’ button.

If every writer sourced their stories with posts they came across on Facebook, all of us would most likely be living in fear that aliens were attacking or we would be convinced that it’s possible to lose 100 lbs. in three hours by wrapping ourselves in seaweed.

Let’s put a stop to the lack of credibility that surrounds public relations’ reputation by using sources we can trust when writing an article, telling a story or sharing a piece of news via social media. Let’s uphold our values, and put faith into the public that we are a trustworthy news source.