A Century of Spin – How Public Relations Became the Cutting Edge of Corporate Power

In the autumn of 2008, when the UK mainstream media are considering the “imminent demise” of the free market economy, it is instructive to consider the role of public relations (PR) in the promotion and defence of business interests.

Miller and Dinan are co‐founders of www.Spinwatch.org, a web site dedicated to the exposure of public relations' worst excesses, particularly in the field of public and corporate affairs and lobbying, where PR is held accountable for serious subversion of the principles of democracy. Their approach is similar to US campaigners John Stauber and Sheldon Rampton, whose Toxic Sludge is Good for You made such an impact on first publication in 1995 and who also run a website (www.PRwatch.org) maintaining the argument that corporate and political PR have not left their historical roots in propaganda.

This book maps the tight networks of leading lobbyists, public relations agencies and corporate communicators, tracing the movement of individuals and clients between government, think tanks, civil service and commerce, as well as the shadowy “private clubs”, like the Bilderberg Group, which appear to run capitalism. It is aimed at a left‐leaning audience but offers a challenging critique to PR students and practitioners.

Early on, they point out that public relations' self‐image is “as a force for good, promoting mutual understanding, positive relationships between publics and wider benefits for society” (p. 3). They then proceed to demolish this image.

A central plank of their argument is that PR is still practising the propagandist strategies and techniques it developed in the first decades of the twentieth century. Much of this will be familiar to readers of L'Etang, Piezcka, Weaver and Moloney and it is a shame that they do not engage in any way with PR literature, including such critics within PR academe. But the authors do find new evidence of a National Propaganda organisation created in the 1920s by industrial and political groups, which used a range of campaign tactics to prevent Bolshevist repercussions affecting British industry. This body acts as a kind of template for the many alliances, which are examined in the book, bringing together political, industrial and communication leaders in a joint ventures to promote the interests of the dominant elite, throughout the twentieth century, into the Blair years and up to the Brown and Cameron crews.

Miller and Dinan are convincing on the reach of these organisations; they are less clear about their illegitimacy. It is not really news that the UK is run by a series of interlocking clubs, nor that they prefer to operate behind the scenes. For example, Spinwatch reports Derek Draper calling a campaign for transparency in lobbying an “oxymoron” (September 24, 2008). Indeed this cynicism is so widely shared that public trust in politics is at an all time low. The authors' insistence that all this activity is corrupt begs the question: what is legitimate public relations activity? When is a corporation or political party of industry allowed to promote or defend itself? Where is the line that they should not cross? Miller and Dinan condemn all PR activity and the lack of discrimination – or real understanding of the wider field ‐ weakens the power of their accusation.

A related problem concerns the conflation of lobbying with PR – most lobbyists resist the coupling, and it would be simpler to treat it as a specialist area of PR rather than the whole story. The central chapters, for example, are really about the operation of lobbying groups against labour interests from the 1970s onwards, though they do touch on the role of corporate PR in anti‐union disputes. This is political opinion not an assessment of PR. Nevertheless the location of public relations in ideological struggle offers a corrective to the apparently neutral or beneficial role its gives itself in most PR literature (the authors report a clash with James Grunig in Chapter 2 which vividly illustrates this contrast of approach).

It may also be objected that many of the main charges concern the policies and actions of corporations, lobbying groups and industry bodies which are not the sole responsibility of the PR department. They argue that this is justified because “it makes no sense to see PR professionals as divorced from corporate strategies” (p. 4) and that the perception of PR needs to be broadened from the usual media management focus. This is the kind of recognition PR practitioners and scholars often seek and rarely achieve. Miller and Dinan clearly place PR in the “dominant elite”, although the elevation may be less welcome here.

Where they are strongest is the evidence they offer that public relations often goes beyond mere advocacy and enters into distortion, deceit, and deception. The use of front organisations, false testimonies and other devices is clearly illegitimate according to PR theory and codes, yet flourishing in practice.

In the final chapter – the most academic in style – they examine distinctions between persuasion and coercion, suggesting that the kind of dishonest communication outlined above actually amounts to “coercive communication”, where the recipient is deliberately and systematically deprived of key information on which to make a decision. This is a useful phrase and may help open a wider debate on persuasion, from which PR literature has largely distanced itself. Thus it should be possible to accept that much corporate PR and public affairs does move beyond advocacy into propaganda, or what Moloney (2006) calls “soft propaganda” some of which can be defended as persuasive communication to which ethical considerations (transparency, for example) can be applied. It would then be easier to distinguish that which is unacceptable, and join with critics in condemning such practices.

The charges laid out here are serious and extensive; most PR literature and practice defends itself by saying there are always bad apples, or that this is not really PR, or that both sides use such tactics. Instead of engaging with these charges we tend to stress best practice and the positive contribution of PR to democracy and society, as if assertions are proof.

In October 2008, world governments are caught between market and democratic forces in dealing with the global financial crisis – doubtless Miller and Dinan will be scrutinising the degree to which public relations is implicated.