{"id":2818,"date":"2021-02-26T06:38:23","date_gmt":"2021-02-26T06:38:23","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/scoreindia.org\/blog\/?p=2818"},"modified":"2023-12-15T11:27:54","modified_gmt":"2023-12-15T11:27:54","slug":"public-relations-polite-name-propaganda","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/scoreindia.org\/blog\/public-relations-polite-name-propaganda\/","title":{"rendered":"Is Public Relations a Polite Name For Propaganda?"},"content":{"rendered":"

The news of Harthras case and UP government\u2019s role-play behind the curtains of a Mumbai based PR firm went on to create egregious criticism on social media. A Mumbai-based public relations firm Concept PR got on to email journalists across the country affirming that it was distributing a press release \u201creceived from Uttar Pradesh Government\u201d. The fact that a public relations firm was pushing the Uttar Pradesh government\u2019s line that the woman in Hathras had not been raped caused some serious distress on social media. This has made me think a lot about the credibility that the PR profession maintains between people and their clientele. How much a PR firm is ethically committed to a client especially when the client is a government? How much trustworthiness will that government leave with when the public figure out the fact that the government is pushing their game through spin doctors?<\/p>\n

This incident brought me back to another case study that I read a year ago. The story of how Britain\u2019s most audacious PR firm collapsed overnight due to their unethical practice. Bell Pottinger was one of the extraordinary PR firms in the history of Britain\u2019s spin-doctoring game. Lord Tim Bell co-founder of Bell Pottinger, who was the PR adviser of Margaret Thatcher, former PM of the UK, his PR life was not less than the story of the house of cards.<\/p>\n

His company had a great reputation for controlling risks in an unusual way which specialized in polishing the reputation of such people as General Augusto Pinochet; Asma al-Assad, the wife of the Syrian dictator; the President of Belarus Alexander Lukashenko and so on. The firm also made millions of pounds trying to persuade the people of Iraq after the U.S.-led coalition invaded by using different communications techniques. The company also represented Oscar Pistorius, the South African Olympic athlete, who was accused of the murder. It was no wonder that Lord Bell was described as \u2018 a Geo-political fixer\u2019 in the PR world.<\/p>\n

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