PRINZ hits back at NBR subscriber poll

New Zealand’s public relations body, PRINZ, is sour about the result of a recent NBR subscriber poll.

In a press release, PRINZ president Bruce Fraser took a potshot at the messenger, an NBR reporter.

“President Bruce Fraser has taken issue with an NBR reporter’s view that subscribers don’t believe public relations professionals are simply balancing out media and public commentary on contentious issues,” it says.

The poll in question, ‘Is ethical public relations an oxymoron?’ resulted in 64% of polled NBR subscribers voting ‘Yes, all spin doctors are paid liars’ while 36% voted ’No, PR can be effective without being deceptive.’

The poll question ran in conjunction with an article on Dirty Politics PR man Carrick Graham’s recent statement that new media (specifically attack blogs) are here to stay following the outcome of the Judith Collins inquiry.

Mr Graham's widely circulated media release stated that his client, Hanover Finance director Mark Hotchin, had been exonerated by the inquiry.

The inquiry found that Mr Graham had been hired by Mr Hotchin to “rebalance the public perception” of his role in his company’s collapse, and in turn hired blogger Cameron Slater and blogger/lawyer Cathy Odgers to post attacks against former SFO boss Adam Feeley – who was investigating Hanover – and feed negative information about him to mainstream media outlets.

The story about the poll result said: “It seems NBR member subscribers aren’t swallowing the line that public relations professionals are simply balancing out media and public commentary on contentious issues.”

The press release continues:

“The media and public aspects of PR referred to in the poll are only parts of the professional toolkit with many other components like stakeholder engagement, community relations, investor relations and internal communications. Using the full breadth of the industry’s skill sets, our members help build and manage the relationships of our companies and clients so that their brands and reputations are managed, protected and enhanced. To equate PR to the handling of contentious issues only demonstrates a narrow, incomplete view of the value of the profession.

“Ethical, best-practice public relations describes what our members do every day. Within the bounds of guidelines and standards, like those of other professions, PRINZ members practice ethical pr. This can include addressing misperceptions that may exist about their company or client in a number of ways: with facts, business performance information, achievements and company activity and third party endorsement from customers, clients, suppliers and other organisations. Their work contributes strongly to organisational outcomes, often in ways that are never seen by the public.

“The PRINZ Awards each year recognise public relations success that achieves business goals and objectives. The 2013 and 2014 Awards alone gave recognition to members’ work that contributed to: reducing speeding, improving road safety, building awareness of child abuse, increasing recycling levels, the introduction of crowd sourced fundraising to NZ, educating travellers on their goods duty, technological innovation, improving employee engagement, promoting products, events and services to name just a few.

"To be accepted as a member of PRINZ, applicants must agree to abide by the PRINZ Code of Ethics. PRINZ reviews the Code of Ethics regularly to ensure that it meets societal and technological changes."

cgibson@nbr.co.nz