Strategically Communicating

This started as a comment to Sara’s last post, but I thought I should share it here too. I know there are divergent schools of thought regarding the ethics of PR. When I decided to go into PR I only knew of two people who did it. One was a publicist for a large PBS studio. The other was her friend who worked for a nuclear power plant. I knew I would never be the right person for the job of covering something up and pursued my study with high ideals. I received affirmation of my ideals and the changing world when the PR guy (can’t remember his name) from PGE came and spoke to a class I was in. He shared a campaign and how the PR function at PGE guided operations based on public sentiment. PGE went to extensive lengths to work with environmental groups and agencies to ‘do the right thing’.  They were able to determine that the added cost in front, (and it was huge) would save them money over the long term. This is so often the case. I see my work as helping people in an organization take the long view and saying to people on the inside what everyone is saying about them outside.