Public Relations: A Dark Art

By Drew Kirtley

As someone who has wanted to be in the business for years now, I have always sort of embraced the bad reputation that PR practitioners receive from the very public to whom they are trying to, well... relate. Not to say that I try and make a bad reputation for myself, but just that people don't fully understand what the business is about. I have heard people call PR practitioners anything from manipulators to airheads. The most famous nickname being, of course, "spin doctors." Personally if anyone ever feels the need to refer to me as any kind of "doctor" I won't object.

The bad reputation that haunts PR practitioners has become so popular in our society, there have been numerous projects in television and film that are based on the issue. One of the very first instances in which PR was shown in a controversial manner was the popular television sitcom, Spin City. The series starred Michael J. Fox and revolved around a fictional government in New York City. It deals with the character's ability to deal with the PR of the business but not his own life.

Another very popular example is the 2006 film Thank You For Smoking based on the 1994 Christopher Buckley novel of the same name. It is more of a comedy that stars Aaron Eckhart as a spokesman for a tobacco company. Again, PR is shown in a negative light.

A recent film, however did show public relations in a positive manner. The 2008 summer blockbuster, Hancock, stars Will Smith as a super hero with a bad reputation and a drinking problem. Jason Bateman plays a PR representative who tries to give Hancock a more positive image.

But no matter how many movies or television sitcoms are made, PR has a long way to go before it is viewed as a completely positive business by the public as a whole. There are so many positives to it that go over-looked and it is a shame that there are so many people doing good and they are viewed in a negative light. But, let's face it. The world will always need PR (more and more these days) so it has plenty of time to clean up its own image.

Lack of Diversity No Laughing Matter

By Drew Kirtley

Arguably one of the funniest shows on TV today, NBC's The Office is known for being extremely politically incorrect. It features an office full of people of different cultures and race, and thrives on racial and ethnic slurs as a form of comedy. The comedy comes from moments when the boss, Michael Scott, shows his ignorance by making jokes about one of the minorities in the office. The result is often awkward silence, embarrassment and often hilarity. But as much fun as it is to see Michael make a complete fool out of himself by using offensive and rude comments toward virtually every race and culture in existence, The Office may very well be one of the most diverse shows in all of television.

In 2008, Kweisi Mfume, who is the CEO and President of the NAACP, called our four major television networks for their lack of diversity not only in their programs, but their staff as well. Mfume was quoted calling the fall program lineups of the ABC, CBS, NBC and Fox networks "a virtual whitewash." Those four networks combined released 26 news shows that season and a grand total of zero had a minority actor in a starring role. There have been major changes in those networks since then, whether they are a direct result of criticism or not.

While television is improving, the film industry is well on its way to being as diversified as any industry in the world. Some say that it will only get better because of the election of Barack Obama, but it has been improving for many years, now. Actor Will Smith has been one of the biggest box-office stars in the world for a couple years in a row and he isn't going anywhere soon. Halle Berry and Denzel Washington both won Academy Awards in 2002 and several black actors have won the coveted award since. Those names include Jamie Foxx, Jennifer Hudson, Forrest Whitaker and Morgan Freeman. This year Penelope Cruz became the first Spanish woman to ever win an acting Oscar.

Yes, this issue is taken extremely seriously, and rightfully so. This country is improving and, at the same time, has a long way to go. But until that day, we can turn to the entertainment business and people like Michael Scott who said, "Abraham Lincoln once said, 'If your are a racist, I will attack you with the North.' And those are the principles that I carry with me in the workplace."