Law and Criminal Justice Public Relations: Have We Created A No-Win Situation?

With this post, through the courtesy of some guest writers like this one from Leonard Sipes Jr. and Corrections.com, we’ll take a long overdue look at some of the specialties in PR. Today’s post takes a look at public relations in some of the law and criminal justice fields, and asks this provocative question: Have we created a no-win situation for PR pros in these fields? Check out the answer below, and feel free to tell us what you think.

Police-Justice Public Relations Suck

By Leonard A. Sipes, Jr.

Published: 05/14/2018

We complain that the media and public don’t understand what cops do and why they do it. This lack of understanding makes policing unnecessarily difficult. This applies to all facets of the criminal justice system. Is the lack of understanding the public’s fault, or ours? Read more here. …

 

 

PR Or Lobbying? Astroturfing by Another Name

So, we’re back briefly on one of our favorite topics–public relations vs. lobbying. This time,
U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren weighs in on astroturfing, or lobbying under the guise of public relations, via the New York Times video. “This Is Thinly Disguised Lobbying,” she says. Check it out here: http://nyti.ms/2aGaAYo

When PR Pros Are Required to Register As Lobbyists: A Case Study

From Ireland, here’s a case study that shows what happens when PR people aren’t vigilant against legislation that equates public relations activities with lobbying. In sum, PR pros register, others don’t.

Calls to ‘name and shame’ non-compliant lobbyists

PR industry believes legal and other professions have not reported lobbying activities

Legal firms engaged in lobbying activity are not thought to be complying with the legislation to the same extent as public relations professionals.

Organisations that do not comply with lobbying legislation introduced last September should be “named and shamed”, the Public Relations Institute of Ireland (PRII) has suggested. Read the full story from Irish Times here: http://www.irishtimes.com/business/media-and-marketing/calls-to-name-and-shame-non-compliant-lobbyists-1.2653590

It’s Public Relations, Not Lobbying!

Despite arguments to the contrary, New York State’s Joint Commission on Public Ethics has ruled to expand the definition of lobbying to include PR professionals–a prospect we called chilling, and now actually alarming.

To help make our case against this ruling, we call forth this missive from the nation’s “community organizer in chief.”

“To my mind, there’s a difference between a corporate lobby whose clout is based on money alone, and a group of like-minded individuals–whether they be textile workers, gun aficionados, veterans or family farmers–coming together to promote their interests; between those who use their economic power to magnify their political influence far beyond what their numbers might justify and those who are simply seeking to pool their votes to sway their representatives. The former subvert the very idea of democracy. The latter are its essence.”

–-Barack Obama, The Audacity of Hope

Reframing Issues for Public Policy in the Digital Age

We’re back! … from taking time away to do a deep dive into Tech PR. (We’ll be writing more about that in upcoming posts.) But in the meantime we stumbled upon this article on reframing issues in the digital age, which should be required reading for people who work in nonprofits. We work principally with nonprofits, and we love them and the causes they represent. The world’s a better place because they do what they do–but, for many, there’s so much room to do more, and do it better! The PR Doctor can’t reach everyone, so in the best spirit of aiding good causes and intentions everywhere, we’re sharing this post from Nonprofit Quarterly. And if you reside strictly in the commercial world and think nonprofit’s not your “thing,” be advised, there’s lots of good information here about shaping public opinion on just about anything. Enjoy!

  

“One of a social advocate’s most critical acts is to frame an issue. In framing, a communicator uses language, metaphor, and other means to bring the community into the issue in a particular way. So, for instance, tobacco control advocates reframed tobacco from a “personal vice” narrative, in which the public discourse centered around individual choice and behavior, to a “defective product” narrative, in which the role of corporate malfeasance and the need for protective regulations became clear. Reframing an issue is hard work, as frames are socially shared and persist over time; but it is worth it, because public opinion and policy preferences are frame dependent. The stories nonprofit communicators tell have the power to make the public more or less supportive of positive changes” … yet

“Too often, nonprofits have mistaken self-promotion and “click bait” as meaningful contributions to the public conversation on complex issues. “Clicks,” “views,” and “likes” only mean so much if the story they carry isn’t helping people to understand the causes of and solutions to complex social issues. More and more, organizations tackling tough social justice issues are recognizing that not just participating in but also changing the conversation is essential to achieving and sustaining meaningful impact.”  Read more.