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May the real PR rise?By Ronald Jabal

“Oh PR ka na pala”, - that was what my former colleagues in the Press told me,more than a decade ago, when they found me on the “other side of the fence”. Thisstatement, when followed with eyes-squinting or worse, eye-rolling and then a quickcold distant, “hafta-go”, is robust with meanings. Suddenly, I am different.When one hears the phrase (usually a stable in banter among friends), “ang PR PRmo talaga!” followed by a hefty laughter – one is left to wonder what do friendsactually mean. When officemates tell you point blank, one day in the office pantry,“Huwag ka ngang mag PR dyan!” – which to some is indeed replete with emotivecolors, one is again at a loss on what the statement really means.Most of the times we assume we know what people mean by these statements, andyet we still ask ourselves, (and here I am having a Carrie Bradshaw moment), “Whatdoes PR really mean?I will not bore the readers of this tongue-in-cheek thought piece with a textbookdefinition. Nor will I write here a litany of what PR teachers (like me) tell studentsabout what PR practitioners (like me again, grrr) do. Let me, however, tell what PRpeople do and some people perceived that PR practitioners do.From the term Public Relations, we can already deduce, without the need for Mr.Webster that PR is about relating to the public. No brainer indeed. It is in theprocess of relating to these various publics that interpretations seep in.Many think PR work is organizing parties. It is about dressing up, feeling and lookinggood, hobnobbing with corporate bigwigs, celebrities, powers-that-be, the elite andthe pseudo-elites, the wanna-be-seen, the “it” and the “in” crowd, the “members-only” group, the social climbers, the “xoxo” gossip club etc. Hence, sometimes,people look at the PR person as somebody with an easy life, thus the expression “paPR,PR”. To some extent, PR work involves these activities.Many think PR work is about employing dirty tricks - keeping the FACE of clients/bosses even themselves through ingratiation or worse, outright lying, hencethe expression “huwag ka ngang mag PR”. At times, PR work involves, as somepeople perceived (hmmm.. actually see), paying people up for press coverage,hence the expression “PR ka nga” – with PR as the term and as a professionbecoming a pejorative word. To some extent, this is also true. Just imagine a student of PR being confronted by these realities. Would you stillwant to become a PR practitioner?

While the above-mentioned issues are true to some extent (but not true all thetimes), there is a lot more to PR. And there are more PR practitioners that remaintrue to the noble practice of Public Relations as a profession.In crisis situation where advertising money shrinks but competition remains stiff, PRis the best weapon of companies. Even non-government and government entitieswhich promote their services and accomplishments rely on PR as their platform.And PR is not hard sell compared with advertising – a lesson advertising agenciesembrace with gusto.Nowadays, the line between “above the line” and “below the line” has becomeblurred. Editorial spaces used to be the playground of PR practitioners – a testingground of how good a PR practitioner writes and frames his/her stories and howclose is his/her relationship with reporters and editors, deskmen and producers. Today, it is not uncommon to see the emergence of “branded “ content – editorialstories containing product features, celebrity endorsers, brand events to name afew being given editorial spaces. And people patronize these products because the“content” is not made to appear as advertisements but stories written byreporters/editors - stories that were earlier distributed/released by PR practitioners –thereby giving an air of legitimacy to the ads-cum-news features. PR is the newadman at less cost!PR has also ceased to become just a vehicle to help inflate bottomlines. PR is nowinvolved in social causes – transforming corporations as community citizens. Insteadof merely informing, PR engages and harnesses people and businesses towards acollective action on issues such as health, environment, child and women’s rights,ageing, equality etc. Indeed, PR has placed the heart where it should be. It is thishumanizing role that differentiates the current practice of PR. I look forward to theday when a new expression on PR practitioner will be made. “Wow PR ka? Galengnaman. Kainggit!”. There is however one role that the PR industry has not practiced to the fullest andthat is to help define the public agenda in the country that the media will cover andthat the policy and decision makers will heed.In a country where public agenda (major concerns, issues, wish, wants, desires etc)is virtually non- existent; where the policy agenda is defined by personal interests oris a reaction to issues unearthed and covered by the press (the media agenda), thePR practitioner has a distinct role.With his/her close ties with the Press which has partly defined the behavior of bothelected and appointed officials, the PR practitioner can rally behind a particularsocial, political, cultural, and environmental issue and release them to the press. This way the public gets to read/watch/hear these issues helping solidify its ownagenda. Lawmakers and executive officials who doggedly follow press coveragesbelieving that they can ignite public outcry can also improve its agenda.

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