Public Relations: Evil or Crucial?

In a democracy, Edward Bernays says in Propaganda (1928), it’s up to everyone to analyze the issues of the day. In theory, we leave it up to politicians to do the hard work for us.

In the great competition of ideas, it’s normal that the news gets manipulated, that personalities are inflated, and that products are hyped. Technology (radio, telegraphy, the daily newspaper - now the internet) intensifies this.

To succeed, the great campaigns against tuberculosis, cancer, and Southern racism needed a knowledge of mass psychology as much as a campaign to sell cars or toilet paper.

Individuals band together to highlight an issue or cause, and can use propaganda techniques to be seen and heard, just as governments do. Indeed, Bernays says, “Only through the active energy of the intelligent few can the public at large become aware of and act upon new ideas.”

From building a cathedral to endowing a university, from marketing a new film to floating a new bond issue: none of these things happens today without the concerted attempt to engineer a certain view of the event in the public’s eye by professionals.

Charities and public bodies “have to work on public opinion just as though they had tubes of toothpaste to sell”, Bernays writes. Most news stories are not “accounts of spontaneous happenings”, but come from a particular institution or body that has produced a report.

“Everyone has the right to present his case in the best light”, Bernays says. Generally, the job of the PR professional, whether in business or government, is to provide enough correct information so that there is no misunderstanding on the part of the public.

This is not ‘spin’, but a simple requirement to get an unambiguous message out. The PR professional or propagandist is not in the business of trying to hoodwink the public.

The term propaganda is warped, Bernays says, only when efforts are used to promote mistruths and lies, or when it is known that it will hurt the common good.

“Propaganda will never die out. Intelligent men must realize that propaganda is the modern instrument by which they can fight for productive ends and help bring order out of chaos.” – Edward Bernays