PR and "messaging" often odious

Any person who has worked in the media can recognize the worst kind of public relations. It's the kind of PR deliberately orchestrated to minimize or obscure a disturbing public topic. It's designed to protect the image of people in a position to address such problems. To say it "deflects" is often to put it generously.
Sometimes when you suggest outright lying, it's a turn-off for a lot of people. Talk about "lies" and people often just think you're disgruntled. People in the media have to watch their backs for how they are perceived. Obviously it affects our credibility. I say "our" because I still consider myself an active media person. I was in the corporate media for 27 years.
Veterans in the profession can easily develop a tendency to suspect B.S. in public figures' statements. Usually those figures are astute enough to not make it obvious that full-fledged PR has taken over. There is a textbook approach to such things.
When people in positions of responsibility, along with their subservient minions, talk openly about "messaging," they are crossing the line into pure PR. Media people are inclined to feel revulsed. We have learned to be careful about acknowledging this feeling, obvious as the feeling may seem to us. We can be so close to the machinations of power. We see all the incentives and self-interest. We are paid to be observers. We do not have to be a party to it.
But many of us feel restraint. We fear what the people in power could literally do to us. We need a foundation for professional survival just like everyone. And believe me, the people in power can definitely put a target on your forehead. I experienced this on a quite micro level once.
Our school district had been through a spate of well-deserved controversy. I almost felt like saying "what took you so long?" to a group of insurgents that had come forward. A key representative of that group assumed that my sentiment matched theirs, because he came to my office one day and launched a conversation based on this assumption.
An assertive complainer about local public school issues might be written off as being "fringe," perhaps someone disgruntled about his own kid not getting the lead for the school musical, something like that. Or most commonly, disgruntlement over certain sports teams losing so much. For the record, we did have sports teams losing then. It can happen. As a close observer for years, I knew there were underlying cultural issues in the school district. And it was these issues coming to the fore in the minds of those with grievances.
The person who came to my office, incidentally, was Merlin Beyer. Looking back, quite obviously this conflict should not have been allowed to become a big deal. It could have been suppressed with more responsible leadership from the top, maybe. I say "maybe" because school staff had a lot of latitude for asserting themselves and frankly protecting their narrowest interests. Well, like maximum job security (like for coaches) and a minimum of pressure to have to deal with.
Few of us have the luxury of evading real pressure in our occupation. So we learn to fulfill our obligations with a maximum of focus, with the assumption we face accountability. If you go back 30-35 years, you'd notice greater empowerment for school district employees. They really did have the power to fend off critics.
The really onerous part of that, was that they often applied pretty base tactics. I mean even being hard on certain kids whose parents might not "tow the line" with the teachers. Oh, the teachers would deny that vigorously.
I had a pretty independent-thinking friend on the school staff who confirmed my suspicions. We talked about a family where the mother was pretty opinionated and even ended up on the school board. My friend felt her kids had some negative consequences of that. So, would teachers really vent their wrath in such a way? I think most of us, if plumbing the recesses of our most cynical thoughts, would readily say "yes." The words of my school staff friend: "They say they don't do that but they do."
I mentioned Merlin Beyer by name so since I'm name-dropping, I'll report the name of my school staff friend: Dave Holman. Dave could be pretty candid when around friends. He was/is a political actor. He probably overestimates his potential for electability. But, nothing wrong with exercising your rights in this sphere. It's called "being in the arena."
I'd like to re-visit the PR angle, because as time passed in our turbulent times, there was a new school administrator who was widely seen as being tasked with remedying or at least smoothing over certain problems. Oh heck, let's emphasize "smoothing over."
Wally Behm was a former administrator who probably should just have been enjoying retirement. But he stayed more involved and interested than he needed to be. I'm no one to talk: for a long time after leaving the Morris paper, I had a hard time truly "moving on." I regret that I could not detach better. Finally a former co-worker, who herself got laid off, said "Brian, I think you should let it go." She added: "Newspapers aren't big business anymore." Papers have retreated considerably since she and I shared our communication. She was laid off because of Forum Communications moving the ad composition work to Detroit Lakes. Forum Communications has since given up on Morris.
Behm, now deceased and hopefully more detached in heaven, was never shy about school district matters or politics. So one day I asked about this hotshot new administrator. I asked him if this new dynamic soul had a particular "mandate." And if so, was it based on remedying real shortcomings? We can never assume that. Asked about the mandate, Behm said "quiet!" That was it. In other words, pull whatever levers are needed to just tamp down the community unrest. Just push for "quiet," an aim that I took to mean "by any means necessary," in other words to just get people to shut the f--k up.
Media people understand full well how local public officials become motivated by such things. In deference to them, they might have very limited latitude for addressing any ills. It's not like a private business. Hell, in a private business there might be a merciless housecleaning. Unions can muddy things up. Oh, and another big factor is the network of personal friends that a school staff will cultivate. So, "quiet" was the aim.
I was even dislodged from some of the sportswriting beats I had done. If the motive was to get me tossed out of my profession, which I'm quite certain is true, it failed. The custodian and van driver for the Sun Tribune phased into retirement and I took over 100 percent of that. Yes, "menial" work but I loved it. I loved how it was structured. You begin your work at a certain time and it wraps up at a certain time. Only minor variations.
It was so refreshing after the unstable nature of news department work where it seemed "your work is never done." That quote is from Seth Schmidt, Morris native who also went into newspapers. Seth and I played French horn in school band. He was from a quite dynamic family - Morris needs more of those.
The worst kind of PR at the macro level has an example in the response to the Flint MI water crisis. The governor's office nakedly came forward and said certain "messaging" was needed about their work. "Nothing to see here," I guess. The governor was Rick Snyder, a Republican of course. Michigan has Democrat Gretchen Whitmer, a real hero, as the governor now.
Yes, "messaging," because Republicans don't want people to like government - it is a defining feature of the party - so in the absence of dynamic action, they'll get very pushy with "messaging" - damn them - and they'll turn their Howitzer on people like me, the press. Republican Donald Trump says "fake news" regularly.
It is disgusting how Trump tries putting a smiley face on how the pandemic is being handled across America. It's PR and messaging at the most "macro" level with devastating consequences. It will start hitting home soon as we notice there is no high school football or volleyball. This could have been avoided.
High school sports are a big part of the social lives of so many people. It helps the winter seem shorter. It can be criticized for being shallow. I personally have railed against the sport of football for the obvious health/safety reasons for the players. But we have not fashioned a perfect world for ourselves, have we. When autumn truly sets in, and so many of us notice how our lives have become so bereft of normal entertainment and diversions - my - we'll start developing real anger toward Trump and his horrible sycophants and enablers. And we'll ask: "What took us so long?"
Biden is inadequate. We need a Democratic nominee who will really "take off the gloves" vs. Trump, to just hammer mercilessly at him and his ignorance, to say that no slack will be cut as far as criminal prosecutions once the fat ignoramus leaves office.
I think pressure will start to mount for a more assertive, vigorous Democratic nominee. I have had a "Kamala" bumper sticker on my car for some time. Don't let Trump's PR or messaging create a fog, please. I have been through this kind of rodeo before. And I was never "fake news."
 
My podcast message for today
Today (August 7) my "Morris Mojo" podcast is based on the announcement of high school football and volleyball being upended for the 2020 fall. Nuts! Our process of adjusting continues. I invite you to click on permalink below:
https://anchor.fm/brian-williams596/episodes/No-football--volleyball--alas-ehqsq8
 
- Brian Williams - morris mn minnesota - bwilly73@yahoo.com