How not to practice Public Relations!

How not to practice Public Relations!
The practice of public relations, especially with the inception of democracy in Nigeria, has become an all comer job, as politicians select and choose their spokesperson with little or no consideration for the person’s competency. In other places, even where professional image makers were employed to work for a politician, little freedom is given to them to really work the way they should.
The whole idea of public relations according to Ford (1976) is to evaluate public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance. But for people like Botan (1992) and Taylor (2000) public relations is the use of communication to establish, develop and negotiate relationships between organizations and their strategic publics.
Most of these definitions focused on establishing a good relationship between an organization and its ‘targeted public’. Although no reference was made to the use of public relations in governance, public relations experts believe that the idea of public relations came about as a result of government desire in any country to earn public confidence.
But the problem most PROs face today in Nigeria is from their employers. Not all PROs, even those employed based on merit have the freedom to work as publicity officials or allow at anytime to protect their organizations or institutions. Most of them are left at the mercy of journalists or even get a hint of what is happening in their organizations through their journalist friends.
Yushau A. Shuaib, author of Financial Public Relations and A Dozen Tips for Media Relations in an article titled when an editor becomes the spokesperson, wrote ‘whilst an editor can easily have unfettered access to top management and confidential information, a lucky spokesperson may likely have only the listening ears of the boss and not necessarily the information required for the job.
He pointed out that ‘while editors enjoy the right to express their opinions on any issue through editorials and columns’, a PRO is restricted on the kind of official information he can divulge to the public. An editor according to him is highly revered and respected by the society, while a spokesperson is seen as an errand boy that only speaks the voices of his masters. Public Officers are afraid to mess with editors, but cannot hesitate to maltreat their spokespersons as if they were spies.
So instead of being part of the management, a PRO is left hanging between management and junior staff. He is seen like a bat – he is neither a bird nor animal. The management on one hand considers him a threat, who can connive at anytime with the media an expose the excesses of the management. On the other hand junior staff see him as a run away member of their club, who feels too big to identify with them.
However, even the PROs themselves contribute to their predicaments. Many times PROs relegate themselves to background. Just to explain to their bosses that this is how things are done they can’t. Public Relations emphasizes equal opportunity for all to speak and be heard. Unlike advertisement, which sticks to a product in the face of a potential customer and give them every reason to buy it, the public relations approach is a lot less direct.
Public relations will let your target audience know what else you've got going on besides your product or service - like what kind of good you are doing in the community and how you plan to help more in the future. Though it's not as bold as advertising, a good public relations department can aid in building good reputation as much as advertising.
In government circles, which involves dealing with politicians, who are always conscious of what they utter or who is observing them, public relations will always help in enhancing the personality of an individual and their image in the eyes of the public. A public relations officer, who enjoys the goodwill of his boss, will do a lot in ensuring the success of his boss, but he can do this through good public relations. But the most important thing is communication.
Kabiru Danladi,
Lawanti Village, KM25, Along Gombe-Bauchi Road,
Akko LGA,
Gombe State.
kblondon2003@yahoo.com
08054546764, 08035150369