Author: WWPR

The Role of Public Relations in Politics is a monthly column written by WWPR member Margaret Mulvihill, examining the role of PR in politics.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Washington Women in Public Relations

Countdown To 2016
We are only half-ways through the first month of the new year, and yet, the Presidential campaigns are stealthily underway. Political operatives shiver in the anticipation of an election that is twenty two months away. We are all gearing up to represent our political candidates, with tactically-placed stories in all the appropriate places. Carefully choreographed television appearances, brilliant radio discussions on the topical issues of the day, well-chosen public sightings. Nothing, no opportunity for publicity will be ignored. Although it’s early days yet, those of us who have traveled this road before, already have the entire twenty two months penciled-in on the giant tear-off wall calendar. We’ll begin with monthly exposures, stepping it up to weekly as the months go by, until our candidate is front and center in the daily media by November 2016. It’s a lot like building with Lego, each story carefully constructed on the back of the one preceding it. It’s more than communications, it’s a form of artistry!

Declarations
Over the coming months, candidates will begin to ‘declare’. Some have already signaled their intent to do so, by setting up PACs (political action campaigns) and by forming ‘exploratory’ committees. Heady times are ahead for the PR shops, with an elegant abundance of clients to go around. A great deal of air-time and print inches will go towards debating which candidates will make the short list. By the time the shortlist has pulled itself together, we will have all possible information on every potential candidate. The good, and the bad, and the ugly.

Making The Shortlist
It takes a massive amount of publicity to make it to the shortlist. As the old saw goes, you can’t win if nobody knows your name. Name recognition then, is vitally important for any candidate. Making voters aware of your candidate’s agenda, their stance on the burning issues of the day, is the next crucial element in your PR bag. They may know who your candidate is, but if they don’t know what your candidate is, you’ve lost an important opportunity. Social media is a huge assist, a great asset when it comes to publicly promoting your candidate and their issue stances. It’s a great asset, but it’s no longer a unique asset. Every candidate understands the value of social media and every political communicator knows how to leverage it effectively for the candidate’s benefit.

Sounds Boring?
So where’s the fun in all of this? It’s starting to feel mundane. If we all know what we’re doing, and if we all know how to do it successfully, surely it’s just a matter of electing the candidate with the best PR representation? That might just work – it might. If it weren’t for the foibles and frailties of the human animal.

Let’s say your candidate has been on the road for two weeks straight. Hasn’t slept in their own bed since you all boarded the campaign bus together. The candidate is tired, testy, and surrounded by their own employees and volunteers. It’s a little bubble of unreality, really, that’s what the environment has become. The candidate is a demi-God. His/her every wish is magically granted. Then, along comes some upstart reporter or intrepid broadcaster, asking the wrong question about the wrong issue, at the wrong time. You can see it happening in slow motion, like an automobile driving into a concrete wall at high speed, yet you’re powerless to prevent it.

Suddenly, it’s not mundane any longer! You have to bring everything you’ve ever learned, and a whole lot of what you never knew you’d learned to bear, in saving your candidate from him/herself. That is the fun in political public relations – each individual you represent will be different, each candidate will pose their own peculiar challenge. No matter how confident you feel about your candidate, there is no guarantee that you will be able to avoid that awkward, testy, moment. There is no guarantee that you won’t wake up on the morning of the election to find your candidate making appearances you knew nothing about on national television. And that, my friend, is why you do what you do.

The Role of Public Relations in Politics is a monthly column written by WWPR member Margaret Mulvihill, examining the role of PR in politics.

Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of Washington Women in Public Relations

DOES PR STILL HAVE A ROLE TO PLAY IN POLITICS?

I pose this question in good faith. The past few months have been very difficult in the political world.  There has been no shortage of transformative issues coming to the surface by unlikely means. Let’s see – there’s that whole white supremacy discussion practically taking over social media, pitting colleagues, friends and family members against each other. Then there’s that ongoing debate about immigration, now centered like a storm cloud around President Obama following his executive action to ease the hardship endured by some immigrants already living here illegally. The ACA continues to be a hot-button issue – also known as ‘Obamacare’; and to top it all off, this week, a GOP staffer was forced to resign because of disrespectful remarks she posted on social media about the Obama girls.  Yes, no shortage of issues here, no shortage of crises. But does PR have any role to play?

SPECIFIC ISSUES

Let’s look at that white supremacy thing. If you’re not sure what that’s all about, or where the latest hot-spot is, google ‘Ferguson,’ or type #ferguson in twitter. Since the police shooting of unarmed Michael Brown in Ferguson, MO, the world has been watching in horror as events continue to show the racist make-up of the Ferguson police force. The prosecutor Robert McCulloch, and the Governor Jay Nixon, along with various other city officials, have done little to help alleviate that racist image.

The Ferguson officials did engage a public/media relations team. Clearly, that did not help matters. The engagement itself was too transparent, and the actual campaign seemed designed not to alleviate racial tension, but to explain the need for ‘Use of Force’ by police against ‘thugs.’ Instant #PRFail.

What would you have done? Hopefully, you would have done what I would have done. Defuse the situation by bringing the moderates of both sides together, to engage in a meaningful discussion about the specific issue at hand – the killing of Michael Brown, an African American, by white police office, Darren Wilson. I would not have allowed the radicals on either side a voice. Regardless of my personal feelings on the injustice served to the Brown family, I would have focused only on defusing that one specific racial incident.  The whole issue of race in this country is too big to be tackled in one chunk by any pr/media relations shop.

IMMIGRATION, THE ACA, AND THE PRESIDENT

On the whole immigration mess, I would like to ask the President one question: Didn’t you learn anything from the bungled Affordable Care Act? The man is a walking disaster when it comes to public and media relations. How could it be so hard to sit down with a good PR firm – not your own in-house staffers – and hammer out a message? It’s not that hard to do. Craft the message, and stick to the message. Get a buy-in from someone on the other side of the political spectrum. Then get your message out there – but don’t abandon it. Social media has turned traditional pr on its head. Clever people can take your message and shred it. Social media needs constant monitoring to make sure that your message is not being diluted, or becoming an object of humor, or ridicule. Call me next time, okay?

ELIZABETH LAUTEN

There is nothing fair and balanced about communications and social media. When you’re in communications, you do not have a private social media account, on any platform. Anything you write in your personal capacity will be picked up and picked over, leaving you exposed and vulnerable to the prevailing winds in Washington.  Elizabeth Lauten, this time last week, was Rep. Stephen Fincher’s (R-Tenn.) communications director.  This week, she had no option but to resign. Why? She didn’t like the way the Obama girls were dressed at the Turkey Pardon. She didn’t like their attitude. She didn’t like their parents. Well for heaven’s sakes, why would she? She’s clearly not a Democrat, working as she was for a Republican representative!  Could PR/media relations have done anything to save her job? No. Not in this instance. The comments were made in the public arena, and quickly went viral.

Having thought about this a good deal, I would answer myself with a resounding YES.

Yes, PR does indeed have a role to play in politics, and I hope you agree too! Have a wonderful holiday season, and may 2015 bring nothing but the best of PR opportunities.