Czech Perception of PR
When I mentioned to my Czech friend that I am considering work in Public Relations, I got this reaction. “So, you are going to be one of those cheaters, huh?” After some clarification, I found out from him that anyone working in PR is a morally rotten individual, willing to sell his grandmother for a iota of publicity.
Tessa Lewis already wrote about the perception of PR in the U.K., so by this post, I would like to put it in the Czech perspective.
So, how does it look like in CZ? Not very nice at this point of time, but there are many prospects of improvement.
Public Relations is a rather young industry in Czech Republic. There are only few people who are willing to work properly and ethically. The gray economics and favouritism are still working behind the scenes.
I dare to speculate that in the Czech society, persuasion is seen as something negative. The fact that it is omnipresent and vital for properly functioning society is often omitted. On the outside we want to look tough and autonomous, but we are as ‘vulnerable’ to new ideas and concepts as every other nation in the world. Thank goodness for that.
Commercial colleagues of the political communicators do not have an easy position either. Consumerism is often used in a pejorative context. The PR agents are seen merely as salesmen with one common purpouse – to annoy the living hell out of the journalists by peddling product-focused press releases. Unfortunately, some of the ‘agencies’ work on this basis.
Watchdog organisations like APRA (equivalent of PRSA or CIPR) are deemed as yet another country club for the PR guys, instead of being seen as the enforcer of code of ethics and best practices.
Enough of complaining! What can we do with the status quo? I believe the industry standard will improve with more graduates pouring into the industry and bringing up fresh ideas.
Another part of the equation are professional bodies (APRA) and their tied hands. There must be sanctions for violating the code of ethics – aspirational values do not seem to work.
International PR agents can help the Czech industry a great deal to establish the benchmark.
It seems like a lot of work, but in 40 years, the whole market will change, and the Czech agencies will climb on the same level as the British or American ones.
Facebook comments:
It’s too easy to look at law and medicine and say that public relations compares unfavourably with these traditional professions. (This is mischievous, but I ask my first year students to name the profession of Britain’s worst ever serial killer. They think for a moment, but usually do come up with Harold Shipman who was a general practitioner – a family doctor.)
Public relations is a part of management – and area that is also only semi-professional.
The question that interests me is not why PR has a poor name, but why it’s held in such high regard by so many young women choosing degree courses.
Richard,
Good point with comparing apples and oranges. I got carried away, I admit.
As for women in PR, I am also interested in why, but it would be quite difficult to determine that in Czech, because there are not many study programmes allowing the study of PR per se.