Does Spin Suck?

Does spin suck?

The word “spin” does have a neg­at­ive con­nota­tion. One of my favour­ite PR blog­gers, Gini Dietrich, even named her blog Spin Sucks.

And to be fair, I’m sure I would agree with how Dietrich would define spin. Deliberate dis­tor­tion of facts, manip­u­la­tion, and out­right lying to the pub­lic — yeah, that spin sucks. 

But I see no reas­on to dis­miss a per­fectly usable word. We’re in pub­lic rela­tions; we should know that every story has more than one side.

Here we go:

What is Spin?

According to Wikipedia, here’s how to define spin:

“In pub­lic rela­tions, spin is a form of pro­pa­ganda, achieved through provid­ing a biased inter­pret­a­tion of an event or cam­paign­ing to per­suade pub­lic opin­ion in favor or against some organ­iz­a­tion or pub­lic fig­ure. While tra­di­tion­al pub­lic rela­tions may also rely on cre­at­ive present­a­tion of the facts, “spin” often implies the use of disin­genu­ous, decept­ive, and highly manip­u­lat­ive tac­tics.”
Source: Wikipedia ¹Spin (pro­pa­ganda). (2023, November 19). In Wikipedia. https://​en​.wiki​pe​dia​.org/​w​i​k​i​/​S​p​i​n​_​(​p​r​o​p​a​g​a​nda)

Ouch. That is not a very pos­it­ive description.

According to Merriam-Webster, a spin doc­tor is “[…] a per­son (such as a polit­ic­al aide) whose job involves try­ing to con­trol the way some­thing (such as an import­ant event) is described to the pub­lic to influ­ence what people think about it.”

Well. Merriam-Webster’s descrip­tion doesn’t shout “evil” as much as Wikipedia’s, so that’s something. 

Well, here’s what I think:

We shouldn’t be strangers to reclaim­ing neg­at­ive words to make them pos­it­ive. After all, Edward Bernays, the fath­er of PR, wrote in Propaganda from 1928:

“I am aware that the word pro­pa­ganda car­ries too many minds an unpleas­ant con­nota­tion. Yet wheth­er, in any instance, pro­pa­ganda is good or bad depend upon the mer­it of the cause urged, and the cor­rect­ness of the inform­a­tion pub­lished. In itself, the word pro­pa­ganda has cer­tain tech­nic­al mean­ings which, like most things in this world, are neither good nor bad but cus­tom makes them so.”
Source: Propaganda ²Bernays, E. L. (1928). Propaganda. Horace Liveright.

Still, Bernays didn’t exactly suc­ceed in turn­ing the tables for the word propaganda.

But the major­ity is some­times wrong. I think both “pro­pa­ganda” and “spin” deserve bet­ter PR. 

“We are all cap­tives of the pic­ture in our head — our belief that the world we have exper­i­enced is the world that really exists.”
— Walter Lippmann (1889 – 1974)

A Glass of Many Truths

Spin Academy | Online PR Courses

A Glass of Many Truths

Let’s say that there’s a glass of water stand­ing on a table in front of you — and there’s water in it. The glass holds 100 ml of water but could store 200 ml if filled up.

I could say that the glass is half full. That’s true.

I could also say that the glass is half empty. Still true.

Both state­ments are equally val­id, of course, but the choice of words will influ­ence our ste­reo­typ­ic­al think­ing about the state of the glass and its content. 

The second state­ment emphas­ises empti­ness (the glass needs a refill), and the first state­ment is full­ness (the glass needs no refill).

Now, let’s get even more creative:

The glass is full. True, yes?

Technically, this state­ment is true as well:

50% of the glass con­tains water; the oth­er 50% is split between roughly 78% nitro­gen, 21% oxy­gen, argon, car­bon diox­ide, and small amounts of oth­er gasses. 

How about this:

The glass is not half full, nor is it half empty. Also true.

An equal split between water and gasses implies an exact divi­sion of pro­tons, neut­rons, and elec­trons. But Heisenberg’s uncer­tainty prin­ciple says no.

Such accur­acy might not mat­ter to you or me, but for a phys­i­cist, these pre­cise ver­sions of the truth might make all the difference.

So, what does a glass of water have to do with PR?

• In a demo­cracy, com­pet­ing interests will put for­ward the truths that best serve their pur­poses. If you care about your interests, you should spin for the win, too.

Learn more: Does Spin Suck?

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Everybody Spins

As humans, we spin. We frame our state­ments to make them serve our pur­poses. Fundamentally, it’s our right to make a case that is ours and not someone else’s.

And if someone comes along say­ing that they have the abso­lute author­ity on what ver­sion of the truth you and every­one else must abide by? 

Well, run. And while you’re sprint­ing for safety under pan­ick­ing breaths, you can be assured that those scary author­it­ari­ans had their tyr­an­nic­al ver­sions of the truth ready to go.

Spin for the Win

In a demo­cracy, we’re sup­posed to have our say to influ­ence our world with our words.

If you don’t get to spin your real­ity the way you see it, someone else will surely do it for you — but not neces­sar­ily with your best interest in mind. 

I’m proud to say that I spin my ver­sion of how I see the world — all the time. And I help my cli­ents to spin their ver­sions of the truth, too. I’m a propagandist!

“This is just semantics,” some might argue.
Well, that’s my point exactly, I say.

THANKS FOR READING.
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PR Resource: Fundamental Approaches To PR

Approaches To Public Relations

There are three schol­arly approaches to pub­lic rela­tions (PR):

The excel­lence PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach focuses on object­ives and cor­por­ate value cre­ation. The under­ly­ing motiv­a­tion behind the the­ory was that pub­lic rela­tions were mainly a vari­ety of tac­tic­al tools that des­per­ately needed a man­age­ment the­ory to work well in a soph­ist­ic­ated organ­isa­tion. ³Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: James E. Grunig, Larissa A. Grunig

The rhet­or­ic­al PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach stems from ideas dat­ing back to ancient Greece. It’s a psy­cho­lo­gic­al the­ory of how com­mu­nic­a­tion struc­tures human cul­ture by shap­ing human minds. The rhet­or­ic­al approach is prac­tic­al and lacks mor­al judg­ment. ⁴Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: Edward Bernays, The Toronto School of Communication Theory, Robert Heath

The crit­ic­al PR approach = this pub­lic rela­tions approach is deeply rooted in the­or­ies of soci­et­al power dynam­ics. Power is seen as a means of exert­ing dom­in­ance, manip­u­la­tion, and oppres­sion. The crit­ic­al approach bor­rows many ideas from the rhet­or­ic­al approach by pla­cing them in mor­al frame­works. ⁵Silfwer, J. (2022, November 6). PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical. Doctor Spin | The PR Blog. https://​doc​tor​spin​.net/​p​r​-​a​p​p​r​o​a​c​h​es/

Notable men­tions: Walter Lippmann, Noam Chomsky

The Excellence Approach to PR

Management the­ory often focuses on oper­a­tion­al excel­lence. The Excellence Study mapped value cre­ation onto stra­tegic com­mu­nic­a­tion and found that best prac­tices cre­ate value for an organ­isa­tion. They reduce costs and risks while increas­ing revenue.

“The pro­gramme of research known as the excel­lence the­ory began in the 1960s with J. Grunig’s research on pub­lics found among Colombian farm­ers. Research then fol­lowed on the role of pub­lic rela­tions in organ­isa­tion­al decision-mak­ing, the sym­met­ric­al mod­el of pub­lic rela­tions, pub­lic rela­tions meas­ure­ment, and how the struc­ture and envir­on­ment of organ­isa­tions shape pub­lic rela­tions beha­viour. […] The excel­lence the­ory has evolved into a gen­er­al the­ory of pub­lic rela­tions as a stra­tegic man­age­ment func­tion, and ongo­ing research now is adding con­cepts and tools that pub­lic rela­tions pro­fes­sion­als who serve in a stra­tegic role can use.”
Source: Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future ⁶Grunig, J.E., & Grunig, L.A. (2008). Excellence Theory in Public Relations: Past, Present, and Future. https://​www​.semantic​schol​ar​.org/​p​a​p​e​r​/​c​c​f​a​d​d​8​7​8​d​4​1​4​5​4​3​7​5​3​5​7​c​e​9​9​e​c​7​f​c​b​1​4​8​e​6​b​48f

How can PR have such best prac­tices? The answers are, non-sur­pris­ingly, man­age­ment-focused: Leadership roles, goal align­ments, high levels of stra­tegic com­pet­ency, high eth­ic­al stand­ards, and two-way sym­met­ric com­mu­nic­a­tion with cor­por­ate stakeholders.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the excel­lence approach?

The Rhetorical Approach to PR

In ancient Greek soci­ety, pub­lic debate and per­sua­sion were con­sidered the best approaches to ensur­ing peace­ful and stable gov­ernance. This was the cradle of ideas like demo­cracy and free speech. There was no best prac­tice, only out­comes from mul­tiple voices.

“Rhetorical the­ory fea­tures how the pub­lic rela­tions pro­cess becomes enriched through the role co-cre­ated, shared mean­ing plays in soci­ety as a blend of mind and self. The rhet­or­ic­al her­it­age fea­tures the potent role of fact (as inter­preted inform­a­tion), judg­ment, and iden­ti­fic­a­tion as dis­course themes enacted in pub­lic aren­as. Public rela­tions can add value to soci­ety by assur­ing that choices become enlightened, risks are eth­ic­ally man­aged, and rela­tion­ships are mutu­ally developed. Through eth­ic­al rhet­or­ic­al prac­tice that res­ults from the reflect­ive char­ac­ter of organ­isa­tions, pub­lic rela­tions helps soci­ety to be more fully func­tion­ing.”
Source: Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters ⁷Heath, R. L., & Frandsen, F. (2008). Rhetorical Perspective and Public Relations: Meaning Matters. VS Verlag Für Sozialwissenschaften EBooks, 349 – 364. … Continue read­ing

If you hear a PR pro­fes­sion­al talk pas­sion­ately and pos­it­ively about the import­ance of per­sua­sion and per­cep­tion man­age­ment, they are most likely sup­port­ers of the rhet­or­ic­al approach. They’re focused on lan­guage and rela­tion­ships and think of soci­ety descriptively.

Many mod­ern rhet­or­ic­al con­cepts have stemmed from the Toronto School of Communication Theory and were later refined and fur­ther developed by Robert L. Heath.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the rhet­or­ic­al approach?

The Critical Approach to PR

“Critical the­ory” is a broad term encap­su­lat­ing tools for ana­lys­is from vari­ous fields. Examples of such devices for ana­lys­is are fem­in­ism, cul­tur­al stud­ies, struc­tur­al­ism, semi­ot­ics, and post­mod­ern­ism. As a broad approach, it offers a wide range of schol­arly criticism.

“The dom­in­ance of Excellence Theory in pub­lic rela­tions the­ory and research may be erod­ing as con­tem­por­ary issues in cor­por­a­tions, includ­ing the con­cern with act­iv­ist chal­lenges to repu­ta­tion man­age­ment and cor­por­ate social respons­ib­il­ity, increase in vis­ib­il­ity and demand explan­a­tion. […] Excellence Theory’s acknow­ledge­ment of once-vil­i­fied con­cepts like per­sua­sion and power sets the stage for crit­ic­al pub­lic rela­tions the­ory and research to emerge as sig­ni­fic­antly more cap­able of address­ing act­iv­ist advocacy and con­com­it­ant issues. The paper argues that crit­ic­al the­ory, buoyed by accept­ance of its key con­cepts, its increas­ing access to present­a­tion ven­ues and journ­als sym­path­et­ic to once-mar­gin­al­ised, altern­at­ive per­spect­ives, is poised to infilt­rate the pub­lic rela­tions ortho­doxy.”
Source: Public Relations Review ⁸Coombs, W. T., & Holladay, S. J. (2012). Fringe pub­lic rela­tions: How act­iv­ism moves crit­ic­al pr toward the main­stream. Public Relations Review, 38(5), 880 – 887. … Continue read­ing

Since crit­ic­al PR the­ory bor­rows from vari­ous schol­arly tra­di­tions, it’s chal­len­ging to sum­mar­ise the crit­ic­al approach. But there’s often a focus on soci­et­al power dynam­ics and detailed vic­timo­logy. The crit­ic­al approach has many touch points with the rhet­or­ic­al approach, but they tend to end up on oppos­ite sides of the excel­lence approach:

While the rhet­or­ic­al approach finds the excel­lence approach too norm­at­ive, the crit­ic­al approach isn’t norm­at­ive enough.

Who typ­ic­ally prefers the rhet­or­ic­al approach?

Read also: 3 PR Approaches: Excellence, Rhetorical, and Critical