4.1 Lobbying/Public Affairs
[See also section 3.4]
Lobbying depends on experience and research. Well-connected
individuals exploit their political contacts on behalf of clients,
providing access to key individuals. Nowadays lobbying companies maintain
extensive files on politicians and other influential people so as
to know who best to approach and in what way, in order to further
a campaign. As with other areas of PR lobbying has become a more challenging
discipline. According to a Hill and Knowlton executive, "You
can't just show up with a bottle of Wild Turkey and get your topic
on the hearing schedule anymore. You have to work with staffers, and
you have to be more aware of alliances and petty fights on the Hill.
It's just not easy."[60]
One of the more sophisticated methods for influencing
legislators is a practice known as 'grasstops' communications. In
this, the PR agency will carefully identify the peer group of the
target legislator or 'opinion former'. They will then hire one or
more members of that group, friends or acquaintances of the target,
to informally promote the PR message within the group - a 'district
liaison'. In this way the agency aims to create for the target the
artificial impression that 'everyone is talking about it' and that
there is strong community support for the issue[61]. With this method,
legislators may not even realise that they are being lobbied.
Lobbying is used in influencing legislation and
all kinds of government decisions. After Railtrack was taken into
administration, for example, the four largest institutional investors
hired Bell Pottinger, the UK market leaders in PR and lobbying, to
lobby government for a better deal out of the firm's collapse. Ernst
& Young, administrators of Railtrack, felt the need to hire Edelman
to conduct PR on their behalf over the issue and also Citigate Public
Affairs to support them[62].
Bell Pottinger has also picked up an account for
the Public Private Partnership Forum which, in the wake of the London
Underground controversy, felt it "better to concentrate our work
on reminding people of the benefits of PPP as a whole." Bell
Pottinger Public Affairs was hired to lobby both central government
and opposition groups including trade unions[63].
4.2 International Public Affairs
The hiring of PR agencies to promote a country's
image abroad is becoming an indispensable part of modern diplomacy.
The story of Hill & Knowlton, et al's involvement in the 1991
Gulf War [see Hill & Knowlton profile section 4.6] is a signal
case of the power of PR.
Since the World Trade Centre bombing and the prospect
of war without end, effective PR in the USA may now be a prerequisite
for the long term survival of a government in the Islamic world[64].
Both Pakistan and the Phillipines, two countries in the thick of George
Bush's 'crusade', hired Weber Shandwick subsidiaries in 2002. Pakistan
is paying Sterling International Consulting Group $50k per month to
create a more favourable image for the country in the USA[65] and
the Philippines, where over 1000 US troops are fighting Islamist guerrillas,
is using Rhoads-Weber Shandwick Government Relations to facilitate
its communications with the Pentagon[66]. Saudi Arabia, home of most
of the September 11th hijackers has been directing larger and larger
sums at rehabilitating its tarnished image in the USA. It has hired
Qorvis Communications to advertise its efforts to help the US in combatting
terrorism and to place pro-Saudi articles in the press, spending a
record $14.6 million between April and September 2002[67], and Paton
Boggs undertakes lobbying for the kingdom in Congress.
4.3 Governmental Spin
The relationship between government and the PR
industry is a long and intimate one. Many top lobbyists begin their
careers working in political circles, and many top PR people have
worked in government. Government spin doctors and their commercial
counterparts use the same skills and techniques to accomplish the
same goal; to create a favourable public image in the media. Several
top PR people have managed to reach the top in both the governmental
and business worlds.
One of the most famous British spin doctors is
Sir Tim Bell, of Bell Pottinger. In the late 1970s Bell was a rising
star at advertising agency, Saatchi & Saatchi. When Saatchi &
Saatchi were hired to handle advertising for the Conservative's 1979
election campaign, Bell was to become one of Margaret Thatcher's personal
spin doctors. He coached her on interview technique and even advised
on clothing and hairstyle choices. As the 1979 election campaign intensified,
he and Gordon Reece, media relations supremo at Conservative Central
Office, "assiduously courted the editors of two newspapers they
had singled out for special attention: Larry Lamb of the Sun and David
English of the Daily Mail… They would drop by regularly for informal
meetings with Lamb, usually in the evenings over large quantities
of champagne,"[68] writes Mark Hollingsworth in his biography
of Bell.
Bell's work for the conservative party did not
end there. In 1984 he was seconded to the National Coal Board (NCB)
to advise on media strategy at the start of the miners' strike. His
duties went far beyond mere media relations, however. So highly was
Bell regarded that he became closely involved with the overall political
strategy as the industrial dispute turned into political warfare between
the NUM and the government. Whilst the NCB own industrial relations
department wanted to reach a negotiated settlement, Bell, amongst
others, was able to persuade Ian McGregor to accept nothing less than
an unconditional return to work.[69]
