Alastair Campbell Shrugs Off PR's Tarnished Spin Image in Fiery Debate

Alastair Campbell Shrugs Off PR's Tarnished Spin Image in Fiery Debate

LONDON, November 2/PRNewswire/ --

- Prime Minister Tony Blair's Former Communications Chief Says the PR
Industry is Stronger Than Ever and Must Keep its Eyes on the Big Picture
Through a Focus on Strategic Communications

Alastair Campbell said the PR industry is bigger, stronger and closer to
people's lives than at any time in history and should take a long view beyond
the everyday noise and negative tone of the media.

In a frank and lively panel debate about truth and honesty in the media
and politics, Campbell gave former ITN chief Stewart Purvis a message for the
press: "Don't present yourself as the monopolistic font of all wisdom about
facts. In many ways the focus on spin is really about the media trying to put
up barriers between the politicians and the public."

Earlier, Campbell addressed the conference of senior PR directors from
around the world on the topic of where PR has gone wrong with its own image.

"There is a revolution going on, a lot of it driven by 24-hour news. As
the media has grown and adapted, so PR has grown and adapted. PR is now
accepted as a necessary and legitimate thing to do. The problem is not with
PR, the problem is with politics and spin. That is where PR and its role in
communications has become controversial."

"I freely accept that relations between politics and the media and
therefore the public debate are not great, and I did come to symbolise the
problem at the heart of the debate. I was always driven by the insight that
the media had changed radically and we had to respond to that change by
communicating proactively and strategically to reach the public."

Campbell emphasised the importance of planning communications programmes
carefully and precisely around their objectives, strategy and tactics.

"The old ways did not work. The media that used to be a vehicle for
communications became in many ways a barrier, and strategic communications
was the answer for that."

"The more short-termist and self-obsessed the media becomes the more long
term you have to be. The more frenzied they get, the calmer you have to be.
The downside of the scale of the media is its mammoth size, but that is also
its upside. There is always somewhere to take your message."

He was speaking at the International Public Relations Association (IPRA)
Annual Summit, a two-day conference focusing on trends, challenges and
opportunities in global communications.

The conference continues on Thursday 3 November with speeches from Nick
van Praag, head of external relations for the World Bank in Europe and
Central Asia; Reijo Kemppinen, head of representation for the European
Commission in the UK and former spokesman for President Romano Prodi, and
Denis Bohush, the communications director behind Ukraine's 'Orange
Revolution'.

It will conclude with a panel discussion of the evolving relationship
between PR and the press, with senior editors from BBC World, Reuters, the
Financial Times and the International Herald Tribune.

Notes for Editors

Pictures accompanying this release is available through the PA Photowire.
It can be viewed at www.mediapoint.press.net or www.prnewswire.co.uk.

- For full information about the conference, please see
www.iprasummit.org

- IPRA is the global professional body for the public relations industry.
To find out more, see www.ipra.org

- Pinnacle Public Relations Ltd, the conference organisers, is a
specialised international public relations consultancy and training company.
To find out more, see www.pinnaclepr.co.uk

- Digital photographs available

Source: The International Public Relations Association

Will Hardie, Pinnacle Public Relations Ltd, will@pinnaclepr.co.uk, T: +44-207-503-0390, M: +44-7837-018-123, F: +44-207-704-8846

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