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A MAJOR PUBLIC RELATIONS BLUNDER: CHARGING FOR PROPAGANDA
Written by: Nick RentonArticle Overview: Organisations which attempt to charge reporters for publications produced by them are committing a major PR blunder. They will probably have their requests for payment rejected on principle and will thus find that their publications are just ignored.
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A MAJOR PUBLIC RELATIONS BLUNDER: CHARGING FOR PROPAGANDA
A MAJOR PUBLIC RELATIONS BLUNDER: CHARGING FOR PROPAGANDA
by Nick Renton AM
Organisations which attempt to charge reporters for publications produced by them will probably have their requests for payment rejected on principle and will thus find that their publications are just ignored.
The writers who would have used them as useful background material, or who would have quoted from them or paraphrased their key arguments, or explained the organisation's views to their readers, will simply produce pieces out of their head or look elsewhere.
In particular, they will turn to material produced by the organisation's critics - material which may well be freely available - and to other information in the public domain which could show up the organisation in a poor light.
All such external sources will be supplemented by the writer's own interpretations and value judgements, as these, too, do not need to rely on material from the organisation concerned. The writer may have to second-guess the views of the organisation.
It should be obvious that making it harder for writers to quote material accurately (as distinct from relying on secondary sources) is thus never a good idea. In effect encouraging writers to devote less space to an organisation's views than might otherwise have been the case seems extremely foolish - the value of the publicity foregone could be many times greater than the marginal production cost of the material involved.
Furthermore, unsympathetic analyses from writers who have been annoyed by the attitude of the organisation towards them may in turn generate further adverse publicity as the harsh views start to take on a life of their own.
The organisation's publications may have been expensive to produce in the first place and a desire to recover their cost by selling them for a reasonable figure would be understandable. But the organisation may just finish up with the worst of all possible worlds - no money from a sale; a boycott of the material or the organisation; and a lost opportunity to advance its cause.
To deal with this problem by giving out only a limited number of free copies can be a dangerous solution. It would probably antagonise those left off the free list but who get to hear of its existence - especially if subsequently a specific request for a free copy is refused.
On subsequent occasions they might not even bother to ask, so that the organisation might have needlessly created a long term problem for itself.
A desire for information can also come from persons who are preparing a speech, researching for a book, drafting a submission or carrying out some other like task. Some of these inquirers might, if encouraged to do so, even be willing to repay any courtesy accorded to them by the organisation by analysing its material free of charge and providing an objective input.
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About the Author: Nick Renton RSS for Nick's articles - Visit Nick's website  Click here to visit Nick's website   LETTING CULTURE GET IN THE WAY OF GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS USING YOUTUBE AS A COSTEFFECTIVE PUBLIC RELATIONS TOOL A SHORT PUBLIC RELATIONS CASE STUDY LOSERS ALL ROUND A SUCCESSFUL PUBLIC RELATIONS DEVICE GIVE YOUR CUSTOMERS A FREE BOOK LETTING STUPIDITY GET IN THE WAY OF GOOD PUBLIC RELATIONS |
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