Categories: OLD Media Moves

Insurance PR spin and its effects

Gary Weiss of Portfolio.com writes about former CIGNA PR exec Wendell Potter’s book “Deadly Spin,” which details how the insurance industry used public relations to get what it wanted.

Weiss writes, “But who is to blame for that? At bottom, it’s my colleagues in the media. It’s our job to distinguish between front groups and real ones and to resist the lures of PR spin. ‘PR people cultivate reporters, ostensibly for friendship or mutual benefit, but more realistically for manipulation,’ Potter writes. ‘And in a disturbing trend, reporters can increasingly be cowed by powerful public relations reps because PR controls access to major news-makers in both business and government.’

“The problem is getting worse, he points out, as news outlets lose advertising dollars, de-emphasize investigative reporting, and become ‘increasingly dependent on public relations departments and agencies for content.’ It’s a sentiment that has been expressed before, but is especially refreshing coming from a former PR practitioner who has seen his profession at its worst.

“Potter’s startling and important book has gotten some attention since it was published last month, but hasn’t been reviewed by as many major news outlets as I’d have expected. That’s too bad, because this book is more than just one PR man’s tell-all book about the insurance industry. It’s a wake-up call.”