Recent comments

Thanks for the insightful article! I am considering giving up my 30-year PRSA membership specifically because I'm so apalled at the hypocrisy of a PR association at war with its most attentive media observer.

Ms. Landman, We find it curious that you or another member of your organization deleted the factual "reporting" error contained in the original version of this article — confusing former Philip Morris employee and tobacco lobbyist R. William "Bill" Murray with PRSA COO William M. Murray — without noting that you had updated/corrected the original text. Not only is this a social media faux pas, it also smacks of the manipulative tactics that you so willingly ascribe to PRSA and the public relations profession. Certainly you would agree that a forthright acknowledgment of mistakes is the province of ethical communications and journalism? For the record, the William Murray who heads PRSA also did not star in the movies "Caddy Shack" or "Stripes," though the amount of research you apparently did in preparing this article certainly classifies as "Meatballs." (By the way, you might want to delete mention of R. William "Bill" Murray's PRSA service on this page, as well: https://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=R._William_%22Bill%22_Murray. But, maybe you already did that, without telling anyone. For your readers who did not see the original version of this article, below is the paragraph in question: "It's of even greater concern considering that the group's current president is R. William "Bill" Murray, who worked as the top public relations and lobbying specialist for the tobacco industry for twenty years. Murray worked for Philip Morris, and was responsible for many of that company's later activities to camouflage, deny and corrupt the scientific and medical findings that cigarettes caused lung cancer, heart disease and a host of other serious conditions. Murray's background is not exactly conducive to openness and honesty with the public, but it may be helpful in understanding where PRSA's combative stance towards O'Dwyer is coming from." The other glaring errors (willful omissions?) from your article include the fact that PRSA sent Mr. O'Dwyer a fully footnoted, 23-page letter outlining the reasons why he has been denied credentials to cover our Leadership Assembly and International Conference, which you and your readers may find here: http://www.odwyerpr.com/site_images/PRSA-Bill-of-Particulars.pdf. Further, our Leadership Assembly and International Conference are open to — and will be attended by — a variety of reputable journalists and bloggers. Finally, this "rather legendary" figure at whose altar you appear to worship also has been called "a public relations gadfly" by The New York Times. Not exactly a ringing endorsement. We believe that Mr. O'Dwyer's behavior, like yours, falls well outside the ethical standards espoused by the Society of Professional Journalists. Perhaps you believe, as he does, that such tactics are fair game. However, there are two sides to every story, and it would behoove you to pick up the phone (or visit a website) once in a while in an effort to determine the facts and report on them in a balanced, responsible manner. Arthur Yann Vice President, Public Relations The Public Relations Society of America