Former Hill & Knowlton Chair Calls PR 'A Game'

"Public relations was a game," former Hill & Knowlton chair Dick Cheney (no relation to the vice president) told the New York Times' Geraldine Fabrikant. "It was a fun game, but it was really just a game," said Cheney, who left PR to become a psychoanalyst. Cheney worked for H&K, one of the world's largest PR firms, on business takeovers between 1960 and 1993. Comments on the O'Dwyer's PR Daily website take issue with Cheney's career move. "Cheney helps one person at a time but a good PR writer helps millions," Ron Levy writes. "PR person with health accounts can lead patients to knowledge of drugs that help the mind and the body. ... Cheney charges people for his advice but PR brings the public advice FREE from the world's leading experts ... --experts who become increasingly expert at their specialties while Cheney spent time at what he now calls a game."