““The Right to Lie”?The Right to Lie”?Kevin M Brett

November 12, 2014COM 270

A View From AbroadA View From Abroad

• “Public relations, they called it in America, the multi-billion-dollar industry that could make a talentless oaf a celebrity, a fool a sage, and base opportunist a statesman. Propaganda, they called it in Russia, but it was the same tool.” – Author Frederick Forsyth

A View from the MediaA View from the Media• “Show me a PR person who is accurate and

truthful, and I’ll show you a PR person who is unemployed.” – Andrew Cohen, CBS News

Another View from the MediaAnother View from the Media

• “When evil needs public relations, evil has Burson Marsteller on speed dial.” – Rachel Maddow, MSNBC

PRSA Code: First Two ValuesPRSA Code: First Two Values

• Advocacy: Serving the public interest by acting as responsible advocates…

• Honesty: Adhering to the highest standards of accuracy and truth…

Public Relations in WartimePublic Relations in Wartime

• “I’d rather have bad press than a good eulogy.” – Israeli Prime Minster Benjamin Netanyahu

The Right to Lie?The Right to Lie? “In wartime, truth is so precious that she

should be attended by a bodyguard of lies” -- Winston Churchill, 1943

52 Hostages, 444 Days52 Hostages, 444 Days

Operation Eagle Claw – April 1980Operation Eagle Claw – April 1980

Keeping a Press Secretary in the Dark?Keeping a Press Secretary in the Dark?

• “If a secret is worthy of lying about to protect, it makes sense to come up with the most effective lie possible…Dealing with the press, particularly in ticklish situations, is very much an art. You cannot treat the press secretary like a robot and then expect him to perform like an artist.” – Jody Powell

Operation Urgent Fury – October 1983Operation Urgent Fury – October 1983

• “Preposterous” – Larry Speakes to CBS’ Bill Plante

• “Rear Admiral John Poindexter hung me out to dry, and I didn’t even know it.” – Larry Speakes

• “I have always preached to members of the White House staff, ‘Tell me everything, so I’ll know not only what to say, but what not to say.” – Larry Speakes

Thou Shalt Not LieThou Shalt Not Lie

• Your mom told you not to lie

• Immanuel Kant subscribed to the notion of Deontology, an ethical doctrine governing that actions must conform to binding rules regardless of the consequences.

• And yet …

Zero Dark Thirty?Zero Dark Thirty?

• May 1, 2011. You are Obama’s press secretary…• You are asked to confirm a rumor of a coming raid

against public enemy No. 1• You know the truth• Would you tell the truth? Or…