Online Public Relations Thoughts

I have witnessed several instances lately of the old nuclear protection technique -- duck and cover. Except in the present, it is careerists ducking and covering their parts in something that had gone wrong. In some of these instances, the situation was farcical and in others, serious.

As a public relations practitioner who sometimes knows the facts of a situation, it is not always easy to deliver an official explanation when I know it to be inadequate at best. Yet, that is what we are paid to do. We don't lie, but we don't tell everything we know either.

I find those who duck and cover to be a distasteful. I much prefer to work with the individual who stands and says, "I did it and I goofed." That individual is far more credible in the end, even if the person has to take a fall for what he or she did.

I find particularly distasteful watching government types squirm in every direction to avoid blame for something they have clearly done. The spinning is disgusting, and they are experts at it, even to the point where one almost believes them.

It would be a nicer world if people always told the truth, but they don't and they never will. Duck and cover is part of human nature.