Ironically, over the past two decades the field of public relations has taken a public relations hit of its own. Often, the average citizen may view its practitioners in a negative light. They may believe that public relations is synonymous with publicity and that the driving force behind their efforts are solely to provide information, however skewed or untrue it may be. The purpose being to enable the people or organization they represent to make more money. Is this opinion justified? Although the majority of professionals in the field perform their duties admirably and with the proper restraint and dignity, a myopic minority have allowed their own personal financial interests to override the greater good.
For example, the Fox News Channel promotes its network as being “Fair and Balanced.” In other words, the claim is that the journalists of the cable news network approach a news story as objectively as possible, while not tilting the coverage to favor the position of one political party over another. However, the reality is quite the opposite. Many of the on-screen personalities are commentators, not journalists, and they spend the vast majority of the on-air time expressing their opinion about issues. Furthermore, the vast majority of their opinions side with the conservative or Republican party. In addition, the hosts of their respective programs go out of their way to disparage the other side of the issue as morally inferior and intellectually dishonest in their viewpoints, often in derogatory or unflattering terms.
The parent company, of FNC, News Corporation, has its roots in Australia, where sensationalism and gossip is the order of the day, when it comes to journalism, due to a dearth of hard news stories in the relatively isolated continent. Having brought this model over to the United States in the late 1990s, as a matter of habit, but coincidentally filling a gap in the political opinion market, the channel was able to garner significantly greater ratings than its competitors. As a result, the other cable news channels were compelled to also increasingly adopt this tone of coverage and analysis. The result was the “talking heads” phenomenon, where folks on opposite sides of an issue would boisterously debate, often yelling and making personal attacks on one another.
During the second term of the Clinton administration and during the Bush administration, this imported style dominated the public discourse. Much in the same way as a foreign animal species may not generally be beneficial when introduced to a new ecosystem, public opinion appears to be fatigued about the above approach to political debate. In fact, the Obama administration has a made it a point to highlight their more measured and thoughtful approach to the way in which they present and argue their points in front of the American public. Hopefully, the focus is shifting back to a point where adults who disagree can engage in a civil discourse, respectfully presenting their views, with the realization that all must work together to reach mutually beneficial goals.