Interview with Colin Farrington for CIPR Student’s Blog
by Galena Ivanova
Mr Farrington, what are your first impressions from Bulgarian PR landscape? You saw the presentations of the candidates for PR Priz 2009 on 16-17 of May. How do you estimate the work of our colleagues?
I think it is very lively and original. Bulgarian PR people are establishing a clear path of professionalism which is very important. I am very impressed by the range of work done within the civil society - not just marketing and not just commercial. So I think it is very impressive rise of professionalism in Public Relations here. However, there is still more to be done as in every country. PR professionals have to be involved very much in the strategic direction of organisations and not simply involve themselves in the media relationships. I think some of the case studies I’ve seen in Bulgaria are very media related and I would like to see much greater strategic direction in these campaigns and greater involvement with the leadership of the organisations. But I am sure all this is coming along and will come over time.
Bulgarian parliamentary elections will be held in July. How political communications has changed after the American elections in 2008 and how the American practice will reflect on the rest of the democratic world?
I think the great impact of the election of president Obama - leaving aside the impact on American relations with the rest of the world - will be very significant. The most important thing clearly is the mobilisations of grassroots’ opinion and people previously outside politics through the Internet and through the web. It’s clear that president Obama become democratic candidate right from no start at all by mobilising that support. This could happen in countries, particularly those with presidential system, where people can get behind a particular idea or candidate and create this great momentum. The great message that applies to parliamentary systems as well as presidential systems is to interact with people, to have a dialog with them. Political systems and political parties are often based on such command structure - they work out their policies, then they tell the people what they are and they expect the people to accept or reject them. I think what we are seeing now is the emergence - particularly through blogs and social media - of a much more interactive system whereas people want to influence what politicians stand for and expect answers from politicians. Not just “This is our policy, this is what we do…” So I think that change is partly due to Obama but it has been a movement that has been developing for quite long time and reflects the interactive nature of the Internet.
What will be the role of the social media in the political and democratic process in the next years?
I think that there are good sides and downsides to all of this. There is a danger that particularly the older political parties do not adapt quickly, that you have more extreme voices coming through and sometimes some of the comments you read on political blogs do tend to be very extreme and partisan. But I think these things tend to balance out over time. I am sure there is still a role for the older media, newspapers, magazines and in depth analysis taking ideas forward. The social media will have a very important role in communication and perhaps in monitoring trends it will be much more sensitive. As a result, people will be able to interact much more quickly. This will lead to more direct democracy; maybe more referenda will be acceptable in the society. Nowadays society is fundamentally more intelligent and better informed, young people want a part to play (not just elections every four or five years); they want to involve all the time and that’s where the new media will have important effect.
Do you think PR specialist could strengthen the political process and how is the profession important for the democracy? What’s the public role of the Public Relations?
Public Relations is a fundamental part of democracy and in its proper form it can exist only in democracies. Think about the role of people who practice Public Relations or Public Affairs and lobbying. On the Bulgarian PR awards (16-17.05.2009) we saw some case examples of organisations who wanted to lobby for a change in the law and that is a very legitimate part of the political process. Public Relations profession has a role there. This doesn’t mean lobbying only on behalf of the wealthy or on behalf of the business community but also lobbying on behalf of people whose voices perhaps have not been heard in the past. One of the cases we’ve heard on the Bulgarian awards was about a lobbying group for people with rare diseases that have not been heard before. Now, they have been given a voice through the use of Public Relations techniques. So I think that Public Relations is absolutely critical and has very important role in consolidating the democracies encouraging more diverse voices to be heard.
From communication point of view can you comment on the efforts of the European Commission to raise the number of voters during the next EU parliamentary elections?
We haven’t really seen this in the UK. We have an Election Commission part of whose role is to raise and encourage voting. One of the difficulties with the European elections is that they tend to be fought on national issues. Candidates standing for the EU Parliament elections should deal with European issues but they are from the same parties that are campaigning for the national parliamentary elections too. It is very difficult for voters to distinguish between these things. So I am not sure how true the EU parliamentary elections are and I am not sure that it is a good idea to have them either in the same time or vey close to the national elections. In Britain they are very close or on the same day as the local elections. And I have the feeling that we are going to get some very distorted results. In Britain, for instance, the major political parties have been hit by scandals around parliamentary expenses so again I think that a lot of people will vote but they may not be voting on European issues. I wonder actually whether the whole system needs to be changed in some way so there should be a genuine Pan-European elections rather than elections conducted in different countries which are inevitably conducted on national issues.
In Bulgaria we have a serious problem with voters’ activity, especially the activity of the young voters. Do you believe communication could help in tackling this problem?
Yes, I think PR has to be honest about this. Encouraging people to vote is fine but in my experience people will vote if they believe that there is a purpose in voting. I don’t think PR or anybody else should make promises they cannot deliver. Some of the language that politicians use - e.g. “you can change the world if you vote” - is somewhat optimistic. Maybe I’m getting old and cynical but in the nature of life not every promise can be delivered so I think you have to be realistic about what the political process can deliver and not promise too much. We are all dealing with the same problems the day after the elections as the day before the elections. In this point of view, it is interesting what effect president Obama will have on this because there is a huge sense in the US of massive change taking place. It will be interesting to see in six months time whether the people believe that he will be able to achieve these changes.
What professional challenges PR practitioners should be prepared to face in the next years?
I think that the issue of PR being accepted as very important part of democracy is critical. Raising the standards and raising the influence of PR is also important for the profession. And part of that is probably to accept a greater degree of regulation. I think that the whole issue of regulation is back on the agenda - whether everybody should have a license to practice in some way or should be subject to regulation of codes in a more structured way than we have it at the moment. So I think this is an issue that has to be passed.
There is also a lot of pressure for great regulation of issues such as promotion to children. We did not want to stop the creativity but there are different social issues related to the new media that require a degree of regulation, self-control or restraint and that is something that PR practitioners have to be aware of. PR professionals need to be honest, transparent and ethical and I believe that people who do not practice in that way will gradually lose business and will gradually not be respected. I am fairly optimistic that PR will become a more ethical business.
Do you think that with the extensive use of new media PR people should modify the way they measure their effectiveness?
Yes, I think they must do because ultimately PR effectiveness is measured in terms of changing people’s opinions or changing people’s attitudes towards companies, organisations or products and these things have to be measured not simply in terms of media effectiveness but what the ultimate effect is. But it is very difficult. I have seen some extremely sophisticated systems for measuring of the new media. It is very much a developing process.
How does professional body like CIPR influence PR practice in Europe?
Well, we certainly like to see ourselves in UK as the eyes, ears and voice of the Public Relations industry which is also one of the straplines that we use. That means keeping close contact with business and organisations to promote the image and usefulness of Public Relations. We just launched a new campaign called “PR means business” and we will shortly be making that available internationally as well. That is a collection of case studies and advices on how to really put the case for professional Public Relations. I think that case is needed as much as on continental Europe as it is in Britain. So we hope that we can help influence that.
*Colin Farrington is Director General of the UK Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR).
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