How to Destroy Your Enemies' Reputations

Dark Art: The Changing Face of Public Relations

Tim Burt

224 pages

Published by Elliott and Thompson

$14.99

How to Destroy Your Enemies’ Reputations

By Michael Brestovansky

Source: www.cision.com

             British Petroleum was on top of the world, an economic powerhouse worth billions of dollars. Then, on April 20, 2010, the Deepwater Horizon explosion spilled 4.9 million barrels of public relations nightmare into the Gulf of Mexico. BP abjectly failed to handle the crisis, leading to CEO Tony Hayward’s resignation. In the blink of an eye, BP’s reputation was shattered.

            This is the first chapter of “Dark Art: The Changing Face of Public Relations”, a tale of corporate skullduggery and maneuvering by Tim Burt. Formerly an award-winning Financial Times journalist and current managing partner for StockWell Communications, Burt delivers an intriguing look at the “dark side” of public relations.

            The book is less of an exposé of shady PR management practices than it is a roadmap of how PR is treated in the corporate sphere today, as well as how the changing communication and economic environment provides new challenges for the industry. It uses high-profile scandals such as BP’s Deepwater Horizon explosion and the Libor scandal of Barclays PLC to illustrate how vital crisis management is in this day and age, and lambasts the spin-doctors of the industry.

            While I was disappointed that “Dark Art” was not the seedy, shocking insider account of a profession riddled with corruption I expected, I was genuinely impressed by the scope of Burt’s expertise on the subject. His deconstructions of the scandals that make headlines today are invaluable lessons for any aspiring PR practitioner, whether as studies in what not to do or as guidelines for destroying rivals’ reputations.

            Furthermore, Burt’s analysis of the ever-changing landscape created by social media is a vital reminder that PR is a job that never sleeps and requires constant adaptation. Regardless of the crisis, silence is never an option anymore.

Tim Burt, the author
Source: University of York

            While “Dark Art” is an intriguing read, it is not exactly an uplifting one for up-and-comers such as myself. Even though I operate under no delusions about the common opinion of my major (in fact, I chose PR over journalism purely for the money), it is still somewhat demoralizing to be reminded of the constant challenges practitioners face. On a more practical note, the book has little to offer students educationally. It seems to offer most value to industry men and women who deal with crises every other day, not students whose only crises involve getting enough sleep.

            That said, I still recommend “Dark Art” to anyone who has a love of writing and a touch of cynicism. If nothing else, watching disasters unfold is always enthralling, and this book is full of them.