Do Public Relations Practitioners Still Practice the Dark Art?

Book Title: Dark Art: The Changing Face of Public Relations

Author: Tim Burt

Length: 224 pages

Publisher: Elliott & Thompson Limited

Price: $19.95

Do Public Relations Practitioners Still Practice the Dark Art?

By Morgan McMullen

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            The BP oil spill of 2008 changed the world of public relations, as everyone knew it. The first major public relations crisis of the digital age showed how big of an impact Facebook, camera phones, and the Internet could make in a crisis situation. Tim Burt talks about how this event changed the public relations world and how companies started planning for the digital impact of a crisis scenario.

            Burt currently runs a public relations and communication firm in the UK, StockWell Group. Before starting StockWell, Burt worked at Brunswick Group for five years working with international communications. Before this Burt worked for the Financial Times for 21 years in various positions, most recently being a media editor. With years of strategic communication experience, Burt has become an expert in the field of public relations crisis management.

            The Dark Art is a book for people just entering the public relations field. This book gives multiple examples of crisis events that took place during the digital age and how companies handled them poorly. It gives specific details of CEO that were let go from companies because of the situation. Dark Art gives advice on preparing for crisis situations as a public relations professional and being ready for a crisis.

            Any new comer to the public relations field would find this book very beneficial for a brief history on public relations failures. Most of the companies mentioned in the book had reputations completely ruined by the media within days of the crisis taking place. This helps professionals see the impact that the media and digital world has on every aspect of a company.

            When you read the title of the book you are expecting deep dark secrets from the public relations world that only a top management person would know. The book does reveal many public relations failures, most of which however, were very publicized. This book is a very good read for any entry-level public relations professional but anyone who is established in the public relations field would find this read unbeneficial.

            This book is highly recommended for anyone entering the public relations field for the first time. The guidelines and tips provided would be beneficial to anyone who is new to the field. Most professionals would agree to the tips and guidelines Burt has laid out.

            This book was very informational for entry-level public relations professional. The information provided helps set guidelines for clients and provided good insight on what works and what does not. This book is beneficial to anyone interested in strategic communication and was a wonderful, quick read.

However, Burt began his career as a journalist and merged into the world of public relations in 2005. With his proved writing skills it makes one wonder, are the dark arts still being practiced?

 Tim Burt, Author of The Dark Art

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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.