PR people accustomed to disparaging or cynical newspaper articles about the profession should be heartened by a major feature article in the Miami Herald last week.
Titled "The Image Makers," the Sept. 8 issue's front page of the business section article leads off with a simplistic and distorted view of PR's early stages of development: "Public relations used to be about schmoozing, press releases and a three martini lunch. No longer." If this ever was true, it was true for only a small proportion of PR people.
Fortunately, the article then goes on to paint a more flattering--and more realistic--picture of today's PR professional: "...today's public relations professionals, like lawyers, have become key advisers to high-profile businesses and individuals. Acting as everything from corporate strategists to goodwill ambassadors to glorified baby-sitters, top publicists today are earning record six-figure salaries for both advancing--and protecting--their clients' interests in a communication-driven world."
Quoted in the article are New York image-meister Howard Rubenstein and several South Florida agency execs: Bruce Rubin of Rubin Barney & Birger, Susan Brustman of Susan Brustman & Associates, film publicist Carol Green and Lea Sloan of Gordon Sloan Diaz-Balart. Two corporate executives also were quoted: Tim Gallagher, vice president of PR for Carnival Cruise Lines, and Pat San Pedro, a Miami-based corporate communications manager for American Airlines.
(Miami Herald, 305/350-2111)