Public Relations: It's Easy To Not Be Sleazy

July 6, 2025 - 1:39pm - by Luke Thiessen

The very idea of Public Relations tends to get a bad rap.

For an industry based largely around reputation management, it’s ironic, isn’t it? If you just google “public relations,” the search engine generates a definition and sample sentence which includes the phrase “public relations is often looked down upon by the media.” I guess PR needs a new PR person.

To the average person who isn’t neck-deep in communications jargon, I believe public relations is mostly associated with celebrities and corporations who are defending themselves against some allegation or scandal. The media might quote a statement issued by a PR representative. You might hear a bad situation called a “PR nightmare.” You might see a company doing some act of charity or good will described as “a PR stunt.” 

As a marketer with a background in public relations, I dislike this characterization. In my opinion, PR is just another part of marketing and advertising (as I wrote about on this blog earlier this year), and should always aim to serve some benefit in both directions.

Good advertising is effective because it helps match products, services, causes, etc. to people who are interested in them. It benefits the advertiser by bringing in new customers or donors, and – ideally – benefits the consumer by introducing them to something that meets a need or improves their lives in some way.

Public relations should aim to do the same thing, except the product is information and content. The media is hungry for stories, interviews and material that will be of interest to its viewers. The work of PR supplies those things for free, in exchange for coverage and exposure.

It’s easy to not be sleazy

I believe that good PR is never sleazy.

Public relations often gets criticized as “spin,” and is accused of bending or obscuring the truth. Some companies and PR firms do engage in that, and like any other industry, there are bad actors. But I believe that, even in the face of tough questions and legitimate criticism, there is always a better way.

Of course, the best PR is positive and proactive – and we’ll get to that shortly. But if something at your company has gone wrong and the media has come calling, my advice always starts with honesty.

If “mistakes were made,” admit to the mistakes. Take ownership, commit to making things right (or doing better in the future), and make a plan to honour that commitment. It is so rare for a corporation to do this well that honesty itself can help make the news. Plus, it builds trust with both journalists and your audience, and makes your brand (or client, etc) more human.

If you are facing controversy due to some misunderstanding of a situation, this can be an opportunity for education and elevating the narrative. The key is to remain honest and engage in good faith. Acknowledge the complexity of the situation and the aspects that have been reported correctly. Then, use your strongest and simplest evidence to show why the public may have misunderstood the issue. And finally, describe the situation as you see it, re-emphasizing the new facts that make your case.

Example: the complexity of homelessness

I gained a lot of firsthand experience with this while working in communications for a large nonprofit that served those experiencing homelessness. Most people would agree that it’s a complex issue, and that it would be better if it didn’t exist. But that’s about where public consensus ends.

Over many years of fielding questions from reporters, donors, and strangers on social media, it became clear that even a small amount of education could help make these conversations more productive, and help ensure that media coverage was actually benefitting the cause.

Rather than dumbing down the issue or answering tough questions defensively, I took the time to educate people in good faith. With a few data points (for instance, did you know that half of people experiencing homelessness also live with a brain injury?), we were able to bust some myths, introduce some nuance, and build empathy in these conversations. It also helped position us as go-to experts with the media, and increase the number of interview opportunities that came our way.

Proactive PR and earned media

While public relations is most known for the moments where it is reactive – responding to scandals and crises, defending the actions of people and businesses – the best PR is positive and proactive. I promised you we’d get here eventually.

I’m a firm believer that most companies and nonprofits have great, newsworthy stories to tell, but are either too close to their own work to see them, or don’t have the resources to tell them. The stories are there, though, waiting to be told. And every one of those stories not told is an opportunity wasted.

Going back to my article on the power of publicity, media relations can be an incredible tool for free advertising. It may cost you time and energy, but the key is that you don’t pay for it – making an excellent return on your investment.

Finding those stories can be difficult, and telling them well can be even harder, but an outside perspective can make all the difference. Your company may be working on a project that is significant in ways you don’t realize. You may be having a community impact through some aspect of your work that isn’t obvious from the inside. There might be an opportunity for your company to do something charitable with its unique resources that helps a lot of people for little to no cost.

There are so many ways to find and frame a story that are true, ethical, and newsworthy. Sometimes all you need is a little help from someone who sees the opportunities you might have missed.

If you would like to learn more about how Starling Social can help you through public relations, get in touch today!