In my senior year as a journalism student, one of our subjects was Public Relations (PR) and during the semester we were even taught the basic rules of lobbying. Although I passed the course, I never took those lessons to heart.
As a child, I already had bad PR and it was one career I knew I didn’t want to embrace as an adult. To my frustration, two years into my writing/editing career, the publication I worked for had the rebellious ones who joined the union retrenched. Actually, I wasn’t even a union member since I had a managerial post. But I was openly a union sympathizer and so I had to go. But it was for the best. It became a turning point in my career.
Nestor Torre offered me to work as media director for the Film Academy of the Philippines. Reluctantly, I accepted, but hated every aspect of the job that was actually easy for me since I had worked as an editor prior to that and I knew the people from other publications.
But to this day, I still remember having to drag my feet up those marble steps of the Manila Bulletin staircase armed with a press release. Then as now, I was never comfortable asking for favors.
However, I’d like to think I did well on the job. Marichu Maceda gave a raise on my first week at work since I delivered more than what they expected from somebody who had just filled in that position. I was only a few years off college, but she never had any inkling I had been around. I had already established solid connections by then. (It also helped that there were fewer publications in those days.)
But even if it was a joy working for Nestor, Mrs. Maceda and Jesse Ejercito, I still wanted out and return to writing. Even Eddie Romero, then FAP deputy director general, sensed that. Over dinner at a restaurant once, he kept telling me to keep all our conversation off-the-record.
I protested by telling him I was no longer a journalist. His retort: You may not be a journalist today, but I’m sure you will be one again soon. He was right. More than a year later, the late Joe Burgos made me entertainment/features/lifestyle editor of Malaya without even me applying for the position. Goodbye, PR work. I could be my mean and nasty self again as part of the newspaper profession. I didn’t have to lick boots anymore.
However, nobody knows what’s in store for tomorrow. Circumstances may force me to do PR work again. Although it is a legitimate and honorable profession, with a lot of practitioners enjoying the job, I just don’t relish the idea that I will be at the begging end.
If I do find myself embracing PR work as a fallback, I will try to remember the following guidelines that I formed in my head after being part of print for the longest time. To those young graduates who will embark on a PR profession, let’s remember these do’s and don’ts when we deal with print people whose feelings and temperament we have to deal with:
Be tactful at all times. I remember this PR lady from Manila Mandarin a long time ago who was the most tactless person I’ve ever met in my life. I was working for a newspaper then and as opening conversation, she begins by telling me: “I hear your publication’s circulation is dipping.” I don’t know how she got to work as a PR. I don’t think she is still in the profession and I am not surprised.
Be patient. Boy Abunda is second to none when it comes to having patience. The only time he said that enough was enough was when an entertainment editor tore a couple of tickets (complimentary, of course) and threw a tantrum at the Folk Arts Theater because he didn’t like his seat and embarrassed in front of a lot of people his staff. Boy gathered all his Waray qualities and fought back in defense of his assistant.
Monitor your releases. I was with Malaya that time and the publication was housed in two structures. I got a call over the intercom from a staff from circulation telling me that I had a phone call there (this was pre-cell phone days). I had to go out of the editorial office and brave the rain to get to the annex where the call was placed. As soon as I picked up the phone, the PR girl casually asked me if their company’s press release already came out – and when. I did use it, but annoyingly told her to go look for it in back issues.
Try not to call during the hora de peligro. This is usually between 5-8 p.m. when editors run around the office like headless chickens trying to put the paper to bed – on time. Social calls can go hang. There is a deadline and the editors have to meet that.
Be straightforward and observe correct grammar when you write releases. Emmie Velarde when she was with a now-defunct paper told me that she always used my releases if only for the fact that she didn’t have to edit them. Since my background had always been print, I knew how to turn even press releases into legitimate news items.
Never do hard sell. Unless you are a food critic, don’t say it’s the best restaurant in town, the best hamburger, spaghetti, barbecue, etc. Of course, you are the PR and what you are sending out are press releases. Readers know that. Don’t put there hurry or what are you waiting for. Buy ad space if those are the messages you want conveyed.
Be sincere in your dealings with the press. Print people may look like power trippers (some are), but they are capable of maintaining genuine friendship. If you become friends with them, then you can perform your duties without feeling like it’s work for you. Ask the veteran PRs. That’s their reason for staying this long in the public relations trade. It can be fun once you’ve mastered the PR business.