Political PR is redefining the way elections and other major events are covered.

by Ibarra C. Mateo

	Fidel Ramos, shown here campaigning for the presidency in 1992, institutionalized political PR when he took over Malacañang.

IT WAS a slow Saturday, and so a middle-level editor thought nothing of working on a press release handed over by a senior editor and turning it into a readable news item. It appeared in the paper the next day, and that should have been that. But then the three government officials who were quoted in the piece complained to the newspaper's editors, saying the writer of the press release had not interviewed them at all. They also said that they had not authorized the issuance of such a press release under their names. An internal investigation conducted by the paper's management later revealed that a shadowy political PR person had been the source of the fictitious story. Apparently, the aim was to cast the winning bidder of a government contract in a bad light.

The paper never bothered to issue a retraction. The senior editor, who was reportedly paid a six-figure sum to see that the "press release" would be published, is still working there. And those who read the piece remain clueless that they had been fed fiction masquerading as fact.

In a world that keeps getting more complicated by the second, the media play an important role in helping the public sift through issues, pointing out which one needs more attention than the others and providing facts that could help people make informed decisions. And as the country prepares to hold one of its most competitive elections in history, the media have become all the more crucial for the public to be able to scrutinize candidates and understand issues. But what should have been the age of information has instead morphed into a golden season of propaganda, enhanced truths, and hyped realities, as mainstream news is manipulated by the masters of the political spin.

It used to be that the spins were confined mostly to the showbiz pages. Or at least that's what most people assumed. But political PR has been alive as long as there have been politicians, and while it wasn't as successful as it apparently is now, it did help some politicians enhance their public images and get elected, sometimes again and again.

In the past, too, political PR was generally aboveground; most of the time it was clear when the news stopped and the papogi began. But today's political spinmeisters seem to prefer to work unseen by the public, even as a few of them arrogantly flaunt their influence-if not outright power-over select but well-placed journalists. And as their insidious influence on newsrooms grow, so does the amount of disinformation that is inflicted on a still largely unsuspecting public. There is, however, really no telling how much of the news is being spun, with journalists themselves sometimes not even realizing that they are already part of a web of deceit.

POLITICAL public relations persons come in varying labels depending on the imagined or real power they want to project, the largesse they dole out, or the favors they dispense. Spokespersons, media strategists, media relations officers, public information officers, and public affairs specialists are only some of the names they like to call themselves. Most journalists refer to them simply as "operators." Whatever label they prefer, though, all of them share the same objectives: first, spin news stories that will put clients or principals in a good light; second, play down stories that will harm clients; and third, neutralize rivals through whatever tactic that works.

While there are political PR practitioners who perform their jobs professionally and scrupulously, they have been overshadowed by those for whom ethics can even be less than secondary. These PR practitioners will exhaust all means to attain their three main objectives, with some of them not hesitating to unleash extraordinary weapons in their arsenal whenever they see fit. They go to great lengths to know their "enemy" -members of the media. Better yet, they strive to make the enemy their "friend." In the past, establishing friendly ties was enough; these days, media and PR practitioners alike admit that money often changes hands.

A PR practitioner makes it his or her business to learn the likes and dislikes of a target editor or reporter, including food and drink preferences, birthday, hobbies, music and book favorites, maybe even the kind of friends the journalist has. But the most important question the PR person would want to know the answer to these days is this: Would the journalist be amenable to receiving cash or are gifts preferred? For one broadcast journalist, the more astute among the listeners to her radio show probably know the answer to that one now. During one program, she reminded a known operator that she was waiting for her "baon" as she was leaving for a short trip abroad, apparently unmindful that some of her listeners could have understood that she was asking for cash.

For those more squeamish over being handed bundles of cash, PR people are flexible enough to provide expensive meals or perhaps a fancy knick-knack. They can even send the journalist on an all-expenses-paid overseas vacation, away from the prying eyes of his or her media colleagues. Sometimes, it takes as little as a regular, generous round of drinks "for the boys" at a favorite journalists' hangout.

In exchange, a PR person expects favorable coverage of his clients or principals. Sometimes, an operator is satisfied with a simple alert from a "friend" in the newsroom about a particular item that might affect a client. The operator would then issue a quick rebuttal, and by the time the news item sees print, the client's side is already included.

In many cases, the operator ensures that favorable coverage himself, and no one is often the wiser, except for his few select friends in the newsroom.

One PR practitioner describes the process, which those in the business refer to as "layering." The handlers first divide the labor, and assignments are done. The "good man" is the "formal" PR person who deals with the media openly. His functions include issuing press releases or speaking on behalf of the principal. There is also a "bad man" or a "bag man" who distributes the "envelopes" to reporters and editors. The "bad man" also makes the calls to the newsrooms to give specific instructions to the friendly editors on how to spin a particular story or to have it spiked altogether. A press release can even be released in toto, with a regular reporter's byline just slapped on it right before it is published. The "bad man" obviously operates in the shadows and is not seen in the public operations of the "good man."

One female reporter says she and many of her colleagues know which among their editors are on the payroll of operators. But she says, "We choose to keep quiet about it because our respective editors do not do anything to reprimand the editors on the take. It is normal among beat reporters to fear being punished by editors on the take through various means such as refusal to use our story. Punishment can (also) border on sexual harassment."

Some reporters say they get reminded about their editors' "special ties" with operators even outside of the newsroom. One journalist says that a PR practitioner she bumped into at a press conference made it a point to tell her "your editor is a very good friend." Then the PR person called the editor on his cell phone just to say that the reporter was there.

Another journalist says that after he and other reporters got into a heated exchange with the media handler of a presidential candidate, he got a message from his editor: "Ease up. He is my kumpare (close friend)." The reporter says what further riled him was that his editor did not even bother to investigate the incident first.