P. R. IMAGE GONE TO POT

• Document Type: CREST
• Collection: General CIA Records
• Document Number (FOIA) /ESDN (CREST): CIA-RDP73-00475R000401400001-8
• Release Decision: RIPPUB
• Original Classification: K
• Document Page Count: 1
• Document Creation Date: December 27, 2016
• Document Release Date: January 8, 2014
• Sequence Number: 1
• Publication Date: December 1, 1966
• Content Type: OPEN SOURCE

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Declassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release
? DEC 1
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50-Yr 2014/01/08 : CIA-RDP73-00475R000401400001-8
?z7:-.211i1 Lialtter Side
. R. Image
.Gone.to Pot
, Ey DICK WEST " ? ?
Dick VIsst
? ? i
WASHINGTON (UPD TM. cultivation.
;
'
public relations business, "
t told, is seething with internal: ?
r strife over a move to improve I.
Its oWn inlage.
!-;;: The object of dispute is an
'accreditation process worked
i? out by the Public Relations-?
,Society of AmerIcti. To become
"PRSA accredited," a member
1.???? must pass an eight-hour written; ?
test followed by a three-hour
oral exam.
The idea is to give the P.R./
business more of a professional
7-aura.
, The Washington PRSA chap-
tor recently held a cram session
:e. help Its members prepare for
lites ordeal. Which would indi-
t, rate the quiz ifs pretty"
tl.formidable,
However, one member who '
? has already taken it told me
t; (hat "any working journalist"
could pass it without difficulty. ?
Necertheless, some P.R. men
bitterly oppose the accreditation ,
. ?
program. They' resent having to
' submit to testing, they claimed
.1 P.R. talent cannot be reduced
Ito paper and in some cases they _?
suspect it will be used to try to ?
force ..them out.
??1' 1.`? I ran Into ' one of the ;
'dissidents the other evening ?,.'
i.,when I. sticped by the National ??
t Press/ Club te participate lin-it-LI%
Although the indb&" Anti.* ',POP'
rather thick, I espied 'at one end
of the barroom a local 1.2./1,
Man whom I shall identify here
as Eaterhazy Flack,
He had a flagon of mead at
his elbow and was morosely
taklng deep draughts, pcuictuat..,
ed by sorroful sighs.. .1
sin what we used to call a.-
press agent," Flack said when I!
inquired ink, the cause of his'?
melancholy. "But that term)
isn't used any more. It's A'
matter of imagery, you see.
"While we were busy improv-
ing the, images of our client,
our own image was going to I
pot. People somehow got the ?'?
impression that prest agents
were undignified.
"Then the good fairy came
along and turned us into
publicists. That helped smile but
it still didn't sound properly
dignified. So all of us publicists':
went lo Baltimore for an ?
operation that changed us Into
public relations consultants.
"Now they're trying to give '?
us a professional status, like,:
! ? ?
? ! V "t ?
I 4. ? a. ?
??? ???? "1.
.? ? '4 ?
? ? ? ?
doctors and lawyers. Accredit/L. ? ?
tion exams! Did you ever hear,1 ,
of anything o
In this business
and ? now .Fve got to waste an
entire' day proving that, I kno?
how to., take: ac: nawapapermiut
lunch ", ? ? -? %-,'? ? ,
years
?
?
?
. I
? ?
. ?
?
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1; ?
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nRciassified in Part - Sanitized Copy Approved for Release g 50-Yr 2014/01/08: CIA-RDP73-00475R000401400001-8