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that publish an ethical code. Still, Edelman's 2003 semi- unproven truths, euphemisms for drawing attention away
annual trust survey found that only 20 percent of survey from items considered distasteful, and ambiguity in public
respondents from the public believed paid communicators statements. Another spin technique involves careful choice
within a company were credible. of timing in the release of certain news so it can take
advantage of prominent events in the news.
Public relations people are growing increasingly concerned
with their company's marketing practices, questioning Negative public relations, also called dark public relations
whether they agree with the company's social responsibility. (DPR) and in some earlier writing "Black PR", is a process
They seek more influence over marketing and more of a of destroying the target's reputation and/or corporate
counseling and policy-making role. On the other hand, identity. The objective in DPR is to discredit someone else,
marketing people are increasingly interested in who may pose a threat to the client's business or be a
incorporating publicity as a tool within the realm political rival. DPR may rely on some important aspects like,
marketing.According to Scott Cutlip, the social justification IT security, industrial espionage, social engineering, and
for public relations is the right for an organization to have competitive intelligence involved therein. Common
a fair hearing of their point of view in the public forum, but techniques include using dirty secrets from the target,
to obtain such a hearing for their ideas requires a skilled producing misleading facts to fool a competitor. In politics,
advocate. a decision to use negative PR is also known as negative
campaigning.
Spin has been interpreted historically to mean overt deceit
meant to manipulate the public, but since the 1990s has In Propaganda (1928), Bernays argued that the
shifted to describing a "polishing of the truth." Today, spin manipulation of public opinion was a necessary part of
refers to providing a certain interpretation of information democracy. In public relations, lobby groups are created to
meant to sway public opinion. Companies may use spin to influence government policy, corporate policy or public
create the appearance of the company or other events are opinion, typically in a way that benefits the sponsoring
going in a slightly different direction than they actually are. organization.In fact, Bernays stresses that we are in fact
Within the field of public relations, spin is seen as a dominated in almost every aspect of our lives, by a
derogatory term, interpreted by professionals as meaning relatively small number of persons who have mastered the
blatant deceit and manipulation. Skilled practitioners of spin 'mental processes and social patterns of the masses,' which
are sometimes called "spin doctors." include our behaviour, political and economic spheres or our
morals. In theory, each individual chooses his own opinion
In the book written by Stuart Ewen - captioned 'PR! A Social on behaviour and public issues.
History of Spin'- he argued that public relations can be a
real menace to democracy as it renders the public discourse However, in practice, it is impossible for one to study all
powerless. Corporations are able to hire public relations variables and approaches of a particular question and come
professionals and transmit their messages through the to a conclusion without any external influence. This is the
media channels and exercise a huge amount of influence reason why the society has agreed upon an 'invisible
upon the individual who is defenceless against such a government' to interpret on our behalf information and
powerful force. He claims that public relations is a weapon narrow the choice field to a more practical scale. Politicians
for capitalist deception and the best way to resist is to also employ such strategic professionalsto help project their
become media literate and use critical thinking when views, policies, and even personalities to their best
interpreting the various mediated messages. advantages-like, Mr. Prashant Kishor worked as the
election strategist for Aam Aadmi Party in 2020 Delhi
The techniques of spin include selectively presenting facts and Legislative Assembly election. Finally the result was - Aam
quotes that support ideal positions (cherry picking), the so- Aadmi Party managed to win with a sweeping majority of
called "non-denial denial," phrasing that in a way presumes 62 out of 70 seats in that election process.

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