PR practitioner Reli German on Monday bristled at remarks made by former Chief Justice Reynato Puno who had said the “truth is the first victim of spin doctors.”
“This rather sweeping statement fails to take into account the various factors and limitations that people in the communications business have to deal with,” German said in a statement.
Puno, speaking before religious and civil leaders at the Baguio Convention Center last Saturday, said spin doctors were dictating on the choice for a “new leader who would save the people from poverty.”
“As always in these kinds of political exercises, the first victim is the truth,” Puno had said.
German explained that PR practitioners and strategists like himself based their work “largely on the information and briefings” supplied to them.
“But we endeavor to supplement this by conducting our own research and making our assessment of the situation. We then put in a creative spin to make the subjects more appealing to the target audience,” he said.
“We make out positive perceptions based on reality. Thus, PR [equals] perception and reality,” he said.
“Sadly, CJ Puno has this perception of spin doctors that is not based on hard reality. Such irony,” he added.
German, however, said it was “gratifying” that Puno acknowledged “the fault of a political structure that refuses to change.”
“This fault includes corruption, political dynasties, vote-buying and vote-selling, lack of transparency in the voting process, and the highly questionable process in the canvassing and transmission of election results,” German said.
He said the points raised by Puno were symptoms of “what have been ailing our political system and our society.”
“Allow me to point out that a paid hack will not let the truth get in the way of a good story. A good spin doctor, on the other hand, will never let a good story get in the way of the truth,” he said.