Bevan Springer
I am extremely thankful and quite frankly overwhelmed by the outpouring of support by colleagues in the media, communications and tourism business following last week's column in which I made the case for practising both public relations and journalism while maintaining one's integrity in the context of the Caribbean's travel and tourism industry.
Admittedly, I also received feedback from a couple of dissenting voices who believe it is a conflict of interest to pursue simultaneous careers in both fields, and who clearly prefer media professionals to remain in their assigned boxes.
While being sidelined from a recent tourism convention as a journalist on the recommendation of PR operatives who view me as competition (in spite of my carrying both banners for almost two decades), it is noteworthy that many other Caribbean, South American, Canadian, American and European journalists who simultaneously operate within both spheres continue to be invited to attend these all expenses paid trips, a courtesy which is extended to key media professionals covering the travel and tourism sector.
"Why are some so bent on forcing others into a box?" asked Washington DC-based journalist and communications executive Ian Edwards in response to last week's article.
"I guess it's always been like that: In school they tell you boys are supposed to do certain subjects and girls certain others. From as long as I've been breathing I've defied being defined in those neat little boxes, having found my forté as much in foreign languages as in Maths and Technical Drawing, and daring to
do the Sciences at 'A' Levels, but with Spanish as well. Press on Brother, with the confidence that any resistance or opposition you run into is likely a manifestation of envy or some combination of people's personal issues coming to the fore because you have dared to live out your dream (and perhaps because you dare to dream, in the first place).
A "David", writing from the northeast, called on your humble scribe to "heed some advice from some of us who've been there and done that," maintaining that "media and PR are two separate and distinct ventures in the Caribbean and everywhere else; the more you are part of one and committed to it the less ethical it is to do the other."
Not so, according to Cuban scribe Elsy Garzon who maintains that "a journalist is a public relations officer, whether or not he or she gets paid for it."
"In Havana, the faculty's name is Social Communication, comprising journalism and public relations. That is because they are very closely related, both wings of the same bird and both communicating with the public. The ethics of both lies on being true to that public and not distorting what your information source says.
"When I was editor in chief of the business weekly Negocios en Cuba, there was some criticism from the same cave people everywhere that we were in conflict of interest, because journalists are not supposed to promote, to sell anyone's product, but to stick to facts. But when that product is made by your people and benefits them to be known and sold over the world, you do public good by promoting it. These incidents and blabber (reported in last week's column) only make us aware of the long struggle ahead of us. Forward, march."
As this topic continues to be ventilated into the new year, it is of paramount importance that we recognize that Caribbean journalists have an important role to play in the region's development process by sharing information that empowers our publics.
This is exactly what many journalists bring to the field of public relations. Rather than promoting fluff and spinning the news, our focus has been on telling the news like a true journalist would. Telling the truth is what works best in both professions.
Barbados Advocate columnist Dr. Basil Springer, who also is my father, puts it this way: "We in the Caribbean tend to focus too much on conflicts of interest, instead of converting our gifts, talents and abilities into value, thereby furthering development objectives."
As some continue to posture and pay lip service, we press ahead for the good of our people at home and abroad.
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