The Image of Public Relations in Germany: A Study
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Introduction: PR in Germany Facing Great Challenges
Jürgen Pitzer, President, DPRG - The German Public Relations Association
2 October 2003

German PR professionals working for companies, organisations, social institutions and agencies are facing growing challenges. In particular, some incidents in connection with last year’s election campaign in Germany have given rise to doubts about the power and means as well as the necessary limits to the influence of candidates’ PR consultants, so-called “spin doctors”, who have increasingly attracted public attention themselves. The discussion is not only about how much “spin” may be given to a topic for presentation to the public without deviating from the truth. In the U.K., this question is currently being explored by an investigating committee. We also have to ask ourselves whether or not the German public clearly understands who holds up whose flag in the public discussion, i.e. the question is about the legitimacy of lobbyism, so that lobbying remains possible even in the increasingly complex universe of the Berlin Republic. Compared with other countries, it seems that some things in Germany need to be regulated by a transparency codex, something which a group of experts headed by the author has started to work on. For everyone involved in the lobbying process - classical lobbyists working on behalf of companies, associations as well as the PR agencies specialising in public affairs, lawyers, academics and others - should strive for more transparency as demanded by the German public in the media. 

This includes of course the cooperation with the press which has been hit by the dramatic development in the German media industry. The narrower economic basis for quality journalism presents a new challenge for professional PR in Germany. What we need in particular for the increasingly complex presentation of reality is knowledgeable journalism, if we do not want to foster a situation in which emotions instead of arguments determine the public discussion. In this context the concentration process and economic dependence of publishing houses is really alarming.

In the aftermath of spectacular company breakdowns with a criminal background in the USA, Europe and in Germany, the business world faces the difficult task to re-inspire confidence. In view of the past experience, this is a lengthy and complex process requiring professional PR work which forms a unified whole. Accordingly, companies are networking their individual communication tasks in order to ensure a uniform presentation to all target groups for a maximum effect and without any contradictions. Under the heading of “Integrated Communication”, strategic PR is fulfilling an increasingly important role. In view of the growing international orientation of many - also mid-sized - companies and the chances offered by new media like the Internet, we face the task that internal and external communication have to be orchestrated effectively according to several aspects. This requires a strategy for optimisation in line with the contribution to the value added by the individual elements of communication.

In addition to the challenges thus arising for education and training, we also have to face the challenges with regard to increased basic research to find out more about the effects and interactions between the individual areas. And there are starting points for an increased internationalisation by means of which a number of German PR work is positioning itself on an international level.

In the framework of the expansion of communication tasks, a special focus is on capital market communication. Companies increasingly depend on the rating by the capital market, i.e. by rating agencies and analysts and in the course of Basle II also the ratings assigned by banks. In addition to the professional preparation of financial data, the entire positioning of a company is a task which is central to strategic PR work. The association of PR professionals in Germany, Deutsche Public Relations Gesellschaft, sees a special focus of its activities here, having placed the issue of a professional approach centre-stage in education and training, by developing a qualification structure and by the initialisation of a dedicated financial PR course at the Johannes-Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz.

Another permanent challenge is PR work for the PR industry. An initial survey about the image of this profession commissioned by DPRG has shown that there is a great potential for improvement here. In view of the heterogeneous tasks and the asymmetric image (meaning that only negative examples are registered by the broad public), this is understandable.

It is all the more important to highlight positive examples by way of the German PR award for excellent PR work and thus create a counterbalance contributing to the PR industry’s positive image. 

Jürgen Pitzer
President
DPRG - The German Public Relations Association