Spin (public relations)

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In public relations, spin is a usually pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by their political opponents.

The term is borrowed from ball sports such as cricket, where a spin bowler may impart spin on the ball during a delivery so that it will curve through the air or bounce in an advantageous manner.

Because of the frequent association between "spin" and press conferences (especially government press conferences), the room in which these take place is sometimes described as a spin room. A group of people who develop spin may be referred to as "spin doctors" who engage in "spin doctoring" for the person or group that hired them.

Overview

The techniques of spin include:

• Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support one's position (cherry picking)
• Non-denial denial
• Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven truths
• Euphemisms to disguise or promote one's agenda

Another spin technique involves the delay in the release of bad news so it can be hidden on the back of more important or favorable news or events. A famous reference to this practice occurred when UK government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury in an email sent on September 11, 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.

Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called "spin doctors", though probably not to their faces unless it is said facetiously. It is the PR equivalent of calling a writer a "hack." Perhaps the most well-known person in the UK often described as a "spin doctor" is Alastair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair's public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.

The American talk & radioshow-host Bill O'Reilly calls his show the No Spin Zone to emphazise his claim of dislike of the phenomenon.

See also

• Astroturfing
• Code word (figure of speech)
• Doublespeak
• Framing (communication theory)
• Information subsidy
• Managing the news
• Media manipulation
• Propaganda
• Soundbite
• Weasel word

External links

• Christian Science Monitor: [The spin room - oily engine of the political meat grinder]
• Outfoxed: [OUTFOXED: Rupert Murdoch's War on Journalism]
• [Spin of the Day] - Center for Media and Democracy
• [Spinwatch] monitors spin and propaganda

 

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