• March 1, 2011

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is urging Congress not to rashly restrict the federal government's use of public relations agencies.

PRSA chair/CEO Rosanna M. Fiske sent a letter to Margaret Daum, staff director of the Senate Subcommittee on Contracting Oversight, which is scheduled to convene hearings on the matter today (March 1). The hearings will investigate the General Service Administration's use of PR firms, specifically a 2010 contract with Kansas City-based Jane Mobley Associates Inc.

Fiske's letter urges the Subcommittee to "consider the substantial public interest served by public relations and public affairs on behalf of the federal government," and to use discretion when attempting to characterize the federal government's use of those services and related firms.

Published "pejorative statements [from members of the Subcommittee], such as 'spending money to minimize bad publicity' and 'hiring someone to help [the government] spin,' are speculative misnomers that debase the important work being performed by approved federal contractors working on GSA-authorized contracts, whose main goal is to help inform the public of relevant issues," Fiske stressed in her letter.