Browne was speaking
to Radio 4's Today programme yesterday ahead of the publication of his new
book, Connect, which discusses the need for managers to take responsibility for
their companies and not hide behind PRs and CSR departments.
Asked
if firms should get rid of their PR departments, Browne said: "Probably,
yes. I think there’s obviously some sort of interface needed [with the media]
but there’s too much which is unrelated to the reality of what is actually
happening and too little understanding of how companies are affecting the
different bits of society they are involved in."
Browne
dismissed the suggestion that PR teams were needed to stop managers speaking
off the cuff. He said: "When something goes wrong, you need to say so.
Failure cannot be dressed up as a different form of success."
Browne
also said CSR departments had become "divorced" from the mainstream
of what their company does in real life.
He
said: "One of the props that people have relied upon is corporate social
responsibility, and that's allowed a lot of companies to detach the activity of
communicating and being involved with stakeholders almost into a side
pocket."
-PR Week
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