May 1, 2018
Thomas L. Harris, APR, Fellow PRSA, a longtime agency leader and decorated PRSA member, died on March 26 in his Highland Park, Ill., home. He was 86.
Harris, a recipient of PRSA’s highest individual honor — the Gold Anvil — in 2000, was a management consultant, an author and the former president/partner of GolinHarris (now Golin) during his storied career. In addition, he was an adjunct professor in the master’s program in Integrated Marketing Communications, Medill School of Journalism, Northwestern University.
I had the pleasure of knowing Tom from my early days at PRSA starting in 1994. He wrote several articles for us and served as a source on other stories. He was one of the first PR practitioners who I recall espousing the benefits of a truly integrated communications program.
Given the careers theme of this issue of Strategies & Tactics, I’m sharing his wisdom on being a professional communicator. Harris wrote the following tips for the Plank Center at the University of Alabama:
In a blog post from March 27, Ellen Ryan Mardiks, vice chair at Golin, recalled what Harris told his students before his retirement:
If public relations is to retain its position as the credible source, then we must not blur the line between information and propaganda, between advocacy and salesmanship. The old description of public relations as “the conscience of the corporation” is more relevant than ever in today’s complex society.
The highest calling of public relations is to keep our organizations on straight paths, to counsel the powers that be not just to say the right thing, but to do the right thing. Our greatest value to our organizations, the media and our stakeholders must always be to separate information from misinformation and disinformation, and tell it like it is.
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