Sports PR guy: Toughest part of job is ‘learning how to lie’
An anonymous public relations professional wrote a scathing confessional about the role of sports publicists, which one PR exec called ‘sensationalism and nothing more.’
After working as a sports journalist, no story about athletes behaving badly will ever surprise me, and it should shock no one to learn that some of them are less than saints (especially those who are Saints).
On the Gawker-owned sports blog Deadspin, a writer named “Anonymous PR Guy” claims he is telling lies on behalf of these athletes.
To wit:
“One of the toughest jobs of a publicist is learning how to lie. It’s the one thing about my career that keeps me awake at night. I’m not looking for sympathy—I chose this profession. But as some of you know, it can be a dangerous circle, telling lies to keep other lies intact.
“Sometimes I lie to my client’s friends, or his wife, or his girlfriend, or his other family members. Quite often I lie to the public.”
More highlights (or, perhaps more accurately, lowlights):
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