Public Relations Master Class with Peter Himler

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Public relations is skill learned best through experience. In this exclusive interview – which is pretty much a recorded public relations master class – Peter Himler goes deep into public relations agency best practices.

Peter Himler is the principal of Flatiron Communications, a PR firm in New York City. He was the Chief Media Officer at Edelman and spent 11 years at Burson-Marsteller as head of media strategic and worldwide spokesperson.

Prior to Burson-Marsteller, Peter was media director for six years at the public relations firm WPP, sister PR agency Cohn & Wolfe, preceded by five years at public relations firm Hill and Knowlton, where he led its broadcast and consumer media group.

Peter is president of the Publicity Club of New York. He also sits on the Communications Committee for United Way of NYC and on the Board of Advisors for the Communications and Media Studies Program at Tufts University.

Last year, PR News named him Public Relations Consultant of the Year, and PR Week awarded the eight-year PR program he led for the World War II Memorial its Public Sector Campaign of the Year.

Public Relations Tips for Senior-Level Practitioners

5:26 – Peter Himler on why there is a negative image of the PR consultants.

6:36 – Himler talks about whether blogging can improve the PR consulting trade’s reputation.

7:54 – Himler shares his views on public relations agency leader Lizzie Grubman.

9:11 – Himler discusses why Page Six is still an institution: “Gossip has grown up and is all over…The Post Page Six…it tends to lead to a lot of other news media coverage and gets picked up…”

11:21 – Himler talks about the extortion scandal involving Jared Paul Stern.

13:19 – Himler on whether our fixation with famous people and celebrity PR.

14:56 – Himler discusses whether the desire for attention motivates PR consultants to blog.

16:56 – Himler on the dichotomy in PR agency consulting: “…we’re caught between our need to command and control the message…and also the importance of being transparent and full disclosure…”

20:26 – Himler talks about whether there is a difference between declassification and leaking information concerning the Scooter Libby document.

21:43 – Himler on whether there is a conflict of interest for PR consultants who blog about their clients and their speaking engagements: “I think to write a blog for the express purposes of promoting a client would be disingenuous.”

23:43 – Himler talks about whether PR agency consultants need to denote if they are talking about a client on their blog.

25:10 – Himler on how citizen journalism and the blogosphere impact the mainstream media public relations: “…the once powerful mainstream earth-shaking media don’t have that kind of power anymore.”

27:47 – Himler talks about the Jeff Jarvis incident with Dell.

30:18 – Himler talks about the effect of Jeff Jarvis’s “personal crusade” against Dell.

31:41 – End.