1. NEVER SAY OR PUBLISH ANYTHING YOU CANNOT PROVE OR DOCUMENT.

2. ALWAYS DOCUMENT THE TRUTH TO OPPOSE LIES.

These two rules are a PR’s safe ground.

Violating them can bring on catastrophe!

About the most trouble that can be caused by violations of rule one is to tell several versions of a tale that then by their own contradiction bring about the collapse of creditability.

On the second rule, letting any lie remain disproven can be a fatal course. Dead agenting — as this is called — is a VITAL PR function.

The art of PR consists of how the truth is told and how the lie is disproven.

PR is not a dry-as-dust activity. One could follow the above two rules in a variety of moods.

Truth can be revealed in an enhancing way, a dull way, a derogatory way.

Lies can be disproven spectacularly or dully or in a derogatory fashion.

The imagination of the good PR is wholly exercised only in how he is doing rules one and two.

A very bad and dangerous PR exercises his imagination in inventing the “truth” and the disproof of lies. In this way he erects a structure any baby can topple over.

There is NO limit to the amount of imagination a PR can use PROVIDING he does not violate the above two rules.

If this seems a contradiction, let us examine examples.

Statement about the PR’s subject by PR: “He drives.” “He is a good driver.” “He is a fantastic driver.” Proof: He wins or has won a road rally. The imagination of the PR is employed in the mood of his statement and in his device to prove. Reversely, he has the proof already, so he can make the statement.

A foolish PR, in violation of rule one, says: “He is a world-champion driver.” The fact is, he had his license revoked for bad eyesight! What a picnic an enemy could have with that!

A lie example would be an enemy statement: “He can’t drive.” The DA would be showing his 20-year membership in the AAA and a safe driving award.

A violation of rule two would be a PR hearing an enemy statement “He can’t drive” and letting it go by! Or, hearing “He is a reckless driver,” showing a news clipping of his subject winning a speed rally!

Imagination plays its role in overall image planning and then selecting what can be proven easily and then building it up.

Also imagination plays its role in rule two in leading a hostile person into uttering lies which can be wiped out by the DA book in the PR’s lap simply by opening it. And then opening another display that shows the hostile person had lost seven suits for libel and slander he has uttered against others!

There are other ways of applying imagination to rule two. One would be to let half a dozen hostile statements one cannot easily disprove pass (in one debate or article) and leap all over the seventh which can be documented as false and then winding the whole scene into a hurricane around that seventh!

But whatever you do, do NOT violate the two basic rules ever, for that is the road to PR disaster.

PR does not quite follow (as intelligence work does) the rules of warfare. Deception is NOT a legitimate PR action.

The road to power in PR must be built on a highroad of truth.