Steven Purcell, the former Glasgow City Council leader resigned last week amid rumours of alcohol and drug abuse, could have possibly returned to politics in the future, had his departure not been handled badly by so called ‘PR gurus’.Purcell, who was once touted as a future First Minister candidate ignored the advice from fellow councillors to come clean (excuse the pun) about his vices and thus not closing the door on a political comeback sometime in the future. Instead the 37 year-old enlisted the help of Glasgow-based PR firm Media House to handle the situation.
It was his decision to hire one of the major players in Scotland’s media scene that inevitably alerted the press to the fact that there was more to the story that met the eye. It was widely reported throughout the week that Jack Irvine, executive chief of Media House refused a number of draft resignation proposals from Glasgow City Council that referred to Purcell’s ‘chemical dependency’ and recommended stating a ‘leave of absence on medical advice’.
Irvine’s attempt to hoax the media into believing Purcell’s problems were limited to stress and exhaustion was foolish and failed to take into consideration the rumours that were already circulation on the internet. Political blogger Guido Fawkes’ order-order website was rife with conspiracies surrounding Purcell’s departure and it seemed that for every rumour Jack Irvine and co. tried to mask another five were leaked to the press or released online. The most severe example of these being that Purcell apparently tried to commit suicide while in a rehab clinic. This crisis highlights the fact that PR firms can do their utmost to limit traditional media speculation but the same cannot be applied to the internet.
In my opinion the public deserved to know the details surrounding Purcell’s resignation. At the end of the day, this guy earned £60,000 a year, was in charge of 30,000 staff and a budget of £2 billion. Surely the Glasgow tax payers have a right to know he also had a class A drug habit?
It seems to be the end of the line for Purcell...
Till the introduction of social media for sure PR specialists had better control on the rumors published and therefore, could better protect the image of their client. As the use of social media spreads, every company / organization / group or individual may “feed’ a story based on its perspective or its scopes. PR may limit the negative impact of the comments published by making a very good scanning of the social media and making a hierarchical list of importance based on the subject that they have to deal with. On the other hand, although it sounds a bit theoretical, every person that posts a comment on the Internet has a responsibility on what he/she writes as each comment may have a dramatic impact on a person’s life. It is very important for all of us not only to learn how to use social media in terms of technical terms but also in an ethical social responsible manner.
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