State Wants to Make PR People Register as Lobbyists to Talk to the Press
The state of New York wants to make PR people register with the state as lobbyists if they want to try to get a journalist to write an editorial in favor of a client.
The latest version of a new rule out of Albany’s ethics commission stipulates that “a public relations consultant who contacts a media outlet in an attempt to get it to advance the client’s message in an editorial would also be delivering a message”—meaning that said PR people would be considered lobbyists under the law and would have to register with the state as such.
The PR industry (on both sides of the political spectrum) is predictably up in arms about this requirement. The state branch of the ACLU is also opposed to the new rule.
Far be it from us to do or say anything favorable to the PR industry, but: requiring people to register with the government in exchange for the right to talk to the free press about government activities is a very bad idea.
