What PR Pros Can Learn from Wendell Potter, APR

If the title of Wendell Potter’s new book, “Deadly Spin,” doesn’t make his focus clear, then the cover copy certainly does: “An insurance company insider speaks out on how corporate PR is killing health care and deceiving Americans.”

Potter, a veteran corporate communicator in health care and an Accredited member of PRSA, takes direct aim at unethical PR practices and unethical professionals — and fires first at himself.

“About forty-five thousand people die in America every year because they have no health insurance,” he writes. “I am partly responsible for some of the deaths making up that statistic.” That stark admission sets the tone of the book, a cautionary tale for PR professionals, educators and students.

Ethical PR professionals have nothing to fear from Potter’s tale of personal redemption. He writes: “It is not my intention to write a book that condemns an entire profession. Many — probably most — PR professionals follow guidelines established years ago by the Public Relations Society of America, an organization that encourages ethical behavior among its members and all PR practitioners and of which I have been a proud member for more than three decades.”

Turning points

Potter graduated from the University of Tennessee (UT).At the School of Journalism, he studied under renowned educator Sammie Lynn Puett, a former editor now working as an assistant professor.Puett, who Passed away in 2000, was an inspiration and ethical role model for many UT graduates.

“It never dawned on me that I would do anything of which Puett would disapprove,” he writes.

Potter worked as a journalist in Washington, then moved into agency and hospital public relations, and was hired at CIGNA, one of the nation’s largest health insurers.

Sharing the blame

In the book, Potter names names, including major PR agencies and individual PR professionals, and takes his share of blame for using unethical practices — from front groups to bogus surveys and misleading statistics.

Initially, the spin seemed like part of the game to Potter — necessary to protect CIGNA’s reputation from criticism and attacks.“I didn’t feel then that we were doing anything unethical or underhanded. We were all well read and well educated ...Ate at the best restaurants, houses in the right zip codes. We were powerful and influential.The American dream didn’t get any better than this.”

But Potter admits to overusing alcohol to numb his growing sense of despair. The ethical practice of public relations that he learned as a student seemed like a distant memory.

He weaves a solid overview of the health insurance industry and health care reform into this personal narrative, providing useful insights for all readers.

Finally, Potter discusses his “epiphany” — two dramatic incidents that led him from successful and highly compensated insurance industry spokesperson to becoming its sharpest critic.

In July 2007, he visited a “free health fair” near his hometown in rural Tennessee while looking for information for a policy paper he was writing. He discovered “a war zone.” Potter saw Hundreds of people waiting in lines in the pouring rain for hours — all hoping to see a doctor or dentist and standing in pens and stalls usually used for animals at the county fair.

He had fed reporters carefully manipulated statistics to support CIGNA’s position that “most of the uninsured people in this country were lazy, irresponsible bums who were shirking their personal responsibility to buy coverage,” but learned that two-thirds of the people at this health fair had jobs but did not have health insurance.

Two weeks later, as he was flying on the CIGNA private jet, he thought about the residents of his hometown while staring at his lunch on a goldrimmed plate.Additionally, a reporter e-mailed Potter and asked why CIGNA refused to cover a liver transplant for Nataline Sarkisyan, a California teenager with leukemia.As it turns out, the company had decided that her transplant was “experimental,” despite compelling medical evidence to the contrary.Potter details how his team — with the help of several PR agencies — dug in, defended and tried to shift the blame.

Taking responsibility

For a PR professional, “Deadly Spin” is thought provoking and is also disturbing at times.Potter’s list of his spin tactics includes the clearly unethical — like front groups — but also explains tactics that any PR pro may Have on a daily “to do” list, from letters to the editor to self-serving talking points.Fortunately, he clarifies that it’s the intent and content that matter, and that even the most straightforward PR basics can become tainted when used to deceive and mislead.

Potter’s actions — first as an unethical practitioner, and then as what Time magazine called “the ideal whistle blower” — leave him open to criticism from his peers.Some critics have said that walking away from CIGNA,admitting fault and confessing publicly doesn’t atone for his previous behavior.I’ve also heard others say that he’s “unprofessional” for going public and attacking the industry as well as a company that had given him personal and financial success.

Potter made his decisions.As he shares his story, he compels all of us to examine our own principles and consider the question,“What would I do in a similar situation?”