Jay is right. I had this conversation with a former boss many years ago. He preferred to think of us as attorneys for the Court of Public Opinion and would take any client. I have since rejected a few clients on the basis of ethics and general discomfort with what some have stood for. I only say this to reinforce Jay's point, and to make the point that whether Selig is making money or not, "noble" is his word, not ours. Krystle, I would disagree that his clients are lucky to have him. A good PR person would think of what the right things are these people should be doing from a PR standpoint and advising that. Counseling clients to brazenly participate in media tours makes a circus out of our business and the media, which really doesn't need our help.

Better advice would be to seek lower profiles, modify their behavior and cooperate with the authorities as best as possible. In short, operate in the interest of the public good and not in your own interest in public. This is basic PR, but it requires a certain degree of humility and dare I say it, morality. I suspect Selig cares as much about those values as he does our perception of him.

There is no right -- constitutional or otherwise -- to professional representation in the court of public opinion.

He represents these clients because he chooses to -- that says as much about him as it does about them.

I don't know how to put this to the gallery, but in simple terms, he isn't representing the PR profession. He's representing his clients.

He takes on the hard cases, and he's booking business. We may not appreciate his style, but I'll bet you he doesn't care a bit about that.

And you actually alluded to why he's booking business: in a world increasingly filled with yellow, attack-dog hack jobs masquerading as "journalists", maybe a brass-knuckled, old-school flack/press agent is thick-skinned enough to handle it.

I'm sure his clients get lots of state of the art media training and practice before being thrown to the wolves. For all you say about these people, they're scarily polished and well rehearsed when you see them on the air.

Better him doing that than us. Then again, he is booking steady business these days ...

Ever heard the saying, "there's something out there for everyone?" Well, maybe Selig feels his calling is defending those who are less-than-honorable in the public eye. This doesn't excuse his indignant attitude, or the bad name that he gives the rest of us, but being that I would never give Peterson, Blago or Anthony the time of day, they're pretty lucky to have him. It is sad that a practitioner with so much potential would waste his time on such losers when there are so many truly noble things that need defending in this world.

Please check out the blog by Tehama Group Communications, student-managed PR firm on the Chico State campus, and let us know what you think. This is our first semester implementing a blog, so any feedback from the 'veterans' is helpful.

What we witnessed this last week was one very sad spectacle for a profession that, while never held to the standards of say, investment banking or even politics, nevertheless continues to at least strive for a modicum of respectability. The sadness lay not so much in the now ex-governor’s search for his version of truth and justice, but in the “publicity plan” and firm that devised it; and one assumes was paid handsomely for its execution.

It’s not that Blagojevich didn’t deserve PR advice, for he surely did every bit as much as insurance giant, AIG, did upon learning of their need for redemption in the press (as well as a large hunk of federal cash.) But rather than pay the princely sum of $100,000 per month in retainers and hourly fees to Burson-Marsteller, Governor Blagojevich chose to summon the keen insights of the PR firm that gave such great advice to Drew Peterson, run by the guy that none other than Ms. Media Credibility, herself, Nancy Grace, refers to as “The PR Guru”…Glen Selig and the Publicity Agency. Just how much, I wonder, did the ex-governor have to pay to gain exposure on just about every talk show currently on the air...not surely enough to make up for becoming a walking, talking target and joke. Mr. Selig clearly was not responsible for the ruination of Blagojevich’s political career or alleged illegal acts. Blago did a wonderful job of this all on his own. But without question, his subsequent descent into becoming a truly memorable and long standing punch line and poster boy for modern media self-flagellation is owed to the modest efforts of Mr. Selig and his firm. A firm that bills itself as “the only PR firm created and staffed by former journalists.Which means we know news better than any other agency out there. So if your goal is to land news coverage or manage news coverage, there is no agency better than our agency.”

Really? The only PR firm staffed by former journalists? I can name literally hundreds, including my own, INK inc. No agency better at news coverage or managing news coverage…? Was this sad spectacle of a ruined Illinois politico traipsing from one talk show to another, a sound example of garnering coverage or managing the news? Not to most of the PR agencies I’m familiar with, nor the clients that really deserve coverage of newsworthy happenings that might actually enrich or expand or inform their audiences. Most of us in this profession take pride in the real work and process of gaining both the attention and the coverage of the news media. It’s damn hard work and it takes a collaborative effort between the client, the news media and the PR rep to see it through to success.

But the media itself is not without blame for this spectacle, or for PR firms like Mr. Selig’s, that cater to its insatiable appetite for the bizarre, controversial, and even grossly sad. I wish the media that truly pander to this type of “news” were still the exception, and by and large, they are. But broadcast media in particular, is seeing sensationalism crowd journalism for airtime. It doesn’t take much skill (and little to no scruples) to “manage the news” by asking these types of media outlets for interview time with a controversial subject…newsworthy or not. (If David Frost could get a “confession” from Nixon, no telling what Whoopi will get out of Blago!)

Unfortunately this type of “Blago PR Circus” is growing and going to be around as long as there are clients in search of perceived media redemption, media outlets more interested in gotcha’s and scoops than journalism, and PR firms willing to suck up to both.

There are always PR people out there who will do (and spin) just about anything for a buck; how great for these "alleged" criminals that there's someone out there "noble" enough to take on their cause.