PR people: Why the era of bullshit and spin is coming to an end

"Bullshit" is taken in the sense that is used by Prof. Henry Frankfort from Princeton University, in his brilliant On Bullshit, Winner of the 2005 Bestseller Awards, Philosophy Category, The Book Standard.

In this sense, the era of bullshit is disappearing because we are in the middle of

a reshaping of credibility from objectivity to transparency,

The good news is that the news media is being disintermediated by the internet. The new opportunity is for formal organizations to speak directly to their constituents. President Obama's use of the web and town halls is the best example to date.

Printernet publishing is a new print media. It enables the delivery of Print product to millions of people or to geographically scattered groups of interested people - investors? - overnight.

eaves.ca "If thinking is a muscle, this is my gym.
"In his Bertha Bassam lecture, this is precisely what David Weinberger brilliantly argues is already taking place:

“Wikipedia is far more credible because it shows us how the sausage is made makes Wikipedia far more credible. Yet this is exactly the stuff that the Britannica wont show us because they think it would make them look amateurish and take away from their credibility. But in fact transparency – which is what this is – is the new objectivity. We are not going to trust objectivity, we are not going to trust objectivity unless we can see the discussion that lead to it.”"

Such a transformation, a reshaping of credibility from objectivity to transparency, would have profound implications for every organization – corporate, non-profit and governmental – in our society.