The Pharmaceutical Journal Vol 265 No 7110 p266
August 19, 2000 Letters

The Journal

A channel for two-way communication

From Mr P. Paul, MCIJ

SIR,-No professional communicator could fail to be interested by The Pharmaceutical Journal's report of the Council's debate on the replacement of its about-to-depart editor (PJ, August 12, p229).
Having been responsible for the public relations representation of two state industries (the Central Electricity Generating Board and the Post Office) and after 14 years of similar functions for two professional bodies (six as director of PR to the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors and eight as director of PR to the [pre-Royal] Pharmaceutical Society of Great Britain), may I offer a few thoughts that might be helpful to the decision-makers in this matter?

• 1. No one resigns from a unique position, attained and retained during many years of conscientious endeavour, without being prompted by highly compelling factors
• 2. Before seeking a successor, wise administrators would prioritise detailed inquiries concerning those issues
• 3. There is no more certain way of minimising the readership penetration of a house journal than that its recipients perceive it as the mouthpiece of the governing body, produced for the sole purpose of "selling" the leadership's ideas
• 4. A truly independently conducted house journal is as advantageous to a democratically operated leadership as it is to its readership, acting as a channel for two-way communication and as a buffer against extremism on either side

The classic example of editorial independence that stands out in my mind arises from my time as a reporter on the Daily Express. The paper was owned by Lord Beaverbrook (whose clear managerial thinking had been amply proven by his success as Minister for Aircraft Production during the 1939-45 war) but he allowed the editor, Arthur Christiansen, unimpeded freedom of editorial judgment. He even permitted the paper's "star" cartoonist, Low, to depict him as a grotesque dwarf - proof that wise proprietorship does not always demand flattery.

Philip Paul
Chairman, Health and Medical Public Relations Association