PR Chief Says He’s No Spin Doctor

Chris Komisarjevsky, 53, is chief executive of public relations firm Burson-Marsteller Worldwide, a unit of Young & Rubicam. Before assuming that role in September, Komisarjevsky was head of Burson-Marsteller in the United States, where its clients include Chevron Corp. and Philip Morris Cos. Though well-known among spinmeisters, Burson-Marsteller maintains a low public profile. It is perhaps best known to Californians for its lobbying on behalf of Philip Morris against the state smoking ban and its role in organizing a smokers rights group called the National Smokers Alliance. Komisarjevsky’s profile seems fairly low even within his firm. A receptionist spelled his first name with a “K” and the PR firm’s media contact couldn’t pronounce his last name. Accompanied by three of his own PR people, Komisarjevsky talked with Times staff writer Denise Gellene when he visited Los Angeles this week. What follows is an edited transcript.

Question: You said you hate the concept of “spin.” Isn’t that what you do?

Answer: No, that is not what we do. I hate the concept of spin because it assumes that people are stupid and I think it is really disrespectful. We believe that people are intelligent. . . . We believe that clients should give them information that is factual and straightforward to help them make decisions.

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Q: When you talk about spin, that is something your client Philip Morris has been accused of. To cite one example: Philip Morris reportedly funded a movement among bartenders earlier this year to [rescind] state legislation forbidding smoking in bars. And Burson-Marsteller handled the PR for that.

A: I don’t know the specifics of the situation with Philip Morris you’re talking about. If someone calls me a spin doctor, I don’t like it. It doesn’t mean I won’t make things interesting and exciting.

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Q: What is driving the growth of your business in California?

A: Growth is across the board, marketing [public relations], corporate [public relations] and public affairs [lobbying].

California for us is a very important market. One-third of all the new people we hired in the United States in 1998 [20 of 60 employees] were in California. That says something about the opportunity.

California is seen, as we all know, as a place where there is great innovation. There is tremendous diversity here. It is a bellwether state, politically and economically. It is a gateway to Asia. It is very important.

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Q: How is the Internet affecting the PR business?

A: I think in many ways we are all in the early stages of learning about the Internet. What we’ve learned is that it is an extraordinarily powerful vehicle for providing information. . . .

It has the potential to create informed opinions [and] provide good information. It also has the potential for misinformation because anybody can say anything they want in complete freedom. And anybody can read it and accept it as gospel. . . .

Part of the process of creating opinions is to give clients a frame of reference for thinking about the things being said out there--good, bad or indifferent--and then trying to interject ourselves into the dialogue. . . . I think we are in the very early stages of looking at that and how to do it.

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Q: Is the Internet regarded as a credible source of information?

A: With other media, there is a body of knowledge that tells you what is credible. That is why people sit with the Los Angeles Times, the Wall Street Journal, [ABC’s] “20/20.” They are credible. The National Enquirer is not.

For the message to be credible, the vehicle has to be credible. With the Internet, we are not sure what [vehicle] is credible. We don’t know how to answer that.

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Q: Have you drawn any conclusions about what works on the Internet?

A: I think corporate Web sites are helpful as a starting point. I think you can create a virtual press room, where somebody can click on it and take a look at what the recent corporate earnings releases were. I think that is all possible. I am just not sure that it is any more proactive than any other technique [for distributing information].