The Australian - 4th February 2002 - (Australia)
Success spun from PR's dirty tricks
PERCHED
on a big, comfortable sofa in the living room of his
fashionable worker's cottage in Perth, David Michie
talks about his initiation into the shadowy world of
the "invisible persuaders".
The banking public relations consultant turned spin
doctor was so mesmerised by what he uncovered, he turned
his experiences into a series of books and possibly
a new literary genre: the public relations thriller.
With three books already published and another on the way, Mr Michie's time at the apex of the spin industry was immensely profitable. But the author recalls how he was shocked at the cut-throat industry and some of the unsavoury practices used by spin doctors in their quest to manipulate the media for rich and famous clients.
Mr Michie denies indulging in dirty tricks such as trawling through rubbish bins looking for incriminating evidence or orchestrating smear campaigns -- ``that was done by circulating anonymous briefing notes which were full of half-truths and innuendo''.
But he did use the skulduggery as the inspiration to
fulfil a long-frustrated ambition to be a writer.
Michie had been living in a tiny London flat with new
wife Janmarie, spending his days on the PR circuit and
his nights huddled in a cupboard-sized room bashing
out manuscripts on an old typewriter.
Gathering nothing but rejection slips for his works of fiction, he became so disillusioned he gave up and took a long holiday to America. ``I had tried innumerable angles and I felt I had been knocking my head against the wall,'' he said.
But it was there, on a Malibu Beach in front television
soap star Larry Hagman's house, that inspiration struck.
He decided to write about something he knew so well
-- the PR industry.
``I still vividly remember walking down the beach thinking
about the spin doctoring going on for Britain's New
Labour Government.''
With the new idea came a fresh approach. Instead of rushing home to hammer out a 300-page tome, as he had done so many times before, Mr Michie adopted a more casual and successful approach, writing a three-page precis which he submitted to a publisher.
They liked it and his first book The Invisible Persuaders, was under way.
Mr Michie attributes the turnaround in his fortunes
to his belief in Buddhism and his success in letting
go of the ambitions which had become so obsessive and
ultimately counter-productive.
He now splits his time between London and Perth. Each
day starts with a one-hour meditation, before writing
his daily quota of 1500 words.
By Natalie O'Brien