U.S. National Security Council Spokesman Sean McCormack answering questions at the Washington Foreign Press Center

A spokesman or spokesperson is someone engaged or elected to speak on behalf of others.

In the present media-sensitive world, many organizations are increasingly likely to employ professionals who have received formal training in journalism, communications, public relations and public affairs in this role in order to ensure that public announcements are made in the most appropriate fashion and through the most appropriate channels to maximize the impact of favorable messages, and to minimize the impact of unfavorable messages. Popular local and national sports stars (such as Michael Jordan or Bob Uecker) are often chosen as spokespeople for commercial advertising.

The use of the term spokesperson instead of the older spokesman is in order to use gender-neutral language by using a gender-neutral job title.

[edit] Responsibilities

Unlike an individual giving a personal testimonial, it is the job of a spokesperson to faithfully represent and advocate for the organization's positions, even when these conflict with his or her own opinion.^[1] As a result, spokespersons are generally selected from experienced, long-time employees or other people who are known to support the organization's goals.^[1]

[edit] Identity

A corporation may be represented in public by its chief executive officer, chairman or president, chief financial officer, counsel or external legal advisor. In addition, on a day-to-day level and for more routine announcements, the job may be delegated to the corporate communications or investor relations departments (or equivalents), who will act as spokesmen.

In the particle physics community, large collaborations of physicists elect one (or two) spokesperson(s) as leader(s) of the collaboration. The spokesperson in such cases is the lead scientist of the collaboration, not a public speaker. Each collaboration chooses the roles and responsibilities of the spokesperson for internal purposes, but typically spokespersons also have defined roles for liaising with the host laboratory and/or funding agencies.

[edit] References

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