First of all, with all the political mumbo-jumbo ongoing right now, my personal opinion is that once a liar always a liar. I'm not saying you can't change if you lied in the past, but I am saying that we don't have to believe you ever again. Think of it as the "fool me once" principle.
How can McClellan expect anyone to know he is telling the truth now, and not just trying to capitalize on the current animosity towards Bush and politicians in general? As a student of public relations (PR), he knows that playing on trends makes for a much more compelling story than if he launched his book a year after being asked to resign. Oh, did I just say he was (allegedly) asked to resign? If he was indeed asked to resign his credibility is even less than moot. But I digress.
His actions and those of other questionable PR professionals inspired me to write a little about the ethics of PR work, especially as it relates to Web 2.0.
Ethics in PR is even more important today given the ever changing landscape because of the Web. In a perfect world every PR practitioner would adhere to the PRSA Code of Ethics. The sad truth is, not everyone does.
Given that we live in a Web 2.0 world, here is an outline of what the top five most important aspects of the ethical code for PR practitioners, as I see them (with some verbiage taken from the PRSA Code of Ethics when appropriate):
- Disclosure: Anytime a paid representative of a company comments on a chat room, blog or news article, they should be required to identify themselves as such. Not doing is misleading and dishonest.
- Transparency: A companies integrity, honesty and credibility are built upon this principle. This does not mean all information is and/or should be made public, but being honest and forthright about information relevant to its publics should be encouraged and practiced.
- Conflicts of Interest: Practitioners should always act in the best interest of the company they represent, and should act promptly to inform a company of any circumstances that "may appear to compromise good business judgment or create a conflict between personal and professional interests." Also, a professional should promptly disclose "any existing or potential conflict of interest to affected clients or organizations."
- Confidentiality Agreements: Simply put, practitioners should "protect the privacy rights of clients, organizations and individuals by safeguarding confidential information" (and/or technology or ideas). Leaking information to the press or speaking with the press on the basis of anonymity without the permission of a company or client are breaches of this agreement. Though both appear to be common practice in today's world, they discredit an story (Just ask Jayson Blair) and assume that everyone has the right to know everything that is going on within a company or organization. Exceptions do apply, but should be treated as such.
- Honesty: This one speaks for itself.
The sad thing about one person (or several people as McClellan is not the only one to ever lie for a client) acting unethically is that it gives a whole industry, and sometimes people, a black eye. Examples of this exist all around us from the supposed "thug" image that the NBA is trying to overcome; the supposed "criminal" image the NFL is trying to overcome; or the "steroid-induced-cheater" image baseball is trying to overcome.
These examples exist professionally as well, from Jayson Blair (media) to Arthur Andersen (accounting), or from Eliot Spitzer (politics) to Scott McClellan (public relations).
At the end of the day, ethics are an important aspect of every day for our clients, companies, governments and selves. Abraham Lincoln summed it up by saying: "I desire so to conduct the affairs of this administration that if at the end, when I come to lay down the reins of power, I have lost every other friend on earth, I shall at least have one friend left, and that friend shall be down inside me."
About Jonathan Bacon: Born and raised ‘north o’ the border’ in Toronto, Canada, Jonathan “Canadian” Bacon is an integral part of the Politis Communications team.
Bacon joined Politis Communications because of the opportunity to focus his communication skills in the technology marketplace. Prior to this focus on technology, his background was focused primarily on the health and lifestyle industry, although he worked on campaigns for clients from the real estate and government sectors as well. Bacon has been involved with communications campaigns for clients from many sectors including, non-profits, publicly traded companies and nationally recognized companies and brands including IHOP and Extreme Makeover: Home Edition (during its 2006 visit to Logan, Utah).
While earning his degree in public relations from Brigham Young University (BYU), he served as the PRSSA chapter president. He and his wife Michelle have two sons and currently reside in Utah.
(This post can also be found at www.thebettyfactor.com)
8 comments:
Well stated Jon. I agree with you 100 percent!
Thanks Devin! Did I miss any ethical points that I should have discussed?
I don't think you missed any ethical points. It was all right on. I like your point about one person's unethical actions casting a bad light on the entire industry.
I think the old school PR mentality was to never say anything remotely negative about your client or company, and this led to people starting to stretch the truth. Thus the birth of spin. With the advent of social media, spin is so easily detected so our job is to keep it real; even it means saying things we're uncomfortable saying in order to be honest.
Great post.
bacons-bits - It was nice to read your article about the ethics of 2.0. I think a lot of Public Relations professionals are getting a bad name in the public because of their unscrupulous use of web 2.0.
I think we need to be cautious of the massive "grass roots" audience that social media gives us access to. While it's great to be able to communicate so readily with so many people, this new giant audience of connections can turn one small ethical misstep into a firestorm.
PR and Marketing Professionals need to be smart about each of the ethical points you presented and also about the etiquette of social media. You can't publish pure public relations materials or pure marketing in this forum without getting flamed by the audience. Just one breach of etiquette or ethics and word will spread through the community like wildfire, effectively giving you a bad name and extending that bad name to the PR profession.
I think it's crucial, when talking web 2.0, to remember what a new and different media this is and to approach it almost like one would approach joining a new culture. First, be quiet, look around, and immerse yourself in web 2.0. Second, learn the rules of engagement, the possible faux pas and the ethical standards. Third, begin an open, interactive conversation with an educational twist and test the waters. Four, continue to read and contribute to the community - no one likes a blogger who only blogs for their own gain and who never reads and leaves thoughtful comments on their reader's blogs.
And these principals extend all through web 2.0. We also have to be careful not to end up on the bad pitch blog or Brian Morrissey's (Brandweek) tweets about pr people who harass him on facebook.
I really enjoyed your post and I look forward to reading more! Thanks bacons-bits.
Great job, Jon. So true.
Just curious- do you have a link to the PRSA's official statement on the Scott McClellan controversy?
For the anonymous commenter,
Here's the link to PRSA's response:
http://media.prsa.org/article_display.cfm?article_id=1176
Julia, great comment.
It's so true that with Web 2.0 it's always best to be cautious, especially for how quickly things spread and become viral. Especially working with the media! Nothing could be worse than using a medium such as Facebook and having people who you add as friends, abuse it.
It's like inviting a friend over that you haven't seen in a while, only to have them pitch you on the latest "pyramid scheme." However, I have heard success stories from pitches on Facebook, but that's not the general rule.
The same is said for blogs. We always caution companies we represent at my firm about blogs and how they can/should be used by a company, if it's the right fit at all. It helps if they are willing to be transparent, but we've seen a lot of success from it with clients from both sides of the spectrum.
Hopefully they'll let me add my two cents to the New Pros blog again in the future. I enjoy this outlet for communication!
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