Hi Everyone,
While many people in the society perceive PR to be manipulative and all about coming up with strategies that will benefit the organisation not the public. At one point i believed that this was true but after working with PDQ I realized that abiding the code of ethics and being honest to the clients is very crucial as it leads to win-win situation since clients will not withdraw their contracts to other PR agencies.
However there are organisations out there that still practice unethical activities including astroturfing, blue washing and green washing to exist but people should not view that as a common thing to all. PR people convey the truth and they never mislead their clients because all they are looking for as well is a good reputation and success. They do build, maintain trust and good relations with all these from their clients.
As individuals we must consider the fact that public relations is a two way street, both the organisation and the key publics do work together and they both benefit at same and appropriate levels.
Have a productive week!!
2 comments:
Hi Olebogeng
Ethical debates have always been popular within the PR field. There is constant talk over whether there should be a universal set of ethics applied to all global professional practitioners or whether we should stick to guidelines that exist within organisations etc. Throughout my studies I have come across the many critical terms such as ‘spin doctor’ or ‘PR ethics is an oxymoron.’ It’s amazing to think a profession that is about building positive relationships for organisations and clients can have such a bad reputation for itself.
Practitioners are always faced with ethical dilemmas. Public relations practitioners have ethical responsibilities to at least ten different publics: clients, news media, government agencies, educational institutions, consumers of clients’ products and services, community, competitors, critics and other public relations practitioners. Conflict sometimes occurs when something that is best for the organisation may not be in the best interests of society. Many organisations have introduced a code of ethics to improve the standards of behaviour by their members. The Public Relations Institution of Australia and the International Public Relations Association are examples of maintaining a code of ethics. It is very important for PR practitioners to understand that they have responsibility to society and we must make ethical decisions that benefit both the organisation and its key stakeholders and publics.
Happy interning!!!
Ashlea
I know that every Public Relations consultants have code of ethics for every employer to abide by, and you will find that it is very difficult to follow today. This has been a major critic on PR profession by the public for a long time but it seems like nothing has changed yet. The question will be, why no change? Maybe ethical dilemma is the main answer. Today the public view PR as manipulators of the public mind rather than saying the truth, as many do try to maintain the image rather than cleaning the mess. So I say we have to be responsible in every action we take in order to build a healthy environment, As you said before that PR is a two-way thing in which all parties has to benefit.
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