Ethical Spin-Doctors? Yeah, Right!

“A code of ethics for those evil figures known as Public Relations professionals? I’d like to see that!”

Well, that would have been my ignorant, cynical view five weeks ago. In actual fact the Public Relations industry has been struggling to compile a universal code of ethics since its birth. In 1906 Ivy Lee made one of the earliest attempts and due to the nature of the industry Public Relations is not all that much closer to consensus. However, with that said, there is a theory which places a broad outline to ethical behaviour and how to identify unethical behaviour.

To define ethics, the reading states that ethics are “personal values or deeply held belief systems that underpin the behaviour and moral choices made by an individual in response to a specific situation” (p. 111). Due to this idea of individual circumstances impacting upon what ethics can be defined as it is important that Public Relations practitioners utilise Immanuel Kant’s three-step process of solving ethical dilemmas which is summarised in the readings as follows:
When in doubt as to whether an act is moral or not, apply the categorical imperative, which is to ask the question: ‘What if everyone did this deed?’
Always treat all people as ends in themselves and never exploit other humans.
Always respect the dignity of human beings.

It is incredibly important that practitioners can identify what is ethical and what is not as the codes available to them are far too broad and generalised to apply to all fields of the industry. The professional associations that do provide codes simply ensure that there is a bottom line of standards to meet. An example of a code of ethics can be found on the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) website. One of the biggest setbacks to a larger structure of ethics is that professional associations, such as PRIA, are voluntary leading to the fact that behaviours cannot be enforced outside of the membership group.

Senebti,

Kobe.

Media Relations: The Reality Behind the Glamour

Journalists, reporters, and the anchorman. That has always been the direction of my thoughts when ‘the media’ was mentioned. However, this Hollywood, glamour paparazzi is not as glitzy in reality. In the real world some hard-working PR practitioner has spent hours planning out the press conference for that sports team on the television or stressing over whether or not those press kits they spent weeks working on will gain positive coverage for their client. In many instances PR can also fall victim to this process of glamorisation. Media relations are the most well-known activity of the PR practitioner, after all who doesn’t think of C.J. Cregg (Allison Janney) in the West Wing standing in front of all those journalists in the White House? This is the image we see everyday, however, this weeks readings show that there is more to media relations than publicity and press agentry.

The media environment has changed drastically since PR’s humble beginnings. The media now consists of television, newspapers, magazines, movies, radio, blogging, podcasting, SMS, mobile phone advertising and more! Its important to remember that no matter what aspect of the media you deal with – journalists to bloggers – “effective media relations still requires efficient, informed and ethical professional behaviour” (Johnston & Zawawi, p.239).

The reading this week stressed the need for PR practitioners to be up-to-date. Today’s media is slowly moving towards an online, almost constantly streaming industry with many of the major print media making the leap to online. Through this shift to cyber-news the public is also gaining the ability to take part in the broadcasting process as the media calls on its audiences to contribute by way of polls, comments, and websites such as ireport.com. With news moving this quickly PR practitioners need to know what’s going on.

With all of this growth happening in the media it is often easy to forget about the ‘alternative’ media. These media target specific groups of people, for example gay radio stations target the gay and lesbian community. Such media should not be overlooked and can come in handy when trying to reach a targeted group.

No matter what media you are aiming to gain coverage in one must always remember the nine values that make news. They are:

1. Impact

2. Conflict

3. Timeliness

4. Proximity

5. Prominence

6. Currency

7. Human interest

8. Unusual

9. Underdog/Fair Go

Although all these aspects of PR can be planned to a degree, you always need to be prepared for disaster. This week’s second reading demonstrates this in the exceptional way that Singapore’s health authorities dealt with the SARS epidemic. The entire strategy rested upon the public’s trust in health officials. In a situation like this one trust is imperative because, as the reading states, “when people cannot understand they have to believe. And whether they believe or not is a matter of trust” (Chong, p. 7). Gaining the public’s trust is down to the PR practitioner and their strategy.

Valete,

Kobe.

Readings: 

Chapter 9 ‘Media Relations’ in J. Johnston & C. Zawawi (Eds.), Public Relations: Theory and Practice (pp. 238-267). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Chong, M. (2006) A crisis of epidemic proportions: What communications lessons can
practitioners learn from the SARS crisis in Singapore. Public Relations Quarterly; Spring
2006; 51, 1; ABI/INFORM Global; pg. 6.

Strategy & Planning: The back bone of PR

I found the readings this week some what challenging in that they did not follow directly on from last week’s chapter, however, they have been no less useful in explaining how the practice of the mysterious Public Relations industry operates.

One of the most obvious points made by the readings in my opinion was one of reputation. Since PR is such a heavily reputation-driven industry when the readings mentioned that you must be willing to bet your own reputation on your client I made immediate note. As if PR practitioners don’t have a bad enough name already they also have to watch where they place their reputations. If a business fails in its attempts to repair its reputation or fails to disclose or change practices that have led to a negative reputation the PR practitioner involved may also lose their reputation and good name as a result.

The readings centered on strategy and planning. Two concepts that are different in themselves but go hand-in-hand. One cannot be performed without the other, a kind of a double act if you will. Strategy is, according to the readings, “about formulating a guiding idea and considered intent that responds to the needs of an organization” (p. 171). Where as the readings defines planning as being about “developing a carefully sequenced series of actions to progress and assess the strategy” (p.171).

With the definitions out of the way, the readings get down to the nitty gritty of both sides of the topic starting with strategy. In this section the most valuable thing I came away with was the slightly altered version of Mintzberg’s ‘Five P’s’. These include: Perspective (through research determine the client’s perspective on the world); Position (in relation to al markets and publics); Purpose (includes over-riding goal of PR activity); Process (how you are going to achieve your goals through every PR action) and; Pattern (making sure that everything that is being done is getting you closer to the goal that has been set and adheres to the client’s values).

In the planning section of the readings there are pages and pages of different forms of planning and different charts for different aspects of the planning process but the easiest by far to remember and the part I found to be most important was the except from Time Management for Dummies (Mayer 1995) which shows the importance of basic time management and organisational skills. Without the use of these none of the other fancy charts and systems are useful. As a PR practitioner time management and communication about your time is one of the most crucial aspects of the job.

Ciao,

Kobe.

Readings: Tilley, E. (2009) Strategy and Planning. In J. Johnston & C. Zawawi (Eds.), Public Relations: Theory and Practice (pp. 171-205). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.

Propaganda and Publicity: The Evils of PR?

Up until recently, I must admit, I thought of Public Relations in much the same way as many other ignorant folk out there. I have, however, come to realise that the myth of the ‘spin-doctor’ is exactly that, a myth. Many people in the world today fail to think beyond the pages of their magazines or the shelves of their supermarkets and therefore never question how a product ends up in their convenient, arms-length reach. A crucial factor in the public buying a product is educating the public that the product exists. This is PR.

The readings this week touched on the issue of terminology that is commonly used to describe Public Relations. Jane Johnston, Clara Zawawi and Jeff Brand noted that “sometimes the phrase ‘public relations’ is avoided in job titles because…the term is synonymous with ‘spin’ or ‘spin-doctoring’, which have negative connotations of putting a slant on a subject or disguising or hiding information in order to have something appear in a favourable light” (Johnston et. al. 2009, p. 4). This view of ‘spin-doctoring’ is, unfortunately, one held by many, however, with the event of PR personnel becoming less mysterious through means of growing technology and social media people are able to see that the role of PR is not to simply make a product appear good but to build a reputation for their client. In today’s tech-savvy, fast-paced world this reputation cannot be based on lies and ‘spin’ as secrets reach the public too fast to cover any tracks.

This conception of ‘spin-doctoring’ links in many ways to the view that PR is propaganda, which is partly true in the fact that the so-called ‘father of modern public relations’ Edward Bernays favoured the propaganda theory of PR. This is shown in his 1928 book, Propaganda, when he states that “the conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organised habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society” (Johnston et. al. 2009, p. 49). However, this analysis of PR quickly became unpopular after the conflict with Germany in World War II due to the use of propaganda by the Nazis. But the question still remains, is PR ‘weak propaganda’ like Kevin Moloney suggests or is propaganda a historical manifestation of PR? The latter would suggest that we have progressed to a more ethical and acceptable practice, but do practitioners today still fall into the ‘evil’ trap of propaganda?

Another point that was made in the readings this week was that PR has a history of publicity stunts beginning with Phineas T. Barnum, an American who used stunts to gain press coverage for his circus. This was followed up in Australia by a man in Roman dress riding a chariot from Sydney to Melbourne to promote the film Ben Hur in the early decades of the 20^th century. This is no longer the only way for products and causes to gain press coverage, however, that does not mean that manifestations of the publicity stunt no longer exist. Many PR practitioners utilize this tool to kick start media coverage, for example, Bark in the Park (a concert and gathering for dogs and dog-lovers in Sydney and Melbourne) is a great example of this. It provides elements such as music, competitions and celebrity hosts in order to attract crowds and press coverage. However, many seen today are slightly more watered down from Edward Bernays’ ‘Torches or Freedom’ used in the 1920s to promote cigarettes to women.

This week’s readings truly show the ways in which PR has changed through the decades and the issues associated with defining it. However, no matter how you look at PR one thing is certain: it is essential to our consumer-driven economies and our want-driven cultures.

Au revoir,

Kobe.

Readings:  Johnston et. al. 2009. Public Relations: Theory and Practice (3rd Edition). Chapters 1-3.

Hey There!

Welcome to my blog for the course CMNS 1290: Introduction to Public Relations.

I am going to be honest here and say that the closest I have ever come to blogging is updating a Facebook status. So, with that taken into account, I endeavour to do my best and deliver some thought-provoking insights into what I see as important in my weekly readings. All I can do now is hope that my tutors and lecturers think they are important also.

Hope you enjoy!

Adios,

Kobe.