Ethics in Public RelationsJanelle Guthrie, APR

Communications Director | Employment Security DepartmentPRSA Board of Ethics & Professional Standards

TCOM 387: Writing for Public Relations | April 13, 2015

To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.- Edward R. Murrow

Why Ethics?

• Front page test• Astroturfing: State AGs

taking action

• No privacy• Campaign disclosure• Court disclosures

• Everyone’s a journalist• Seattle Times/Coal Train• Mitt Romney

Brief History & Evolution

• Compliance• Enforcement• Punishment• Directive• Secretive

Then

• Integrity• Inspiration• Motivation• Educational• Open

Now

PRSA Member Statement of Professional Values

Advocacy

Honesty

Expertise

Independence

Loyalty

Fairness

ADVOCACY

• We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent

• We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts and viewpoints to aid informed public debate

HONESTY

• We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public

EXPERTISE

• We acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience

• We advance the profession through continued professional development, research, and education

• We build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences

INDEPENDENCE

• We provide objective counsel to those we represent

• We are accountable for our actions

LOYALTY

• We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest

FAIRNESS

• We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public

• We respect all opinions and support the right of free expression

PRSA CODE OF ETHICSA model for other professions, organizations, and professionals

FREE FLOW OF INFORMATION

Guidelines• Preserve the integrity of the

process of communication• Be honest and accurate in all

communications• Act promptly to correct

erroneous communications for which the practitioner is responsible

• Preserve the free flow of unprejudiced information when giving or receiving gifts by ensuring that gifts are nominal, legal, and infrequent

Check Your Ethics

• Can companies pay to have stories placed in publications or on-line?

• Can you take a lawmaker to an expensive dinner or out for a round of golf?

COMPETITION

Guidelines

• Follow ethical hiring practices designed to respect free and open competition without deliberately undermining a competitor• Preserve intellectual

property rights in the marketplace

Check Your Ethics

• Can you share helpful information about your organization with a firm competing for your organization’s business?

• How far should you go when discussing concerns about a competitor with others?

DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

Guidelines• Be honest and accurate in all communications• Act promptly to correct erroneous communications

for which the member is responsible• Investigate the truthfulness and accuracy of

information released on behalf of those represented

• Reveal the sponsors for causes and interests represented

• Disclose financial interest (such as stock ownership) in a client's organization

• Avoid deceptive practices

Check Your Ethics• Can you establish a grassroots group to support your

issue or organization? • What can you do if you realize you’ve used bad

information received from a leader in your organization in publications or press?

• What if you receive new information that discredits information you’ve already disseminated?

SAFEGUARDING CONFIDENCES

Guidelines• Safeguard the confidences and

privacy rights of present, former and prospective clients and employees

• Protect privileged, confidential or insider information gained from a client or organization

• Immediately advise an appropriate authority if a member discovers that confidential information is being divulged by an employee of a client company or organization

Check Your Ethics

• You’ve taken a new job with a competing organization. How much of the knowledge you’ve gained at your former organization can you share in your new role?

• You have a particularly difficult client who tells you they would like you to do one thing, then claims they told you something different when you present your final product. To document your conversations, you record them on your smart phone. Can you do this?

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Guidelines• Act in the best interests of the client

or employer, even subordinating your personal interests

• Avoid actions and circumstances that may appear to compromise good business judgment or create a conflict between personal and professional interests

• Disclose promptly any existing or potential conflict of interest to affected clients or organizations

• Encourage clients and customers to determine if a conflict exists after notifying all affected parties

Check Your Ethics

• Your executive team has asked you to complete a complex print job that will require an outside company’s assistance. In researching available companies, you learn the most competitive company is your spouse’s print company. Can you use this company?

• You’ve learned from a friend that the medical organization he works for has been having some unusual problems in surgery at their outpatient surgical center. There have been a number of incidents where a specific medical device has broken off during implantation on patients. The fragment remains in the body after surgery and shows up in later x-rays. They can be easily removed. What do you do?

ENHANCING THE PROFESSION

Guidelines• Acknowledge the obligation to protect and enhance the profession• Keep informed and educated about practices in the profession to

ensure ethical conduct• Actively pursue personal professional development• Decline representation of clients or organizations that urge or

require actions contrary to this Code• Accurately define what public relations activities can accomplish• Counsel subordinates in proper ethical decision making• Require that subordinates adhere to the ethical requirements of the

Code• Report ethical violations, whether committed by PRSA members or

not, to the appropriate authority

Check Your Ethics

• What do you do if you learn a colleague is “astroturfing?”

• What do you do if your organization’s leader is adamant about pursuing a course of action you believe is unethical?

Ethical Decision-Making

Define •Issue or Conflict

Identify •Influencing Factors

Pinpoint •Key Values

Name •Defining Parties

Select •Guiding Principles

Decide •Make your decision & justify it

PRSA ETHICS QUOTIENT (EQ) TESTWhat’s your EQ?

You work for a cosmetics company that specializes in marketing its products through department stores and through direct marketing parties hosted by consultants who work in your department store settings. One of your most successful sales consultants is Emily Wilson, who has earned her Ph. D. in psychology. She has a great relationship with her customers, many of whom call her “Doc.”

A local TV station calls to ask about her and her credentials. The reporter seems to think its very interesting to have someone like her selling cosmetics in a department store setting. They want to interview customers to see if they really know why she is called “Doc.”

“Doc” Wilson: Cosmetic Guru

• What is the biggest issue you face in talking about this woman and her success?

• Which elements of the PRSA Code of Ethics are affected?

A. DeceptionB. DisclosureC. Moral IssuesD. More than one

Your ethical dilemma:

Disclosure: ◦ If Ms. Wilson continues to allow customers to call her “Doc,”

she must affirmatively and regularly clarify, in the customers’ minds, what kind of “doctor” she is.

Deception: ◦ The assumption is that doctors are almost always doctors of

medicine. ◦ This is especially important because the consultant will likely

be going into people’s homes for the more informal direct selling parties where it is less likely that she would clarify her actual status—and she absolutely must clarify her status.

◦ The actual explanation might even make a good story!

Answer: D. More than one

• You, your team and your company have the opportunity to win one of the most significant PR contracts in your company’s history. You invest an enormous amount of time, energy and expense to develop an extraordinary presentation.

• Despite your best efforts, you learn another agency has been selected. A member of the client search team offers to privately show you the winning exhibition.

Imitation is the sincerest form…

• You are shocked. Three major exhibits in the presentation are materials directly from your own company files. In fact, they were used as is, but scrubbed to remove your company’s identity.

• In your discussion with the lost potential client, you generally acknowledge the presentation was exceptional and that one reason was the presence of key ingredient content that came directly from your agency.

Imitation…

• What are the most crucial issues associated with this scenario?

• Which elements of the PRSA Code of Ethics are affected?

A. CompetitionB. Disclosure of

informationC. FairnessD. HonestyE. Safeguarding

confidencesF. More than oneG. All of the above

Your ethical dilemma?

• Honesty: We adhere to the “highest ethical standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we serve.” – Investigation reveals that an individual from your agency

provided this information at the request of a friend from a competing agency.

– Neither disclosed that the information had been shared, presumably because neither expected the information to come to light-regardless of who won the client.

Answer: G. All of the above

• Fairness: We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public. – One could speculate a different outcome had the

competitive presentation been made without the material from the losing agency.

– This behavior was unfair to the client and the competition.• Competition: We promote respect and fair competition

among PR professionals. – A key component of this principle is the preservation of

intellectual property rights in the marketplace– including those of competitors.

Disclosure of information: We must be:◦ Honest and accurate in all communications◦ Act promptly to correct erroneous information◦ Investigate the truthfulness and accuracy of information

released◦ Avoid deceptive practices.

Safeguarding confidences:◦ Confidences are owed to the agencies who submitted

information to be considered for employment contracts. ◦ Information submitted is often confidential and proprietary◦ Client should have obtained prior permission to share – or

alerted all competitors that their submissions could be used in any way the client wished.

• You have a small public relations firm with a growing book of business.

• As summer approaches, you are contacted by a number of college students seeking unpaid internships.

• You hire three new interns and assign them real-life work for which you bill your clients.

Will work for experience:

· What are some ethical factors you should consider when hiring an unpaid intern?

· What ethical principles come into play?

A. Safeguarding Confidences

B. Free Flow of Information

C. CompetitionD. Conflict of InterestE. Some of theseF. All of these

Your ethical dilemma?

• As per the principle of Free Flow of Information, your client should know the unpaid interns are doing the work for which you are billing the client.

• If you are billing the client for their work, you should pay the interns for that work.

• And what are we missing? – Disclosure– Enhancing the profession

Answer: B: Free Flow of Information

• You work for a software company and you are launching a new promotional campaign to encourage families to use your Internet security tool to protect their children on-line.

• The audience is families of school-age children ages 10 to 15.

• One strategy is to form a new grassroots organization of parents called “The Family Internet Safety Alliance” to be spokespeople encouraging families to use your software to keep their kids safe online.

Artificial assistance?

• What ethical principles does this scenario involve?

• Discuss how you could do this right.

A. Safeguarding Confidences

B. Enhancing the profession.

C. Disclosure of Information

D. CompetitionE. Conflict of InterestF. Some of theseG. All of these

Your ethical dilemma?

• The organization would be considered a front group if its sponsor was not identified.

• Full disclosure of the sponsor and use of its name in all publicity would assure that it would not be a front group.

• Members of the group should not be paid by your organization– and if they are, once again, this arrangement should be transparent.

Answer: C. Disclosure of Information

Questions?