Do you believe that all public relations professionals should be held accountable for the same rules of ethics? Or should their ethics depend on which professional organization they are a part of?
On Wednesday Oct. 18, 2017, Richard Edelman, Edelman CEO, contacted the four major public relations organizations around the world—the PR Council, the Arthur W. Page Society, PRSA, and IABC—and asked them to form a united standard for ethics for all public relations professionals, according to PR Week. This united standard is proposed to be named the “PR Compact” and the goal of this is to hold all public relations professionals accountable for their actions no matter what professional organization they stand with or if they are a part of one.
This request from Edelman came about because of the recent scandal regarding well-known PR professional Lord Bell and his agency Bell Pottinger. As of now, the agency is under a multitude of lawsuits and these top PR organizations had different opinions on the matter. Edelman is proposing this document so that there is no confusion regarding ethics within the public relations profession.
“We must do better,” Edelman said, according to PR Week. “We need a set of principles that are universal, consistent, and well understood across the industry. The time has come to adhere to a single set of strong standards and to hold all of our people accountable to them.”
As of Friday Oct. 20, the PR Council and the Arthur W. Page Society are both in on this collaboration and are excited to set a standard for all public relations professionals.
“What Richard [Edelman] said was bold and exciting,” said PR Council president Renee Wilson, according to PR Week. “I’d be happy to partner with the industry in any way to reinforce what we stand for.”
PRSA and IABC are not jumping towards this partnership. PRSA has released a statement saying that they stand by their own code of ethics and it is the cornerstone of their entire organization, while IABC has yet to comment on the matter.
Ethics have always been important within the public relations industry because in earlier years, and events sometimes today, public relations professionals are perceived to be liars and “spin” the truth. By having ethics for the industry these organizations are putting up rules on what they support and what actions they are against. Normally when there is an issue with someone within the business that is clearly in violation of one of these organization’s pillars of ethics, the company will release a statement stating what actions they do not support. Having this collaboration would hold all professionals to the same standard.
Do you believe there should be one doctrine that all public relations professionals should uphold?
Written By: Nicole Pilbeam, Account Executive
View the original post here: https://nicolepilbeamblog.wordpress.com/2017/10/21/do-you-believe-in-ethics/
