The Ketchum and Fleishman-Hillard scandals that
have been brewing for the last few months (PR News, Jan. 26)
have left us wondering whether the controversies will prevent young
people from joining the PR profession.
If the answer can be gauged by the response among PR
practitioners, there is little worry about any lasting effect. "I
don't think the public relations field has been damaged by recent
scandals, outside of those immediately involved in any particular
case," e-mailed Paul Fucito, director of communications for The
George Washington University's School of Media and Public
Affairs.
But are we just wearing blinders? Jay Rosen, an associate
professor of journalism at New York University, took PR
bloggers to task in his own blog, noting the absence of appropriate
levels of criticism of Ketchum on the Williams issue. While some
industry commentators like Jeremy Pepper and PR bigwigs like
Richard Edelman did in their blogs speak out against the scandals,
on the whole, the online conversation dwindled fairly quickly.
The most optimistic comment was that the relative silence
indicated an industry "circling the wagons" as a means to curtail
damage to its bottom line. Others might believe there simply were
too few willing to call out the giants.
In either case, it seems the industry hasn't done much to assure
these types of missteps will not re-occur.
So what about the academics who are teaching the PR executives
of tomorrow? "I'm always trying to get across that there's a
difference between persuasion, which is ethical, and propaganda.
The Armstrong Williams case was propaganda, which I find very
disturbing," says Gregg Feistman, sequence head of the Public
Relations department at Temple University.
He adds: "I tell my students they will one day find themselves
in a situation where they are the ones keeping their eyes on an
organization's moral compass. I asked them -- would they stand up
and say, 'This isn't right' and prevent these tactics from being
used? The majority said 'absolutely.'"
Still, what do they say after a few months in the trenches?
Among the junior PR professionals, there seems to be an attitude
that the Ketchum/Fleishman episodes are just isolated incidents.
Lorena Nava, a 2004 graduate of San Diego State University
who works for San Francisco-based boutique agency Allison &
Partners, wrote in an e-mail: "While I don't think that PR
students will be discouraged from working in PR, I do think that
many will think twice about working for larger firms."
Some younger staffers even claim that the added attention is a
positive factor. "I do not believe that this will decrease interest
among students entering PR," wrote Elizabeth Lustgarten, a 2004
Penn State University grad who has joined the Vandiver
Group (St. Louis, Mo.), in an e-mail. "On the contrary, I found
this challenge to be particularly alluring [as it shows] the
industry needs practitioners who can positively impact PR's image
at the most grassroots level, one PR graduate at a time."
Hmm...both responses sound a little too pat -- as if younger
professionals had been trained to be... PR folk.
Perhaps we are in a field inhabited by those who are charged
with deflecting negative perceptions when our clients have
problems. We aren't necessarily as practiced at finding ways to
remedy the problems themselves, but trying to spin the "spin
doctors" isn't the way out.
We need to strengthen the industry's code of ethics espoused by
the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) by insisting
on its enforcement. PRSA's most severe sanction is the revocation
of the membership of the offending individual, yet I have not heard
of such action in these cases.
In February, PRSA's Judith Phair announced plans for a summit
meeting of leaders of the profession intended to "recommit to the
ethical practice of PR as outlined in the PRSA Code of Ethics."
Let's hope the industry makes the most of the opportunity. In
order to get this stain out, we need to skip the spin cycle.
Contact: Ian Lipner is associate director in the
Washington, D.C., office of Lewis PR and founder of
YoungPRPros.com. He can be reached at 202.349.3866 or at [email protected].