PR: the lying profession?
There is quite a bit of discussion going on about public relations ethics and our role as ‘professional liars’. Actually, I take exception to that characterisation.
Strumpette has a long narrative outlining the perceived problem. Citing Max Clifford as a credible source undermines the argument, but it is a fairly thorough analysis. Strumpette’s bottom line: lying in PR is systemic.
Chris Edwards at Hacking Cough highlights last week’s PR debate in which participants voted for lying on behalf of clients. Clearly Chris questions the ethics of PR generally, but he was surprised that PRs were so truthful in their voting.
Lional Zetter, president of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, weighs in on the issues saying that PR professionals have a duty to tell the truth.
This whole discussion saddens me; I can’t believe we’re even having it. More PR professionals should realise that if want to be truly effective, they actually work for journalists and other media professionals. By helping reporters to get what they need to do their jobs we serve them and, in turn, our clients well. This has been my philosophy for most of my professional life and has worked in four countries. Lying doesn’t fit this model.
Filed under: public relations
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As a PR professional the very idea of lying is absurd. Credibility in my role far outweighs the risk of being untruthfu, and my professional ethics certainly do not allow me to even entertain the thought. I was once asked to give two publications an exclusive on the same topic - by some genius who thought no one would notice - I balked immediately and no longer worked for said client. We work hard to cut through the fluff and give out the facts - PR ‘professionals’ maintain high standards or we wouldn’t have the relationships that our clients pay us to nurture and help them get their messages - the true ones - out into the public domain.
I think it all depends upon what you define as a lie. ‘There is no general increase in the number of lies I tell a day’; is probably a truth, and a true PR turn of phrase, but of course masks the true extent to which I commonly perform a terminological inexactitude.
Any issue upon which there can be more than one point of view - such as any issue at all - generally requires one to adopt a position. Representing this position in a specific manner without balance or full factual disclosure seems these days to be an acceptable substitute for the truth.
“There is no better” - they’re all the same.
“Studies show” - we commissioned a study.
“9 out of 10 cat owners” - …that we asked.
“It could have been much worse” - only your Mum died, sorry.
We’re often paid to push the angle and neglect some specifics. This in the limit is “to prove or imply the falsity of belief”. That’s a lie. We’re liars.
Sherrilynne - Looks like we’re tracking this week, as you may noticed with my Monday and Tuesday posts. Ethics is in the air! Hope all is well!
Leo
Rastus..sorry you’re wrong. Sometimes we promote “our truth” but it is the truth, nonetheless.
Leo I did see your posts. Good work.
Stacey is correct as usual.
If the problem is systemic, we should recognize it and brainstorm how to eradicate it, or at least discredit the practice.
We need a PR campaign for PR.
A good book for this would be All Marketers are Liars, by Seth Godin.
He says that we all tell stories to ourselves, and a marketer’s job is to tell authentic stories that people want to hear.
PR falls under that.
(FYI, I work in the internet marketing industry, and we have as bad a rep as PR.)
Brian
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