Public Relations is one of those industry’s where you either know what it’s about and what’s behind it or you know completely nothing. When you know nothing about something it’s hard to understand how it works and whether it’s truthful and ethical. This is a question that many people cannot decide on the answer to in reference to PR. A major issue with PR is whether or not the practitioners are ethical causing another debate. There is a major split in this debate, with such professionals as Max Clifford claiming he had been “telling lies on behalf of my clients for 40 years” whereas there are others that claim that they have stopped working for a client when asked to work unethically. I imagine the debate will continue with no real outcome for years. Although I have been thinking, are there circumstances where it is right as a PR practitioner to lie on behalf of your client? Are there certain times when the truth will severely damage your client’s reputation or be invading their privacy too much? Although there is no clear answer to this question, it is hard to not become enthralled by the difference in opinions and views on the matter. For the next few weeks I will be exploring a few of the different areas of this question which I find particularly intriguing.
Is PR ethical and truthful? Wednesday, Nov 3 2010
Public Relations 5:31 pm
Does PR have a duty to tell the truth? 
When you say there will probably be debate about the ‘duty of PR’ for years to come, i agree, although maybe at some point in the future there may become stricter rules for guidance on this subject, meanwhile its an interesting topic to debate over, cant wait to hear the rest!
Think it all depends on how ‘serious’ the PR for a person/company is really and how relevant to people. You’d expect Lady Gaga’s PR (extreme example) to be flamboyant and shocking because that fits her personality but you take the Labour Party more serious because it directly impacts on your life.
Thinking about PR officers, it’s them that have to sort of ‘fit the profile’, the ethical/non-ethical result of their work is a clear result of their personality in the end.
Whether PR is ethical or truthfull is subjective to the point of view of those considering the question. One mans acceptable ethic`s may not be another`s.
For example let`s look at a terrorist (or is it a freedom fighter?). The terrorist regards it as being justified to kill to be successful in achieving the aim of the cause and therefore does not conflict with thier ethic`s and is therefore ethical. Of course the forces of right ( or is that of oppression?) considers this to be totally unethical and without any form of justification.
Lying is also subjective. Lying is really just a different brand of truth. Did the Allies “lie about about the existance of Weapons Of Mass Distruction or did they believe they were right but subsequently found that a mistake had been made?
There is never one version of the truth, lets look at a simple common occurance of a collision between 2 cars
first ” truthful” account ” :- they drove into the back of my car for no reason at all as I slowed down to avoid hitting a cat”
Second ” truthful” account ” :- I was driving along and the car in front braked hevily for no reason at all causing me to collide with them”
Both feel they are being truthful and each other is telling lies to justify their actions.
The truth is a combination of both statements.
So when a PR practioner wishes to present thier client in the best possible light do they lie or just use the positive parts of the information available which to some might mean they feel the practioner has lied by not giving the full facts and therefore created a false impression.
The practioner will inevitably be dealing with grey areas so truth and ethic`s will always be subjective and therefore almost never unethical or untruthful.