Be Responsible, The PR Way.

Be Responsible, The PR Way.
By: Tafara Cameron

Advocacy in both the Public Relations and Marketing words are yet similar but not the same. The Texas Public Library Standards (distinctively identifies how standards that exist through marketing techniques and differ from Public Relations. Some examples include media messaging strategies, education and reaching their target publics, effectively.

The Book entitled, Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy by Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Bronstein is a benchmark of being able to identify certain principles that exist within the concept of responsible advocacy in public relations. Fitzpatrick brilliantly connects the practical issues as well as the complexity and broadened ideas that are present in the 21-century.

But one may ask himself, how is ethics in public relations significant to us? Ethics in Public Relations not only explores the dimensions that are attained in the advocacy role, but often illustrates the keen timely issues and insights. One ethical issue highly favored in Public Relations is the idea of developing a Crisis communication plan or plan of execution. In a sense, this area of planning is highly expected in the profession. Many time professionals have to ideally reach beyond themselves in that situation and develop a plan that will protect and save individuals in a timely and responsible manner. They have to consider the odds and probabilities of something that could go wrong and harms that may be presented.

Responsible advocacy aims to explore the accountability of their publics in a larger scheme of things. The American Library Association (ALA) has created their own explanation of what advocacy in Public Relations consists of.

Purdue University's College of Liberal Arts offers a field of study to undertake named, Public Relations and Advocacy, in their Academia, so aspiring professionals can get an early start on becoming experts in with this idea of responsible advocacy.

Public Relations: A Practical Guide to the Basics

by Callie Cady

The book I read was written by Philip Henslowe and is called Public Relations: A Practical Guide to the Basics.
This book is basically used as a beginner's guide to public relations. Henslowe, who is from the Institute of Public Relations, describes the process of creating a PR campaign. This is very helpful because he includes chapters on the role of PR, sources, ethical and legal concerns, suppliers, publishers, printers, photographers, designers, video, exhibitions, promotions, visits, sponsorship, business writing, crisis management, the media, planning, and evaluation. The author pulls alot of his research from codes of conduct, a brief legal guide, sample documents, checklists, and guidelines.
One of my favorite quotes from this book is "Public relations is not, nor should it be, a 'stand alone' profession in isolation from the rest of the business world." I like this quote because the author goes on to explain that internal as well as external communication is becoming increasingly important in the business world today. He also states that public relations is a necessary practice in all businesses and organizations.
I really enjoyed this book because it outlines the underlying principles of PR. It breaks it down in a way.

The New PR

By Dara Hollingsworth

I read The New PR An Insider’s Guide to Changing the Face of Public Relations by Phil Hall for this blog. It is an easy and quick read that provides an interesting look into the public relations industry from the perspective of an experienced PR practitioner.

Hall begins his book by discussing the negative connotation that many times is associated with PR. He made an interesting point that I have never really thought about, that the public relations industry needs better PR.

“PR needs better PR. Oddly, this is an industry that does a great job in publicizing everything…except itself. From an external image dilemma, PR needs more work in defining its strengths and opportunities with the general public,” Hall says.

I think this a very good point. When I tell people that I am majoring in PR they either ask what PR is or they ask if I want to be like Samantha Jones from Sex and the City. So it seems clear to me that PR is in need of better PR as Hall suggests.

Hall also gives a brief outline of the history of PR. He discusses the pioneers of the industry as well as classic PR examples. Hall then moves onto the who and what of PR, listing the PR associations such as PRSA and PR media such as PR Week that are available to practitioners.

The next chapter, which was about media relations, especially interested me because at one point I thought I wanted to go into media relations and even thought I have since changed my mind, the topic still holds some interest to me. The chapter discusses media relations and its impact in the world of journalism and mass communication.

Next, Hall mentions the many different areas of PR from grassroots PR to guerilla marketing and many places in between. Hall then moves onto areas that PR practitioners need to work to improve. I believe that one of the most important things to remember from the book comes from this chapter.

“PR should be proactive, not reactive. Even in the response to a crisis, the strategy should be one of getting ahead of the story and not being held hostage to it,” Hall says.

Hall concludes the book with some advice about what to do and what not to do.

Overall, this book wasn’t really what I was expecting. I was prepared to read a boring book about PR, but I was pleasantly surprised. I think that this book is one that we can all learn from, especially those of us who are graduating and going into careers in the PR field.

Ethics in Public Relations: A Guide to Best Practice

by Ericka Burey

For my ethics review book, I chose to read Ethics in Public Relations: A Guide to Best Practice by Patricia J. Parsons. In this book Parsons focuses on first the ethical codes and concepts of a PR practioner and also ethical concerns such as conflicts of interest and/or ethical relationships with media outlets. Overall, this book was a huge help in realizing just how many ethical issues there are in the world of public relations.
The book was a structured in such a way that it first addressed the common misconceptions that associate the Public Relations field such as: “Spin doctoring”, Robin Hood syndrome, and the inevitable accusation of lying. We as public relations practioners are charged with telling the truth while still remaining professionally loyal to the client. With that in mind, Parsons sets up a tier system to developing respect for the client as well as for the target audience. The steps are: 1) Learning to respect others: your moral development 2) Demonstrating simple respect: morality and your manners 3) Demonstrating professional respect: morality and your level of competence (pg. 48, figure 7.1). Parsons suggests that this tier will make a PR practioner a much more effective employee as well as a more trustworthy practioner.
Ultimately, form the Ethics in Public Relations text, we, as PR practioners, are responsible for the messages that we deliver to the public and therefore should take into consideration all the possible effects of that message. It also suggested that if, as a practioner, we are ethically trained from the beginning of our careers we will be much more likely to do the ‘right thing’ in ethical situations as well as be less likely to persuade in areas of ethical questioning. This book was very helpful to any person that is interested in the field of public relations.

Ethics Book Blog: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly Crises

By Rebecca Chambers

Public relations is often shunned in the media as flacks, spin control, and unethical yes men. This is disgruntling to even the most weathered of professionals in our business, and after reading this book, I have to say I can see why the world may view our profession as a little dubious.

In Steve Adubato’s book, What Were They Thinking?: Crisis Communication: The Good, the Bad, and the Totally Clueless, the author took 22 of the most well-known crises of all time and examined where each one went right, which went wrong, and what lessons we can learn from them. In this blog, I will examine three crises from the book that particularly intrigued me.

The first crisis that interested me happened to be in the first chapter: the Johnson & Johnson Tylenol crisis. Adubato candidly admits that Johnson & Johnson was one of the only corporations to ever “get it right” in reacting to a crisis. Johnson & Johnson owned up to their mistakes and complied with every safety measure the media asked of them. Adubato wrote, “When mistakes or misstatements occur, own up to them…doing so increases your credibility and reputation as a ‘straight shooter’ who can be trusted.” Tylenol remained strong on the pain relief market shortly afterward, so they really did “get it right.”

The next interesting crisis was the infamous Exxon Valdez Oil Tanker Spill, which is in itself a hard lesson that PR students learn early in their classes. Exxon CEO Lawrence G. Rawl tried to bury his head in the sand and hope the crisis would go away, and he was rudely awakened when it did not. Adubato had this lesson to learn from Rawl: public relations fallout can be avoided with a simple, well-timed and sincere response from the head of the company. This may seem like common knowledge to you or me, but this situation just goes to show that even the most competent of people can be led astray – to devastating consequences.

Chapter 15 brought to my attention a crisis that I had never really paid much attention to – the stranding of JetBlue Airways passengers. At one time, JetBlue had NINE planes stranded on the runway for more than six hours – and passengers were given no food, water, or apologies. JetBlue did not issue public apologies until almost a week after the event, which in addition to the poor customer service on the tarmac hurt the airline badly. Their promise “To continue to bring humanity back to air travel” suffered during this time, and Adubato called the whole thing an “absolute disaster.”

All in all, I have always believed things truly got fun in public relations when something goes wrong, but from reading this book, I can see that ethics and a crucial decision-making process on the part of the public relations professional can truly make or break your crisis.

The Importance of Networking in Public Relations by Heather Anderson

In the public relations industry networking is the key. Whether you are networking for a job or for the organization you are representing, building relationships with others is the most crucial aspect of public relations. Obviously having a talent with words is the most important skill needed to be successful in this industry, but without strong relationships with the public, your work will not be seen. 

Getting involved with professional organizations is a great way to network professionally, such as PRSA. The use of social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, LinkedIn, and Twitter) are becoming more and more popular for public relations professionals in and out of the office. These sites are wonderful for not only gaining attention for your organization, but also to create relationships with those who can help you find new strategies, trends, and jobs. It is extremely useful to become well acquainted with individuals who are media gatekeepers. Obtaining contacts in different media outlets allows you to become an even greater asset to your organization when media attention is needed. 

The great thing about networking is that you can do it anytime anywhere. I recently went to Washington D.C. to attend the Young Women's Leadership Conference. Throughout my trip I took advantage of every opportunity available to network for potential job openings and individual's whose expertise could benefit my professional career. On the plane I met a man who works for Epworth Villa in Oklahoma City who gave me some advice on the job market, his card, and the contact information of successful individuals in public relations. I also met several professionals at the conference in D.C., including one at aWiteck Combs Communications that asked for my resume on the spot. This just goes to show everyone that being prepared to network at any time can lead to many opportunities in public relations.   

(picture found at http://www.sxc.hu/photo/479608)

Diversity in Public Relations by Heather Anderson

Understanding the importance of diversity is crucial to succeeding in public relations. Reaching out to a variety of groups, such as racial and cultural groups, is necessary in order to expand your organizations market. When gaining more exposure with more and more publics, organization's need to be constantly aware of how they come off to different publics. They need to treat them all equally in terms of focus and respect. 

For example, Susan G. Komen for the Cure has a campaign called Circle of Promise devoted solely to how breast cancer affects African American women. A major issue that Komen needs to overcome is that African American women have a higher mortality rate than any other group. Which is why Komen felt the need to create the Circle of Promise campaign. 

Another organization that has done a great job with diversity is Dove. Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty does a wonderful job of show diverse body types and ethnicities of women sending the message that all women are beautiful. 

Being conscious of how messages can be perceived by different publics is needed to run successful campaigns and to avoid as many mistakes as possible, especially ones that could be potentially offensive.   

PR 2.0: Modern Public Relations

PR 2.0: Modern Public Relations by Heather Anderson 

Public relations by definition means to build mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and the publics they serve. Therefore, it is necessary for organizations to learn how to adapt to new marketing methods to remain relevant with their target publics.  In PR 2.0, Dierdre Breakenridge informs readers of these new methods and how to become the future of public relations. 

According to Breakenridge's website defines PR 2.0 as the use of "a combination of social media tools that are available to communications professionals to reach and better communicate with influencers and consumer audiences directly." By using these public relations practices, PR professionals are able to get their message to the public without traditional media sources, which grants professionals more control.

With the use of social networking sites (Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, YouTube, Digg, etc.), blogs, widgets and creating more interactive and quality organizational websites is a great way to gain the attention of target publics. However, with these new PR tactics comes more responsibility. This is where ethics in public relations comes into the picture.  

In this industry ethical public relations practices are extremely important and even more so with the rise of online PR. Utilizing PRSA's Code of Ethics throughout one's professional career is needed no matter what medium is in use.

• Advocacy
• Honesty
• Expertise
• Independence
• Loyalty
• Fairness

Unfortunately, online public relations is more vulnerable to ethical dilemmas due to the nature of the Internet. WIth this being said, organizations should only have a select individual performing media tasks. Each organization should have an official page, group, etc. on any social media outlet to ensure credibility with the public and have links to them through the organization's website. This way the organization is better able to keep the organizational message consistent.