Who Should Flag #EthicalIssues in #PR

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2017/oct/30/kevin-spacey-vicious-lie-gay-men-accusation-attempted-sexual-assault

I read this article and it made me think more about the subject of ethics in PR which recently came to more limelight due to Bell Pottinger episode. Here the writer has highlighted the PR effort involved in deflecting a sexual assault charge on Kevin Spacey, an American actor, film director, producer, screenwriter, and singer. According to Owen Jones, "When celebrities respond to scandals, they have a team of experienced PR representatives to help craft statements. And what do PR representatives try to do in these circumstances? They try to deflect attention by introducing a new story."

This is obviously a bigger charge on ethical practices involved in PR profession but my dilemma on the subject of ethics in PR starts right at the text book level. There are questions which PR profession should answer and one among those questions is:

When we place an article, a news item, a press release or an interview for a client, do we disclose the business objective behind that? Or do we make it clear that it is a PR placement?

This is a valid question because in all above mentioned placements a reader receives the information coming from the news outlet, loaded with credibility. Something that does not happen with advertising messages.

Secondly, how many cases of violation of ethics in PR have been highlighted by PR bodies / associations, even in developed countries like UK and USA? Even Bell Pottinger episode was exposed by South African press for violation of ethics in PR. At a later stage PRCA cancelled their membership.

There is no dearth of case studies available in the PR’s international landscape where ethics have been grossly violated. Two such examples are Brexit and US General Election. Have issues like these been flagged by any of the PR associations? According to a recent article by Jon Worth in Euro Blog, Dominic Cummings, the Campaign Director of Vote Leave deleted all his tweets, as that’s what Vote Leave did with its own website in the aftermath of the referendum, before then restoring it. Jon Worth who retrieved Cummings tweets, suggests that it is important to maintain a record of the behaviour of Cummings who helped Leave win the referendum, and then has tried to wash his hands of it all. So the question here is, why this person had to delete all his campaign tweets? Technically as a campaign winner, he should be proud of all he had said and in fact showcase his efforts. Similar is the case with PR coming from the Whitehouse. Is any of Trump’s / Whitehouse spokesperson noted by PR bodies for what they have been saying and the way they doing it.

To cut the long story short, if PR professionals and associations think that ethics is the real issue which should be addressed on priority then it is important that any violations should be flagged by them and not by the media. Kevin Spacey scandal is one such episode which was a clear reflection on spin aspect of PR and it should have come first hand from PR community owners.