Posted by: Rachel O’Sullivan, Director of West Coast Operations
Since when did lying become a generally accepted form of communication?
As a seasoned veteran of the public relations and event planning games, I can tell you flat-out it’s never been an accepted practice in my profession. My profession is about honesty, clarity and building trust. Anything else is just spin doctoring.
Now we are wrapping up yet another political scandal (yep, Weinergate) where a formerly respected elected official lied to us – I know, I know, what a shocker — about inappropriate affiliation with a myriad of women.
And of course, what’s the answer? More PR. That seems to be Congressman Weiner’s thought process when he offered his PR team to assist porn star Ginger Lee with creating a statement to explain their correspondence. Not that it mattered much since he still wound up resigning.
So I ask the question again, when did lying become acceptable? It seems to be assumed in public relations. Are we mentally taking everything said publicly with a grain of salt? Are we lying more or just being more open about it?
As a PR professional, I am horrified. My chosen profession, one that is practiced honorably and ethically by myself thousands of other PR professionals, is taking yet another undeserved hit.
I work for a PR firm where ethics and a strict code of conduct aren’t just adhered to, they are a condition of employment. If you are a client who just wants someone to clean up your dirty laundry through deception and lying, you will want to go somewhere else. All we can do for you is help manage the self-inflicted damage, start a process of transparency, and rebuild your reputation through honesty and credibility. I won’t lie for a client, nor would my colleagues.
This “it’s no big deal” pattern of lying and bad behavior is a trend I find disgusting. Are you asking me to be a party to your lies because I am in PR? Do all PR professionals lie? No, but as you can see, all it takes is one really bad event to undermine years of honest work.
The bottom line of PR honesty is spelled out clearly in any professional society’s code of ethics. We follow PRSA’s code and disclosure is pretty simple:
- Be honest and accurate in all communications.
- Act promptly to correct erroneous communications for which the member is responsible.
- Investigate the truthfulness and accuracy of information released on behalf of those represented.
- Reveal the sponsors for causes and interests represented.
- Disclose financial interest (such as stock ownership) in a client’s organization.
- Avoid deceptive practices.
How hard is this?
And despite having ethical codes and hundreds of ethical practitioners, the public relations profession is still seen as a bunch of lying villains, or at least covering up for them. Take Jack Schafer’s comment about the industry:
… But reporters are not innocent, naïve, delicate flowers. Every reporter approached by PR firms knows that the primary focus of PR firms is to push lies. If PR people were being paid to push the truth, they’d be called reporters. Not to get reductionist on you, but most PR campaigns are “smear campaigns” if the definition of a smear campaign is to spread untruths or half-truths or other deceits in an organized fashion. It’s up to reporters to scrutinize the details tossed to them by flacks at the behest of a client. If reporters don’t scrutinize the details, they’re villains. If flacks push half-truths, they’re just earning their paycheck.
– Jack Schafer, Slate
Maybe this latest escapade is a good time for us in the PR biz to take a stand against being a party to deceit. How do you handle clients expecting laundry service instead of communication and reputation management? Do you have a case study or anecdote you can share where a client or potential client expected you to lie or doctor the truth in pursuit of some goal or agenda? I’d love to hear how you handled the situation, so please leave us a comment here or reach out to us on Twitter or Facebook.
