Our lovely work experience student Emily Garner gives her views on the latest PR industry scandal…
The PR industry has been thrown into an ethics fight again after a major UK PR firm made front page headlines this week. A group of journalists went undercover to discover whether PR agencies would be prepared to act unethically, in order to impress a prospective client – the truth is, some will.
As a result, many agencies took to Twitter to express their disappointment, claiming that the company involved has given the industry a bad name. In light of this, other agencies feel that they may now be tarnished with the same brush.
This incident has caused mounting concerns about the lack of regulations within the PR industry, an issue that has always been a hot topic. The responsibility of the code of ethics seems to fall down on the CIPR and PRCA. The question is, should PR agencies themselves take accountability for their own actions as ultimately, it will be their reputation at stake.
Both the CIPR and PRCA have their own Code of Conducts about how agencies should operate. If a company, which is a member, goes against the code of conduct illustrated by the CIPR and PRCA then, a full investigation is carried out. For the agency involved, this could include a full ethical analysis to guide best practice, including insight from key publics and the media, which is not only embarrassing for the agency in question, but could also cause a breakdown in relationships – the ultimate purpose of the Public Relations function.
PR has always been misrepresented as an industry that lacks ethics, a reputation that has been built upon by the idea of “spin doctoring”, manipulation and persuasion. There are many stereotypical views about PR, many of which lack an understanding of the industry and what activities practitioners actually do.
Although challenging, Public Relations is an incredibly valuable business and marketing tool and offers a huge return on investment. At TK PR, we understand the importance of growing strong relationships with the media and take a very strategic approach to influence and change behaviour – this is at the heart of everything we do.