Go over the material of Unit 3 and make a report on various techniques of molding public opinion and their efficiency in contemporary society.

                                 UNIT 4

                                       PR ETHICS

                                           TEXT 1

                     PUBLIC RELATIONS ETHICS

The practice of public relations can present unique and challenging ethical issues. At the same time, protecting integrity and the public trust are fundamental to the profession’s role and reputation. Bottom line, successful public relations hinges on the ethics of its practitioners.

Public relations involves communicating in public, which means your business will be subject to a range of ethical and legal considerations. Laws on defamation, privacy and copyright will apply to you when transmitting information or expressing your opinion.

Remember that every message you release influences consumers' opinions about you. Keep your public statements consistent with your brand and key messages. Try not to distract consumers from your message by commenting on unrelated or unworthy issues. Keep your PR focused and professional.

To help practitioners navigate ethics principles and applications, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) created, and continues to maintain, the PRSA Code of Ethics. Under the Code, widely regarded as the industry standard, members pledge to core values, principles and practice guidelines that define their professionalism and advance their success.

Building Principles on Core Values
The Code created and maintained by the PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS) sets out principles and guidelines built on core values. Fundamental values like advocacy, honesty, loyalty, professional development and objectivity structure ethical practice and interaction with clients and the public.

Translating values into principles of ethical practice, the Code advises professionals to:

· Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.

· Foster informed decision making through open communication.

· Protect confidential and private information.

· Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.

· Avoid conflicts of interests.

· Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.

Code guidelines for working professionals facing everyday tasks and challenges include:

· Being honest and accurate in all communications.

· Revealing sponsors for represented causes and interests.

· Acting in the best interest of clients or employers.

· Disclosing financial interests in a client’s organization.

· Safeguarding the confidences and privacy rights of clients and employees.

· Following ethical hiring practices to respect free and open competition.

· Avoiding conflicts between personal and professional interests.

· Declining representation of clients requiring actions contrary to the Code.

· Accurately defining what public relations activities can accomplish.

· Reporting all ethical violations to the appropriate authority.

In the Code preamble, PRSA asserts that “ethical practice is the most important obligation of a PR specialist.” PRSA maintains that all public relations professionals should look to it as a model of professional behavior. Additionally, PRSA regards the Code as a “model for other professions, organizations and professionals.”

Ethical PR principles highlighted by most professionals:

Make sure your PR reflects the ethics of your business - and be clear on your PR principles. For example, choosing not to make negative comments about customers, competitors or suppliers will strengthen your credibility and reduce risks of damage to your reputation. Consider these ethical PR tips:

· Stay honest and consistent with your messages. Consumers can easily spot double standards, distortions and hypocritical statements.

· Never pay for good PR. PR trades on independent, third-party reports, stories and information. Paying for good press breaches the standards of PR practice.

· PR consultants offer services, information and advice that can help you position your business.

· Don't fight your competitors in public. Keeping your criticisms and disagreements with your competitors and suppliers out of the spotlight shows good grace and keeps your PR professional.

 

 

                                VOCABULARY PRACTICE

1. Give definitions of the highlighted words and give situations from the text where they were used.

2. Fill in the correct preposition where necessary:

1. _____ the same time

2. to hinge _____ smb./smth.

3. apply _____ smth.

4. an influence _____ smb./smth.

5. to distract _____ smb. _____ smth.

6. to comment _____ smth.

7. to face _____ smb./smth.

8. contrary _____ smth.

3. Find in the text the English equivalents of the following expressions and make with them sentences of your own related to the topic of PR:

суть дела (в итоге), авторское право, передавать информацию, выпускать, недостойный, согласно кодексу, обязуется, защита, конкуренция, укрепить (усилить), раскрывать, нанять на работу, обязанность, убедиться, сократить риск, заметить, лицемерный

4. Explain the difference between these pairs of words and give your own examples to illustrate it:

principle – principal, maintain – support, price – value, objective – objectivity, protect – defend, accurate – neat, employer – employee, authority – authorization

5. Do this quiz on the active vocabulary of the text:

Translate into English:

1. На практике специалисты по связям с общественностью часто сталкиваются с вызовами, касающимися этических проблем.

2. Согласно коду профессиональной PR-этики, специалисты по связям с общественностью должны защищать процесс передачи объективной информации придерживаться политики честности.

3. Этические нормы в PR иногда нарушаются, нередки случаи искажения фактов, вмешательства в частную жизнь, клеветы.

4. Прежде чем заключать контракт, надо убедиться, что поставщики надежны, это значительно снизит риски.

5. В условиях честной конкуренции нельзя обнародовать эту информацию, нашим моральным долгом является укрепление наших позиций.

6. Успех проекта зависит от неуклонного соблюдения основных правил.

7. Представитель по связям с общественностью прокомментировал случай нарушения закона об авторском праве, связанный с выпуском нового продукта.

8. Недавно нанятый сотрудник оказался очень лицемерным: он распускает слухи о коллегах, тем самым негативно влияя на отношения в коллективе.

         Translate these word combinations with the words often confused:

директор школы; основной жизненный принцип; поддерживать дом в отличном состоянии; поддержать предложенную идею; слишком высокая цена; семейные ценности; объективность суждений; первоочередная цель; храбро защищать крепость; защищать кожу от солнца; аккуратный человек; точные сведения; строгий работодатель; надежный сотрудник; иметь авторитет в обществе; получить доступ к секретной информации

 

                                   ORAL SPEECH PRACTICE

6.   Answer the following questions:

1. Why, in your opinion, can PR practice present challenging ethical issues? What examples of such issues can you give?

2. What is the fundamental principle of this profession? Do you agree to it? Can you give some more basic values?

3. What does the business of PR embrace?

4. What laws concerning information are applicable in PR?

5. Do the same laws exist in journalism? What are the differences and similarities between these two fields?

6. What should a PR practitioner remember about his/her message?

7. What messages is it advisable to make?

8. What is PRSA and why was it established?

9. What is considered to be the standard of PR profession?

10.  What do PR practitioners promise in accordance with the Code?

11.  What are the fundamental values of a PR specialist under the Code?           Do you agree it is necessary to follow these principles? Why? / Why not?

12.  Enumerate the duties of a PR practitioner under the Code. Which of them do you find the most/the least important? Why?

13.  What do the Code guidelines for PR professionals include? Do you find the list complete? Why? / Why not?

14.  What does PRSA state in its preamble concerning ethical practice? Do you agree? Give your reasons.

15.  What ethical PR tips can be given by most PR professionals?

16.  Which of these tips do you find important? Give your practical examples for each tip.

7. Enlarge on the following statements:

1. The most common challenging ethical issues a PR-specialist may face these days.

2. The relevance of ethics as an indispensable part of doing business successfully.

3. Laws applicable to the activities of a PR-practitioner.

4. Common rules that need to be followed when releasing messages to the public.

5. The basic concepts and principles of the Professional Code of Ethics for public relations specialists.

6. It is not always possible for a PR-practitioner to remain honest under any circumstances.

7. Healthy and fair competition definitely fosters positive relationships in business.

8. A PR-specialist is unable to satisfy the needs of their employer and the public at the same time.

9. Ethical practice should always be considered a model of professional behavior.

10.  It is really easy for customers to notice any kind of lying, distortion, setting double standards, etc.

11.  Paying for good PR breaches the standards of PR practice.

12.  It is not advisable to fight rivals openly in public nowadays.

 

8. Read the given case studies and say what an efficient PR-practitioner needs to do in each of these situations considering the issue of ethics:

                   Public Relations Ethics Case Study #1

 Assume that you are the director of public relations for Megabucks Energy Company, a Houston-based oil and gas exploration and production company.

Megabucks has been experiencing declining profits due to drops in oil and gas prices.

Recent drilling on one of the company’s properties in the Java Sea has produced promising results of a significant new oil and gas reservoir. Although geological testing is incomplete, rumors are flying in the marketplace about the potential of this new well to significantly increase Megabucks’ profits. Senior management asks you to prepare a news release that responds to these rumors and downplays the significance of the find.

As part of your research, you discover internal reports that show that this new well is, indeed, a major discovery and that further testing is planned simply to determine the size of the reservoir. What do you do?

 

                              Public Relations Ethics Case Study #2

 A counseling firm principal tells the reporter of a local daily newspaper that one of the firm's competitors is recommending a client that both firms were courting to engage in some underhanded tactics to gain government approval of a plan to begin a new mining operation. Specific tactics included paying off elected officials. That "tip" results in a front-page feature accusing the company of planning to "buy" mine approval by paying off local government officials.

 

                      Public Relations Ethics Case Study #3

Assume that you are the president of PR Results, Inc., a Las Vegas-based public relations firm representing the National Cement and Asphalt Contractor’s Association (NCACA).

NCACA has been closely monitoring high-growth communities across the country, like Las Vegas, that are preparing to vote soon on regional transportation and road improvement plans. NCACA has hired your firm to organize and manage a citizen’s group in Las Vegas called Las Vegas Citizens for Active Road Expansion (LVCARE).

The group’s sole purpose is to persuade voters to pass Las Vegas’ aggressive road expansion plans (and bring more business to local and national cement and asphalt companies). A reporter from the Las Vegas Tribune learns about LVCARE and contacts you for information regarding the individuals or organization(s) funding/backing the group. Your client asks you to keep their involvement confidential. Your “gut” tells you to disclose the information; however, you are concerned about losing the business if you go against your client’s wishes. What do you do?

 

 

                         Public Relations Ethics Case Study #4

  You head the public relations department of the state’s largest bank. The department is responsible for putting together a quality service recognition program. Your bank’s public relations agency is designing the advertising specialty components for the program targeting the bank’s 10,000 employees.

Your spouse owns Large Promotions, the largest advertising specialty firm in the state.

The company offers the best prices for large orders. Large Promotions has supplied products for a number of other accounts of the public relations firm. This is the first time, however, that the public relations firm has used Large Promotions for a bank project. The public relations firm does not know that your spouse owns Large Promotions. You have not suggested the use of Large Promotions.

The public relations firm has made its recommendations to you, including using Large Promotions as the vendor for the quality service recognition program.

What are your next courses of action? With the public relations agency? With your

management team? With your spouse?

 

 

 

                           Public Relations Ethics Case Study #5

The Worldwide Widget Co. (WWC) has a non-disclosure policy that’s set in stone.

Smythe & Smythe Public Relations has just won the WWC account and all the account personnel working on the account have signed WWC’s non-disclosure policy form. The forms are on file in WWC’s Law Dept.

Three weeks after work for the new client has started, the account team is given a briefing about a new product that will revolutionize the widget market. The new widget model is half the price of conventional widgets and does the work in half the time. In addition, secret tests show that it lasts twice as long. The account team is cautioned not to say a word about this to anyone – not even other S&S PR employees or family members.

After a month of work on a dynamite new public relations program that could preempt the market, S&S PR staffers are invited to a fund raising party for the Newtown Symphony Orchestra. The top echelon of influential Newtown citizens are at the function, where food and wine flow like – food and wine! An S&S PR junior staffer assigned to the WWC account lets the wine flow too freely and, before anyone can do anything about it, he discloses all he knows about the new widget to an editor with the Newtown News. You are president of S&S and hear him blab the final piece of information to the editor. You pull the staffer aside.

What are your next courses of action? With the staffer? With the editor? With your

client?

 

                          Public Relations Ethics Case Study #6

You are the public relations professional for a housing developer. Your company’s next project is multi-family housing for middle-income families. In gathering information related to the project, you find that the land for the complex was the site of a landfill. An EPA report shows very low levels of contaminants that are not life-threatening hazards.

You discuss this information with your supervising boss, who is not a public relations professional, and recommend ways to explain the landfill history in promotional materials. Your boss tells you that the landfill information is not to be included in the materials. He does not want this issue proactively discussed. What do you do?

When analyzing the PR-specialists’ actions mention the following points:

• the ethical issue concerned
• internal and external factors that may influence the decision
• identify key values
• identify the parties and define the PR-professionals’ obligation to each
• select ethical principles to help the decision-making process
• make a decision and justify

9. Think of a situation when the conflict of interests of a PR-specialist’s employer and the public is at stake and share it with your group mates so that they can suggest a possible solution.

                                            TEXT 2

Read the text and give extended answers to the questions below:

     ENSURE YOU BRING ETHICS INTO YOUR PR ACTIVITIES

Public relations is one of the most maligned professions. Our critics flay us with criticism:

“PR stunt”, “PR ploy”, “Spin doctors”, “Public relations is organized lying.”, “Public relations ethics is an oxymoron.”

Why does this happen? How can this profession suffer from such a poor reputation itself? Some of the problems arise because PR is an umbrella term that covers a multitude of activities and practitioners who are located at all points of the ethical spectrum.

PR profession is vulnerable because many practitioners are merely technicians or implementers – messengers for the management of the organization or client. The PR persons in these situations have no authority over what they do; they are merely mouthpieces for other people who may or may not be ethical. However, the PR practitioners are held responsible by recipients for the messages they disseminate.

Also, there are many cases of practitioners who allow themselves to fall short of good practice. Reporters continually complain about PR people who have sent them un-newsworthy rubbish either because they didn’t know better or they allowed their employer or client to pressure them into knowingly sending unsuitable and untargeted information. You may say “ethics are all very well, but I need to get on with the real work.” However, you may not realize how many ethical decisions are needed almost every day in PR work. How well are you equipped to deal with ethical decision-making that will stand up to scrutiny? How would you handle some of these real-life scenarios?

• Do you wait to return the telephone call from a journalist who wants some sensitive information until just after their deadline so they can’t use the information?
• What angle do you take in writing an article on a staff member you don’t respect?
• Do you avoid saying “no” to a senior manager or client whose expectations of communication are unrealistic, because you don’t want to jeopardize the relationship?
• Your marketing department has made dubious claims about a new product. How do you handle this business?
• Your organization is in the middle of a difficult issue and your CEO decides to make public statements only after the lawyers have watered down your draft statement. What can you do?
• You have been recruited by a competitor of your previous employer. To what extent can you use your knowledge of your previous employer’s work in your new job?

There are three broad approaches to ethical dilemmas: