Becoming a
good public relations practitioner starts with respecting and taking into
considerations the ethics of being a good public relations practitioner.
Every public relations
organisation has a code of ethics which the members are expected to
abide. The primary objective of this code of ethics is to form guidelines to educate members on how they
should conduct themselves in their professional lives. The truth lies, ethics are really troubling PR professionals and consistent violation has been of a matter
of debate for the past years. Real ethical behaviors are expensive, and that’s
where the PR industry’s ethical dilemma originates. I personally think that all public relations firms routinely
engage in unethical practices and they don’t do that because they are evil
people but they do it because their wealthy clients have problems and cleaning
up their image is often easier and cheaper than cleaning up their mess.
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| Source : Ethics |
Withholding
information is common amongst PR professionals and is perhaps one of the most greatest
malpractice of the industry and it will led to the public concluding that the
company is hiding something.
The question is, how long a company can withhold information
from the public?. The longer an organisation withhold information is
the more people start speculating and guessing and that’s the more a company
starts to lose credibility.
I understand
that sometimes PR professionals withhold information in order for them to
investigate and get clarity on certain issues but how long they will withhold
information and the damage that will be caused in the meantime is what will
determine the outcome of that crisis.
Do you think
withholding of information by PR professionals is a good practice of PR: is it
ethical or unethical? Lets hear your opinion on this matter.
