From the President
By Harry Kenyon, APR

Kenyon

Public Relations, Politics & Ethics

I always look forward to November. It's not so much because of the fall colors or the beginning of the holiday season; I enjoy November after the first Tuesday when the election campaign rhetoric comes to a close.

For the past few months I've been inundated by calls during the dinner hour, election spam, piles of campaign mail and the endless streams of television, radio and print advertising. So much of this advertising is negative that it's no wonder that there's voter apathy. After all, if all you're hearing is how terrible the other candidate is, then what's the motivation to go out and vote for any of them? It's a cynical viewpoint, and it disturbs me to know that somewhere there are campaign strategists and their public relations consultants behind all this.

Politics can be a nasty and unsavory part of business for those who choose to participate in negative attack ads. Sadly, negative advertising works. And as much as some proclaim it to be "comparison" campaigning, it doesn't take an Ivy League scholar to see it for what it truly is-mud slinging. When I see these types of negative ads, I have to draw my own comparisons and go back to the roots of our profession and our ethical standards.

There's been a long-standing debate about the relationship of politics and public relations. Political campaigns can take on many of the basic elements of branding, marketing, issues management, community relations, press agentry, propaganda, etc. Many PR professionals make a good living from political campaigns. So where is the line drawn between what is political and what is public relations, and when should professional ethics be applied? The answer is ethics are the foundation of our profession, so they must be safeguarded and applied to all that we do.
I recently read an article by Dr. Steve Iseman, a member of the Commission for Public Relations Education, and a professor of communication arts/public relations at Ohio Northern University. He notes....

"Critical to both voters and politicians is that most elusive of concepts - public opinion - and that's the place where well-done public relations really shines. Reading public opinion on the issues that matter most and crafting political positions and communication based on that public opinion is the real contribution that public relations can make to the political process. This two-way approach represents the practice of public relations at the highest level - one that is inherently ethical. With change possible for both public and politician, neither puts the other at an unfair advantage."

He makes some very valid points for public relations practitioners in the perfect world, but sadly the public is still victim of political campaigns that are more bent on destroying the opponent, than engaging in the issues that are important to the constituents.

But truly, who is best served by negative attack ads that are meant to discredit the opponent through deception and occasional untruths? Is it the voters or the politicians who win an election, the special interest they serve and the campaign committees that produce these attacks?

When I see negative ads, I need to remind myself of the ethical standards of honesty, accuracy and fairness that members of PRSA agree to abide by. Oh, and one other--not to damage the reputation of others. Somehow these ethics don't seem to apply equally to what we see in political campaigns.

So as we get past the first Tuesday of November, it will be nice to put campaigning behind us and return to a sense of normalcy--at least until the next election.