Chapter 1: Before We Begin--New Profession... or One of the Oldest?

OVERVIEW

The cosmos is neither moral nor immoral; only people are.

He who would move the world must first move himself

”Edward Ericson

It's September. The air is filled with anticipation on the university campus. I watch the new students eagerly file into a classroom of higher learning, every one of them with a slightly different belief about their chosen field of study ”public relations ”a hard one to explain to family and friends . And most have the often misguided impression that what they need most to be successful in this field is to be a so-called ˜people person.

I move quickly to disabuse them of this notion. I tell them that if they are people persons, then perhaps they are most suited to working as one of the helping professionals ”be a physician , a nurse, a massage therapist, I tell them, but PR may not be what you think it is. I tell them that in this field of public relations they'll be spending a lot more time relating to their computers and their deadlines, especially in the early years of their careers. Then I ask these neophyte public relations practitioners to rate a series of personal characteristics according to how important they believe each one is in the successful practice of public relations. On the list are such qualities as intelligence, flexibility, personality, maturity, creativity, sophistication, courage and integrity.

I gather the papers to tabulate their responses and note that these rarely vary from year to year. With few exceptions, integrity rates on the lower end of the scale of importance, often dead last. Does this mean that we can expect public relations practitioners of the future to have the moral scruples of Attila the Hun? Or does it mean that in the grand scheme of things, they have not given much conscious thought to how personal integrity and character fit into their dream job? Maybe they do not truly understand the meaning of the word integrity. Perhaps they're a bit like you.

So, how do you rate in the integrity department? Have you ever written and issued a news release that was less than truthful ”misleading, perhaps? Would you do it if your boss asked you to do so? Have you ever tried to bribe a reporter? Or would you? (It wasn't really a bribe, you say, just a small token.) Are you even aware when you cross the line? Do you have the personal tools for solving these everyday moral dilemmas you face?

There is little doubt that our publics ”including employees , the media, our clients and consumers to name a few ”are already highly sceptical of what is communicated to them on a daily basis. We can't really afford to contribute any more to this mistrust , which leads us to the question: just how important is ethics in PR?

You may remember Ivy Lee as the so-called father of modern public relations. But you are probably less familiar with his partner Tommy Ross. I can no longer recall where I read it but he is reported to have said, ˜Unless you are willing to resign an account or a job over a matter of principle, it is no use to call yourself a member of the world's newest profession ”you're already a member of the world's oldest. Ouch, that hurts.