My Role as an Advocate

Author: Ryan Johnson, APR

In a recent PRSA ethics webinar, a panel presenter shared an example of a situation where a client asked a public relations professional to pressure a journalist to take down or re-write a product review. By now, alarms are going off in your head. This situation violates the PRSA Code of Ethics. Let’s discuss why.

As public relations professionals and members of PRSA, we believe in the PRSA Code of Ethics. Two professional values in the Code of Ethics are advocacy and honesty.

Advocacy

As advocates of our profession, we strive to act responsibly in our role as communicators. We collaborate with our colleagues or clients to create messages that align with our organizations and provide value to our audiences. We provide information to the media and partner with editors to ensure the messages we supply are accurate and honest.

Honesty

We can quickly burn bridges between our organizations and the media if we are being dishonest or manipulating messages. Trust between an organization and the media is built on honesty and integrity. As public relations professionals, we not only have to hold ourselves to a high standard, but we also need to be an example for our colleagues and clients.

How might you apply these principles to the situation mentioned above? Let’s say you work for a public relations agency. You may discuss the scenario with a colleague who helps manage the account. Make sure you heard your client correctly before jumping to conclusions. If you agree the client wants an editor to change a review, speak to your client about why we cannot do that. Explain our role in the “earned” space and the importance of advocating for truthful information in the media.