Unethical Practices Mar PRSA 'Ethics Month'

September is "Ethics Awareness Month" at PR Society of America but undemocratic, anti-media, and anti-informational practices mar the celebration.

McClennan

Nine candidates are vying for national PRSA posts headed by Mark McClennan of MSLGroup who is seeking to be chair-elect.

Their presentations do not address any of the key issues facing the Society including its domination since the 1970s by the small group of accredited members.

Ten questions were sent to the candidates by this website in July but the candidates did not even acknowledge receiving them much less answer any of them.

They can be opposed by APR members as write-in candidates until Sept. 11. But it's hard to run against candidates who won't address any of the key issues facing the Society. This is not how democracy is supposed to work. The Society espouses "democratic" principles.

The presentation of McClennan shows he is in favor of ethical PR, diversity, social media, measurements of all types, community service, and volunteering for Society posts.

He has nothing to say on such matters as:

-- Removing APR as a condition for national office, a reform sought since 1999.

-- Whether reporters should again be allowed at the Assembly after three years of being barred.

-- Whether the Society should stop booking dues as cash since no other major group does this, i.e., ABA, AMA, AICPA, ASAE, IABC, etc. A CPA in June said the Society's financial reports are simply "not real."

-- Whether Assembly delegates should get IRS Form 990 (denied to the last three Assemblies), which shows the pay packages of the top six staffers. Total staff pay is nearly $6 million of the $10.9M budget.

-- Whether all reporters and writers can join the Society instead of certain favorites and hundreds of PR profs who are also writers.

McClennan Favors Ethics

"I firmly believe every good PR leader helps advance the state of the profession through their actions by providing a living, ethical guidepost to those who are following in their footsteps and learning from them," says McClennan's presentation.

The Society's Code is even more emphatic about the ethical duties of PR people, saying ethical practice is "the most important obligation" of a member and that the Code is not just for members but "more broadly, the PR profession."

The Code "sets the industry standard for the professional practice of PR," it says. "Ethics" and "ethical" appear 12 times on the first page.

What Kind of Ethics Does PRSA Practice?

As the industry arbiter of what is ethical, the Society's behavior should be a beacon of probity, honesty, morality, righteousness, etc.

Its elected leaders and staff should be experts at dealing with the press and a model of openness in all its communications with members and the outside world.

What we get is just about the opposite. Reporters are barred as members, key events such as the Assembly are off limits to the press, and financial information is withheld and/or delayed not only from the press, but also from members.

For the fourth year in a row, the Society is holding up publication of IRS Form 990 that shows the pay packages of the top six staffers (those making $100K+). The 2013 audit was published in May meaning there is no excuse for sitting on this document except to hide the pay packages and other data not in the audit. Legally the Society can do that by skipping the first deadline of May 15 and filing for "extensions" to Nov.15.

Concealed from the 2013 Assembly was the $61,222 bonus to CEO Bill Murray that brought his 2012 package to $423,647, a boost of 12%. Murray quit on Friday, March 7, 2014, effective June 1, giving no explanation except that the decision was made upon "deep reflection." After five months, the Society does not have a replacement for him.

The 2013 Assembly had boosted his title to CEO from president and COO.

PR/Media Practices on Display

A microcosm of the PR/media world will be on display Sept. 8 when the New York chapter brings together six panelists who will consider whether PR people "practice deception."

"Join your PR colleagues," says the chapter website, meaning only PR people will be allowed in the audience—members of a choir sitting in judgment of the choir. "Security" will turn away any reporters who try to attend, says chapter president Henry Feintuch.

Media can watch the event by webcast although whether this is in "real" time or the next day is not revealed. In any case, there will be no opportunity for reporters to question the panel.

Were this a bona fide event, the audience would include reporters. They know whether PR people "practice deception." The question posed to the panel is a "straw man" since PR people can say it is clients and employers who are ultimately responsible for messages they convey.

The session itself is an example of what reporters often experience in dealing with PR—namely, being blocked out.

Reporters covering stories are soon confronted by PR people who as of 2013 outnumber the press by a 4.6/1 ratio according to the Dept. of Labor (202,530/43,630).

Lack of access to principals of companies and organizations is commonplace, wrote media reporter Dave Carr of the New York Times. PR operatives block the way and deliver "slop," he wrote. Gene Weingarten of the Washington Post wrote much the same thing.

Chapter Event Could Be Real

The chapter's event, Monday Sept. 8 at 6:30 p.m. at SUNY, 116 E. 55th st., could be turned from a bogus event that compromises the seven speakers and six sponsors into one that is genuine by opening it to the press and inviting not only PR trade press but Gawker, Buzzfeed, ProPublica, Committee to Protect Journalists, New York members of Investigative Reporters and Editors headed by Sarah Cohen of NYT, Stuart Elliott of NYT, and others.

The event is free but reservations are required via Emmanuel Tchividjian of Ruder Finn at [email protected].

Service firms sponsoring the event are Cision, PR Newswire, D S Simon Productions, Factiva database of Dow Jones, Brandpoint, and RCM Broadcast Communications. Cision and PR Newswire are "gold" ($20,000) sponsors of the 2014 PR Society conference in Washington, D.C., Oct. 11-14 although the Society has a formal, written boycott against the O'Dwyer Co. that has been condemned by the National Press Club, New York State Senator Liz Krueger and many others. Also gold sponsors are Associated Press, BusinessWire, Vocus and sprinklr.

Panelists are Randy Cohen, former "Ethicist" columnist of NYT; Fran Hawthorne, author of Ethical Chic (critiques Starbucks, Apple, etc.); Jacqueline Brevard, ex-chief ethics officer, Merck; Steve Cody, Peppercomm; Doug Simon; Michael Schubert, chief innovation officer, Ruder Finn, and Paul Holmes, editor, The Holmes Report.

Ethical Chic, 168 pages, was reviewed Feb. 12, 2013 by Patrick Shrier of Military-History.us