Conflict of Interest

Allison Brunenmeister
ab015511@ohio.edu

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In the public relations field, ethical issues come about everyday of our lives. The University of Oregon School of Journalism and Communications recently wrote an article about conflict of interest in the PR world. This article really made me stop and think, what truly is a "conflict of interest" and why do we see these arise all the time. Conflict of interest is defined as "when a professional has interests that come into conflict with another obligation"

But it’s your job...

This article began discussing the different types of conflicts of interest a public relations professor can have. The article started with when public and private interests conflict. In short terms, when personal options conflict with the job at hand. For example, say you work for a company that has taken on a client where you know the company is polluting the air. Where is it okay to put your personal beliefs into play? Is it okay speak up?

I personally had a disagreement with this type of conflict of interest. At the end of the day, making the client happy is your job. Yes there may be times where you do not agree with what you have to do, but it is your job. You took on the responsibility to put your best effort forward to make the client happy.

What would you do for a free vacation?

The next type of conflict of interest talked about compensation beyond the salary being earned. For example a client offers you a paid vacation if you help out, and then just looks the other way. This can be hard. What happens if you don't take the vacation? Do you lose your job?

A great example of this in the news is the investigation into the Robare Group Ltd. This company is accused of recommending mutual funds and not telling clients that it received compensation for those funds. This seems like a no brainer sometimes. If someone where to offer you $100 so you would not tell the police that they stole a car, I think the answer would be no. Many people though, fear for their jobs and families when they are put into situations like this.


How to handle this

There are many ways someone can handle conflict of interest without breaking their own ethical code. One way is discourse. Discourse is often required by a professional to say if there is an actual or potential conflict of interest. This Texas lawmaker learned the hard way what happens when you fail to disclose a conflict of interest.

The other ways of dealing with conflict of interest is recusal and your own code of ethics. I think these go hand in hand. We must own and be comfortable with our own code of ethics, and know when its time to recuse ourselves from a conflict of interest.

Beware of Conflict of Interest

While playing online, I found this very interesting video about conflict of interest. Although it does not have to do with public relations conflict of interest, for me, it just really made me think. I hope you enjoy!