PR Ethics in the Context of the Weinstein Scandal

Hayley Hammerstrom
hh620514@ohio.edu

As an industry that revolves around pleasing people, public relations faces many ethical obstacles when balancing integrity and client service. When a crisis is looming on the horizon, PR professionals must decide not only how to prevent the issue but also how to handle the possible repercussions. Without taking ethics into consideration, these types of predicaments are inherently precarious, but when ethics is involved, the situation gets further complicated.

To provide a standardized framework for ethical reasoning in PR, The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) created the PRSA Member Code of Ethics. This particular code breaks down ethics into six major values: advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness. These values are then applied to various ethical dilemmas in order to illustrate how a PR professional should act appropriately in the field.

The best way to understand how the PRSA code is used is to actively apply the code's prescribed behavior to a real-life decision. For this post, the code will be applied to the current controversy over Harvey Weinstein, a prominent film producer who has been accused of sexually harassing and abusing women.

https://www.newyorker.com/news/news-desk/from-aggressive-overtures-to-sexual-assault-harvey-weinsteins-accusers-tell-their-stories

Ethical Issues Faced by the Weinstein Company

The Weinstein Company is a film enterprise that was founded by Harvey Weinstein and his brother Bob Weinstein in 1979. The business has produced a plethora of well-received films, such as Quentin Tarantino's Inglourious Basterds, Silver Linings Playbook, and Big Eyes. Through the film industry, the Weinstein brothers developed close relationships with famous actors like Matt Damon and Kate Winslet.

As the primary PR officer, one must decide how to handle the consequences of the Harvey Weinstein scandal on the company. However, saving face is not the sole mission for an ethical PR professional. A truly principled PR officer must rebuild the company's brand while remaining within the limits set by the PRSA code.

To begin the decision-making process, a PR professional must first distinguish the ethical problems that may arise. For the Harvey Weinstein crisis, the following issues will have to be considered:

1) How will the Weinstein Company position itself in this scandal, especially since its co-founder is embroiled in the issue?
2) How should the Weinstein Company communicate its sentiments toward the scandal to its    audience?
3) What efforts (if any) should the Weinstein Company take in response to the scandal?

The following section will detail how an ethical PR officer would manage the three identified issues by adopting the proposed PRSA code behavior.

How Should the Weinstein Company Handle the Situation?

In accordance with the PRSA guidelines, a PR professional should handle the first question by consulting the "Conflicts of Interest" section of the code. In this passage, it is stated, "Avoid actions and circumstances that may appear to compromise good business judgment or create a conflict between personal and professional interests." With this proclamation in mind, the Weinstein Company's PR officer should suggest tackling the conflict head-on.

Since Harvey Weinstein was intimately involved in the Weinstein Company, an ethical press release should disclose the personal conflict that exists between the business and the scandal. By actively acknowledging the issue, the Weinstein Company will be staying in line with the PRSA values of honesty and independence.

In regard to the second issue mentioned above, the PR officer should turn to the "Disclosure of Information" section of the PRSA code. This portion of the code insists that any information disseminated by a PR professional must be truthful, correct, and free of deception. For the Weinstein dilemma, the message discharged by the PR officer must accurately reflect the situation, and it must not be clouded by pre-established biases.

Finally, the Weinstein Company's PR officer should tackle the final issue by conferring with the "Enhancing the Profession" piece of the PRSA code. This section calls for PR professionals to act in ways that will help the industry positively grow and prosper. With this idea in mind, a genuinely ethical PR officer would go further than just denouncing the actions of Harvey Weinstein. They would construct a full communications plan that involves preventing future sexual aggressions from happening on the company's watch.