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Who are Public Relations Specialists?
A public relations specialist is someone who takes the transparency to the public and their own corporate organization very seriously. They are known to be independent of political and social bias. These people are the main link of communication between the public and a company, or even within the company themselves.
And their positions are on the rise in the newsroom.
What is a PR Specialist's Job?
PR specialists can often find themselves in a sticky situation. Criticizing people who hold a position of authority over them, such as the CEO or any type of management, can present itself as a challenge. To make it harder, PR specialists have to try to get these people to listen to what they have to say and agree.
A study conducted by Minette Drumwright, Ph. D at the University of Texas shared that trying to call attention to an ethical issue requires these specialists to be brave. PR specialists that were interviewed for this study said that some of them were fired or demoted in their office because they refused to partake in something that they believe to be unethical. Two quit their jobs when people wouldn't listen to what they said when they stuck up for their beliefs, this includes one person who stated they were not going to publish fake news in their press release.
Something that public relations often gets confused with is marketing. Many people believe that PR is nothing more than advertising, but they are so much more. They are problem solvers and a connection between their company's legal team. They are the prevention team, not the damage control team.
PR specialists work with their team to make sure that no one breaks the rules. They try to avoid their people from cracking under pressure from the upper management to produce stories at an unrealistic goal. They work to diminish the demands that a company must produce a story better than the competition and how management will look past minor breaks in the ethics codes to meet these goals.
How can PR Specialist's Ensure an Ethical Environment?
The problem most PR specialists face is that a company is typically a "follow-the-leader" organization. If the leaders of the company find it okay to break the ethical rules, it becomes accepted as a norm.
PR specialists have a few guidelines that can help them when they work in an environment that cares about their image and reputation. These guidelines were listed in The Public Relations Strategist and are shared below:
- Share the consequences of having a work environment with relaxed ethical standards or enforcement and use examples.
- Ask the leaders of the company to set up a "whistleblower line" where employees can share information that they might have of someone breaking ethical standards anonymously.
- Recommend having an outside opinion on your company's standards and practices every so often to identify where there may be problems.
- Always promote clear and specific standards for your company and have them posted in the office and on the company's website.
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