Trust in PR During the COVID-19 Pandemic

Max Semenczuk

ms498517@ohio.edu

 

When the terms 'truth' and 'ethics' occur in conversation about journalism and the media, its application is usually only implied to be important in hard news and traditional reporting. This is as far from the truth as the reality is, however.

 

Truth and transparency is highly important to public relations and the well-being of all companies, agencies, governments, etc., as the public knowing the truth behind a companies mishaps is what truly creates a positive relationship between the public and the company or organization in question.

 

When or if a company is to mess up, the reason a public relations firm is in place is to do damage control and relieve any tensions between the company and the public. Doing so is not done by lying or being deceitful, but instead by being transparent and honest. People dislike being lied to and often just want an apology from a company if something were to go awry.

 

Picture source: University of Wisconsin-Madison

 

 

During the times of the COVID-19 Pandemic, public relations has seemed to take a new role. During a time of mass layoffs and mass unemployment, as well as fears of entering a recession, many are upset at both the government and those that participate in its economy, the businesses. On top of this, many are quarreling in the United States over the importance of COVID-19 guidelines as defined by the CDC. More so, the business applications of instilling these precautions has led to many Americans to become upset. 

 

During this time, public relations as a whole has hap to adapt and take a new role of spreading true information regarding the virus and to ensure that as many people will continue to be safe as possible. To make sure this is the case, they must defend businesses' decisions to enforce the rules that come with a pandemic, that being social distancing, mask wearing, etc.

 

There is still a lot of uncharted territory for PR agencies to navigate during this time, as it has only been a reality for 6 months, but their new role as helping public health must not go unnoticed. There must be truth in the statistics PR agencies choose to highlight, as well as truth within where they get information regarding COVID-19. Thankfully during this time, interests have been in the good of the public from those in PR, and as the pandemic goes on, we can hope that this is a trend that will continue.