Deception breaking truth and ethics in PR

Olivia Roman

lr330519@ohio.edu

Strategic communication is one of the most vital tools you could use when working in any career path you wish to endure. However, in public relations, it helps explicitly tie a company to its public audience, using communication to control a specific image that promotes the company's flawless look and responding to any conflict that may distort that.

Truth and ethics in PR:

The same goes for PR as it does in Journalism. The truth is first and foremost. 

In PR, ethics are simplistic, such as honesty and fairness. However, one ethical code that an audience of an organization must be aware of is the disclosure of information they may provide. 

Many in PR fail to respect this ethical code by ultimately hiding the truth behind specific promotions they are releasing to the public. If an organization is being paid to put out an ad, they should disclose that to allow others to form their own opinions, all while forming credibility and respect for their own company.

Source: Wikipedia

Deception: 

Purposely providing or using falsehood to hide the truth is deception. We should witness deception at any time within our careers and daily lives. However, one example, such as astroturfing, has made deception a more accessible practice in PR. 

On The Guardian, anonymity on the web is known to be the power behind this method. Astroturf operations consist of workers from a government or company operating a fake grassroots campaign that looks as though the public is either disagreeing or agreeing on specific policies.

In reality, it is a corporation or government worker using 70 different personas on the internet, creating a facade with a lot of support for whatever they are trying to achieve. This situation happens when an organization knows the public is at significant odds with their views and desired actions.

Astroturfing is excelling with 'persona management software, as it easily generates a fake name, email account, etc. By creating genuine profiles, it's even harder for an audience to detect this deception. They have also developed what is known as 'pre-aged' accounts, making it look like these accounts have been active on social platforms for months.

The damage:

It doesn't just stop at astroturfing, as many other methods are used. As I mentioned earlier, there is deception in all forms of work, especially journalism. 

However, technology has become so advanced that it makes it harder for the public and grassroots participants to detect it within astroturfing and other deceptive tactics related to working in PR. 

What can you do?

According to Rocket Matter, you can do a few things to detect astroturfing (spotting fake reviews). This attempt can include keeping an eye out for a reviewer using various personal pronouns, odd use of figurative language, and a striking tone in their writing. 

Deception is damaging the truth and ethics behind PR and the reputation of all people who work within this profession. Maybe there will be technology more powerful than the ones used to scam people one day. However, it always goes back to the audience's willingness to fact-check everything they are reading and putting in their minds.