Redefining Public Relations

Society has seen rapid changes due to advancements in technology. We are now living in an age of technology and information in which almost everyone has access to the Internet and the sharing of information is instantaneous.  According to an article written in the New York Times by Stuart Elliot, “The most significant changes have occurred most recently, as the Internet and social media blogs, Facebook and Twitter have transformed the relationship between the members of the public and those communicating with them” (Elliot, 2011).

These new changes and advancements have led to a search for a new definition.

 The Public Relations Society of America (PSRA), has begun an effort to develop a better definition of “public relations”, one more appropriate for the 21t century (Elliot, 2011). The current definition of PR, as mentioned in the article is to, manage the message an entity is sharing with its different audiences in order to help the organization and public adopt mutually to each other (Elliot, 2011). The problem with this definition in today’s world is that literally everyone has the power to publish and share messages. People can use the Internet and various devices to instantaneously create and share content that is open to the entire public. So essentially society has the power to potentially create relations between entities and they have taken one of PR’s main role.

 

If I were to create a more modern definition of PR, I would define it as follows: Public Relations is a process of strategic communication that aims to create and influence the creation of positive content by society that will foster a mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and the public. This new definition improves upon the current definition because it defines a new role for PR that addresses societies ability to create content. Some possible ethical implications of this new definition are:

·      Who is the PR firm responsible to? The organization? The public?

·      What guideline will be used to avoid conflicts of interest?

·      Will public relations firms alter societies content enough to hide truth and protect the organization?

Any new definition that is presented should incorporate ethics in some way. I believe that the way to do this is to incorporate the two main entities that will be affected by the definition, in the definition. Since, “PR powers” have shifted to society, society should be included in the definition along with the organization. Another ethical consideration with the new definition is sparked by the use of a code of ethics; which code of ethics will PR firms use? The organization it represents? The public relations society of America’s code of ethics? A combination of both? Or does a new one have to be created along with the definition?

In 2011, a PR firm “engaged in an attempted smear campaign on behalf of Facebook, against Google (Trivett, 2011)”. The firm attempted to ruin Google’s image by generating articles that criticized Google’s privacy practice (Trivett, 2011). The articles tried to address the privacy implications of a search feature. Of all the PR breaches in 2011, this was probably the most problematic. I say this because, Facebook is the most used social network site and their privacy tactics are often criticized. Facebook always assures that their practices are ethical and people have nothing to worry about but this PR scandal suggests otherwise. Facebook was not transparent in hiring the PR firm to criticize Google. This brings up a huge ethical question: What other things is Google not being transparent about? Do they really use ethical practices to protect and respect the privacy of its users?

This year the PRSA and the FTC are looking to encourage ethical conversation and increase the monitoring of public relations standards in society. Some of their focuses are: maintaining ethics in a digital age and the ethics in brand journalism. I believe that this is a good step towards improving the field of ethics in PR because one way to get people to start thinking ethical is to discuss ethics regularly and some of the main points of interest will cover topics that are relevant to today’s society, like maintaining ethics in a digital age.

Works Cited

Elliot, S. (2011, November 20). Redefining Public Relations in the Age of Social Media. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from The New York Times: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/21/business/media/redefining-public-relations-in-the-age-of-social-media.html

Trivett, K. (2011, May 18). PRSA official: Smear campaigns have no place in PR. Retrieved January 26, 2012, from Ragan's PR Daily: http://www.prdaily.com/Main/Articles/PRSA_official_Smear_campaigns_have_no_place_in_PR_8288.aspx