The Public Relations Society of American threw down a challenge yesterday to both presidential candidates. In a statement,
PRSA Chair & CEO Jeffrey Julin, on behalf of the PRSA Board of Directors, asks the campaigns to sign a formal pledge obligating them to abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics in all communications, stating that:
“The use of innuendo, incomplete information, surrogate messaging and character attacks, whether in political discourse or other forms of commercial free speech, raises serious concerns for our organization and its 32,000 members, each of whom signs a pledge to the PRSA Code of Ethics. In fact, ethical practice is the most important obligation of PRSA membership, and we maintain that our obligations extend not only to those we represent, but also to the publics they serve. We view the code as a model for other professions, organizations and professionals, including political campaigns.”
PRSA has yet to receive signed pledge forms back from the campaigns, but is responding to media interview requests as we continue to speak out publicly and vigorously on the issue.
It won’t happen, but PRSA does with this public statement more to advocate for the public relations profession than anything else recently. Well done.
Why McCain and Obama aren't answering to PRSA
1 year ago
Neither the McCain or Obama campaign will sign any such pledge “obligating them to abide by the PRSA Code of Ethics in their campaign communications.”
That’s because presidential candidates have no reason to treat PRSA as the voice of the influence industry, much less its moral authority. The truth is that PRSA is none of these things…
(Read the full column at Scatterbox: Field notes from the PR & Influence Industry at http://www.stevensilvers.com)