Hi, my name is Siggi (Sigurður in full) Sverrisson, and this first blog of mine is a part of a course project at the University of Stirling where I am going for my MSc in Public Relations.
One of many commonly discussed themes in connection with public relations is ethics. With PR striving to rid itself of the notion that the practice is propaganda-oriented, issues on ethics arise on a regular basis.
Mike Granatt, an aide for Michael Martin (see picture to the left), Speaker of the House of Commons, has resigned for "ethical reasons" having unintentionally given wrong information to a journalist after being misled by Commons officials, according to the BBC website.
With an on-going debate on PR and ethics, it would be interesting to see what readers think of Granatt's decision. Should he have stayed on given the fact that he was misled or did he make the right decision by not only shouldering his own responsibility but also of the ones that misled him?
Sunday, February 24, 2008
spotlight on ethics following resignation
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3 comments:
I believe that ethics in PR will always be a controversial issue for both practicioners and scholars
In one way I think it’s quite strange that he resigned. An apology is definitely in place for misleading a journalist, but if it was unwittingly is seems quite drastic. On the other hand if public relations truly is about building trust and mutually beneficial relationships, I guess an incident like this makes maintaining such a relationship between him and the press quite hard. Hmmm…
I tend to agree with you Mattias. This sums up, in many a way, the dangers that follow the practice. If you've misled, albeit unknowingly, the media once it is very difficult to regain your trust. And a PR person without trust is not worth very much.
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