Top findings from the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer1, annual trust and credibility survey, revealed that ‘distrust is now society’s default emotion’. Nearly six in 10 of the 36,000 respondents surveyed (across 28 countries) said their ‘tendency is to distrust something until they see evidence it is trustworthy’.
Survey findings also highlighted that mistrust in traditional media was at 57%, owned media at 43%, and social media at 37%. Edelman Data & Intelligence said businesses must now take the lead in breaking that cycle of mistrust and recognise that their societal role is here to stay.
This puts PR professionals in a strong position to create the narrative around their brand, rather than journalists or social media influencers, and support their CEOs in building a credible brand that evokes trust in people.
Results from the Edelman survey revealed that people want their leaders to be ‘visible’ when discussing public policy or work that their company has done to benefit society. Employees also want their leaders to demonstrate an ethical and authentic leadership style which is more suited to the socially conscious world we live in.
For PR professionals this begins by underpinning an ethics based framework to their PR activity. An ethical PR approach should aim to improve organisational transparency and accountability and demonstrate the value of PR through measurement and evaluation. It should champion respect and dignity in the workplace, enhance employees’ voice so it is listened to and acted on, and increase corporate social responsibility.
PR academic Derina Holtzhausen2, describes the PR profession as ‘arguably the communication discipline that is most obsessed with ethics’. She attributed this to the ‘dual roles of both representing the communication discipline to stakeholders in a professional, fair, and judicious way; and representing the interests of the stakeholders to the communication discipline’.
Holtzhausen observed that this dual role is sometimes ‘fraught with tensions and contradictions’ particularly as new ‘danger zones’ for ethical decision making emerge – climate change, virtual reality, cyberspace, and genetic engineering.
Since the murder of George Floyd in a brutal police attack on 25 May 2020, the conversation on racial equality has shifted to a wider and more global platform, with many organisations taking corporate social responsibility to diversify their people and their brand.
The Public Relations discipline is no different – the industry has become ‘woke’ to the fact that is under-represented by professionals from ethnic minority groups. This is telling in the output of the work that can at times present itself as tone deaf and insensitive to people’s needs.
A memorable example of this is the UK government’s chicken shop knife crime campaign. This advert is far from ethical, and it is hurtful to the people at the centre of the advert. It is also indicative of a great need for ethics in PR – not as a nice to have but a must have.
There is no doubt that PR professionals, through their knowledge and people skills, have the potential to reform relationships between political authorities and the public3.
Unfortunately, when that expertise is applied in conditions of inequality, and often on behalf of powerful groups, this then implicates PR professionals as tools that perpetuate and sustain those inequalities that are not in the public interest4.
In an ideal world it would make sense for PR professionals to sign up to a PR version of a Hippocratic Oath which holds doctors accountable for their actions. Applying an ethical approach to the PR discipline should not be a choice but a prerequisite of the role, as a choice implies there is an alternative option.
In my previous articleabout ethics, I advocate stronger ethics-driven action and behaviour by PR professionals to prevent the spread of misinformation or disinformation. I also called for the industry to adhere to ethical frameworks such as the Barcelona Principles which aim to professionalise the PR industry and improve credibility.
The Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA), the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and the Institute of Internal Communication (IoIC) have all developed codes of conduct for ethical communication management practice. They also offer qualifications and refresher courses in PR to introduce a shared experience of learning.
Conversations around ethics are important as they govern our behaviour and moral standing. People have been talking about ethics (good versus bad) since the dawn of civilised humankind. Even in our present day, Aristotle’s study of ethics and Homer’s Iliad and the Odyssey continue to shape western standards of ethical and moral principles.
References:
[1] https://www.edelman.com/trust/2022-trust-barometer
[2] Derina R. Holtzhausen. (2012). Public Relations as Activism : Postmodern Approaches to Theory & Practice. Routledge. (page 31).
[3] Pieczka (2002), featured in R.Tench and Liz Yeomans: Exploring Public Relations, Pearson: London (page 69).
[4] Pimlott (1961), Fischer (2009), Wilson and Picket (2009). featured in Exploring Public Relations, Pearson: London (page 69).