Is PR damaging society?

Let me explain why this question has been vexing me recently. I was in my town centre and was talking to some of the small shop owners about a project that is labelled as bringing support to struggling areas. There is a huge need for a detailed plan to look at future development that can be sustainable and build productivity in the area. One business owner told me they had been offered money towards a new shop front. As they said this is nice but on its own will not address a lack of customers or the decline in the area.

Why do I share this? It made me review whether businesses and organisations are so concerned with their reputation and how things look that they are losing sight of what is important. Are they putting a focus on painting the shop front when actually they are forgetting there is nothing going on inside or worse what is going on inside is not as they are painting it?

The ethical challenges in PR

I have shared my concerns about the ethical challenges within PR and communication and it is something that we should be talking about all the time. We can be at the forefront of some truly bad behaviour where rather than represent a business or organisation we are helping to manipulate and manufacture a different reality. 

In a public sector role this is unforgiveable but problems can also be seen in the private sector. Is the communication being used to paper over the cracks of a failing business? Is it being used to hide the bad behaviour that risks being exposed?

In this world of AI there is a big push on trust and truth. The world of crisis communication is full of people talking about ‘the single source of truth’ and becoming ‘the trusted voice’ when incidents occur. This is laudable but can be an attempt to skew the narrative to one that suits that organisation when the reality is somewhat different. There have been many public inquiries that have highlighted communication issues and occasions where the narrative that is being shared as ‘the truth’ was less than the full truth.

A PR professional must ask questions

Does this mean that PR and communication is part of the problem? In some cases it possibly is but I am sure there are occasions where communication is being given partial information or partial truth with a view to sharing it onwards. Are we asking enough questions and are we asking enough of the right kind of questions? Are we sure that the version of events we have been entrusted to share is actually what has happened?

What can we do? The first thing is to be comfortable asking questions and ensuring that the evidence backs up the lines that we are being asked to share. Then we can use our access to sources to assess whether there is other information that may challenge what we are going to say. If it doesn’t feel right, or if you would not be happy to say that message face-to-face with someone who has been affected by the incident, then don’t do it and go back to the drawing board. PR and communication can do great things if we ensure we are part of the solution and not the problem.

Chartered PR practitioner Amanda Coleman is a crisis communication expert and consultant, founder of Amanda Coleman Communication - where this blog was first published - and the author of Strategic Reputation Management. She is also a Fellow of the CIPR.