Media Relations in 2023: Here’s What Journalists Say

Mark Twain once said, “The public is the only critic whose opinion is worth anything at all.” But PR professionals know that journalists’ opinions matter — a lot — when you’re pitching stories to them.

Tech public relations firm Global Results Communications (GRC) published the findings from their second annual PR Media Report last month. Regular readers may recall that I reported on their first landmark survey revealing journalists’ shifting attitudes toward public relations and the challenges they have working in an industry undergoing transition, including what they appreciate most from PR and media relations professionals.

In this second look at GRC’s latest PR Media Report, US media members answered questions covering the same gamut of industry-relevant topics as last year.

For background: The survey was conducted in 2022. Of the 1,015 respondents, 46% hold decision-making roles as editors, with 58% possessing more than 20 years of experience. This suggests they’ve witnessed massive changes, corporate mergers, and industry upheaval during their careers. Notably, 85% of the respondents have been in the hrefmedia business for at least 10 years.

Overview

GRC Founder and CEO Valerie Christopherson said in a press release, “At first glance, it appears not much has changed year over year, with three-quarters of respondents stating their reliance on content from PR is the same as in 2021.”

“However, a closer look at the data reveals that demographics are shifting; print is on the decline, and broadcast and digital are on the rise. Journalists are facing more competition than ever, technology is playing a greater role, and responsibilities are shifting. So, it is incumbent upon us in PR to take heed of these changes and adapt accordingly to better service journalists’ audiences and our clients alike.”

This second look allowed GRC to measure if or how things have changed since the prior year. For example, when respondents were asked if their reliance on content from PR had changed from 2021, 75% said their reliance was the same, 15% said it was less, and 10% said it was more.

The main reason given for relying on PR for content? That stayed the same as well — plain and simple — it saves them time.

What’s changed

The report outlines three key takeaways: the changing demographics in journalism, PR is still too promotion-heavy and news-light, and less travel is required for face-to-face interviews thanks to the rise in video conferencing.

The demographic changes included the type of outlet they work for and their industry focus, as shown in the chart below from the PR Media Report.

Face-to-face interviews go digital. The report stated, “Even journalists, who traditionally have preferred phone calls and email for interacting with sources, are slowly getting on board with video. Almost half the respondents (47%) still favor phone calls, with 33% preferring interaction through email. But 20% now prefer video, a significant jump from last year at 11%. Seeing someone’s face and hearing their voice simultaneously can help build stronger relationships. For journalists, this can be helpful in establishing a rapport and building credibility with their sources.”

For those who feel PR is too promotion-heavy and news-light, more than half of the journalists (58%) say it’s due to misalignment with the target audience of the reporter or media outlet, or it’s heavily leaning on the promotional side (32%).

Consider this: In the early 1980s, there were about 50 media corporations controlling the industry. Whereas, today there are just 5 corporations that own approximately 90% of the news and entertainment media (including TV, radio, cable, digital and print newspapers and magazines, books and films).

What it means for media relations

This last point on PR misalignment reaffirms what we all know and what I’ve previously said about pitching the media. PR pros must be meticulous in researching potential pitch targets by digging deeper – looking at past stories, actually reading the journalists’ and outlets’ recent articles or blogs, and checking out what topics they’re talking about on social media. It’s crucial to (virtually) get to know the person well enough to be confident that the story you’re about to pitch is a good fit.

On the plus side, 78% of the respondents say they rely on information from public relations professionals for news. In addition, 89% of the journalists said the PR pros provided helpful content.

Perhaps unsurprising, but of note, the content journalists are most likely to use media releases (59%). Next is article abstracts or story pitches (13%), press kits (9%), contributed article by a subject matter expert (6%), and case studies (5%).

Let me say this loud for those in the back… Despite years of hearing the ‘press release is dead,’ it’s clearly not! It may well be the oldest tool in the PR toolbox, but it obviously still holds real value.

However, journalists report that the quality and accuracy of the PR content needs to be improved. When asked how often they are provided with inaccurate information, 69% said frequently (with 1% saying daily) or sometimes, and just 31% said hardly ever.

NOTE: To view interactive chart in large view, click on the image below.

The survey also asked journalists what core characteristic of a PR professional they appreciate most, and (unfortunately) it’s the same thing that needs improving, as the chart above shows.

Another survey of journalists last year showed that journalists are busier than ever as they cover an average of four beats (topics). In addition, nearly three-quarters of journalists said in addition to producing online and print content, they produce other content like newsletters and podcasts.

A Reuters Institute’s trends and predictions report said that journalists “have, to some degree, been ‘burnt out’ by the relentless intensity of the news agenda, alongside increasingly polarized debates about politics, identity, and culture.” This has led to journalists “struggling to cope with burnout from a relentless news cycle which has often impacted their own health, attacks by politicians, and harassment on social media.”

PR pros need to be part of the solution and not add to the problems journalists face every day!

Do better

The PR Media Report shows that while the media landscape has dramatically changed over the years, most journalists (89%) say their opinion of the PR profession has not.

On another note, the Axios Communicators newsletter summarized media relations in 2022: “The tumultuous news cycle, paired with fragmented audiences and slim newsrooms, made for a challenging year for PR.” We agree!

What does all of this mean for communicators? We must do better.

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*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on January 3, 2023 at https://burrelles.com/media-relations-in-2023-what-journalists-have-to-say and is cross-posted here with permission. 

Social Media Turns 25: Past, Present and Future

This year marks the 25th anniversary (or ‘birthday’) of social media. While few could have predicted the exponential growth of social media for businesses, it has revolutionized how we communicate, network, connect and relate to one another.

Before we dive into where social media stands today and where it may be headed, let’s look at a brief historical timeline.

Social media evolution

It’s generally accepted and widely considered that the Six Degrees’ launch in 1997 was the beginning of social media. Six Degrees, named after the six degrees of separation concept, was short-lived because not many people had internet access at the time. It fizzled out by the end of 2000, although I learned that the site was later sold, and the website’s landing page appears active once again.

As internet accessibility increased, so did social media. After Six Degrees came several iterations of social media. With the exception of Friendster and Myspace, the networks listed below are considered the major players in society today.

*Note: In this timeline run down, I purposely exclude message boards and forums (e.g., Reddit, Quora) and chat apps (e.g., Discord, WhatsApp, Telegram, Messenger) as well as small niche social platforms for simplicity and brevity’s sake.

• Friendster was founded in 2002 and launched in 2003. While rudimentary, Friendster attracted millions of users and was the first true social media platform as we know it today. The company suspended services in 2015 due to a lack of engagement and closed in 2018.
• Myspace launched in 2003. From 2005 to 2008, Myspace was the largest social networking site in the world, according to Wikipedia. That was before Facebook began to take hold.
• LinkedIn launched later in 2003, and by August 2004 had reached one million users. LinkedIn now, under Microsoft ownership, boasts more than 875 million members in more than 200 countries and territories worldwide and has become the go-to app for business networking.
• Facebook began as a college experiment called FaceMash. In 2004, ‘The Facebook’ launched and became ‘Facebook’ in 2005. In 2008, Facebook topped Myspace as the top social media site. Their early mantra, “move fast and break things,” is often credited with Facebook’s meteoric rise over the competition.Now the world’s biggest social media platform (with nearly three billion active users), Facebook turned 18 years old this year — which is likely one of the reasons Gen Z thinks Facebook is for ‘old people.’ Note: If you’re up for a long read, there’s a great Facebook evolution story on MakeUseOf.com.
• YouTube, founded in 2005, was bought by Google in 2006. YouTube evolved from a site for amateur video footage to a service that distributes original content. It now has about 2.5 billion monthly users collectively watching more than one billion hours of video each day.
• Twitter launched in early 2006 but didn’t see an uptick in usage until the 2007 SXSW conference. Twitter’s popularity continued to rise in 2008 (which is when I made the leap and joined). Currently, Twitter has around 450 million monthly active users. There’s been a lot of controversy at Twitter over the years, but it may now be the most tumultuous with Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform last month. Some users have deleted their accounts, and many brands have paused their advertising, but only time will tell how Twitter fares down the road.
• Pinterest was founded in 2009 and launched in 2010 as an invite-only prototype. Pinterest acts as a digital vision board to save and share ideas. In 2012, Pinterest was made available to the public. In recent years, Pinterest added video sharing, advertising, and e-commerce. The platform now hosts 433 million active monthly users.
• Instagram launched in 2010 and was purchased by Facebook (now Meta) in 2012. Instagram is primarily a photo and video social sharing service. Like Pinterest, Instagram has added e-commerce (shoppable posts) and live video streaming. Instagram now has about 1.440 billion users.
• Snapchat initially launched in 2011 under the name ‘Picaboo’ but had to change it after realizing that name was already trademarked. The renamed Snapchat app launched in 2012. Snapchat was unique at the time in that the messages, videos, and photos sent disappeared after being viewed, introducing ephemeral content to the world. Snapchat now has about 616.9 million users, with 347 million daily active users.
• TikTok launched internationally in 2017 after being acquired by ByteDance. TikTok reached the 1 billion user mark in September 2021 and surpassed Google and Facebook as the world’s most popular site. It is now the leading destination for short-form videos. The New York Times recently reported that more and more young people (Gen Z) are using TikTok’s algorithm as a search engine. In October, Pew Research revealed that about a quarter of US adults under 30 now regularly get their news on TikTok. It seems it’s becoming the go-to app for information of all kinds. *A word of caution: The United States (US) Senate Intelligence Committee (among others) is investigating China-based ByteDance, and the FBI has called for a full ban of the app over security and privacy concerns, making its future in the US questionable.
• BeReal, founded in 2020, saw popularity in Europe in 2021 and began catching on here in the US earlier this year. BeReal is unique in that its intention is to show ‘real’ (unfiltered) social media, an alternative to Instagram’s highly curated, filtered, and edited content. BeReal quickly soared to the most popular app downloaded in the US and has already reached 20 million average daily users (from 7.9 million users in July 2022). However, BeReal doesn’t allow any advertising and doesn’t offer any subscriptions or in-app purchases, so its future business potential is yet to be determined.

Popularity of social media platforms in 2022

The rapid rise of social media is extraordinary and incomparable to any other communication technology. It’s also notable how quickly our behaviors changed because of social media.

“Saying that social media has taken the world by storm is like saying that rain is wet or that fire hurts—it’s a bit of an understatement,” Convince & Convert’s Matt Banner recently wrote.

Consider this: The percentage of US adults who use social media increased from 5% in 2005 to 90% in 2022.

So which social platforms are the most popular? Here are how the major contenders rank in 2022. This ranking is based on percentages of US internet users (typically aged 13-64, but some vary).

Why it matters for communicators

Social media started to communicate and converse over long distances. It has evolved into a virtual gathering place and a crucial modern marketing, communications and public relations tool for businesses, brands and organizations.

Most social algorithms prioritize conversations and community building, so quality (over quantity) and authenticity are essential when using this medium, as evidenced by the LinkedIn update earlier this year. This means that if you want more people to see your content, you must engage more people to take action.

Increasing social engagement isn’t easy. It requires constantly upping your game to keep up with evolving cultural and social issues and staying on top of the latest trends. It also requires you to rely on others to interact (e.g., click-through, like, comment) with your content on the social platform to increase the number of people seeing it.

Benefits of social media for business

Social media is a powerful tool, not just for marketing but also for public relations and communications. Here are some of the benefits social media provides when done right.

• Direct connection to customers and other stakeholders for relationship-building
• Improve brand awareness
• Build credibility and trust through authenticity
• Build brand authority and loyalty
• Ability to partner with relevant influencers or develop brand ambassadors
• Engage with relevant journalists and reporters for future media relations
• Amplify news stories about your brand or organization
• Allows for fast, real-time crisis responses (provided you are prepared)
• Share surveys, studies, and research that your audience cares about
• Increase web traffic (when sharing content from your site)
• Provides a pipeline to lead generation
• Easy way to monitor competitors

Challenges of social media for business

Social media features and functionality are continually evolving as platforms evolve to meet their users’ rapidly changing wants and needs and attract new users. (Except Facebook, which seems to either buy every platform it likes or mimic their best features to stay relevant.) Keeping up is a full-time job.

Social media is now more fragmented than ever. In general, people are spending more and more time on social media. However, the average user has more than seven social accounts they log into regularly. This means your audience is scattered, making targeting more difficult.

You will need to research to find out where your competitors and your audience(s) are. You’ll also need to consider your resources so you don’t bite off more than you can chew.

In addition, you must continuously measure and evaluate each platform you decide to use and adjust your strategy (and tactics) accordingly.

As a Forbes contributor recently wrote, “Social media noise has taken over our lives. What this might mean, finally — after all of this time — is that the powerhouses of social media have simply lost their stronghold (or perhaps, stranglehold). The author opines, “Meta is on a slow path toward destruction. Twitter is in self-destruct mode.” And warns, “Facebook and Twitter are now the old giants.” Are you ready for the new giants?

Wrap-up

Social media offers many benefits and opens opportunities to anyone in the communications industry, albeit challenging to keep up with.

The infamous Gary Vee (Vaynerchuk) said back in 2016:

• Respect the platform (the type of content it is designed for)
• Respect your audience (by putting out content they will be interested in), and
• Take your agenda and make it third.

All of those rules still apply today and will continue in the future.

Looking forward to 2023 and beyond, I believe we’ll see further audience fragmentation by even more emerging niche social platforms— think Clubhouse, Dribble (for designers and creators) or Twitter-like alternatives Mastodon, BlueSky (Twitter founder Jack Dorsey’s decentralized social venture), Post.News (created by Noam Bardin, former Waze CEO and Google Product VP). 

So how do you decide which social networks to use for your business, organization or brand? Once you’ve done your research, it may boil down to how many platforms you want to be on and, more importantly, how many you can support and maintain.

Personal note: Post is still in beta, but I’m now off the waitlist and have set up my account. I’m also on Mastodon Social. I’m not planning on leaving Twitter just yet, but it’s prudent to set up ‘back up’ alternative accounts. 

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*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on November 29, 2022 at https://burrelles.com/social-media-turns-25-how-it-started-and-where-its-going and is cross-posted here with permission. 

How to Find Life Balance as a PR Pro

Many of us in the PR and communications industry refer to ourselves as being Type A or having Type A personalities. Over time, the term has become a catchphrase for those who tend to be driven, goal-oriented, competitive perfectionists with a sense of urgency in nearly everything we do.

Are you unfamiliar with the term or are unsure if it fits you? This clinically-reviewed article offers seven signs that you might be Type A, or you can take this Type A personality test from Psychology Today.

History: The term ‘Type A’ originated in the 1950s when Drs. Meyer Friedman and Ray Rosenman observed that those most likely to suffer a cardiac event also tended to have more driven, impatient, high-stress personalities. The term propagated after their 1974 best-selling book, Type A Behavior And Your Heart, was published. However, newer studies debunk the Type A personality-heart disease connection. They suggest perfectionism doesn’t always predict heart disease, while aggression and stress do seem reliable predictors of heart disease.^1,2

The PR-Type A connection

Several years ago, I attended a PRSA Midwest District Conference session with Lynn Nelson, principal at Lin Public Relations and author of the 2013 book Getting Your Life into Balance. This session piqued my interest because the aphorism “work hard, play hard” described most of my adult life. Although in recent years, I’ve found that lifestyle no longer works for me.

Nelson explained many communications and PR pros exhibit Type A behavior – running around with their “hair on fire” due to the urgent nature of the work.

The stressors in public relations tend to be long hours, demanding clients, unreasonable expectations, difficult bosses, continual evolving deadlines, round-the-clock demands, overworked cranky journalists, and constant multitasking.

Public relations work is one of the most stressful jobs in America. CareerCast ranks stressful occupations, and nearly every year, PR ranks in the top 10 (along with our journalism cohorts).

Understanding and learning ways to handle this constant state of urgency and stress improves our mental wellbeing as well as our effectiveness and productivity.

Do I need better balance in my life?

You don’t have to be Type A to re-think the balance, or lack thereof, in your life. According to Nelson, “time is one of our most precious gifts. If we are intentional, we can spend it wisely on what is most important to us.”

And, let’s face it, the past two years’ events have been disruptive and stressful for even the calmest people!

Not sure if you need to bring your life into balance? Begin by asking yourself these questions:

• Does hustle culture, anxiety or a sense of over-responsibility get in the way of getting what you want out of your life?
• Do you stay busy to appease your restlessness?
• Are you ‘obsessive-compulsive’ about work and other areas of your life?
• Do you do more than your fair share at home, at work, in volunteer activities?
• Do you feel or have you been told you’re aggressive, hostile or short-tempered at work?
• Do you find making personal time to unwind difficult or impossible?

Suppose you answered yes to many but aren’t sure why you should focus on life balance. The book suggests the benefits you’ll reap include: having more compassion and a better understanding of others, more energy for activities (less drudgery), more creativity/play, more intimacy, possibly better health, and increased overall satisfaction with your life.

► Related reading: Mental Health and the Workplace: What PR Pros Need to Know

Matching your time with your intentions

Nelson suggests creating a sort of journal she calls the “time diary.” This is to record how you spend your time now and then distinguish between discretionary and required time. *Anyone who’s worked in a PR agency should be familiar with time-tracking.

Clarify your intentions by asking yourself questions like, what are your three most important goals? What do you want to do less/more of? And are you willing to make the changes that would be required to meet those goals? Estimate much time you are willing to spend on what. Then determine what you can do now to shift toward better balance.

Most of us naturally gravitate toward black and white when some shade of gray is the real solution. “Find your own shade of gray,” Nelson challenges.

She explained that her own quest for balance “has been much broader than merely balancing work and family. Why should people who work and have families give up all their avocations? Some people choose artistic pursuits, sports, hobbies, advanced degrees, etc. Having it all turned out to be a myth. I stretched myself paper thin, attempting to become more intellectual, emotionally grounded, athletic, on top of having a nice home, good marriage, strong spiritual life, bonds with my family and friends, and above-average career success.”³

Through Nelson’s struggle, she says she learned many things. A few that really resonated with me were:

1. Going out of your way for everyone (being a people-pleaser) does not lead to good balance.
2. There is little upside to being the most responsible person in the group.
3. “Muscling” through tough situations is less of an option as we age. *Can I get an amen?! 
4. Self-compassion plays a critical role in achieving and staying in balance.

Getting your life in balance requires vision, structure and discipline. To that end, her ‘Time Diet’ workbook contains a series of exercises that help you define your priorities as well as the rewards for matching your intentions with your actions.

Conclusion

Being intentional with your actions (how you spend your time) is a more sustainable solution than ‘pushing through.’ It may take some work, but you’re worth it!

I already had some things set in motion to simplify my life and make me more productive and less stressed (reducing anxiety). Revisiting the book and my old session notes validated that I’m moving in the right direction.

To repeat Nelson’s challenge: What are you doing to find your shade of gray?

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.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on November 15, 2022 at https://burrelles.com/how-to-find-balance-as-a-type-a-personality and is cross-posted here with permission. 

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Footnotes

^{1 https://www.thehealthboard.com/what-is-a-type-a-personality.htm
2 https://www.psychologytoday.com/intl/blog/fulfillment-any-age/201603/the-amazing-facts-behind-the-type-personality
3 https://www.amazon.com/Getting-Your-Life-into-Balance/dp/1490383093}

Earning Trust Through Communication — Even in a Vicious Cycle Of Distrust

In January, two years into the pandemic, the World Economic Forum hosted a gathering of international leaders to share their outlooks, insights and plans relating to the most urgent global issues. The Davos Agenda covered myriad global challenges, but the one that particularly piqued my interest was based on the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer.

Richard Edelman, Edelman CEO, said, “government was the most trusted institution as recently as May 2020, when the world sought leadership capable of tackling a global pandemic.” But that was before the bungled response. “Now, when it comes to basic competence, government is less trusted than businesses and NGOs.”

According to the study, and probably to no one’s surprise, distrust has become society’s default emotion. More than half (60%) of respondents indicated they “distrust until they see evidence something is trustworthy.” In other words, we have a negativity bias.

So what does all of this have to do with communications or public relations? The most trusted (believable) source of information is now “Communications from My Employer.” That’s what!

The driving forces in this cycle of distrust

According to Edelman, there are four driving forces of distrust at work: mass-class divide, failure of leadership, a government-media distrust ‘spiral,’ and excessive reliance on businesses.

Between 63% and 67% of people are convinced we’re being lied to by journalists and reporters, governmental leaders and many business leaders. Edelman warned, “two institutions (media, government) people rely on for truth are doing a dangerous tango of short-term mutual advantage, with exaggeration and division to gain clicks and votes.”

Those surveyed indicate businesses should play a bigger role in societal issues (like economic inequality, racism, and climate change). But Edelman says we’re being over-reliant on business to fill the void left by governmental failures. This is “a job that private enterprise was not designed to deliver.”

Despite all this, Edelman is bullish on breaking the cycle of distrust and rebuilding trust. The key to doing this is simple (and complex at the same time), providing trustworthy factual information and transparently reporting on demonstrated progress — or setbacks.

Trust in the workplace

Last month (September 2022), the Edelman Trust Barometer issued a special Trust in the Workplace report. *The report is based on an online survey of 7,000 employees (excluding self-employed) across seven geographic markets, including the United States, in July and August.

^[Source]

The overarching message of the report is that the workplace has become “the last bastion of truth.” The employer trust advantage in the US is a record 27 points over the Edelman Trust Index overall. And it’s directly tied to the communications employees receive from their colleagues, CEOs, and companies.

While the report didn’t say specifically, my speculation is that those who said they did not trust their employer were not receiving honest and transparent communications.

So most people trust their employers. Mike Allen, a co-founder of Axios (known for its Smart Brevity®), succinctly reported why it matters: “That creates both an opportunity and an obligation for employers. They need to communicate clearly and consistently with workers who are ready to listen.”

Edelman took it further by stating, “There is a new employer mandate: employers must leverage the powerful force of employees to restore societal trust from the inside out.”

How to earn trust in the workplace

CEOs and other members of industry leadership must first trust their employees if they hope to be trusted by them. But employers need to go beyond simply saying they trust their employees. They should actively seek out workers’ feedback and viewpoints in the workplace — and incorporate that input into their decision-making and take demonstrable actions to prove it.

While the bulk of the suggestions and follow-up to the report puts the responsibility squarely on the C-suite, I contend that communications and public relations professionals play a major role in the process. After all, communication is a major component of trust.

Here are four ways communicators can contribute to employers’ earning or rebuilding trust:

• Help senior executives with their individual communication skills. Consider hosting a comms skills workshop with an external expert. This can teach (or remind) them to ask for and proactively listen to employee feedback. It can also educate leaders in non-verbal cues such as body language (in-person or video meetings) and tone of voice.
• Educate leadership on emotional intelligence (EQ). EQ training can improve their ability to communicate transparently and honestly without oversharing or including unnecessary information that could be confusing. Leading with compassion and empathy is crucial in today’s environment. They must be able to engage in difficult conversations and offer reassurance when necessary.
• Craft an internal communication strategy to create a trusting environment. This could include things like creating a forum and channels to foster two-way communications or hosting a monthly ‘lunch and chat’ between senior management and employees — this can even be done via a video meeting to include remote and hybrid workers. Work with your HR counterpart to help create an open culture, so employees aren’t afraid to speak up and participate.
• Conduct a program in conflict and crisis management. Understanding how to de-escalate emotionally-charged issues in the workplace is an absolute necessity. As is the ability to remain composed in a crisis while also communicating all the appropriate crisis messages. Communicators know how to do this, but the C-suite must also be comfortable with what to do and say.

This list comprises some (not all) the ways communications and PR pros can help their employers with trust in the workplace. What else would you include?

Conclusion

In the words of Marc Benioff, CEO of Salesforce, “Trust has to be the highest value in your company, and if it’s not, something bad is going to happen.”

Trust is a powerful force that increases credibility and builds loyalty. It’s an integral part of healthy company cultures. Trust provides ‘the benefit of the doubt’ when leaders need to be heard, understood and believed. It’s also the cornerstone of good leadership.

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.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on October 18, 2022 at https://burrelles.com/earning-trust-in-a-vicious-cycle-of-distrust-through-communication and is cross-posted here with permission. 

Ethics in Public Relations

In an ever-evolving industry like public relations, good ethics is the communications foundational building block that never changes. Why? One of the main functions of public relations is to build trust and credibility for a particular brand, organization or company. And ethics are paramount to earning trust.

Ethics are the standards of integrity that support a person’s moral choices in certain situations.

PR ethics month

Each year, PR professional organizations use the month of September to underscore ethics and remind PR pros of their pledges to act ethically.

As I’ve written previously, nearly every professional public relations and communications organization has ethical guidelines or codes of conduct — PRSA, PRCA, Institute for PR, Page Society, ICCO — similar to the journalism code of ethics and most other industry associations. Some organizations even hold the power to expel members who are found violating this code.

PRCA ethics: In the UK, PRCA successfully expelled Bell Pottinger five years ago for “stirring racial hatred in South Africa.” PRCA Director General Francis Ingham recently commented on the topic. “It was a defining moment for us. It proved that our code has teeth, that it is enforced and that it does have serious consequences if you breach it. More importantly, it was a defining moment for the PR industry. It began a conversation about ethics and an acknowledgment that ethical standards need to rise year on year all around the world.”

This year, the PRCA Global Ethics Council launched a global PR ethics survey in partnership with Ethics & Compliance Initiative (ECI). They aim to examine and understand the current state of ethics and compliance in PR and communications worldwide. The survey (found here) closes on September 30.

PRSA ethics: PRSA’s Code of Ethics serves to clearly identify “improper public relations practices” and educate members. However, as a volunteer organization, PRSA’s enforcement authority is limited and does not hold sanctioning power. Still, the PRSA Board of Directors “retains the right to bar from membership or expel from the Society any individual who has been or is sanctioned by a government agency or convicted in a court of law of an action that fails to comply with the Code.”

PRSA does a great job of educating its members through ongoing professional development webinars, events, and sections. PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS) has published 10 position papers and 17 ethical standards advisories. They also launched an Ethics Quiz (only available to members). All can be found online in the Ethics section of PRSA’s website.

Circling back to the Bell Pottinger case study,’ PR Week published an article by Tony Langham (Larsons co-founder) on whether a situation like this could happen again. Tony is convinced it won’t be the last firm to go out this way. He said this could be avoided simply by “not doing evil, having effective central controls, being financially strong and having united management with a moral compass.” Easier said than done.

*Disclosure: I am a member of both PRSA and PRCA.

PR ethics (professional values)

Most PR practitioners in the US look to PRSA’s code of ethics to guide our behaviors and our decision-making. The six core professional values in PR are:

1. Honesty: Providing accurate and truthful information — the foundation of earning public trust.
2. Advocacy: Providing views from different sides and/or people and all relevant facts so people can make informed decisions.
3. Independence: Taking responsibility for your own actions; providing objective counsel.
4. Expertise: Acquiring knowledge and using critical thinking to maintain credibility as an expert and earn a trusting relationship between those you represent and the public.
5. Loyalty: Respect and maintain loyalty to those you counsel and represent (but not at the expense of the public interest).
6. Fairness: Respecting and considering all views and opinions.

We often say words matter (and they do), and public communication can be powerful and influential, so those communicating need these ethical boundaries. Just as public relations can influence and build positive relationships and reputation, unethical communication can erode public trust and potentially create a crisis situation.

Unethical communication behaviors

According to Redding’s (1996) typology of unethical communications, there are six general categories of unethical communication:

1. Coercive: Behavior reflecting abuse of power. For example, intolerance or refusal to listen to others’ opinions, freedom of speech constraints, quashing dissenting discussions.
2. Destructive: Aggressive or misuse of information to make others feel inferior. This includes things like derogatory insinuations, epithets, distasteful jokes, character assassination.
3. Deceptive: Dishonest and misleading messages. For example, euphemisms intended to obscure defects or deeds, deliberate ambiguity, weaponizing truth, concealing or covering up displeasing facts.
4. Intrusive: Communication that invades or denies others’ rights to privacy. This includes listening to others’ phone messages, reading someone else’s files, employer surveillance of workers, and other forms of corporate intrusion. This could also include engaging in corporate espionage.
5. Secretive: Nonverbal communication. For example, intentional unresponsiveness, manipulating a message to skew how the reader interprets it, culpable silence (purposefully preventing information from being given).
6. Manipulative: Communicating without concern for the public interest or otherwise preventing the receiver from knowing the actual intentions behind a message. This includes demagoguery (exploiting people’s fears, ignorance or prejudices for gain) or using a patronizing or condescending tone.

In many ways, these unethical communicative behaviors overlap and can build on one another.

Greenwashing: Ethics lesson

The question of whether an ethical PR pro or agency can represent a company or entity that engages in unethical behavior has long been discussed. The general consensus is yes, as long as the practitioner or firm themselves employs ethical practices.

PR firms have been chastised for representing those in the tobacco and fossil fuels industries for years. With tobacco, it was about the health-related harm smoking does. Whereas today, for both sectors (and the fast-fashion industry), it’s about “greenwashing.” In case you aren’t familiar, greenwashing is “the act or practice of making a product, policy, activity, etc. appear to be more environmentally friendly or less environmentally damaging than it really is,” according to Merriam-Webster.

Just for the record, greenwashing is unethical. The practice, by definition, exhibits coercive, deceptive and manipulative tactics — all of which are included in Redding’s categories of unethical behavior.

You’ve probably run across some of the news and industry reports specific to “Big Oil” and PR (and advertising) firms lately. The Washington Post published a piece last year about how Big Oil relies on PR firms to help block climate action. The article was based on a peer-reviewed paper by Brown University researchers. The paper identifies the actions taken by major PR firms Burson Cohn & Wolfe and Ogilvy; however, it saved Edelman for its most scathing criticism. To his credit, CEO Richard Edelman spoke to Axios shortly afterward, saying he is proud of their work with “oil majors” as they transition toward renewable energy.

More recently (last week), the big news was the congressional hearing on “The Role of Public Relations Firms in Preventing Action on Climate Change.” Following the hearing, Reuters reported, “witness Christine Arena, a former Edelman PR executive who now works in social impact filmmaking, told the hearing that PR firm campaigns on behalf of oil companies no longer deny climate change.”

PR News, O’Dwyer’s, PR Week, and a slew of other PR/comms industry publications also reported on the hearing for obvious reasons.

I haven’t had time to read the entire 116-page report published by the House Natural Resources Oversight and Investigations Subcommittee. Yet, in perusing the first few pages, it seems damning. *Note the report itself is only 16 pages, but there is a lot of documentation — including an agency-submitted PR award application for an ExxonMobil campaign. You can watch the recorded hearing livestream on YouTube.

This is a great lesson accentuating the adage, “Ethical behavior is doing the right thing when no one else is watching.”

[Source]

Ethical voices

I’m sure there are others, but my favorite ethics lessons come from Mark McClennan’s EthicalVoices® blog and podcast. Each week he interviews communications professionals who share ethical challenges they’ve faced. Mark also publishes a “this week in PR ethics” column where he shares a series of other communications and PR ethics stories.

There’s one in particular that piqued my interest recently. It’s an article from Catholic Outlook on the Pope’s opinion on ethics and digital media. Pope Francis said, “Communication is not just a profession, but a service to dialogue and understanding between individuals and larger communities in the pursuit of a serene and peaceful coexistence.” Mark added, “All it is missing are the keywords mutually beneficial relationship between an organization and its publics….”

Conclusion

Ethics should be a matter of course for all communications. This includes, but is not limited to, press releases, media relations activities, social media, marketing communications, employee communications, emails, blogs — even the images you choose to accompany your communiqués.

Bottom line? Be truthful and respectful. Watch your tone. Be considerate and inclusive. Be fair and empathetic. And hold yourself accountable.

 

 

.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on September 20, 2022 at https://burrelles.com/ethics-in-public-relations and is cross-posted here with permission. 

Writing for the News: 2022 AP Style Updates

Media relations pros are expected to write press releases and other news items in “proper AP style” (following the Associated Press Stylebook guidelines). This knowledge comes early as public relations and mass media (journalism) students are often required to write certain assignments using AP style.

If you’re new to PR and writing for the media, the AP Stylebook has been the leading reference for public-facing corporate communications for nearly 70 years. AP style aims to keep the news easy to read and free of bias. It offers professional guidelines on grammar, punctuation, definitions, usage rules, capitalization styles, abbreviations, spelling and numerals. AP style is widely used in newsrooms across the country.

As I wrote last year, AP style is ever-evolving, so it’s challenging to keep up with. To help PR pros keep up, PRSA hosted a webinar last week entitled, Writing for the News With The Associated Press, with AP Stylebook editor Paula Froke. In this article, I’ll share my key takeaways from that webinar.

AP Stylebook’s 56th edition

This article is not an all-inclusive breakdown of the changes presented in the new AP Stylebook, which includes more than 300 new or revised entries. The spiral-bound book is only published in print every other year, while updates happen much more frequently. You can purchase the print version, although you may find an AP Stylebook Online subscription more helpful in keeping up with ongoing changes. There’s even an AP style-checking tool for Microsoft Word and Outlook or most popular web browsers — presumably akin to the Grammarly plug-in and extension.

AP Stylebook adds new chapter on inclusive storytelling

As the webinar kicked off, Froke said, “We at the AP feel very strongly that being inclusive in our reporting and writing is essential to fairness and accuracy.” The goal is to be more inclusive across gender, religion, race, age, socio-economic backgrounds and several other areas.

She went on to say that the new chapter gives voice and visibility to those who have been missing or misrepresented in traditional narratives of both history and daily journalism. “And it helps readers (and viewers) to better recognize themselves and others in our stories.”

What is inclusive storytelling? Inclusive storytelling is critically important because it makes the media and communicators’ work stronger, more relevant, compelling and trustworthy. “If you’re leaving out swaths of the population, you’re not reaching those people, and you’re not accurately representing the world as it is,” said Froke.

What communicators need to know: As PR professionals, we should consider the sources we talk with, the images we select, the specific words we use, and the details we include (or don’t include). We also need to recognize that all those components can be viewed and interpreted differently based on the person’s background and experiences.

As communicators, we know that words matter. The descriptive words chosen can shape the thoughts and perceptions of those reading. Froke said, “That’s not to say that every single word that someone takes issue with is going to change what we do, but every time someone does speak up, it is worth serious consideration.”

Two of the examples provided convey different images and perceptions. 1) Is a person an addict or a person with drug dependency? 2) Is the woman elderly or a 70-year-old marathon runner? Very different.

More inclusion points to consider:

• Don’t use dehumanizing “the” terms such as the poor, the homeless, the blind, the mentally ill, etc.
• Be sensitive to the implications of words like insane schedules, lame ideas, turning a blind eye, he must be deaf, etc.
• Watch for unconscious or implicit bias (based on assumptions or prejudice) — use indisputable facts and data.
• Ensure you’re not employing tokenism. PR pros know that to earn trust, communications must be sincere, honest and respectful.
• Try to use inclusive visuals, context and background.
• Don’t overlook accessibility in communications. (More to come on this in a future blog article.)

AP style changes related to disabilities

Last year, I reported significant changes to this chapter. However, Froke said those changes were a work in progress — she knew she wanted to get a lot more input before the Stylebook went to print this year.

She explained that perceptions of disabilities vary widely. Language about disabilities is both wide-ranging and evolving. Disabled people are not monolithic. They use diverse terms to describe themselves, and numerous people feel very strongly about it. Many, for example, use the term people with disabilities. Both people with disabilities and disabled people are acceptable terms, but try to determine the preference of a person or group. Use care and precision, considering the impact of specific words and the terms used by the people you are writing about.

Be mindful that the question of identity-first vs. person-first language is vital for many. When possible, ask people how they want to be described. Some people use person-first language in describing themselves: a man with Down syndrome or a woman with schizophrenia. Others view their disability as central to their identity and use identity-first language, such as an autistic woman or deaf students. Autistic people and deaf people often, but not always, use identity-first language.

When the preferences of an individual or group can’t be determined, try to use a mix of person-first and identity-first language. This is the feedback the Stylebook team was hearing, and it’s the approach preferred by the American Psychological Association.

Some of the things to not do are as follows. Do not use euphemisms such as handi-capable, differently abled or physically challenged other than in direct quotations or in explaining how an individual describes themself. And, do not use handicap for a disability or handicapped for a person.

PR pros need to be thoughtful and avoid “inspiration porn.” Meaning stories or photos intended to portray something positive or uplifting, with the unintended implication that a disability is negative and that disabled people are objects of pity or wonder. It’s not that you shouldn’t write about it; rather, do it with deliberation and mindfulness.

Froke reminds communicators when writing that people with disabilities are experts in as many fields as nondisabled people are. Include their voices and their images in your regular coverage of any topic. This point also ties back to the inclusive storytelling section.

The Stylebook has also added a slew of separate entries with guidelines relevant to disabilities, which are too numerous to detail in this blog article.

One significant change she detailed is the new entry for deaf, Deaf, hard of hearing. When relevant to the story, use the lowercase ‘deaf’ for the audiological condition of total or major hearing loss. Hard of hearing can be used to describe people with a lesser degree of hearing loss. The phrase deaf and hard of hearing encompasses both groups. Do not use hearing-impaired, hearing impairment or partially deaf unless a person uses those terms for themself. The updated entry also includes guidelines for using the uppercase form — typically used to signify the culture or community, not the condition.

Other AP style updates

The social media and web-based reporting chapter was updated. There are also updates on this topic throughout the new Stylebook, such as how to guard against misinformation that can be easily mistaken for fact on online platforms.

The religion chapter of the Stylebook was thoroughly updated and expanded with 30 new entries. Some are African Methodist Episcopal Church, Sikhi, Sikhism, humanism, humanist, and “nones.” Interestingly, just a few days after the webinar, I saw this in use for the first time when I received my Axios PM newsletter: “Religious “nones” are the fastest growing segment in the Americas, even surpassing evangelicals, VCU Professor Andrew Chesnut told Axios.”

Probably the most significant religion-related update was the entry on Catholic, Roman Catholic. The new Stylebook advises using Catholic Church, Catholic, or Catholicism in the first references “of those who believe that the pope, as bishop of Rome, has the ultimate authority in administering an earthly organization founded by Jesus Christ.” Given that most Catholics belong to the Latin (Roman) rite, it is acceptable to use Roman Catholic Church on the first reference if the context is clearly referring to the Latin rite. However, when referring to the pope, the Vatican or the universal church, Catholic Church should be used since it encompasses believers belonging to the Latin and Eastern churches that are in communion with Rome.

There were more updates to race-related coverage as well as gender, sex and sexual orientation, and pronouns. Avoid deadnaming for transgender people who have changed their name from the name they used before their transition. Deadnaming is a practice that is widely considered insensitive, offensive or damaging.

And there are many more updates throughout the newly published AP Stylebook. A number of these revisions are outlined here in the Stylebook help center.

AP Topical Guides

Seasonal topical guides are available to all AP Stylebook subscribers. Everyone, even non-subscribers, has access to the most recent topical guide, which is currently (as of this writing) the Transgender Coverage Topical Guide.

Common AP style pitfalls in PR

Near the end of this PRSA webinar, Froke also covered some AP style rules that haven’t changed but are often misused by media relations and PR pros — specifically when writing press releases and other items for the media.

While I won’t cover them all in detail, here are some: the use of numerals, the ‘controversial’ Oxford comma, excessive capitalizations, quotation marks, $5 words, unnecessary apostrophes, and the frequent use of alphabet soup (acronyms not commonly recognized). Like last year, she reminded us about the recurrent misuse of exclamation points!!! 

I’ll conclude with a simple reminder, words matter, but the right words matter even more.

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.*A version of this post by Tressa Robbins originally appeared on August 29, 2022 at https://burrelles.com/writing-for-the-news-2022-ap-style-updates/ and is cross-posted here with permission.