The Development of Ethical Standards - Term Paper Example

Public Relations An organization cannot exist like an ‘island’ in isolation. The organization has to be in the midst of action to create sensation. Sensation in the sense, the organization’s existence should be extensively propagated. That is, public normally believe in what they see and hear, and if an organization want to make the people believe in them, they have to reach the minds of the people, through their sense organs. This is where the activity of public relations, PR for short comes in to picture. "The history of PR is… a history of a battle for what is reality and how people will see and understand reality." (Ewen). And after coming into the ‘picture’, Public relations can in turn create a favorable ‘picture’ of the company, helping in its profit and brand image. So, this shows how crucial is public relations department to an organization, but the important aspect, is how ethical is public relation department in practice. “We all have our personal ethical standards; each of ours is different ” (Miyamoto 1996). Ever since the origination of the concept of public relation, there was always a kind of negative attachment to its purpose. And the negative attachment mainly comes in the aspect of ethics. So this paper will analyze, how even with the development of ethical standards, contemporary public relations has not been able to distance itself from a times when it was seen as manipulative, unfair and overly self-focused. That is, in this modern world, ethical standards are compromised, and the public relations are riddled with many negative aspects. And, this analysis will be done by looking at the history of the concept of Public relation. That is, the concept of public relations originated in the 19th century and from that day onwards till this day, the work of public relations department is often viewed in a negative angle. With the invention of printing press and the advent of mass circulating newspapers, common people gained greater access to information and ideas. And even in that time, apart from giving useful information, these mediums smeared misinformation as well. And it continued its run, when the field of public relations attained some form in the end of the 19th century. That is, the concept of public relations attained some form, when public events like circuses, theatrical performances, etc are promoted by certain individuals, who are a different group from the ones who organizes the event. And even in that foundation stage, some discrepancies have occurred which only lead to the formation of a negative image and that image is continuing even now. That is, the person who is regarded as one of the pioneers of public relations was under cloud in the initial stages itself. That is, some historians regard Ivy Lee as the first real practitioner of public relations (Heaton), but his act of promoting dubious companies or organization, which people actually despised have given his character a dubious image. Lee most times carried out propaganda or public relations exercise for clients, who have a damaged image and is despised by the common public. So, shortly before his death, he was even investigated by the congress for working for a controversial German company, IG Farben, which had Nazi leanings (Public Relations Founding Fathers 2006). At a time, when having attachment with Nazism and Hitler is viewed with disdain, this act of Levy lee raised a storm and in the storm, the public relations concept was somewhat knock down. Another reason, why one can say with certainty that public relations haven’t changed a lot in these modern times, is because its role during war times is still a bone of contention. That is, During World War I, the United States government appointed the "Creel Committee" under George Creel to sway public opinion in favor of the war effort. And the committee was able to do so through planning and the use of mottos like "hang the Kaiser." (Prhistory.com 2006). The use of slogans like this shows, how far public relations companies or departments would go, to change the public’s opinion. Even to the extent of asking public to support killing a leader of a country through hanging. So, the human life will be, just a minor thing for these PR companies and building a image will be a major thing for them. For the Public relations company their only concern or target will be the image of the country, and how the country’s policies and reasons for war can reach the people. So, to reach their targets, public relation companies and personnel will indulge in lot of manipulation and unfairness. These unfair practices are visible even today with ethical standards having no consideration. During the buildup to war with Iraq, the Bush Administration used the Weapons of Mass destruction (WMD) theory as the reason for its unprovoked attack on Iraq. And Dick Cheney went one step forward and ‘confirmed’ the presence of Weapons of Mass Destruction, “We do know, with absolute certainty” (Cheney 2002 cited in Washington Post.com). And in the initial stages, when there was no news of WMD’s, even discoveries of small weapons were treated as major news in newspapers and as breaking news on television. Later, when the discoveries were found to be of minor nature, the retractions were buried inside pages or omitted altogether (Pr watch 2006). And the public relations department only did all this ‘burying’. Involvement of politicians in these image-building exercises through Public relations, has also given a bad color to it. That is, with the establishment of democracy in many countries and societies in 1950’s, the role of politicians became crucial. And they tried to hold on to that preeminent position by personally building their image using public relation. “Politicians, heads of large firms, and economic powers abroad are all active in this environment, and they all hire lobbyists and PR managers.” (Dušková & Petrov 2005). But, the actual real life activities of the politicians in many societies are not seen in a favorable light. That is, involvement of some politician in corruption, immoral activities etc will make the him/her subject of criticism and when the public relations, recruited by the politicians, comes in aid of them, the public will despise them also. “No science is immune to the infection of politics and the corruption of power” (Bronowski). With the changing times, the politicians have many ways to commit mistakes, abandoning any ethical issues. But with the omnipresent media on their heels, all the public figures including the politicians will be keenly watched. And this where, Public relations comes into the picture saving the day for them through every crook and means like manipulating the media itself. “Public doesn't know what a politician's actual record or positions are, because the media has simply repeated the politician's spin, rather than providing factual analysis” (Hessert 2006). But, that may not be case all the time. That is, when all the mistakes of the politician are being covered up by the PR, some may get exposed, giving the image of being manipulative and unfair not only to the politicians but also to the Public relation personnel, behind it And in today’s competitive business world, the organizations will take great care to build a brand image and if there is any threat for it, the organization will go great lengths to suppress it. And, they will only use their public relation department to do this, who will implement strategies, which may border both in the positive as well as in the negative side. “Public relations is an economical means of promoting your organization.” (Sheldon). That is, when the PR department of an organization tries to go on the offensive in the negative side, that scenario will be full of manipulations and unfairness. Even though business organizations in the past have been manipulative, one thought that, with the development of business ethics brought about by the respective Governments, Watchdogs and also international trade organization, the manipulation may subside. But, that didn’t happen because with lot of competition, “Our vision is to create the world's most competitive enterprise”. (Welch). Public relation department worked over time to increase the manipulations and unfairness. And in turn earning the same bad image to themselves as well. And, also the role of public relations has increased in the media dominated world of today. That is, media focusses and covers every second and every event of human life, with ‘arc lights’ always on. And this scenario is mostly seen or applicable to the lives of celebrities. And the celebrities who wish to use this media coverage will appoint or recruit Public relations personnel. And these PR personnel’s duty only involves maintaining the image of the celebrity and also creating an image for an aspiring celebrity. “The number of celebrities who can be created and maintained is rather finite and inelastic” (Leichty 2003). In both the cases, the element of manipulation will be there. That is, Celebrities tend to strictly follow the dictum "any publicity is good publicity", even if it is on the negative side. If a celebrity says or does something embarrassing or bad, the Public relations personnel will often turn it, into a positive way and make it part of the celebrity’s image. This tactic is used just as much with favorable situations as much as with unfavorable ones. So, here also the role of public relations has not changed for good. One of the most controversial practices in public relations, which are prevalent in the earlier days and even, more so in the recent years, is the use of front groups. That is, every organization’s attempt to form a front group, to conceal its intentions is managed by the Public relations department only. Every organization should function in a free manner and should use Public relations only for positive activities, not to promote the front organizations; otherwise it will be branded as manipulative and unfair. “The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses…those who manipulate this unseen mechanism of society constitute an invisible government which is the true ruling power of our country." (Barney). So all this history about public relations have ‘painted’ a very bad image to it. And, this stereotypical view of public relation has given raise to various views about with many people perceiving public relations as something less than respectable. Even though it saves the lives of many, how the public relation saves it will always be thought about and scrutinized. So, some people see public relations personnel nothing but just manipulators of the public mind, rather than being conveyors of truth. So, the modern times have made no great change to the approach of public relations. And this can further proved by a case study. Case study The act of toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein in the Baghdad city centre in the days of 2003 Iraq war was actually a staged event, by U.S. soldiers, for the media. As discussed earlier, the main motive of Public relations personnel at times of war is to wean towards their side the people who are against it. And, to make the people on the other side, having different views to look at their view. And what better way to do that, then by showing visuals of the enemy country’s citizens rejoicing the downfall of their own ruler. So, the event of the toppling of the statue and its coverage is a major exercise for the PR officials in the US defense department particularly Pentagon. But that exercise turned out to be an act of manipulation and the manipulation was exposed by the watchdog, Source watch in their web site. And the points they raised as discrepancies actually showed how well the manipulation was carried out by the public relations personnel. But unfortunately for them and fortunately for the common watchers, they were not able to keep under wraps the manipulation for a longer time. And all the details were revealed in course of time. Actually the Firdos Square, where the statue was located was nearly empty when the statue was torn down. That is, the square was sealed off by the U.S. military and there were only 200 odd people mainly composed of U.S. Marines, international press and a minimum of Iraqis. So, portraying the toppling of the statue by a whole mass of Iraqis is incorrect and is a media creation. Another aspect is the image building exercise carried out by the politicians. That is with the toppling of the statue, the US defense secretary of state at that time, Donald Rumsfield claimed in a live press conference that victory has arrived, even though Saddam’s statue was only toppled and not the actual Saddam was captured. This, he did mainly to boost the image of America as well his personal image. About the media being an important tool in the whole process, it made an obscure Marine Corporal Ed Chin, who temporarily placed a U.S. flag over Saddam's face, became an instant media celebrity. His sister, Connie, appeared on the "Today" show and spoke with her brother via a video hook-up. And importantly the final fact that was suppressed in the PR exercise is, only an American military vehicle actually pulled down the statue. But PR of the Pentagon ‘showed’ that the toppling of the statue is the wholesome act of the Iraqi people. (Source watch 2006) For any organization, the works of its departments can only ‘script’ a success ‘story’. Among them, Public Relation department’s role is very significant. Public Relation only looks after the image as well as bring out changes to the image of the company. While doing this activity, sometimes the Public relation personnel tend to manipulate to give ‘created’ or ‘false’ image suppressing the ‘naturally’ occurring image. Actually this manipulation has been going for many years, and even with the formulation of new ethical standards, this dubious cycle and its run cannot be stopped. This manipulation and the resultant coverup has become part of every one’s life, showing its presence in every human activity from war, politics, business management etc from the 1900’s till 2000. And, even though the incomplete and uncovered cover-ups frequently incur more damage than the original offense, the public relation is continuing its process of manipulation, unfairness and overly self-focused ness to minimize the damage, and in the process accumulating worse image to it. 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Retrieved March 10, 2007 from http://www.prague-tribune.cz/2005/5/6.htm Source watch. 2006. Toppling the statue of Saddam Hussein. Retrieved March 10, 2007 From http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Toppling_the_statue _of_Saddam_Hussein Welch, Jack. 25 Lessons from Jack Welch. Retrieved March 10, 2007 from http://www.1000ventures.com/business_guide/mgmt_new-model_25lessons-welch.html Read More