The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) had an interesting webinar recently as part of a series on ethical values. The series is hosted by the organization’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS).
Each webinar in the series involves a panel discussion about the importance of a particular value in the PRSA Code of Ethics. There are six such values, which form the foundation for the six provisions of the code. The session I attended recently was focused on the ethical value of “expertise.”
The panelists, including two professionals and one educator, made some excellent points about the importance of the value of expertise in ethical practice of PR. Some stressed that a commitment to life-long learning is shown by valuing expertise, since the field is constantly evolving. Others brought up the importance of Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), because the process of earning accreditation helps a professional develop and prove and ethical mindset. Panelists also stressed that having both ethical and practical expertise enables professionals to counsel the C-suite.
As I listened, I had some of my own thoughts about expertise in public relations, and why it is an ethical concern:
- It is important to know what public relations is. I have heard more than a few times someone claim to be a PR expert when they lack a fundamental understanding of what it is. Such people claim that PR is about image, or “getting the word out,” or the most cringe-inducing from an ethical standpoint–“putting an organization in a positive light.” This is unethical because it misrepresents the field and other professionals, and it provides a disservice to clients or organizations being served.
- You can’t extend expertise in one area of public relations to the entire profession. I have heard people say marketing and public relations are all the same. Or they state that they will impose their corporate experience onto a nonprofit. Or they assume their years in media relations qualify them immediately for investor relations. The field of public relations is vast. Some core principles extend across the profession, but one should be hesitant to claim specific expertise in an area where they lack specific knowledge and experience.
- Expertise requires knowing the context of the business or industry in which you work. You can’t be a good PR expert for a company or nonprofit or government entity if you don’t know intimately what they do and how they do it, their sources of revenue, their competitive landscape and history.
In a nutshell, pretending to have expertise when one does not is unethical, because it lacks transparency and honesty and does not have the best interest of others in mind.
But, all this means is that to truly be an ethical public relations professional, one must have the humility and integrity to admit a lack of expertise and then gain it. Becoming expert can involve asking good questions, doing robust research, attending a PRSA seminar, or reading good books and articles on the subject at hand.
A professional will be better for developing and maintaining true expertise. Even more so, so will the organizations served and the profession at large.
