We had
to write a blog about ethics in public relations for my other class, and
writing it took my mind back to a lecture I attended last semester. The guest
speaker for the evening was a lawyer who consulted with companies during crisis
situations. He was the one the PR director would go to to figure out what to
say and what not to say. He was incredibly intelligent and someone I’d love to
have on my team during a crisis, but his presentation gave me an overall icky
feeling about public relations.
His presentation
was centered on the then-recent Jerry Sandusky case. It wasn’t the fact that
the case was about a pedophile who used a position of power to sexually abuse
young boys that gave me the icky feeling. Well, that wasn’t the only thing that gave me an icky feeling.
It was how often the speaker told us cases like this come up. The lawyer said
that he personally had dealt with over 70 cases “exactly like this one.”
Powerful pedophiles who get caught. Unbelievable. He said we would be amazed to
learn how many people with money and power think they can get away with
anything.
He
told us how often PR people are asked to cover up facts and skew the truth by
their bosses. He said that PR pros in big companies are either blatantly as
unethical as the executives they represent, or that their ethics are challenged
so often that they have to quit jobs on a fairly frequent basis. What a shame.
Who should or could even be forced into being held accountable for such
deception? This seems to be a big problem in modern corporate culture.
On the
day the speaker gave this presentation, Sandusky had given an interview with
Bob Costas in which he admitted things about harmlessly showering naked with
children, “horsing around,” touching their legs, etc. This was the interview in
which Sandusky had the ridiculous pause before answering that he is not
sexually attracted to young boys.
The
guest speaker told us that often in these cases the perpetrator is so sociopathic
that he truly believes he can fool the public. He told us that most people in a
position of power believe everyone else is stupid and easily manipulated. He
said that Sandusky’s lawyer likely advised him not to do any live interviews,
but that Sandusky thought he could handle it and ignored his lawyer’s advice.
He told us that as PR practitioners, we should always attempt to muzzle the
person who committed the dirty deed.
I
thought that that was a horrible way to think about it. If I had been Sandusky’s
PR person, I would have gladly put that disgusting monster in a situation in
which he could implicate himself with comments that show his true colors. Quit?
No. Manipulate the monsters? Absolutely.
The
whole idea made me skeptical about PR. Is this what it’s really like? Should I
be worried about going into this field?
Luckily
I’ve been able to study some cases this semester that demonstrate positive
communication and ethical PR. No matter what happens, I know my own principles
and will never compromise them. Especially for monsters.
Sources
“Penn
State Sex Scandal Jerry Sandusky Full Interview with Bob Costas,” via YouTube.
Retrieved from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Xy0L8MUsOE
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