Are You a Flack?
Does the term, "flack" bother you? It bothers me. As I was scanning my daily reads this morning, I came across a blog post titled, "Flackalicious" by Christopher Swope at Governing.com
My first reaction was anger. My immediate thought was to send a reply to Mr. Swope to ask him what he thought of journalists like Jayson Blair. The media certainly aren't the ones to cast the first stone.
But then I calmed down and reflected on his blog post. I am not a flack; and my fellow FPRA members are not either. We pride ourselved on practicing public relations with ethics and honesty. But we all know that our profession includes less-than-honest practitioners. So while Mr. Swope is wrong to subjectively use the term "flack," as a profession we all have a responsibility to further make the term inaccurate.
First, we must look within. Are we practicing what we preach? Every day?
Second, we must be our brothers' (and sisters') keepers. Through FPRA, we need to continue to promote professional development and accreditation. This will help foster integrity and professionalism.
Finally (and continually), we must not be afraid to engage in dialogue about unethical behavior within our profession. Case studies, such as the Armstrong Williams scandal, can serve as valuable lessons and teachable moments for all of us. These lessons are especially important for younger members.
Last year, Richard Edelman wrote a related post about this topic on his personal blog. I recommend reading it, along with Christopher Swope's article. While we may not like criticism of public relations (fair and unfair), we can learn from it.
Visitor Comments
Funny you should post this. Just today I was reading an article about someone who labels what they do as public relations consulting but continuously engages in unethical (and sometimes borderline illegal)activities.
The problem is, though, how do you get the rest of the world to understand that these types of people are not a representation of what the rest of us do?
Until our profession has the equivalent of a bar association for lawyers where one has to pass exams to get in and can be disbarred for not holding to a code of ethics, I'm not sure how we can dispel the flack rumors (on a large scale, anyway).
Posted by: Cynthia Lambert | October 6, 2006 02:13 PM
Cynthia, much of the discussion on the Edleman blog that I referenced centered around the issue you raised in your last paragraph. To some extent, accreditation provides a certain level of credibility, but it lacks an accountability and enforcement component. Implementing a formal certification for public relations would be at direct odds with the right to free speech. I think accreditation is still the answer, but as a profession we need to implement measures of accountability and then do a better job of promoting the value of accreditation.
Posted by: Bob O'Malley | October 6, 2006 02:30 PM