Building democratic resilience with ethical PR – by Margalit Toledano

I recently gave my students of a first year “Introduction to PR” paper an assignment that required them to interview PR practitioners outside New Zealand about the role of PR in democratic societies. They had to email their interviewees three questions:

1. Would you please give us a specific example for an ethical dilemma that you have experienced in your work as a PR practitioner, or that you know was experienced by another PR practitioner (e.g. – a contradiction between client / employer’s needs and PR professional ethical values of transparency and honesty)? Can you please share with us your response and why you responded that way?
2. Would you please give us an example for a PR campaign or activity that in your opinion did not align with democratic values (e.g. Freedom of expression, equal rights, justice)
3. What do you think the PR industry can do to expand and promote democracy?

The assignment topic addresses the current backsliding in democracy in many counties around the world and its potential impact on the PR industry. New Zealand is not exempted. The profession itself is often blamed for damaging democracy via the spread of organisation-centred one-sided misinformation, lobbyist bribery, media manipulations, and the promotion of elite interests while silencing less powerful voices. Such unethical PR practices harm free, open, equal, and fair public discourse that is the backbone of democracy. That said, it is worth noticing that the sheer existence of the profession and its DNA depends totally on democracy. Ethical public relations can be practiced only in democratic systems.

Authoritarian dictatorships do not need PR services as public opinion does not matter to them. In regimes such as North Korea the state uses propaganda and coercive force to reinforce its legitimacy, enlist support, and suppress dissent. In undemocratic regimes, governments as well as businesses do not employ PR skills for building trustworthy relationships with voters, customers, employees, donors and other organisational stakeholders. Such skills are required only in democratic societies that recognise pluralism and competition between ideas and in markets.

While PR can be a tool for democratic informed debate and civic engagement, it can also be used to manipulate public opinion or obstruct transparency, raising ethical concerns for democracy.

Public relations emerged as a profession from WWI propaganda, but since the 1950s it has distinguished itself from propaganda via the industry’s associations’ Codes of Ethics. The codes expressed PR practitioners’ commitment to transparency, honesty, and accountability. Some PR associations explicitly commit members to democratic values of freedom of speech, freedom of press, and the right to information.

I argue that at this time in history and for its own survival the PR industry needs to do more than that. PR practitioners should not only respect democratic values but take responsibility for promoting democratic literacy and empowering PR practitioners to develop democratic resilience.

Pro-democracy campaigns are currently necessary in New Zealand in the face of government initiatives that put its liberal democracy at risk. The lack of civic education in New Zealand’s high-schools results in voter ignorance of basic democratic components and values. Democracy is not only about “one person one vote” in a fair elections system. It is about human rights, freedoms, equity, and justice. It is a fragile and complex system that ensures that elected officials are scrutinised and no one holds absolute power, not even the majority of elected members of Parliament. It depends on a balance of power between legislative, executive, and judiciary authorities.

We have witnessed in recent years how populist autocrats in Europe, Asia, and America changed this balance and gained absolute power not with tanks in the streets but rather with seemingly small changes to the legal system. They became dictators by restricting the independence of courts, weakening the media, and depriving civil society organisations from resources. 

We witness similar moves in New Zealand by initiatives aiming to reduce the power of local government, to dismantle affirmative action intended to redress historical injustices for indigenous people, and to cancel equal pay rights for women. This undemocratic trajectory puts the New Zealand PR industry at risk.

It is interesting to read some of the answers students received from experienced PR practitioners abroad. Interviewees shared experiences such as refusing to work for companies that they considered unethical and feeling caught between a need to satisfy the client and their professional integrity and commitment to the code of ethics; and arguments with clients: e.g.  “The client asked me to call the journalist and tell him to remove the line [criticising the company for breaching human rights]. I refused because there was nothing factually incorrect in the article”.

Unfortunately, the challenging ethical dilemmas that PR practitioners experience, and the price they sometimes pay for their ethical decisions, is not part of the profession’s reputations. PR practitioners are often labelled “spin doctors” and seen as manipulators who harm democracy. More should be done to demonstrate the reality of ethical practitioners and to highlight PRs role as the “ethical conscience” of the organisations they serve. 

The response of interviewees to the third question is worth practical consideration. What can the PR industry do to promote and empower democracy?

• Update the Code of Ethics and provide detailed guidelines to practitioners about the expected conduct in challenging circumstances.
• Train students and practitioners about PR ethics and empahsise their responsibility to protect democratic values.
• PR leaders need to start being more vocal about the importance of democracy and advocate for it.
• More pro bono work for charities that work for democratic causes.
• Educate different groups about democracy – the importance of voting, media literacy, the power balance between national and local government, and the three pillars of democracy.

We can’t take democracy for granted. For its own survival and for the wellbeing of everybody, the PR industry should take responsibility for building democratic resilience and trust in democratic institutions – in New Zealand and anywhere in the world where democracy is under attack.