Week 6 Reflections and Textbook Chapter 4

Lecture Response

In today's lecture, I was taught about how PR practitioners have to interpret and choose a suitable angle according to the different sources that they are being exposed to. This meant that PR practitioners have to study materials given by their client and identify a certain pattern that enables them to write a press release in a specific approach. This could pose as a challenge for them as PR practitioners have to understand their clients' target market and how some angles do not suit the audiences.

For instance, in promoting a certain set of sneakers for a particular brand, if the publishing medium and target market happens to be a teenage magazine that targets between 16 - 22 years old, one would need to understand the nature of such age groups. Since these group of people are still students who are in the midst of their studies, PR practitioners may have to decide that the suitable angle could be along the line of affordability of these sneakers instead of how useful these sneakers are. Yes we have to talk about how effective these sneakers are but the emphasis should revolve around the affordability since it is not working adults we are talking about.

Well, this is just a very direct example but I am sure there are many products out there that targets a wider age group and PR practitioners would have to understand how these group of people have something in common. In the case of the sneakers, a suitable angle could also be one that is about maintaining one's health.

What do you think?

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Four - Public Relations Ethics

In any business operations or investment, it is essential to prioritize ethics over interests since it involves reputation and image building about a firm or organization. As defined by Chia and Synnott (2009), "ethics involves morals (our sense of what is just or unjust, often called our conscience) and values (the principles, standards, or qualities we consider worthwhile or valuable in ourselves and others, such as truthfulness or dependability)". This means that in considering ethics, we have to make decisions that takes into account into our physical, social, and economical environment.

I strongly feel behaving ethically is of utmost importance in upholding a positive image of an individual. The word "ethics" reminded me of the case of Michael Jackson's death where his physician Dr Conrad Murray, who was in huge financial debts, administered a high arsenal of drugs to the pop singer even though it is not ethically correct. In doing so, Dr Conrad Murray has failed to differentiate profession and personal interests as it was evident how he prioritize his personal interests over other factors.

Even though the above mentioned example has no relevance to public relations, it has highlighted the importance of ethics as without the administration of these drugs, the pop star's situation would have been avoided and salvaged. I agree with how Howard and Mathews (1988) stated that behaving ethically has to be something "as normal and unconscious as shaking hands" (quoted from Coy and Synnott, 2009, p. 93). As public relations practitioners, we have to educate our clients in making responsible decisions that will not compromise the society's welfare and this includes being unselfish and truthful. Therefore, I feel that our responsibilities are not confined to just crisis management but also in helping our clients to improve on their organizational and ethical behaviours. In doing so, we are fulfilling our objectives in maintaining our clients' interests and image in the public.

References

Chia, J. and Synnott, G. (2009), An Introduction to Public Relations: From Theory To Practice, Oxford University Press, Australia, New Zealand