Can a public relations professional represent a dictator or an authoritarian government and remain faithful to the PRSA Code of Ethics? Asked another way: Do all clients and organizations deserve representation in the court of public opinion, as long as their behavior is legal?
That’s the essence of an issue boiling over in the London media and among certain NGOs who are concerned that PR firms are, in their view, whitewashing the bad behavior of bad people.
Gideon Spanier, writing for the London Evening Standard, notes that “critics claim that London has turned into the global capital of reputation laundering.” Spanier also quotes Lord Bell, chairman of Chime Communications, as saying, “No amount of media harassment or sensationalism is going to stop me representing clients that have a legitimate right to tell their story.”
Read the entire article at PRSAY.