By now, most know of the big ethical flap that PR firm Burson-Marsteller found itself in after it was outed by USA TODAY for engaging in an attempted smear campaign on behalf of its famous client, Facebook, against Google. “Whisper-Gate” it’s being called.
Long story short: things blew up — dramatically — in one of the most egregious displays of unethical practices our profession has seen since the trio of fake news, fake blogging and fake press conferences of the mid-2000s.
Let me be clear: B-M’s actions on behalf of Facebook were unethical and improper.
Read the entire article at PRSAY.