Apparently, PRSA in Washington conducted a December 6 seminar for staff at the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA). You may remember FEMA for such public affairs triumphs as having staff pose as journalists at a press briefing, or the immortal compliment "Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job", aimed at the inimitable Michael Brown.
PRSA issued a news release in the wake of the fake news conference, stating:
"The credibility of the public relations profession and every practitioner who provides public information depends upon open and honest communication," Weiss said. "Strong ethics is the central touchstone that guides public relations professionals every day in how we advise management leaders to communicate. We encourage FEMA and all government agencies to adopt the PRSA Code of Ethics, and PRSA offers its assistance in order to establish effective guidelines quickly. PRSA looks forward to working with FEMA, the government and other agencies and organizations in helping craft and implement comprehensive ethical policies and standards going forward."
Here's information on the day-long seminar via PR Newswire.
Apparently topics included:
- analysis and discussion of the PRSA Code of Ethics
- societal expectations for ethical communications, trust and reputation in the age of new media,
- response strategies for hostile stakeholder groups,
- crisis communications management,
- relationship-building with partners in government,
- addressing the specific needs of multi-cultural and multi-generational groups,
- case study analysis for applying the PRSA Code of Ethics day-to-day at multiple levels of decision-making.
One would hope that they didn't run out of conversation.
While I am not a US citizen, I have to say that I can't imagine an organization that has had two such high-profile, critically important failures as FEMA surviving long.
It would behoove FEMA's management and leadership, starting with administrator David Paulison, to honestly and publicly admit its failings and set out a series of milestones to improve its relations with the American public.
And PRSA could learn how to write a news release that's a bit catchy. God, the two I read researching this post are as dull as toast.
Ciao,
Bob
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