Download Microsoft PowerPoint - Bournemouth University Research Online

Keynote speech by Prof Tom Watson
Bournemouth University
November 19, 2013
Advice from Mick Jagger

Well I told you once and I told you twice
You never listen to my advice
You don't try very hard to please me
With what you know it should be easy
Well this could be the last time
This could be the last time
Maybe the last time
I don't know, oh no, oh no
[The Last Time: Jagger & Richards, 1965]
Going around in circles

 Repetitive issues
 Ethics
 Evaluation and measurement
 Education
 Industry statements and declarations
 Concern over roles – Executive or manager? Creative
or account handler? C-suite or marzipan layer?
Today’s itinerary

 Ethics
 Communication measurement and evaluation
 Education
 Crowd sourcing a new research agenda
Why history?

“We cannot fully understand the features of the
present unless we see them in motion,
positioned in trajectories which link our world
with that of our forebears.
“Without historical perspective, we may fail to
notice continuities which persist, even in our
world of headlong change” (Tosh 2008, p.141)
Lessons from history

Data from IPRA archives: Most frequent
topics in newsletters from 1977 to 2002
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Education
Ethics
IT (OMG, it’s coming this way …)
Crisis communication and management
Evaluation & Planning of communication
Research benchmark

International Delphi study (Watson, 2008)
 Top five research priorities
1. PR’s role in contributing to strategic decision-making,
strategy development and efficient operation of
organisations
2. The value that PR creates for organisations through
building social capital and managing key relationships
3. The measurement and evaluation of PR
4. PR as a fundamental management function
5. Professional skills in PR; analysis of the industry’s need
for education
“Public Relations Research is not as
Not as New as Some Think”

 Cutlip writing in 1994 about The Publicity Bureau of
Boston’s The Barometer of 1905
 Informal media monitoring by US presidents from
George Washington onwards (Lamme & Russell
2010); also by railroads, temperance societies and
evangelists
 Cuttings agencies start – to monitor advertising
placement
80-90 years ago

 Public opinion research used for benchmarking and
planning, (Arthur Page at AT&T)
 AVE begins in 1920-30s: Still used now!
 Roosevelt Administration gave “close attention to
technique of publicity dissemination (and) to the
manner of its reception” which when accumulated led
to a “barometer of national opinion that possesses great
value” (Batchelor 1938)
60 years ago: PII model

 Early scholarly references
to evaluation were in first
edition of Cutlip &
Center’s Effective Public
Relations in 1952
 Their PII (Preparation,
Implementation, Impact)
model became the initial
model taught around the
world
20-30 years ago

 1977: Jim Grunig holds first academic conferences on
PR measurement
 1980s: Much academic and practitioner writing on
measurement and evaluation
 1990: Broom & Dozier’s Research Methods in Public
Relations (1990) published
 Methodology is well established by end of C20th;
many industry education campaigns
Last 5 years

 Research keeps finding publicity measurement is
norm; AVE the most popular measure (2009)
 Barcelona Principles (2010) – benchmarked basic
evaluation methods; AVE “banned”
 More focus on understanding how communication
creates value
 But PR industry asks: What is AVE’s replacement; A:
There isn’t one
Ethics

Constant refrain across all communication
disciplines
Honesty, transparency, accuracy, fair dealing
Mostly personal values expressed in work
and interpersonal situations
The Code of Athens (1965)

 First international code of ethics for PR and corporate
communications
 Written by Lucien Matrat: “by such a Code we were
proposing to enter into the dialogue of civilisation. That
dialogue requires the respect of the moral rights of man
as an individual” (IPRA Athens Minutes, 1965, p.3)
 The Code “is the closest to a formulation of moral
philosophy upon which the profession of public relations
is based” (Traverse-Healy, 2007, p. 14)
What it said - 1

Link to UN’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights;
13 elements in three clusters (IPRA, 2001):
1) Practitioners to aid fellow humans to achieve their
full stature and rights; foster free flow of information;
conduct themselves in a manner that gives confidence
to others; consider their public-professional and private
behaviour as having an effect on the profession’s
reputation;
What it said - 2

2) Observe the Declaration of Human Rights; have
regard to the dignity of others; establish moral
conditions for true dialogue for all parties; act in
the best interests of all parties – organisation and
publics; act personally to avoid misunderstanding
and with integrity to all parties;
3) Be truthful, circulate information based on
ascertainable fact; not take part in any activity
affecting human dignity and integrity; and not use
any manipulative methods.
What happened

 Promoted but never
implemented
 US and UK members said
it was “inoperable”
 Not one IPRA member
infringed it in 36 years!
 Adopted by many PR
professional bodies, but
mainly symbolic
And in 2012

 Melbourne Mandate said it would “instill responsible
behaviours by individuals and organisations”.
 Practitioners to show personal responsibility
 Set of (familiar) ethical statements
 Developed by Global Alliance
 Follows GA’s Ethical PR statement (2003) and Stockholm
Accords (2010); also discussed ethics

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Ensuring personal communication is always truthful, and actions
reflect the imperatives of doing good and creating mutual benefit
Recognise and appreciate differences between personal values
and those of organisational stakeholders and communities, in line
with societal expectations
Take personal ownership of the professional standards by which
day-to-day decisions and actions are governed
Be willing to make tough decisions – and understand the
consequences - when circumstances, society or the organisation
create conditions that prevent or contradict one’s professional
standards
Be accountable for one’s decisions and actions
Will Mandate make a
difference?

 Deontological “codes” are for lawyers, administrators and
governments
 Focus on individual’s “everyday ethical decision-making”
(Parsons, 2004, p. xvi), rather than bolstering quasiprofessional industry bodies’ unimplementable codes
 Little evidence they have shaped professional
communication practice in past 50-60 years
 Ethical behaviours need to be built from the stakeholder
view; not “top down”
Education

 PR education started in the US
 Edward Bernays claimed to have taught the first PR
class at NYU in 1920s
 Widespread in US by late 1940s but not in Europe
and other parts of the world till 1970s
 IPRA Review shows that there was much discussion –
Three Gold Papers (1976, 1982, 1990), 36 articles over
20 years; Hong Kong statement (1980)
 Now well-established in universities and colleges
A success

 Education has kept moving forward
 PR, advertising, corporate and marketing
communications are established academic disciplines
 Also taught in secondary schools, vocational colleges and
endorsed by communication professional and industry
bodies
 Adapted over time to new technology, social media,
changes in society and politics (e.g. post 1989 Eastern
Europe)
Big questions

 If there is so much education, why do comms
practitioners have doubts on ethics?
 And still use AVE and other short-cuts on measuring
communication effectiveness?
 Can’t blame lazy clients/employers all the time
Crowd sourcing time

 What should we be
researching, from an
Asian perspective
 Avoiding circular
thinking; Looking ahead,
rather than behind …
Final thought

 Would you take part in
a Delphi study on
communication
research priorities?
 If yes, give me your
contact details or email
twatson@bournemouth
.ac.uk