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08-03-10
Going to Bat for PR: Some Advocacy, Little Formal Lobbying by PR Orgs
Source: PR NewsBy Larry Parnell
There's no question that PR associations aim to help their members—from professional development to generating helpful research to producing key events.
This member focus is practiced by all of the major communications associations. But what about these organizations projecting their efforts on the PR profession as a whole? How much effort are the major PR associations putting into lobbying and advocating for PR practitioners?
PR News decided to take a look at the scope of formal lobbying and other forms of advocacy by major PR bodies. What we found, in a nutshell, is little real lobbying mixed with some advocacy efforts.
NO LEGISLATIVE AGENDA?
Lobbying in the real sense of the word on behalf of PR seems to have peaked eight years ago with the Nike vs. Kasky Supreme Court case, when five PR groups (PRSA, Public Affairs Council, Institute for PR, Arthur Page Society and the Council of PR Firms) banded together to support Nike on a free speech issue (it was ultimately settled among the parties).
PR association spokespeople contacted by PR News can't recall another issue since that has so galvanized the profession into action. One reason for this, says Arthur Yann, the Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) VP of communications, is that communications is a non-regulated industry with broad First Amendment protections. "We don't have a legislative agenda to discuss," says Yann.
But Larry Parnell, associate professor and director of the Master's in Strategic PR program at George Washington University (and a longtime PRSA committee participant) begs to differ. He thinks the lack of formal lobbying is a missed opportunity. "There are issues that affect PR, such as free speech, privacy and financial that could be regularly discussed with legislators, whether there's a bill in Congress, a court case, or not:' says Parnell.
ALTERNATIVE ADVOCACY
Yet most PR organizations concentrate on other forms of advocacy to advance the PR agenda. "We use our members as our eyes and ears:' says Matt Shaw, senior VP, director of communication at the Council of Public Relations Firms. In lieu of full-time lobbying, the council formed an Issues Monitoring Group among its membership, comprised of mostly public affairs practitioners based in the Washington, D.C. area. "They help us inform our agency members of key issues coming down the pike," says Shaw.
A few times a year, the group issues a report covering a variety of key issues faced by agencies. A sampling of the most recent report on the council Web site includes articles on health reform, sales tax audits and the Federal Trade Commission's edicts on social media.
'TRICKY ISSUE'
Meanwhile, at the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC), Julie Freeman, president of the LABC, says if any issue that affected PR should arise, "we would most likely mobilize a grassroots-type campaign effort around it."
Lobbying? "That's a tricky issue:' says Freeman. "In the formal sense, we don't have anyone in D.C. because there are not regular issues that effect the practice of communications." What the IABC does do, says Freeman, is advocate for the profession in an indirect way, "because it's self-serving to issue position papers on why PR is important."
Freeman cites three examples of this type of advocacy:
- An "Excel" awards program that honors a business leader, who is not an IABC member, at the group's annual conference. Leaders from Best Buy and Marriott Hotels have been feted.
- An effort to write a guide for social responsibility with the International Standards Organization (ISO). "One component is the communicator's role in the CSR process:' says Freeman.
- Equipping IABC members with the best practices for executing effective programs and demonstrating their value to upper management also shows the value of communications, says Freeman.
Freeman admits that the IABC struggles with PR advocacy issues. "There's politics involved in that, as we have members from many countries with different views:' says Freeman.
Similarly, being an advocate for the profession, particularly through education of its members, is a goal of the Institute for PR (IPR), says its president and CEO, Robert Grupp.
A former registered lobbyist himself, Grupp steers IPR toward informal lobbying for the legitimacy and credibility of the PR field. "The task is to be out there on behalf of the profession, defining it for people and talking about the transparent nature of PR' says Grupp.
CASE FOR LOBBYING
GW's Parnell believes there is room for more formal lobbying efforts. "Coming from the Washington world, everyone does lobbying in some form or another:' says Parnell. "But PR has never done that, and I think it's an oversight, especially with new digital platforms that bring up a whole lot of regulatory issues."
Organizations like the PRSA, says Parnell, shouldn't shy away from Capitol Hill. In fact, the PRSA is holding its annual conference in October in Washington, D.C. It's the perfect opportunity to reach out to legislators, says Parnell. "Most organizations have a 'lobby day: where members can meet with their legislators and discuss issues that are relevant to them' The PRSA will not be doing any of the sort, says Yann. "We don't have any meetings planned with legislators:' Yann says. Instead, PRSA will have a number of public affairs education sessions at the conference. "We do track emerging legal, regulatory and legislative issues that affect other industries and could, by extension, be applied to the practice of public relations:' says Yann, who cites the changes recently proposed by the FTC to its "Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising" as an example. Yann adds that the PRSA's tracking of key issues are high lighted on the its Web site.
Should PR organizations be doing more to lobby for the profession? Let us know in our discussion group on PR Peeps (http://prpeeps.ning.com/).
For more information about GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, visit: www.gwu.edu/gspm.
