The public relations implications of #AlternativeFacts
- By Sarah Guenther
- Jan 27, 2017
- 2 min read
The field of public relations is fraught with ethical minefields. Several codes of ethics state telling the truth as one of the most important tenets of practice for journalists. The SPJ Code of Ethics says that journalists (and, by extension, PR practitioners) should “seek the truth and report it.” The PRSA Code of Ethics says that PR pros should “adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth.”
Yet, it seems that those who work in public relations are often asked to bend the truth or even tell outright lies. So was the situation for Sean Spicer, the press secretary to newly inaugurated President Donald Trump.
Over the weekend, Spicer gave a press briefing in which he discussed the crowd size at President Trump’s inauguration in comparison to the crowd at former president Obama’s inauguration in 2009, saying that there were more people at the Trump inauguration. Though aerial photos clearly show that this was not the case, Spicer said that “This was the largest audience to ever witness an inauguration — period — both in person and around the globe.”
The next day, Senior White House counselor Kellyanne Conway defended Spicer by saying that he gave “alternative facts” about the inauguration. The phrase quickly became a sensation on social media, with people using the hashtag #AlternativeFacts to mock the pair. Merriam-Webster even contributed to the Twitter maelstrom:
People have even begun to make comparisons between the #AlternativeFacts phenomenon and the George Orwell novel “1984,” in which a dystopian society is controlled by its authoritarian government. The book’s sales have risen significantly, and it is now the best-selling book on Amazon.com. The phrase “alternative facts” evokes the “Big Brother” in the novel, the all-knowing Ministry of Truth (i.e., authoritarian government).
While all this discussion has been happening in the popular sphere, public relations practitioners have taken a hard look at their profession and asked themselves what this means for the industry. The Public Relations Society of America released a statement regarding the incident, saying that “Truth is the foundation of all effective communications…Encouraging and perpetuating the use of alternative facts by a high-profile spokesperson reflects poorly on all communications professionals.”
In a video response to the incident, Stalwart Communications president David Oates echoes an important point: facts are facts. At the end of the day, facts reign supreme. We aren’t doing our jobs as public relations practitioners if we tell blatant and easily-refuted lies just because our bosses tell us to. In order to maintain trust with our publics, we must place the utmost importance on telling the truth or we risk losing credibility.
If this case show us anything, it’s that we are going to have to continue to uphold the highest ethical standards to show those skeptical of our field that public relations is not a profession that lies and bends the truth, but one that relies on accurate information amid a rise in fake news (and, apparently, alternative facts).
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