Spinners or sinners? PR, journalists and public trust

Journal of Communication Management

Volumn 9, Issue 3, 2005, Pages 267-276

  Jempson, Mike ^a  

^a Eastern Business Centre   (United Kingdom)

Author keywords

Ethics; Journalism; Media literacy; Spin; Trust

Indexed keywords

EID: 84993030017     PISSN: 1363254X     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1108/13632540510621542     Document Type: Article

References (30)

1. ‘Ethical quidelines and working practices for NUJ members working in public relations and information services’.
2. Lord Hutton (2004) ‘Report of the inquiry into the circumstances surrounding the death of Dr David Kelly CMG’ HC 247, 28th January, http://www.thehutton-inquiry.org.uk/content/report/index.htm.
3. Ironically the Dow Chemical Company website www.dow.com/Homepage/index.html boasts an ethics and corporate governance section on its front page.
4. For background see: www.theyesmen.org/hijinks/dow/,www.bhopal.com/bbc.htm and http://news.bbc.co.uk/newswatch/ifs/hi/newsid_4060000/newsid_4065600/4065673.stm
5. Jempson, M. (2004) ‘Journalism and public trust’, conference papers for NUJ Ethics Council Conference, MediaWise, December.
6. Fane-Saunders, T. (no date) ‘Ethics and public relations’, http://www.chelgate.com/articles/ethics.htm.
7. Clifford, M. (no date) ‘Most of what I do has been to try to create the best possible image for whichever client, normally a combination of promotion and protection. Public Relations for me is, and has been, a real adventure - a wonderful way to travel the world, having a great time and making a very good living for myself and my family at the same time - infinitely preferable than having to work for a living,’ http://www.londonspeakerbureau.co.uk/speakers/viewSpeaker.aspx?speakerid=231.
8. See ‘Good news & bad: The media, corporate social responsibility and sustainable development’, http://www.sustainability.com/publications/engaging/goodnews-and-bad.asp.
9. See Jempson, M., Barry, C. and Norris, W. (2004) ‘It's official - journalists have no right to a conscience’, PressWise Bulletin, No. 100, 23rd March, www.presswise.org.uk/display_page.php?id=666.
10. O'Malley, P. (no date) ‘In praise of secrecy: The ethical foundations of public relations’, http://aboutpublicrelations.net/ucomalleyb.htm.
11. http://publicsphere.typepad.com/mediations/2004/06/ethics_study_as.html. Based on 41 questionnaires answered by 19 men and 22 women PR practitioners, plus 17 interviews, March/April 2004.
12. To that extent the author shares Patrick Weever's view, that journalists are ‘higher up the food chain of truth. Journalism is about the pursuit of truth, that is the function of every journalist. The function of a PR person is to protect the client’. See www.anti-spin.com /index.cfm?SECONDARY_ID=0&PRIMARY_ID=19.
13. O'Neill, O. (2002) ‘A question of trust’, Reith Lectures 2002: ‘Licence to deceive’, Lecture No. 5.
14. Zupko, S. J. (1994) ‘The current debate surrounding public relations ethics’, http://www.zupko.com/pr_ethic.htm.
15. www.prwatch.org/cmd/
16. www.spinwatch.org/
17. www.medialens.org/
18. www.anti-spin.com
19. See http://www.anti-spin.com/index.cfm? SECONDARY_ID=0&PRIMARY_ID=38 and Jones, N. (2000) ‘Sultans of spin, the control freaks’ Gollancz; and Jones, N (1996) ‘Soundbites and spin doctors: How politicians manipulate the media and vice versa’, Orion.
20. See Leader, N. (no date) interview with Julia Hobsbawm, www.anti-spin.com/index.cfm ?SECONDARY_ID=0&PRIMARY_ID=54.
21. Gowers, A. (2004) ‘The BBC's failings are a warning to all journalists’, Financial Times, 31st January.
22. Kettle, M. (2004) ‘Journalists’ self-righteous arrogance has gone too far’, Media Guardian, 18th May, http://media.guardian.co.uk/presspublishing/comment/0,7495,1219124,00.html.
23. Hargreaves, I. (2003) ‘Journalism: Truth or dare’, OUP.
24. Lloyd, J. (2004) ‘What the media are doing to our politics’, Constable.
25. MediaWise has already won support from about a dozen institutions for its Journalism and Public Trust Project.
26. See http://www.journalism.org/default.asp
27. America is streets ahead of the UK in promoting professional training and public debate about journalism ethics. See for example Pew Center for People and the Press (http://people-press.org/about/), Poynter Institute (http://www.poynter.org/column.asp?id=62), Fairness and Accuracy in Reporting (http://www.fair.org/)
28. BBC Radio 4 (2004) ‘Is a free press a bad press?’, The Commission, 15th September.
29. Harrabin, R., Coote, A. and Allen, J. (2003) ‘Health in the news: Risk, reporting and media influence’, Kings Fund. See also ‘Guidelines for reporting on health issues’, http://www.presswise.org.uk/display_page.php?id=165.
30. Cole, P. (2004) ‘Diversity in the newsroom: Employment of minority ethnic journalists on newspapers’, Society of Editors, October. A welcome if belated attempt to address a serious shortcoming that has done little to engender trust among minority communities. See also Jempson, M. ‘From little acorns… www.thechronicle.demon.co.uk/archive/acorn.htm.