The ethics of PR in developing markets I run Grayling’s office in Nairobi. We are a PR consultancy working for a mix of multinational firms and local Kenyan organisations operating throughout sub-Saharan Africa, so I can only give a view on the ethics of working in these markets. When considering the ethical PR scene here, my perception is that there are two worlds in operation. The first world is where many PR practitioners dwell. It is the same environment you would enco

It’s Halloween, so there will be a few spectres on the prowl tonight. As for us, practitioners charged with building and sustaining the relationships our organisations need to maintain their licence to operate, I wonder if we are looking hard enough, beyond the shadows of current behaviour, into the future of ethical behaviour in public relations practice. Globally, it’s fair to say that it’s been a year of muddy operational waters, increasingly polluted by the language of fe

Due to the multi-cultural nature of the region, the importance of international trade and the significant difference in education levels - many of the ethical issues presented in the CIPR Code of Conduct can be closely linked to local laws. In fact if you are in breach of one, in some cases you are almost certainly in breach of the other… This makes sense to have everything laid out in black and white if you consider that two people from different cultures may be conducting b

Before entering into any observations on right or wrong - I’m extremely aware that I’m an outsider in the Middle East. This is not my ‘home’, even though I’ve lived here for the past 14 years. Also as PR practitioners we should all be professionally critical - and cynical even - of what we see and read in the popular press. If the international media will report what US and British politicians say without question - how likely are they to offer credible reportage on a part of

I’ve just set my alarm for the third and final US presidential debate. I can’t wait. Being based in the UK, this does mean waking up at 2am and losing an hour and a half of sleep on a school night but having gone through this process for the first two debates, I know it’s worth it. It’s easily some of the best television I’ve ever watched. By the time this blog is published, the debate will have come and gone. The second debate took place just two days after the infamous Acce

A glance at a newspaper is enough and you almost always find some organisations involved in some sort of crisis. And indeed there is a plethora of different reasons that will force an organisation to engage in crisis communication and crisis management. But what became clear in recent years is that crises are becoming more and more international. Regardless of Brexit, globalisation has made the world a common market place with customers, suppliers and producers who have entwi

As part of the CIPR Ethics Festival this month the CIPR International Committee wants to hear from YOU on your personal experiences of ethical communications. In a world that is increasingly international, it’s not always a walk in the park for global PR professionals to act as the guardian of an organisation’s reputation while respecting the local cultures and traditions they span. As someone who is lucky enough to have had a career that has taken them all over the world, I