PR Society of America has declared February to be "PRSA Ethics Month" and is making available on its website (www.prsa.org) a series of hypothetical ethics cases so that members can sharpen their ethical sensibilities.

Robert Frause

The series, called "Dilemmas and Moral Questions: The Heart of Ethical Decision Making," is authored by James Lukaszewski, a member of the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards.

Robert Frause, Seattle counselor, has resigned as chair of BEPS after six years plus five other years as a member of the board.

Charles Wood, PR director for Omaha World-Herald Co., has been named to replace Frause. (Click for story)

Since PRSA is focusing on ethics this month, we urge the Society to examine its own ethical behavior.

We believe the Society ditched its 50-year-old code and its elaborate judicial process in 2000 because the code was unevenly applied. Certain officers got favored treatment while rank-and-file members were skewered.

Lukaszewski

The difference in treatment got so large that PRSA leaders, probably on the advice of their lawyers, concluded that no one could ever again be prosecuted for any offense by PRSA.

Duffey, Pincus Handled Differently

PRSA in 1973 brought charges against Ted Pincus of the Financial Relations Board after he signed an SEC consent decree in behalf of his PR firm.

False statements were found in one of the hundreds of releases sent out by the firm each month.

Pincus felt he was unfairly treated because none of the people on the account were PRSA members and he, personally, had no knowledge of the release.

Lee Duffey

The SEC never made any personal charges against Pincus but called for greater supervision of financial releases by FRB and all financial PR firms. Pincus had never been active in PRSA leadership.

However, when members of the EIFS (exterior finish) industry complained in 1997 that Duffey Communications was aiding an alleged front group that was criticizing EIFS, no action nor even any public investigation or explanation was offered by BEPS. Lee Duffey, president of the firm, was at that time treasurer of PRSA and on a well-worn path to becoming president.

The story got started when a Duffey staffer, asked by the Chicago Tribune who was paying the people slamming EIFS, answered, in effect, every building material but EIFS.

Ted Pincus

Duffey, asked to provide a complete account list, refused.

He noted that the PRSA code only said that counselors had to be "prepared" to reveal the source of any communication but did not have to actually reveal it.

That was the fatal weakness in the old code. There had been attempts to close that gap but they were always beaten back.

The old code was thus essentially toothless. It lacked backbone. The same can be said of the new code.

Persecuted Summer Harrison

Another instance of PRSA hitting on a rank-and-file member came in 1988 when it twice censured Washington, D.C., counselor Summer Harrison.

Her offense was bringing to the attention of BEPS the meeting that four PRSA members (including two former national officers) had with CIA head Bill Casey in 1983.

The CIA is barred from operating in the U.S. and the meeting and much else connected with the Iran/Contra scandal became the story of the day.

Summer Harrison

BEPS, playing dumb, asked Harrison what in the world could she be talking about and asked her to prepare some facts. She summarized all the articles that were in print in order to help BEPS.

She was censured for discussing the case publicly and for failure to respond to a BEPS letter. Harrison lost her job and moved to Hawaii.

PRSA should exonerate her. The four PRSA people got off Scott-free.

Should Settle with Authors

Next would be settling with the 12 authors (including this NL) who in 1996 discovered PRSA was copying and selling their works without their permission, making probably close to $200,000.

The invoices sent out with the copied articles said, "We are precluded from making copies of this original material" and urged their return in three weeks.

PRSA, meanwhile, promised "All material is sent out within 24 hours." How could they send out materials that others were allowed to keep three weeks?!

Epley's Firm in 1991 Nuke Flap

Controversy swirled around the firm of 1991 PRSA president Joe S. Epley of Charlotte, N.C.

Epley Assocs. made headline news across the state in mid-1991 when a "confidential" 500-page report from the firm to client Chem-Nuclear Systems was "outed" by state officials.

The report, titled "The Epley Public Relations Assessment" of where a radioactive waste storage site should go in the state, showed that political strengths of possible sites were measured when the selection was supposed to be on scientific grounds only.

In addition, a July 6, 1989 memo by an Epley staffer and a staffer of the N.C. Low-Level Radioactive Waste Mgmt. Authority described a proposal to publicize 12-13 sites in the state rather than the 5-7 "real" sites so that public opposition would be "more dispersed." The text became a public document.

Said the memo: "It may be more difficult for environmental and citizens groups to gain strength if their activities have to be spread over a wide area of the state."

A banner headline in The Chapel Hill newspaper said, "State May Bar PR Work by Nuke Firm."

Another banner said, "State Will Audit Nuke Board's PR Project."

The Epley report knocked two newspapers, The Richmond County Daily Journal and The Anson Record.
The former was called "not well done...printed on what appears to be the cheapest stock," and the latter was said to have been "sucked into that emotionalism (of the siting issue) without much regard for facts."

Joe Epley said the report was kept confidential because the client was not yet prepared to make a recommendation to the state. He did not admit any role in writing the memo, saying the author of the letter had handled questions directly.

He said all employees of the Epley firm agree to abide by the PRSA code and that following a review of their work for Chem-Nuclear "No breach of that code had been found."

BEPS never made any comment on the situation nor gave any indication it was aware of it.

Anvil Entrants Complained in 1992

A number of firms submitting entries to PRSA's annual Silver Anvil awards contest complained loudly when it was revealed that perhaps hundreds of entries had been rejected in the previous decade because of technical violations.

It appears that many of the award entries were returned without even being opened and that no explanation for the rejections were given. Meanwhile, PRSA pocketed the $165 entrance fees.

Particularly annoying to the competing firms was the revelation that 22 entries were rejected in 1992 alone for unwittingly violating the "three-inch rule."

The entries must be "not over three inches at the spine," said the rules, leading contestants to go out and buy "three-inch binders."

The binder industry measures from the inside but PRSA measures from the outside, transforming a three-inch binder into one that is three-and-a-half inches."

Critics included Ron Rogers, president of Rogers & Assocs., Los Angeles, who wrote PRSA president Rosalee Roberts that he was quitting the Society.

"No one cared enough about a participating member to call and let us know there was a problem," he said.

West Coast counselor Jackie Lapin said her staff spent at least $750 of company time on the entry plus the $165 entry fee only to have it tossed out for a "$2 mistake."

Anvil chair Louis Capozzi had looked into the phenomenon of dozens of entries being rejected each year (some for having soft covers, or any marking whatsoever on the cover, or having summaries longer than two pages) and had decided to inform the firms the reason for the rejections.

PRSA changed its rules so that an extra four points would be awarded to entries following all the rules.

Entries that follow the rules can receive up to 44 points and those that don't, up to 40.

Miller Owed Apology

Debra Miller should be declared PRSA's official 50th anniversary president in 1997.

PRSA had said for years that 1997 was the 50th anniversary year and even sought a stamp from the USPS with years 1947-97 on it. Counselor James Arnold headed the "1997 PRSA 50th Anniversary Committee."

But political foes of Miller shifted the anniversary year to 1998 at the last minute, robbing her of the honor of being the golden anniversary president.

Debra Miller

Other instances of unfair/unethical behavior include "packing" the Assembly with about 50 leaders such as the national board and district officers, who then vote on their own proposals; cutting the Assembly from two meetings to one a year; failure to report finances timely and completely, and failure to run the Society in a democratic manner.

Because of all these skeletons in the closet, PRSA can never seek any publicity about itself. Its 50th anniversary passed with no recognition whatsoever in the media.

PRSA must come out of its caves and show the leadership that is much needed for the industry.