Parsing Propaganda

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Philip Young, a senior lecturer in Journalism and Public Relations at the University of Sunderland, says on his blog:ย ย 

โ€œOne of my favourite questions when teaching PR ethics is to try and establish whether or not an ethical PR practitioner can represent the Flat Earth Society (I would argue that there is no easy answer to this question)? Jim Hoggan tackles a rather more serious version of the debate in this interesting post, Clearing the air on climate change (thanks, Trevor).

โ€œHe begins his post by stating โ€˜There is a line between PR and propaganda – or there should be.โ€™ It is an interesting post – but not one that actually locates this rather elusive lineโ€ฆย ย โ€œ

Quite so: it is an elusive line. Wikipedia is a little bit helpful, definingย propaganda without actually differentiating it from public relations. But hereโ€™s the line from Wiki that is most relevant: โ€œโ€ฆ the message does not have to be untrue to qualify as propaganda, but it may omit so many pertinent truths that it becomes highlyย misleading.โ€

This is certainly the case among the climate science deniers. Perversely, I have to acknowledge that these people can โ€œmisleadโ€ without lying (although it would be too charitable by far to suggest there are no liars among them). Many of the participants in this debate are so ideologically driven or so wilfully blinded by their own self-interest that they may, in fact, believe in the narrow arguments theyย mount.

As to the ethical question, the Canadian Public Relations Societyโ€™s Code of Professional Ethics states: โ€œA member shall practice the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information.
Members shall not make extravagant claims or unfair comparisons, nor assume credit for ideas and words not their own. Members shall not engage in professional or personal conduct that will bring discredit to themselves, the Society or the practice of publicย relations.โ€

The line โ€œshall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading informationโ€ can excuse a lot of sins. But Iโ€™d argue any day that the people who are muddling the message on climate change are bringing โ€œdiscredit to themselves, the Society (and) the practice of public relations.โ€

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