Scribd Logo
Upload

Welcome to Scribd!

  • 246 views

    PR Study Case

    Uploaded by

    Mihaela Moisa
    A junior staffer at a public relations firm disclosed confidential information about a client's new product to a newspaper editor after drinking too much wine at a party. As the president of the PR firm, you must decide how to handle the situation with the staffer, editor, and client. You will need to inform the client of the information leak due to your responsibility to protect confidential client information. You and the client will then determine the appropriate next steps, such as making an early announcement about the product or asking the editor to delay publishing information to benefit the client. Unfortunately, terminating the staffer who caused the leak will also be necessary.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    PR Study Case

    Uploaded by

    Mihaela Moisa
    246 views2 pages
    A junior staffer at a public relations firm disclosed confidential information about a client's new product to a newspaper editor after drinking too much wine at a party. As the president of the PR firm, you must decide how to handle the situation with the staffer, editor, and client. You will need to inform the client of the information leak due to your responsibility to protect confidential client information. You and the client will then determine the appropriate next steps, such as making an early announcement about the product or asking the editor to delay publishing information to benefit the client. Unfortunately, terminating the staffer who caused the leak will also be necessary.

    Original Title

    Pr Study Case

    Copyright

    © Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)

    Available Formats

    PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd

    Did you find this document useful?

    Is this content inappropriate?

    A junior staffer at a public relations firm disclosed confidential information about a client's new product to a newspaper editor after drinking too much wine at a party. As the president of the PR firm, you must decide how to handle the situation with the staffer, editor, and client. You will need to inform the client of the information leak due to your responsibility to protect confidential client information. You and the client will then determine the appropriate next steps, such as making an early announcement about the product or asking the editor to delay publishing information to benefit the client. Unfortunately, terminating the staffer who caused the leak will also be necessary.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    246 views2 pages

    PR Study Case

    Uploaded by

    Mihaela Moisa
    A junior staffer at a public relations firm disclosed confidential information about a client's new product to a newspaper editor after drinking too much wine at a party. As the president of the PR firm, you must decide how to handle the situation with the staffer, editor, and client. You will need to inform the client of the information leak due to your responsibility to protect confidential client information. You and the client will then determine the appropriate next steps, such as making an early announcement about the product or asking the editor to delay publishing information to benefit the client. Unfortunately, terminating the staffer who caused the leak will also be necessary.

    Copyright:

    Attribution Non-Commercial (BY-NC)
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    of 2

    Public Relations Society of America

    Board of Ethics and Professional Standards Code of Ethics Case Study Series

    Public Relations Ethics Case Study #4 Safeguarding Confidences


    The Worldwide Widget Co. (WWC) has a non-disclosure policy thats set in stone. Smythe & Smythe Public Relations has just won the WWC account and all the account personnel working on the account have signed WWCs non-disclosure policy form. The forms are on file in WWCs Law Dept. Three weeks after work for the new client has started, the account team is given a briefing about a new product that will revolutionize the widget market. The new widget model is half the price of conventional widgets and does the work in half the time. In addition, secret tests show that it lasts twice as long. The account team is cautioned not to say a word about this to anyone not even other S&S PR employees or family members. After a month of work on a dynamite new public relations program that could preempt the market, S&S PR staffers are invited to a fund raising party for the Newtown Symphony Orchestra. The top echelon of influential Newtown citizens are at the function, where food and wine flow like food and wine! An S&S PR junior staffer assigned to the WWC account lets the wine flow too freely and, before anyone can do anything about it, he discloses all he knows about the new widget to an editor with the Newtown News. You are president of S&S and hear him blab the final piece of information to the editor. You pull the staffer aside. What are your next courses of action? With the staffer? With the editor? With your client? 1. The ethical issue and/or conflict. Do I inform my client about what has occurred? Should I try to get the editor to hold up releasing information about what he was just told? What are my responsibilities to my employee? 2. Internal/external factors that may influence the decision. Enforcement of the non-disclosure policy by WWC Policy of the Newtown News regarding curtailing information until later Responsibility to an intemperate employee

    Case Study #4 BEPS 2001

    Public Relations Society of America


    Board of Ethics and Professional Standards Code of Ethics Case Studies 2001-2002

    3. Identify key values. Honesty We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public. Independence We are accountable for our actions. Loyalty We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest. Fairness We deal fairly with clients, employees, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media and the general public. 4. Identify the parties who will be affected by the decision and define the public relations professions obligation to each. WWC management and employees Newtown News and other media S&S employees

    5. Select ethical principles to guide the decision. The core principle of the Safeguarding Confidences section of the PRSA Code of Ethics Code Provisions is: Client trust requires appropriate protection of confidential and private information. The intent of this provision is: To protect the privacy rights of clients, organizations and individuals by safeguarding confidential information. A guideline under this provision stipulates that a member shall: Immediately advise an appropriate authority if a member discovers that confidential information is being divulged by an employee of a client company or organization. 6. Make a decision and justify. The clients interests are paramount in this case. The client should be immediately informed of the information leak by the S&S president. The circumstances should be explained regarding the tipsy staffer and the presence of the newspaper editor. The agency president and the client should determine the next step, which might include making an early announcement of the product launch to nail down the market possibilities. A more sensitive course of action would be to ask the editor to curtail the information until a later date in the best interest of WWC, its employees and the citizens of Newtown. If your relationship is good, this might work, in return for giving the editor a jump on the story. Since a non-disclosure statement was signed by the junior staff member and the agency had pledged not to disclose information, there are possibly legalities involved that could make the agency responsible for any loss of future market share, at the worst. Loss of the account is also highly likely. Unfortunately, the budding staffer would have to be discharged so that other staff members would realize that they must keep information on a confidential basis.

    Case Study #4 BEPS 11-05-01

    You might also like