The Future of PR Regulation in UK : Through self-regulation by the different specialised areas.

The new code of practice for political communicators and the proposed new code for City PR firms are just underway. I believe, these new guiding principles will help control the activities of practitioners in these fields. As it stands now, all firms have to abide by the codes to gain the needed recognition to practice in the field. This should make PR in these sectors a 'close shop' and facilitate easy control of activities.

If the new codes of practice for Political Communicators and Financial PR firms are effective in self-regulating PR in these sectors, then in the near future all the different sectors of PR mentioned earlier on, i.e. Consumer, Technology, Fashion, 3rd Sector ,etc might have their individual codes of practice to reflect how PR is practice in each sector. This will result in effective self-regulation from within the various sectors.

More theories on how the UK PR industry can be effectively regulated, by Kevin Moloney.

Effective regulation of the PR industry is at the heart of PR scholar and practitioner Dr. Kevin Moloney, who has worked in the industry for more than 25 years. In his book, 'Rethinking Public Relations: The spin and the substance' published in 2000, he proposed that effective regulation of the industry should take different forms including,

1. "More effective self-regulation via codes for individuals and firms in their contracts" .


2. "The presence on the industry's field of play of an official body as the enforcer of last resort" (p.146).

I agree with his proposal for effective self-regulation. However, I think that a general council, if any in the future, can determine and regulate the overall acceptable conduct of PR practitioners. But, in the foreseeable future, the various specialised areas of PR should have their specific codes of practice as in the case of political communicators (e.g. Public Affairs consultants and Lobbyist) and soon for the Financial(City) PR sector to effectively control their activities.

A theory on Regulating the PR industry in UK by Kevin Moloney

Kevin Moloney, pictured left, in his article, 'Public relations: does the industry need regulating?' which appeared in the 1999 issue of the Corporate communications Journal, made similar proposals for the reformation of the PR industry. He suggested that the establishment of an Office for the Regulation of the Public Relations industry (OFFPR) "might improve reputation of the industry by being an independent, proactive and enforcing agency".

He, believes that, self-regulation and regulation from outside the industry will help salvage the image of PR. Presently, self-regulation by trade bodies such as IPR, and PRCA are ineffective, because membership to these trade bodies are voluntary and PR is also seen as an 'open shop' where anybody can call himself a PR person, hence the calls for tougher regulation to get rid of the rogues.

A super-umbrella organisation such as an (OFFPR) might help but it will face similar problems of enforcing the codes. PR practice cuts through all spheres of life be it social, economic, political etc and it will be very difficult to get all these practitioners from different PR sectors to conform to the same codes of practice. What the industry needs now is to make PR a 'close shop' and go for effective self-regulation,through individual codes of practice for the different PR specialised areas which would be enforced by elected members. What is your opinion?

The Proposed New code of Practice for the Financial(City) PR Firms

Very soon financial PR firms will have a new and robust code of practice as recommended by the Financial Services Authority (FSA). A report by David Quainton, on 11th July 2007, which appeared on PRweek's website said that, Financial PR agencies in UK are being called upon by parliament to sign up a new code of practice. This was after a committee comprising of "seven unnamed PR agencies, law firms, corporate finance advisors and financial printers" brought to light that agencies could leak information more easily than they think. The new code is to avoid illegal dissemination of sensitive information during takeovers and help raise standards in the industry. According to the report, an FSA spokesperson has confirmed that, the FSA has authorised the London Investment Banking Association (LIBA) to draft the code in consultation with the CIPR and the PRCA. He also said that, the code is expected to be in place by the end of this year and in the future agencies would have to adhere to the code to be seen as credible.

The all important change is to happen now, although calls for such a reformation can be traced as far back as 1997 and even before. In 1996 Financial Dynamics, a PR firm, was severely reprimanded by the Takeover Panel for "fighting off a hostile bid" whilst acting on behalf of Amec. Yet, the firm was least affected as it remained one of the most successful PR firms in London. In 1997, it was Citigate which was castigated for information leakage on William Cook, a steel casting company and the intended "takeover target for its client Triplex Lloyd". During that time highly ranked PR people, which included Lord Chadlington, chairman of Shandwick, said that, in their opinion the sector needed stricter regulations which was long overdue. The then deputy chairman of IPR's City and Financial Group also admitted that "unlike other professions, PR is not a closed shop thus anyone can do City PR and it leaves us to open criticism".According to the FSA spokesperson, the new codes will have 'teeth' and that will be the standard by which firms will be judged. Stiffer punishments will be meted out to offending firms .

Personally, I believe that, during the busy period of takeovers, PR practitioners give in to pressures from clients rather than stick to professional codes of conduct. Thus, if the proposed new code of practice which has been specifically written for the financial PR sector is strictly enforced, it will help the financial PR firms to put their houses in order and drastically reduce, if not halt illegal leaking of information. What can you say about the APPC's new code of practice and the proposed new code of practice for the financial PR sector? Can you see a pattern developing where the different specialised areas of PR for example (consumer PR, Technology PR, fashion PR,) have their individual code of practice?

The new guiding principles for Lobbyist, Public Affairs and Political PR Consultants

The new set of guiding principles, were launched on the 22nd October 2007, for all those who interact with the UK's political institutions by the 3 Public Affairs bodies namely the Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPA), CIPR Government Affair Group (GAG) PRCA. Can this set the pace for the effective regulation PR needs?

The new robust guiding principles seek to regulate the conduct of all people and organisations who interact with political institutions in the UK including Lobbyist, Political and Public Affairs consultants. The APPC, CIPR (GAG), and the PRCA are planning to develop a code of conduct out of the guiding principles to effectively regulate these sectors. The guiding principles lay emphasis on "Transparency & Openness, Accuracy & Honesty, Integrity and Propriety".

The bodies also stress on dealing drastically with consultants and firms who go against the principles. My hope is that they would stick to plans and castigate offending people and firms to serve as a deterrent to others. You can have a look at Tamasin Cave's blog at http://www.spinwatch.org/ and read his opinion about the attempt to self -regulate Lobbying. I believe the effective regulation of these sector will be a milestone in regulating the PR industry as a whole as there will be increase transparency in the industry. What do you think?

Reasons Behind the Calls for Tougher Regulation

The constant public outcry for effective regulation of PR practices, especially in the fields of financial PR, lobbying Public Affairs and Political PR is bewildering. This is because these areas are highly sensitive.For example, because Lobbying and Public Affairs are very close to the democratic process there is always a high demand for transparency from lobbyist and consultants when interacting with the political institutions. However, situations where Public Affairs consultants are caught boasting to their clients about using their access to high profile government institutions to get them desired results have made people question the effectiveness of the regulatory process.

A point in case was the Draper gate case in June 1998, where Derek Draper, a public affairs consultant in London, was filmed by an undercover reporter from the Observer boasting about the access he can grant his clients to high profile Labour Party activist. His actions was condemned by a professional commission formed to investigate the allegation and there were recommendations for tougher regulations.This caused a sleaze in the Labour Party. Similar to this case was the allegations made against Kevin Reid, of the defunct Beattie Media in Scotland, who was said to have laid claims to contacts in the Scottish Parliament, with specific reference to his father John Reid, a Secretary in the Scottish Parliament.

Such corrupt practices always lead to the demand for tougher regulations by the public, organisations and institutions, such as Parliament and the Financial Services Authority (FSA). The 7th July 2007 edition of the PR week sheds more light on the situation when it reported that, Public Affairs (PA) agencies were under pressure from parliament to "sign up to a controversial code of practice". It goes on further to warn that, the Financial PR sector might suffer a similar fate, because a recent review by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) "on controls relating to public takeovers" has indicated that there are high levels of information leakage from PR practitioners. Thus, the FSA has recommended a new set of codes: Which aims at decreasing information leakage on share prices before they are made public.

How calls for tougher regulation of Lobbying, Public Affairs, Political and Financial PR will impact on the UK PR industry.

There have been recent demand by organisations and critics for tougher regulation of these sectors of PR. Is there a possibility that such act will help regulate the industry effectively and salvage its poor image? In my opinion, public relations professionals should be perceived as reputation builders and image enhancers through ethical persuasion. Isn't it therefore ironical that the PR industry in UK and also in abroad suffers from low reputation and distrust in the eyes of the general public? It is common to hear people use the phrase 'this is just PR' to refer to acts of manipulation and unethical persuasion. PR practitioners are seen as 'spin doctors' and 'manipulators of peoples mind' rather than 'perpetuators of truth'.

As a PR student, I struggle to understand why the profession has such a low credibility. This sentiment is also shared by lecturers of the discipline. According to Kevin Moloney, the results of a survey he conducted among members of the Public Relations Educators Forum (PREF) in 1998 indicated that, three-quarters of the respondents were in agreement that, "public relations has a bad reputation with the general public". Some rhetorical questions plague my mind as to why the custodians of reputation suffer from low reputation themselves after several years in existence.

Although, I do not have answers to this question, I think it is mainly due to the poor regulatory practices by the various professional bodies such as the Chartered Institute of Public Relations( CIPR), Association of Professional Political Consultants (APPC) and the Public Relations Consultants Association (PRCA) in UK where membership is voluntary? In addition, PR practice is so broad and involves a lot of practitioners, making it is very difficult to effectively regulate it. Nevertheless, lets assume the tougher regulatory practices for the aforementioned sectors are implemented and the results are positive; do you see a future in which the various specialised areas of PR have their own professional bodies with separate codes of practice to reflect their individual needs? Can that be a new beginning of the effective regulation of the UK PR industry?