Chapter One and assignments

I guess I really didn’t even know what Public Relations was before reading this chapter. All I knew is that I needed to take this class in order to graduate. So I found it very interesting and helpful with this chapter in Public Relations Writing. I don’t think that there is one definition of what public relations is..The book did mention the most common definition was founded in Mexico City in the 70’s. I like the way they state what and how to become a PR. They say you have to be educated and honest. I guess I didn’t realize how far in depth that they go and what they have to do. That brings me to the other part of the assignment that we had to do. We had to go to the PRSA website and read the America Code of Ethics 2000. In this assignment we had to write about what we agreed with and what we did not agree with.
Likes
Well first of all I would have to say the thing that I like the most is that they say that they are responsible for their actions. The reason I like this is because if they do screw up than they will let the public know that they miss informed them and make everything right. Honesty is another one that I like because than you are going to know up front what they are talking about and you know that the information that they come up with is going to be creditable.
I also like that the intent is to build trust with the clients and to keep them informed of what is going on. They also act in the best of interest with the clients, so if they know it is going to be something that will hurt them in the long run than it is probably better that they just don’t do it at all.
One of the best things that I like about PRSA is that they are supposed to “keep informed and educated about the practices in the profession to ensure ethical conduct.” I think that is awesome because if they don’t than they might be giving out information that is old or the client might have new or better things that they want to present to the people.

Dislikes
I guess I don’t agree that you cannot take gifts from the clients because it might influence your opinion on what you are writing about. What happens if the writer really does think that it is very good equipment I think he should be able to state what he thinks about it.
The conflicts of interest part I really don’t agree on because if you think something is bad and don’t believe in it how are you going to promote it? That is my question.
Other than that I would have to say for the most part I agree with just about all of their provisions and thoughts on who something should be written and how the clients are supposed to be treated. They seem to be a very well organized and professional company to do business with if you were looking for a PR person.