Silicon Valley Chapter of PRSA. PRSA National is
lanching a campaign to halt proposed legislation — sparked by the Ketchum "pay
for play" debacle — that would limit
the amount that Government agencies can spend on PR efforts. Below is a letter
to U.S. Rep. Nancy Pelosi expressing the Silicon Valley chapter’s
concerns. Dear Ms. Pelosi,
I am writing on behalf of the governing body of the
Relations Society of America (PRSA) in response to House Resolution 373,
amendment 31, intended to "prohibit the unauthorized expenditure of federal
funds for publicity or propaganda purposes."
While the recent "pay for
play" allegations involving Armstrong Williams, Maggie Gallagher, and Ketchum
PR are inexcusable, they are not reflective of the vast majority of PR
professionals and do not conform to standard practices and ethics of this
community.
PR professionals across all sectors play a critical role in
the free flow of information — be it between government and citizens,
companies and customers, or non-profit groups and the community. We believe
that new legislation imposing budgetary limits on the profession would
not only set an unfair precedent, but would seriously damage the
critical role that PR now provides to both the public and private
sector.
Additionally, we believe that there are many parties involved in
this isolated incident (most notably the so-called "independent" media)
and the PR community as a whole should not be held accountable for
their actions.
Rather than implementing another law, our board
suggests stronger enforcement and communications of current laws and
standards. The proposed law to require attribution in federal
government-sponsored materials resembles what already exists for elections
laws and commercial disclosures. All this law would do is add another layer
of bureaucracy for honest PR practioners to deal with, and would do
nothing to dissuade the "bad apples."
Silicon Valley PRSA board
officers and committee members, along with the leadership of national PRSA,
stand ready to serve as important resources for the subcommittee in its work
to ensure that the subcommittee members and staff have all relevant
information about the ethical practice of
public
relations.
Sincerely,
David W. Black
President of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA),
Valley Chapter
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