Ethics vs. Politics

Catherine Paneral

Jour 4470

Blog One

Topic: The need for ethics in media and business decision-making

Ethics vs. Politics

Politics and business-decision making are ethical issues that take place in the media every day. America is a business that has already hit a downfall thanks to who? Who is making these decisions that are unethical causing our country to slowly spiral downward? The role of ethics can go so many ways in politics when accepting gifts or money, using government position and following through with promises made to the country.

According to the website of The United States Office of Government Ethics, it says that they establish standards of ethical conduct for the executive branch, ensure transparency in government through financial disclosure, educate executive branch employees and promote good governance. But what I wonder is how much unethical business is going on under the table? Is there unethical business is going on that the USOGE is turning their heads away from?

The battle of ethics in politics shouldn’t really be as big of an issue as it is. Maybe because I am young and naïve I don’t know anything but I would think that if the government, politicians and president would make every decision ethically then our country might be a little better off.

It is our responsibility as humans to remind ourselves to be ethical. I would say for the most part people are good and try to distinguish a role of ethics in their daily lives. We go to work, pay our taxes and raise our children to do the same while doing the right thing. Why is it then that the people running our country seem to have issues with ethics?

Newt Gingrich said “The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office.” So is it the media that made the presidential candidates throw ethics out the window?  The politicians have lost a good chunk of their ethics and values and will continue to play the blame game. Watching these presidential debates had turned into a finger pointing match. They throw the competition under the bus and point out every wrong thing they have done in their life. Excuse me, but could you please tell me what you plan on doing for my country that you are trying to get the rights to run instead?

Every election season these presidential candidates advertise to Americans everything they plan on doing to better our country. No taxes. More jobs. Free healthcare. These candidates are promising our country something that they are not following through with. THAT IS FALSE ADVERTISEMENT PEOPLE. Is that ethical? Telling the people of your country that you are running that you are going to do something and then not do it?

Should our government just set minimal but attainable goals instead of making big promises that are not followed through? What about this big debt issue? Why are they spending money that we don't have? Is it ethical to spend more than you budgeted for?

Back up two paragraphs. Is it the media that drives the president to promise things he won’t follow through with?  Obama promised several different things he was going to do during his term as president. I watched a brief recap of the State of the Union by a talented reporter, Larry Mendte. He listed a few of the promises Obama made and then noted that they were the unfulfilled promised addressed from last year’s State of the Union.

Apparently Obama promised to do some things that he never even attempted to do according to the segment. In last year’s State of the Union Obama promised he would:

·         Introduce a new jobs bill

·         Get rid of no child left behind and introduce a new education bill

·         Reform the tax system

·         Introduce a new immigration bill

·         End oil subsidies

·         Meet with republican leaders once a month

None of that happened. While I do understand that the man is busy running our country, reports show that he did not even attempt any of these promises. Larry Mendte said “and that’s why the State of the Union address is meaningless. It’s a laundry list of things that sound good but will never get done.”

I am not just singling out Obama. I know there is not one president or politician who has ever followed through with every promise he made to our country. I just want these men, and future women, to not forget their ethics and values when they are running our country. If everyone could simply base every decision they make off of ethics I think we could get our country back on their feet and continue to be the greatest country in the world.

Sources:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/questions-gingrich-personal-life-romney-wealth-dominate-debate-031131019.html

http://www.usoge.gov/

http://www.facebook.com/people/Catherine-Paneral/1525330506 — this is a link to my Facebook that has the news segment for Larry Mendte. It was shown on the Eye Opener on CW33 but they did not post it to their website. I asked a friend who works for the Eye Opener to email the segment to me but the file was too large. Instead he posted it to my Facebook wall so you can view it there. Point for social media.

The PR Need for Twitter

Catherine Paneral

Jour 4460

Blog Two—Tweedle-lee-dee-dee-dee….Tweet Tweet: The PR Need for Twitter

What do the three following lines all have in common?

·         3 bodies recovered following collapse of several buildings in Rio de Janeiro, Brazilian officials say - @BBCNews

·         BREAKING: Three people have been stabbed to death in far East Dallas. We have a crew on the scene. #breakingnews.

·         Two Buildings Collapse in Rio De Janeiro—@nytimes

If you said they were things happening all over the world that were tweeted within minutes of each other, you are right and deserve some sort of praise.

Professor Bufkins stresses how important it is for PR practitioners for be Twitter savvy.  Twitter allows us to constantly be updated with what is going on in the world. It keeps us informed. In addition to following our friends, we are following news teams and career professionals. When we check our twitter feed we can receive updates from Fox4, CBS11 and Breaking News. Not only will I receive updates about what is going on in the DFW area, but I will also know what’s going on in the country as well as the world. By simply clicking “Follow”, twitter feed can easily over flow with updates.

A tweet can go viral almost instantly. Last weekend CBS tweeted that Joe Paterno had died. Within the hour he was alive again. He never died in the first place. While that is not exactly a positive use of Twitter, it does show how quickly a tweet can spread.

Twitter is in. This fancy website has grown significantly in the last two years and continues to grow. According to the report, “How Twitter is Changing: A new study reveals Twitter’s new direction,”<http://www.briansolis.com/>, “Twitter.com earned just over 100 million visitors in October, up 79 percent from 2009.” Also, 44% of twitter users signed up between Jaunary 2010 and August 2012.

I read a useful article that lists several different ways Twitter is useful to PR professionals. In “The PR Pro’s Guide to Twitter, it explained how Twitter allows us to connect with reporters and news mediums. When North Texas experienced a small earthquake a few months ago, I, along with many others, reached out to social media apps like Twitter to see if others had felt the same thing. Later that evening, the news referenced several tweets about the earthquake.

The article also said Twitter can strengthen crisis communication. “If you’re not quick, you’re not relevant. PR pros need to understand how to manage a crisis in 140-character bursts of information. <http://www.mashable.com/>” Many businesses are monitoring what is being said about them on Twitter. If someone has an issue with a specific service, that business can jump on that tweet before the issue gets worse. Talk about improved customer service.

Finally the article talked about using Twitter as a “crowd source research and solve problems” tool. If you need a service or recommendation Twitter can help you out. Once you build a following base of knowledgeable and experienced professionals, you can tweet questions and trust that you will receive helpful responses.

Sources:

http://mashable.com/2011/04/14/pr-pro-twitter-guide/

https://twitter.com/

http://www.briansolis.com/2010/12/how-twitter-is-changing-a-new-study-reveals-twitters-new-direction/

Knowing what to say...

Catherine Paneral

Jour 4460

Blog One—Knowing what to say…

What in this world isn’t somehow tied back to PR? Every big business has a department handling it. Even small businesses have someone dealing with PR even though they may not have the legit title. Someone has to know what they are doing to make sure whatever it is you are representing is in the best light possible. Contrary to popular opinion, any PR is not good PR.

From day one of my PR education I was told “be prepared for anything.” But how do you do that? “Anything” is limitless.  While it is difficult to know everything, some may argue, the only thing you can do is to consume as much knowledge as possible. 

Yesterday I was listening to a radio segment talk about the debate between Newt Gingrich and Mitt Romney. Now, before I go any further you must know, I know nothing about politics. My parents were strict conservatives and kept me sheltered from pretty much everything. So, as I am listening to these guys talk, I hear the part about the opening question Gingrich received about his marriage allegations with his ex-wife.   

Another thing you must know is I am a sucker for drama. I don't want to be involved necessarily, I just love hearing about scandalous endeavors. So when I hear this question about Gingrich pushing his ex-wife for an "open marriage", I am jumping out of my seat wanting to know more juicy details.  

His response: "The destructive, vicious, negative nature of much of the news media makes it harder to govern this country, harder to attract decent people to run for public office. I am appalled that you would begin a presidential debate with a topic like that."

Oh. Instant change of opinion. You're right Gingrich. I'm not listing to a recap of Jersey Shore. This is a presidential debate. Why aren't they asking you about taxes or health care? I understand that the way a presidential candidate runs their personal life is potentially how they may run our country but that’s not what I am getting at.

Gingrich’s response was so well recited that I feel like he must have known it was coming. Granted, when you do something shady in your life prior to running for president, you can bet people will dig it up and question you about it till you want to cry. This question he was asked is exactly what I have been preparing for the last two years. Be prepared for anything.

I also noticed in the quotation above that Gingrich did not even answer the question he was asked. PR skills teach you to think fast on your feet and to never, ever, EVER say “No comment.” Gingrich was smart in his response by having a response prepared even though it didn’t really answer the question he was asked.

I didn’t listen to the whole debate, mostly because a lot of that political talk is jargon to me.  However, the brief actions of Gingrich played in my head for the rest of the evening. Those who are running for a political office have to be on their toes when it comes to executing proper PR strategies and tactics. It makes me wonder what this world would be like if they all understood how PR works.

Sources:

http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/ticket/questions-gingrich-personal-life-romney-wealth-dominate-debate-031131019.html

http://blog.commpro.biz/prcafe/pr/gingrich-vs-romney-which-gop-candidate-has-mastered-pr/

NPR Radio 90.1 fm

People will do things if it's required.

Every day at work I drink my refreshing beverage out of a pink double-wall cup, complete with lid and straw. I am new here so not many people know my name yet. However the few that do know my name refer to me as the girl with the pink cup when they are telling other people who work here who I am. I like my pink cup. It keeps me from wasting the Styrofoam cups provided in the building’s cafeteria.

This blogging thing is completely new to me. For the longest time I never saw the point in just typing away my thoughts online for other people to possibly read. Maybe that’s because I had strict, conservative, catholic parents who closely monitored what I did on the internet growing up. Or maybe it is because when I finally was exposed to blogs, I was intimidated by some of the really bloggers who could put a creative twist on words. Whatever my reason may have been, I am over it now. Mostly because I am taking three classes at UNT that all require me to blog.

This will be interesting. I am a public relations major at the University of North Texas. I honestly don’t really know how I got into the whole PR thing. I started off my education pursuing a degree in agriculture...then business...then radio/TV. Which I suppose led me to the communications department. But when I found out that a career in radio would require me to live off of my parents for the rest of my life I started to seek new degree paths. The rest is a blur after that realization. I transferred out of my JuCo and into UNT. I think public relations must have looked good on the list of majors offered because somehow I ended up spending the last two years along with $20k at this school.

I can’t complain though. I have a solid 3.0 that would probably be higher if I would put more effort into my studies. However, I worked full time to pay that pretty penny that universities charge. On the plus side, I will graduate with a bachelor’s degree debt free.

So now here I am, typing away the thoughts that I am reciting in my brain. I need to play around with this bloggy-ness to figure out what it is that I am doing. I will be blogging quite a bit this semester. Mostly about issues related to PR. I can’t say that I will be the best at it but I will at least try to make it entertaining…you be the judge.