2013 is the first year since 1987 with four unique digits, but will it be as unique as its numerical configuration? With that question in mind, we once again bring you our annual PR industry prognostications.

This year we feature contributions from 12 creative thinkers who represent various facets of the PR industry. We asked for their insights into the trends they believe will fundamentally change the PR industry in 2013.

Below is a compilation of the thoughts of our first five contributors. Their full blog posts, and those of the remaining eight contributors, will appear throughout the month of January.

Continue reading " #PRin2013: Top Trends to Look for in Public Relations During 2013 "

Simply put, this past year has been one humdinger from the public relations point of view.

• The continuing fallout from the BP disaster remains a news media staple and reminds us not only of the importance of communicating with our stakeholders but also of actually demonstrating that we care about their welfare.
• The varying political catastrophes in the Mideast and elsewhere remind us that, no matter how much “polish” we put on the frog’s public persona, it’s still a frog with all its warts and icky-feeling skin.

Continue reading " The “Year That Was”…PR’s Challenges and Opportunities "

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings is in the news again, not for enraging subscribers over a price increase or for presiding over a steep decline in share price, but for using social media to tout a company milestone.

Hastings took to his Facebook page in June and praised his staff for achieving a monthly viewing rate in excess of 1 billion hours for the first time in the company’s history.

Continue reading " Assessing the Net of Disclosure: Should the SEC “Like” Facebook? "

Editor’s Note: To commemorate PRSA Ethics Month, PRSAY is running a month-long series of posts on important issues facing the public relations profession. This is the first post in the series. An archive of ethics-related posts can be found here.

At PRSA we take ethics seriously and hold our members to a high standard. Our Code of Ethics details acceptable behaviors for public relations professionals. Ethics is about more than adhering to words on a piece of paper, it is about acting in good conscience and advising others to do the same. The message that results from such actions is not always the most positive or favorable but it is inherently right and forever respected.

Continue reading " Ethics and the Catbird Seat "

The events of this past week have effectively re-written the history of Penn State University. The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) handed down unprecedented sanctions against the school, which erased 14 years of football victories, reduced football scholarships and prohibited bowl appearances for the next four years and divested the university of $60 million in funds,  Even before these sanctions were announced, university administrators  took action by directing the removal of the Joe Paterno statue that stood outside Beaver Stadium.

The sanctions came in response to a report issued by former FBI Director Louis Freeh, which found that Penn State officials concealed childhood sexual abuse by an assistant football coach for fear of “bad publicity.”

Continue reading " Important Lessons from Penn State "