Lords report highlights role of CIPR Code of Conduct

The Committee has identified that professionalism in both public relations and journalism, particularly openness and honesty, is key to healthy public discourse and accurate reportage. These are among the guiding principles in the CIPR code of conduct, which the Committee referred to and recommended as a basis for ethical behaviour in the wider public relations profession, and to Government and political parties.

At a time when police are investigating corrupt payments by journalists to public officials for information, with a number of journalists arrested for alleged payments to police officers, the need for professional handling of relations between organisations and the media has never been more obvious. I am disappointed that the report is dismissive of self-regulation by the public relations profession. The Institute’s code of conduct currently regulates more than 9,000 practitioners and although this is only one sixth of all public relations professionals, it is still a significant number.

Beyond this core of professionalism, the number of regulated practitioners increases further when you take into account the memberships of other bodies such as the PRCA. Proposals for the registration of journalists have been criticised as impractical, out of tune with the times and unlikely to resolve the misdemeanours of certain parts of the media. Suggesting third party regulation for the public relations industry is equally flawed.