Ms. InterPReted

In this episode during PRSA's #EthicsMonth, Mary Beth West interviews close colleague Susan Hart -- a past president of the PRSA Nashville Chapter, a past PRSA Nashville Chapter Hercules Award honoree, and a now-former / resigned PRSA College of Fellows member.

Susan voluntarily discontinued her 35-year membership in PRSA in 2018, in disgust with PRSA's National leadership cultural shift, after what she describes as "one of the most stressful experiences of (her) life" at the hands of PRSA National leadership, who infamously opposed ethics-driven bylaw reforms -- after secretly reversing course from prior assurances that measures would be supported.
In this interview, Susan discusses:

• Accountability as the essential crux of what any leadership team must offer as a non-negotiable deliverable of its own cultural mindset
• How leadership quickly falls down a slippery slope and point-of-no-return, when national leaders fail to conduct due diligence
• "Say-do" disconnects -- when organizational mission and stated principles no longer match leadership behaviors
• What the modus-operandi of "Operation Incompetence" entails with an escalating lack of financial transparency
• How the good work of PRSA's local-level chapters is overshadowed and undermined when the national organizational leadership has entrenched unethical and unaccountable practices
• Why curiosity by members is important and should not be demonized ... and why it's an ethical red-flag when any organizational leadership "kills the messenger" and instills fear of retaliation among a membership who become too fearful to ask valid questions.

FOLLOW #PRethics

FOLLOW Susan Hart:
Twitter: @susanhartpr

JOIN THE FACEBOOK GROUP CALLING FOR A BETTER PRSA:
https://www.facebook.com/groups/ABetterPRSA

FOLLOW FLETCHER MARKETING PR:

• Discover Fletcher Marketing PR
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR
• Connect with Fletcher Marketing PR on LinkedIn
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest

In this chat with Kelly Fletcher and Mary Beth West, Blount Partnership President / CEO Bryan Daniels, CEcD, discusses:

• The old versus new model of marketing rural communities successfully
• Ways in which Blount County, TN has differentiated itself as a top quality-of-life community
• Blount County's true partnership-driven approach, with collaboration and cooperation among municipalities, elected officials and business community leaders
• How Blount County is taking a role at the international level to help drive thought-leadership and best-practices (with Bryan Daniels serving on the board of the International Economic Development Council, which will bring its conference to Nashville, TN, later this year)
  • https://www.iedconline.org/index.php?src=directory&view=staff&srctype=detail&refno=804&category=Board%20of%20Directors
• How local, high-quality workforce development remains the most critical driver of attracting and retaining employers to a local community
• Ways in which today's social-responsibility discourse is informing the site-selection process... with some corporations including as part of their due-diligence a request for the voting record of local electorates as a criteria point for moving a headquarters or base of operations to a new community
• Rationale for rural communities to take a proactive stance versus a reactive stance in their econ-dev approach:
  • Proactive: Driving site-selection visibility and relationship-building from the front, with a rural community sending its own delegations overseas
  • Reactive: Relying entirely on one's state department of economic development to send site-selection leads to the local level

Learn more about moving your business to Blount County, Tennessee -- The Peaceful Side of the Smokies:

Blount Partnership: https://www.blountpartnership.com/
Connect with Bryan Daniels: https://www.linkedin.com/in/bryan-daniels-b597283/
Follow the Blount Chamber on Twitter: https://twitter.com/blountchamber

Smokies Vacation: https://www.smokymountains.org/
Peaceful Side of the Smokies / Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/peacefulsmokies/?hl=en

Site-Selection / Pellissippi Place: https://blountindustry.com/our-region/sites-and-buildings/pellissippi-place/

Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on:

Website: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fletchermarketingpr

On Twitter: @fletcherpr

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fletcher.pr/

Follow Kelly on Twitter: @KDFletcher
Follow Mary Beth on Twitter: @marybethwest

Included in Kelly’s and Mary Beth’s discussion with Koray:

• What the citizen experience has been in the UK with the COVID-19 onslaught ... being some 2-3 weeks ahead of the United States in absorbing the realities of the situation
• How the PRCA’s new COVID-19 Task Force is on the forefront of the industry to produce in-depth resources to the industry – beyond just communications issues but also core business issues, including for the agency community
• How the PRCA is extending meaningful professional community and a supportive network to its individual and organizational network, across countries, sectors and situational challenges in the industry
• The importance of mental health and wellness and the PRCA’s proactive response to at-risk communities as well as for all industry professionals who are being impacted in such sudden, sweeping ways
  • The PRCA has a free-access Mental Health Tool Kit to provide resources for agency owners, line managers and front-line staff
• How the PRCA will take full steps to help mitigate serious outcomes for practitioners and agencies alike
• How the PRCA works to impact governmental policy that affects practitioners in their ability to do their jobs, to compete and to perform the most ethical, effective work for their organizations and clients
• And more.

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Follow PRCA: https://www.prca.org.uk/
• Follow the PRCA COVID-19 Task Force Support / Resources: https://www.prca.org.uk/covid-19
• Locate PRCA’s Mental Health Toolkit
• Follow Koray Camgoz on LinkedIn:
  • Twitter: @KorComms
  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/korayc/
• Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest

Artificial Intelligence is no longer a futuristic idea, it is here. And now programs like ChatGPT are introducing AI to the world of writing, content creation and public relations, bringing with it a myriad of benefits, questions and ethical concerns.

Matthew Pittman is an assistant professor of Advertising and Public Relations at the Tombras School at the University of Tennessee. He has a Ph.D. in Communications and also serves as a consultant. He talks with Sarah Merrell, Fletcher Marketing PR Vice President, about the AI writing software ChatGPT.

On this episode of MsInterPReted, Sarah and Matthew discuss what AI looks like in the world of PR and marketing, what the limitations of AI are and what the implications are for humans including:

• The extent to which AI can be utilized for writing. ChatGPT can be utilized for research, organizing outlines, and cutting down on writing time. Where is the line that separates an article written by a person and an article written by ChatGPT?
• The ethics behind utilizing AI as a writing assistant. Are PR and marketing professionals ethically obligated to notify clients or the public that AI is being utilized in the writing process?
• What does the ethical use of AI look like in an academic setting? Are there ways to know when students are using AI to write their entire paper or is AI so close to human writing that it is undetectable?
• Can AI be used for strategy?
• ChatGPT is proving to be a creative tool but still lacks a specific element of creativity. That element is human creativity. ChatGPT works based on prompts that are typed in. The program then spits out suggestions and ideas. Without the initial idea from human creativity, ChatGPT would not be able to create an article or blog post for that idea.
• Will AI remove humans from jobs in the communication field? Will there be a time where PR and marketing professionals are no longer needed due to AI taking over the field?

Follow Matthew on:

On Twitter: @matthewcpittman

Follow Fletcher Marketing PR:

On Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Fletchermarketingpr

On Twitter: @fletcherpr

On Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/fletcher.pr/

Follow Kelly on Twitter: @KDFletcher

Follow Mary Beth on Twitter: @marybethwest

In Episode 9 (Part 1 of this two-part interview), Kelly Fletcher, MPRCA, and Mary Beth West, MPRCA, welcome Francis Ingham, MPRCA – global leader of PRCA and Chief Executive of ICCO – who explains many issues of critical importance to the global public relations profession... like the importance of non-partisanship in professional associations, ethics in strategic communications, mental well-being among professionals working in high-pressure PR jobs, diversity & inclusion (and how D&I must factor into meaningful workforce development strategies to go beyond mere lip service in the PR field).

Watch for Part 2 of this interview in the next episode of #MsInterPReted, when Francis delves into the topic of ethics and PRCA's most world-renowned case study of accountability standards for ethical compliance -- the expulsion of Bell-Pottinger.
In Part 1: Francis discusses:

• How PRCA’s explosive growth is impacting the industry, in service to the highest standards of public relations practice;
• Why having an international outlook in the public relations profession is essential today, to help tackle the global industry’s shared issues and challenges;
• Why “taking a stand on issues that matter” is one of PRCA’s most important tasks... and how PRCA most recently helped forge a positive reversal-of-decision by an elected member of the Scottish Parliament who planned to serve part-time for a lobbying firm (an overt conflict of interest);
• Why professional membership associations that use their platforms toward overtly political or divisive ends have “lost their way”;
• How PRCA is undertaking the issue of mental / emotional well-being for public relations professionals, conducting its own research on this topic and providing tools to help agencies and employers to address these matters for their teams;
• How PRCA’s Apprenticeship Program and its just-announced Schools Outreach Programme (to younger ages) seeks to bring diverse communities into the PR workforce;
• Why the U.K. Government tasked PRCA-UK with assisting in Brexit preparations (and how PRCA is undertaking this task in a non-partisan manner).

Listen for Part 2 of this Interview with Episode 10 of #MsInterPReted, when Francis explains the tough realities – and shocking repercussions – of taking a stand in the Bell-Pottinger ethics-violation case in 2017.

Links:

• Follow the #MsInterPReted hashtag
• Join PRCA today:
  • Information about International Individual Membership
  • Information about International Corporate Membership
  • The link to join PRCA
• Discover Fletcher Marketing PR: https://www.fletchermarketingpr.com/
• Follow Fletcher Marketing PR on Twitter: @FletcherPR https://twitter.com/fletcherpr
• Follow Kelly Fletcher on Twitter: @KDfletcher https://twitter.com/kdfletcher
• Follow Mary Beth West on Twitter: @marybethwest https://twitter.com/MaryBethWest
• Follow PRCA-UK on Twitter: @PRCA_UK https://twitter.com/PRCA_UK
• Follow Francis Ingham on Twitter: @Ingers1975 https://twitter.com/Ingers1975
• Follow PRCA’s #PRcast podcast: https://lnkfi.re/prcast
• Find out more about PRCA’s new Schools Outreach Programme: http://news.prca.org.uk/prca-launches-schools-outreach-programme/
• Visit PRCA’s Newsroom to learn more about PRCA’s consistent, effective advocacy for the public relations profession: http://news.prca.org.uk/home/