Free Chapter Membership
 
Receive FREE Chapter membership when you join PRSA in October. This promotion, like all PRSA’s offerings, is driven by one thing: its members.

We understand that as a savvy public relations professional, you want resources designed not only to help you meet industry challenges, but also to tap into a broader network. PRSA and Chapter memberships work hand in hand — giving you the full spectrum of benefits.

PRSA National membership increases your professional prospects through daily industry trends, case studies and how-to articles on our regularly updated Web site. Also, a PRSA membership facilitates relationships with industry leaders interested in giving routine feedback or advice in practice areas.

Chapter membership provides the opportunity to meet colleagues face-to-face at local events, earn recognition through industry awards and step into a local leadership role as an industry advocate.

Join now and receive your free Chapter membership by using this promotion code: FALLW09.

PRSA Condemns the Growing Use of Disingenuous Editorial Content, Deceptive Commentary on Blogs and Other Venues

Over the last few months, there have been several news accounts of promotional tactics that signal a common thread of malpractice under the Public Relations Society of America’s (PRSA) Code of Ethics and PRSA Professional Standards Advisories (PSA). While each tactic varies in method and medium, PRSA states categorically that misrepresenting the nature of editorial content or intentionally failing to clearly reveal the source of message contents is unethical.
Recent reports have included:

• A public relations firm allegedly engaging its interns to write wholesale positive product reviews for online message boards.
• A lobbying firm sending letters on other organizations’ letterhead.
• Bloggers posting positive reviews of products and services while receiving products for free, as well as being paid by the sponsor for such positive reviews. (Proposed new Federal Trade Commission rules deem this practice to be false advertising.)
• A marketing firm creating a program to match clients with tweeters for positive mentions.
• Special interests setting up and/or funding organizations whose only constituent is the organizer or funder, and that take active positions purporting to represent larger constituencies in the current national health care reform debate.

While they vary in method and execution, each scenario shares a common thread of potential malpractice because they fail to conform to fundamental obligations of the professional communicator to protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information and foster informed decision making in a democratic society.

Deceptive Online Practices
Under the PRSA Code of Ethics, the source of editorial material must be clearly identified. Any attempts to mislead or deceive an uninformed audience are considered malpractice. The PRSA code calls for truth and transparency and full disclosure of the causes and interests represented. The goal should be responsible advocacy on behalf of clients, sustaining credibility with all audiences, and strengthening the public’s trust in the information they receive and the profession that provides that information. Deceptive practices produce unethical advocacy. The code also specifically targets deceptive online practices by individuals or organizations using blogs, viral marketing and anonymous Internet posting in Professional Standards Advisory PS-8.

Front Groups
One frequently used vehicle that fosters misrepresentation and unethical advocacy is a third-party organization, known as a “front group,” established specifically to deceive or mislead an audience about the position presented and its source. In Professional Standards Advisory PS-7, the PRSA Code of Ethics spells out the unethical nature of engaging in or assisting such groups’ deceptive descriptions of goals, causes, tactics, sponsors, intentions or participants. The ethical communicator is obligated to reveal all information needed for informed decision making, thereby maintaining the public trust. Withholding or deceptively concealing sources or sponsors of information or their intentions or motivations fails to satisfy the principles of truth in advancing the interest of clients and of serving the public interest as responsible advocates.

Pay for Play
Providing payment to generate or influence editorial coverage, regardless of medium, is unethical and constitutes malpractice under the PRSA code because such exchanges of value are hidden from the reader, viewer or listener. The PRSA code clearly champions the values of honesty, fairness, transparency and objective counsel to clients. “Pay-for-Play” also runs counter to the code’s warning to avoid any conflict of interest that impedes the trust of clients, employers or the public. Under Professional Standards Advisory PS-9, professionals are told to disclose any exchange of value so the reader, viewer or listener has the opportunity to make up their own minds about the value, bias, accuracy and usefulness of information provided by others.

PRism Award Winner Spotlight

Natasha Baker, APR
Sinclair Community College
“Data Security Incident”
Category: Crisis Communications

With more than 24,000 students and at least 170 degree and certificate programs, Sinclair Community College is one of the largest colleges in Ohio. The college has more than 2,300 employees, including faculty, administration and staff. Recently, Sinclair officials learned that an employee had inadvertently posted a file in a public folder on a college server. This file then became searchable by web crawlers. In the file was a tab that included the names and social security numbers of all full-time employees working for the college during July 1, 2000 to November 2001 – a total of 958 employees.

As soon as the university was alerted to the situation, the file was removed from the folder and Sinclair President Dr. Steven Johnson was alerted to the situation. President Johnson and his team determined that the college had an ethical responsibility to those employees and moved forward with developing the appropriate strategies. There was considerable concern that the story would leak to the media before the college could provide a solid response. The team determined that dealing with this issue in the fastest and most efficient way possible was the best approach.

The director of public relations, along with Dr. Johnson, the chief of staff, and an outside consultant who has worked with the college on reputation issues in the past, worked together to develop a communication plan. The team created a protection plan for the affected employees that included two years of credit monitoring and ID theft insurance. In addition, the IT team worked with Yahoo, Google and other search engine providers to ensure that all cached traces of the file were eliminated and could not be tracked again.

While both media outlets ran a story on the incident, the articles were factual and had most of the messaging that was developed by the college. Each outlet appreciated that the college came out in front of the issue and were honest about what happened. The Dayton Daily News article also appeared on the AP Wire and appeared online throughout Ohio and beyond. However, because the article was so fair in its presentation of the incident, the additional press was not damaging.

For the complete overview, visit www.prsadayton.org.

Find Out What You Missed at the September Luncheon: PR Planning

Natasha Baker, director of public relations at Sinclair Community College, provided a case study of the communications planning process at Sinclair and how the implementation of that process has increased the value of PR for the college. Here are her Top 5 Planning Tips.

1. Know that planning is good for you - Whatever industry you work in, communications planning can only benefit you. While not the most glamorous part of our jobs, planning allows you to maintain focus and prove your value to the organization at the end of the year.

2. Make it straight-forward and simple - Planning forces you to ask questions and review underlying assumptions. Each successive step in the planning process allows you to identify with whom you want to have a relationship, what you want from that relationship and how you can achieve it.

3. Always begin and end with research - Don't assume that you can't afford to do a benchmark study at the beginning of your planning process. And never believe that you can show results without it! The Internet and tools like Google Alerts make research much more accessible and affordable than ever before.

4. Don't confuse goals & objectives with tactics - Goals are your overarching results that may not change from year to year. Objectives should contain a public/audience, the behavior you want them to change, how much you want them to change and a timeframe. Strategies and tactics are the relationships and tools you will use to achieve your objectives and, ultimately, your goal.

5. Always account for crisis communications in your plan - No list of objectives is complete without calling out "managing crisis situations as they arise." While you can do everything in your power to prevent them, crisis situations happen. And they derail you from your overall PR mission for the year. Calling them out in advance ensures that you can account for time or budget losses at the end of the year.

If you would like to talk with Natasha directly about Sinclair’s PR Plan, please reach out to her directly at 937/512-2221 or via email at Natasha.baker@sinclair.edu.

See pictures from the September luncheon:

Luncheon Recap

Luncheon Recap

SUMMITUP: A Social Media Confab

October 20, 2009

7:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.

Wright State University

Dayton Area PRSA is a partner organization for this exciting event to be held October 20 at Wright State University. We hope you will take a look at the site and register soon if you are interested. There is only room for 300! Speakers include Chris Brogan, Kevin Dugan, Bob Garfield, Artie Isaac, Lewis Howes and many, many more. You will be hard pressed to find all of these folks at one event for this price! Plus you will get copies of both Chris and Bob’s new books. See the site for a full list of breakout sessions and a schedule for the day.

http://www.summitup.org/

Are you a public relations student living in Cleveland or Dayton this summer? Consider spending your summer with Fahlgren Mortine. We are looking for two outstanding PR students - one to support our team in Dayton and one to assist the Edward Howard group in Cleveland.

If you are a rising public relations student and are at least a sophomore in college looking to learn more about life at an agency, send your resume and cover letter to careers@fahlgren.com. The deadline for submitting your information is Friday, April 30. We look forward to hearing from you and hope to work with you this summer.

Interested in getting a sneak peek at what it's like to be an intern at Fahlgren Mortine? Join the Fahlgren Mortine PR Interns Alumni group on Facebook.

http://ow.ly/1AeSQ

COMMUNITY BLOOD CENTER

Responsibilities may vary depending upon the goals, skills and interests

of the intern as well as current priorities and projects of Community Blood

Center/Community Tissue Services Human Resources team. These may include:

1. Works with the Communications Group to determine different mediums to be used to

communicate effectively with all CBC/CTS® employees

2. Works with the Communications Group to determine appropriate content. Interact with

departments to receive newsworthy information that should be communicated and

distributed.

3. Determines what departments and people need to be contacted and work with them to

receive their input

4. Writes, edits and proofs to insure all communication standards are met: professional

style, accuracy, completeness, proper grammar, appropriate level of detail, etc.

5. Insures deadlines are met and communications materials are sent to printer and

distributed

6. Seeks employee feedback and input about the preferred methods of communication and

topics

7. Evaluates quality dimensions of each communication

8. Maintains high standards of confidentiality.

9. Other duties as assigned.

QUALIFICATIONS:

1. Strong writing, proofreading, and research skills

2. Ability to meet deadlines and work independently as well as part of team

3. Proficient at Microsoft Office skills; primarily Word and Publisher

TRAINING:   On-site training and support as needed

HOURS:       8 - 12 hours per week

BENEFITS:  Free parking, background check, training, opportunity for references or a letter of

recommendation if needed after completion of 30 hours of volunteer time, a copy

of all work product produced for your portfolio, and the personal satisfaction of

knowing you assisted in the process to save a life through a blood or tissue

donation.

CONTACT: Cissy Hansen, Community Blood Center/Community Tissue Services, 349 S. Main St., Dayton, Ohio 45402. You must attach a resume and completed externship application. Email to chansen@cbccts.org. No phone calls please. You will be contacted by email for an interview.

Externship Application Page 1

Externship Application Page 2

https://www.timewarnercable.com/corporate/about/careers/search.ashx

TIME WARNER CABLE 

JOB VACANCY NOTICE 

Post Date:  January 11, 2010    Deadline: January 21, 2010  

Position: Communications Manager (117251) Department: Public Affairs/Marketing 

Level: Exempt Level M     

JOB FUNCTION:  

Manage the earned media and internal communication efforts for TWC’s Southwest Ohio division. As a member of  

the communications department, the selected candidate will proactively identify and develop media opportunities to 

promote division products, services and business initiatives; pitch and place stories to a wide range of print and 

electronic media; write media advisories, news releases, pitch letters & press kit materials as needed; maintain 

effective media relationships throughout the area; serve as media spokesperson as directed by vice president of 

communications and senior leadership. 

Additionally, this position is responsible for ensuring effective internal communications by developing and executing 

effective plans to inform and educate associates about company and department programs, TWC products and 

related initiatives. 

RESPONSIBLITIES:  

•Manage additional media relations tools: enhance division’s media presence on external website; maintain current  

media database; monitor and manage division news coverage. 

•Develop and implement promotional/PR campaigns around products, services and community relations initiatives  

(including the “Connect a Million Minds” education initiative) to increase customer/community awareness; manage  

and implement special events to promote products and services. 

•Support the development of strategic messaging, key talking points and FAQ’s. 

•Develop and implement a comprehensive internal/employee communications plan utilizing the division’s e- 

newsletters, websites, internal blogs, talking points, speeches and other materials as needed to ensure that all 

Time Warner Cable employees are notified of company initiatives; communicate via email, Internet, Intranet, 

newsletters and any other means as necessary. 

•Track and monitor key messages from competitors and key audiences to assist in development of a strategic 

communications plan; counsel the management team of issues that may affect our local business. 

•Support regional initiative and projects as assigned. 

•Maintain strong base of influential relationships with the division’s media, peers and regional/corporate contacts. 

•Perform additional duties and special projects as needed or assigned. 

•Manage educational projects, including but not limited to handling all school requests for installation and service.  

•Attend public functions as a representative of Time Warner Cable as directed by the V.P. of Communications;  

note, events may occur during the evening or on weekends. 

REQUIREMENTS:  

•Related Bachelors degree or equivalent related work experience and training. 

•Five years of corporate communications, public relations agency or print/broadcast journalism experience. Must  

have a passion for writing and editing. 

•Superior verbal and written communications skills. 

- Adept at breaking down complex concepts and making them easy to understand 

- Ability to track down details and facts 

- Working knowledge of new media techniques 

- Strong editing and proofreading skills 

•Passion for meeting deadlines and deliverables 

•Basic design and layout skills 

•Proficient on all necessary software (Microsoft) 

•Ability to anticipate issues with people and vendors 

•Ability to have the vision to activities that appeal to a diverse audience 

•Ability to successfully manage multiple priorities 

•Position will be located in Cincinnati, but will also cover the Dayton area. 

•Valid drivers license with good driving record. 

EOE 

Apply on-line via Employee Self Service and submit completed Job Bid Application to Deidra Bartlett – Human 

Resources.  Late and/or incomplete Job Bid Applications will not be accepted. Job Bid applications and On-line Bids 

must be submitted by the deadline date.  

For further information, please contact Mike Pedelty, VP, Communications at (513) 386-6757  

• Manages all design, development and maintenance issues with company websites, primarily victoriatheatre.com and schustercenter.org. Assists with ticketcenterstage.com.
• Produces and manages all e-marketing initiatives including welcome and feedback emails, OnStage News e-newsletters, e-blasts, e-surveys, etc.
• Develop and coordinate all Web 2.0 initiatives including social networking sites, blogs, etc.
• Manage advertising buys as well as track and process payment for print, radio & TV advertising agreements.
• Assist in tracking sales trends and reports.
• Assist in supervision of marketing/PR interns.
• Interface with mail house for direct mail campaigns.
• Assist education/outreach with any marketing needs.
• Other duties as assigned.