The CIPR drafts its London Manifesto

The CIPR has just issued its draft London Manifesto, which is what they hope they’ll be saying on the 24^th June 2008 following the World Public Relations Conference and Festival.

Elisabeth Lewis-Jones, President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and Director of Liquid Public Relations, invites readers of PR Voice to let her know what they think and join in the debate. There have been no comments left so far, so hopefully she'll get more feedback before submitting the final manifesto.

The draft manifesto is as follows:

'Our conference has illustrated that public relations, where practiced professionally, is a force for good.

At its best public relations, unlike other forms of marketing communications, is interactive: by facilitating communication between organisations, in whatever sector, and their customers and clients, the practice of public relations creates bonds between peoples.

Public relations practitioners respect diversity and help minorities access public and other services.

Public relations and public affairs practitioners encourage understanding and access to government and can give a voice to those who would otherwise not be heard.

Our vision of public relations can function fully only in democratic societies that respect human rights. It is thus a key role of all who work in public relations to respect and to promote structures of government that are truly democratic.

Public relations skills must not therefore be the preserve of big organisations: those techniques and skills can be understood and available to all. They do, of course, need to be progressively honed and include the handling of social media, which are in themselves more interactive.

All these claims have been illustrated during the conference; by case studies that have focused on our role in promoting and giving confidence to countries, regions and cities; in celebrating diversity and social inclusion; and in helping companies and organisations in 'difficult' sectors to communicate their case to the public and to interact with them.

With this focus on acting ethically and professionally practitioners across all areas, whether in consultancy, in-house or independent, have drawn from this conference a greater understanding of the unique roles our profession can play at the business, social and economic level both nationally and internationally.

The values underlying our claims are also inherent in the work done by the public relations associations represented at the conference in our Global Alliance. The lessons of this conference are thus particularly relevant to those who are members of such associations and who are committed to the highest standards.

Let our messages, however, also go to those who are not members of associations working under ethical codes and apparently not so committed to professional standards: so that they can be urged to accept their responsibilities and join in the tasks that we as delegates have accepted.'

The manifesto reads very well, even though it could be considered strange looking back at the results of a conference that hasn't taken place yet.

I take issue with the second paragraph in dismissing the interactivity of other marketing communications, especially in the age of the internet and mobile technology - and I'm sure those from other marketing communications have many more arguments than me against this point.

The manifesto is right to point out the CIPR's aim to 'encourage understanding and access to government.' As a trade organisation, this is a vital remit of the CIPR and presumably why many of its members, especially those from Government facing PR companies, have joined.

The paragraph on the ability of PR to function fully in democratic societies scares me a bit with its echo of American democratic zeal, but I think the point is essentially right, especially the part about human rights. But for a London Manifesto, and the last time I checked London was in a truly democratic society, is this point - at this elevated level - necessary? Perhaps it should manifesto should be titled 'World Public Relations Festival Manifesto'?

I'm obviously not the foremost thinker on issues such as these and I generally like this draft of the manifesto, but what do you guys out there in PR Land think?

Let me know in the comments section!

(Actually, maybe some people should leave comments on the PR Voice blog post, otherwise it might get a bit embarrassing...)