John W. (Jack) Felton
September 23, 2002

Thank you. You're very kind.

There are many awards. But this Arthur Page award is special - very special - because it comes from so many of you who have been my friends for so many years. Friends I've called for help. Friends who have kept me out of trouble. Friends who know me - warts and all.

Awards from friends that you know - (and) know you well - are the best and most appreciated of all.

As my children used to say when they really liked something, this award is "more better" than any other. "More better" because it comes from you. It is also better because of the Page Principles it stands for.

Think how much better our international relations could be if more of our politicians and people in government told the truth.

Think how much better our economy would be if more CEOs, chief financial officers, lawyers - and yes, more public relations people - told the truth. And proved it with action. And really managed for the future.

What would our organizations be like if we really did listen carefully to our customers? Or if we conducted public relations with good humor as if the entire organization depended upon it?

Don't worry. I don't intend to make a big, long speech. But I do want to share a few concerns with you, concerns about journalism, public relations, and the whole field of communications.

No, I'm not going to decry the recent recalls of Pulitzer prizes - because the reporters made up the facts, or the stories, or cheated by copying someone else's work - although those are concerns.

Nor am I going to wring my hands because reporters no longer report both sides of a story. Instead, they report their own particular biases and call it investigative reporting. I don't know about you, but I like to make up my own mind, based on facts - facts from both sides of an issue - not have the reporter tell me how I should feel, based on the reporter's own feelings. I think journalism needs to learn it is not judgementalism. It's journalism. It's reporting facts.

And that's another worry.

No am I going to complain about the trashy, grocery store tabloid-style reporting of the evening news - what Roger Mudd calls "bimbogate" reporting - because some reporters no longer consider news as news. News is now entertainment.

That's another worry.

And so is the recent ruling by the California Supreme Court in the NIKE case, because it involves our basic concept of free speech.

In essence, the California Court has ruled that any accusations made against a company are protected by free speech, but that a company's defense against those accusations is not protected by the same provisions of free speech.

That's another worry some of us are working on.

But the concern I want to talk with you about today is something, I feel, is even more serious and threatening to the future of all of us involved in journalism, public relations and communications, because it affects our credibility - and our ethics. Bribery is not a pretty word, but that's what we ought to call it when someone asks us to pay for having a news release printed.

Oh, I know "transparency" is a much nicer-sounding word, but paid-for editorial space is just plain old bribery in my book, no matter what you call it.
For years, we have known that to get news releases printed in some European countries you were expected to pay a fee. And we are told, with a shrug, that's the way it's done here.

It's called a "bustarelle," a little envelope of money, in Italy. It's a red envelope in China. It's called "zakaruska" in Russia, and in many of the former satellite countries, bribery is called "black PR."

A recent study of media in Russia also revealed that reporters on some papers there are actually being paid salaries by companies so that news about that company will always appear just the way that company wants it to appear.

Before you dismiss all this with a "tsk tsk," face the fact that our own so-called free press is guilty too. How about the editor of a trade magazine who asks you to pay what he calls a "cut" fee to print your client's product publicity story and picture?

Or your director of marketing telling you, with great excitement, that he's arranged for a special feature and personal interview for your CEO because he's just booked a series of ads in a certain publication?

Sales of newspapers are down. Readership is down too, especially among young adults. And when you ask about credibility, reporters now rank just ahead of politicians. And politicians rank just barely ahead of used car salesmen.

Now do you understand why I'm concerned? If we lose our ethics and our credibility, where is journalism? And where is public relations?

Because of this concern, the Institute for Public Relations, in cooperation with the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), is now conducting a research study, funded by General Motors and the Hurriyet Media Group in Turkey, to find out how pervasive and prevalent bribery of the press is globally. Once we have the data showing us where - and how often - it occurs, we hope to publish an index of bribery, by countries, to expose and embarrass those who continue in this corrupt practice.

I don't believe either journalism or public relations has much of a future if we lose our credibility. And there's no hope of a free press without credibility. At my age, why do I worry so much about the future? I suppose it's because I agree with Charlie Brown. Lucy asked Charlie Brown what his favorite day was. For the next few frames of the cartoon we see Charlie thinking and thinking. Then he finally says, "You know, I've always been kinda fond of tomorrow!"

Several months ago, the Board of Arthur Page asked us to tell them about the Institute and what we were trying to do with educators and research.
We were happy to tell them that back in 1995 when I started the Institute, we had the total sum of $12,000 in the bank. Now each year we raise some $300,000, which we spend each year, on basic research projects designed to help the everyday practitioner do a better job at his or her desk.

(The sum of) $300,000 isn't enough to do all we'd like to do. We'd like to have much more money. But it does help to fund the scholarships, and the Institute's lectures, and awards to outstanding educators for innovative research.

And we invite you to visit our Institute Web site where you will find copies of some of the 15 papers we have published this year. Many of them deal with measuring the value of PR. One of the most significant is the paper by Dr. Jim Grunig and Dr. Linda Hon on measuring relationships in PR - basic to almost everything we do.

We included a copy of our new Dictionary of PR Measurement and Research in the packets you received for this conference. It's edited by Dr. Don Stacks from the University of Miami, and it's a document we've needed for a long time to help all of us get on the same page, using the same terminology when we talk about PRE measurement and research.

Tomorrow is what we try to think about at the Institute. We believe better PR education holds the key. That's why we conduct the Executive Forums, in cooperation with Arthur Page, to educate those who will soon hold the top chairs in public relations.

We believe the Institute's best role is as the catalyst that can combine the best educators with the best in day-to-day practice.

I'm still around doing what I do because I always had great mentors to guide and cheer me along. I think we have a responsibility to nurture the next generation so they can be better than we are. And I want you to help do it.

Maya Angelou says it best in one of her poems. She says:

I've learned that you can tell a lot about a person by
the way he/she handles these three things:
a rainy day, lost luggage, and
tangled Christmas tree lights...

"I've learned that making a 'living' is not the same
thing as making a 'life'...

"I've learned that life sometimes gives you a second
chance.

"I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a
catcher's mitt on both hands.

"You need to be able to throw something back...

"I've learned that I still have a lot to learn.

"I've learned that people will forget what you said,
people will forget what you did,
but people will never forget
how you made them feel."

And you folks have made me feel wonderful today - and I thank you.