FEMA and PRSA: The Blind Leading the Blind [1]
Submitted by Diane Farsetta [2] on
On December 6, the Public Relations Society of America [3] (PRSA) "conducted a communications workshop for external affairs and management staff of the Federal Emergency Management Agency [4] at FEMA's offices in Washington, D.C." PRSA offered the workshop after FEMA's controversial fake news conference [5] in October, where FEMA staffers played reporter, asking their boss softball questions. PRSA's press release [6] said the workshop was the first time "that a federal government agency formally engaged and consulted the Society ... involving staff on the topics of crisis communications [7], ethics and reputation management." PRSA hopes the workshop "will be the beginning of an ongoing interaction with FEMA -- as well as an open door to relationships with other government agencies," according to its press release. PRSA has also worked with the U.S. State Department [8] "on public diplomacy [9] for Congressional members and their staff," reports O'Dwyer's. In 2000, PRSA revamped its ethics code [10], getting rid of all internal enforcement mechanisms.