Les pratiques et les discours des relationnistes média au Québec : dans les marges de la transparence, la rigueur, la diligence et l’équité

• Main Author: Chantal Francoeur
• Format: Article
• Language: fra
• Published: Société Française de Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication 2018-01-01
• Series: Revue Française des Sciences de l’Information et de la Communication
• Subjects: public relations (PR); journalism; practices; discourses; core values
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/rfsic/3479
• ISSN: 2263-0856

Interviews with media relations officers in Quebec reveal the extent to which they must constantly reconcile their profession’s core values (transparency, rigour, due diligence and fairness) with institutional and organizational demands. Across the board, the aim of media relations officers is to provide journalists with information that is timely and accurate. However, they find themselves juggling tight deadlines, questions of access and the expectation that they are there to serve their clients’ best interests. Compromises must be made and professional standards sometimes slip. The risk, here, is that PR’s core values end up being paid mere lip service : ceasing to be actual rules of conduct and becoming, more, a conduit for pro-public relations advocacy.