PRSA Civility Task Force Releases White Paper

Modeling Civility: How Public Relations Professionals Can Restore Quality, Integrity and Inclusiveness to Civil Discourse

NEW YORK, October 26, 2020 – PRSA, the nation’s leading professional organization serving the communications community, announced today the release of a new white paper, “Modeling Civility: How Public Relations Professionals Can Restore Quality, Integrity and Inclusiveness to Civil Discourse.” Created by PRSA’s Civility Task Force, the paper is intended to help the organization and the communications profession promote a broader public dialogue about the corrosion of public discourse, and implement achievable solutions to change the national conversation.

“The importance of civility is embedded in PRSA’s Code of Ethics and is a key priority in the three-year strategic plan we released earlier this year,” said T. Garland Stansell, APR, PRSA 2020 Chair. “Civil discourse is in a state of crisis, and this white paper will serve as a guide to focusing our collective expertise, insight and influence on addressing and eliminating the atmosphere of toxicity which surrounds all of us.”

Among the key strategies for accomplishing these goals will be to:

• Establish PRSA as a source of research, tools, resources and training that empowers individuals and institutions to advance the discussion of civility and take an active role in improving the quality of discourse in their own organizations, industries and circles of influence.
• Enlist interested communications professionals to model and promote strategies for achieving more effective civil discourse in their daily work and lives as part of a national “civility corps” movement that grows organically within and beyond the PR industry.
• Equip PRSA committees, chapters and sections with the tools and resources they need to engage their members and the communities and industries they serve by incorporating civility-related programming into their own plans and activities.

The PRSA Civility Task Force is co-chaired by international consultant Gary Saffitz, and Jon Goldberg, Chief Reputation Architect, Reputation Architects Inc.

To learn more about PRSA’s plans to promote civility, and to download the white paper, click here.

About PRSA
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the nation’s leading professional organization serving the communications community. PRSA is the principal advocate for industry excellence and ethical conduct and provides members lifelong learning opportunities and leading-edge resources to enhance professional connections and support them at every stage of their career. With more than 30,000 members, PRSA is collectively represented in all 50 states by more than 110 Chapters and 14 Professional Interest Sections, and on nearly 375 college and university campuses through its student organization, the Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA). For more information, please visit www.prsa.org.

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Media Contact: 
Rod Granger  
(212) 460-0307       
rod.granger@prsa.org