One of the challenges of writing a daily firematic blog and serving as a PIO of a volunteer department is making sure that my opinions do not affect my department negatively. This is what I must do regarding the general public’s perception of my department and this is also what I must do in the blogosphere.
I do report on my own department and how we handle public relations and crisis communications occasionally, but I would, in my own opinion, be a fool to make my department look foolish to the folks from across the country who read this blog.
Recently a military blogger and Marine Corps. “civilian public affairs representative” Gina DiNicolo was fired for disparaging comments she made about a military event, RIMPAC, off the coast of Hawaii. DiNicolo writes for the Military Officers Association of America’s blog Inside the Headquarters.
DiNicolo made fun of the annual exercise which consists of “38 days of nation building and joint operations off the coast of Hawaii.” DiNocolo wrote in her personal blog:
“SNOOZEPAC (her terminology) is 38 days of too many visitors gorging themselves on foreign and U.S. naval delicacies. Air assets become personal taxis transporting their fares from vessel to vessel. Maybe that’s how it got its rep as the world’s largest floating cocktail party.”
DiNocolo said that her blog post is her own point of view and be taken separately from her work as a PR contractor. Obviously, the military thought otherwise.
My feeling? I am in many ways the public face of my department. My personal opinion matters, no matter where I state it.
Should DiNicolo have been fired? What do you think?
Also on The Fire PIO…
- How do I Address a Judge? – November 18, 2010
- Even the Walls have Ears – November 24, 2010
Group: Non-Profit Marketing
Subject: New comment (1) on “Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time PR Job? | The Fire PIO”
Interesting dilema. My opinion is yes. It is a direct conflict of interest to try to be in charge of the PR of your company, business or organization (a position meant to promote brand awareness, and maintain, if not foster, good exposure for that entity) and write a personal blog attacking it. Isn’t that common sense?
In our employee handbook, we have many references to this kind of an action to prevent employees from tarnishing the reputation of our company.
Interested to hear if others have the same opinion…
Take care,
Meg Sisco
http://www.chemoheads.org
Group: Online reporters and editors
Subject: New comment (1) on “Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time PR Job? | The Fire PIO”
She should absolutely been fired! If your paid to be the public voice of your employer you are that voice 24/7. Even if you are simply a publicly visible employee not in PR, you need to be the model employee 24/7. The recent tale of a certain general and his “op-ed” given to a reporter for a certain nationally known publication comes to mind.
If you want to blog your opinion on the side, by all means, blog away, just blog your opinion on some other topic.
It works the other way too-if you are being paid to blog for a news site and you regularly blog about the inner workings of fire departments, and your boss later discovers that you volunteer as the PIO or PR person for a fire department, you should be relieved of your blogging job.
The only time an amateur (non-salaried) blog that voices opinion is a function of your private life rather than your professional life is when say, you are PIO for the fire department and blog about maybe, holistic and organic cat food. That would be enough of a separation, I think.
Posted by Maude Campbell
Group: Public Relations and Communications Professionals
Subject: New comment (1) on “Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time PR Job? | The Fire PIO”
If you are a spokesperson for an organization, and you make disparaging comments about that organization on your blog, it’s hard to see why you should remain employed with it. You’re demonstrating that you don’t believe in the brand you are paid to represent. It would be like a Pepsi marketing executive talking up the delicious taste of Coke. It is true that everyone, at some point, makes negative comments about their employer/employee, and that can cause brand damage, but I think it is more pronounced or problematic when that individual is supposed to be telling a story that casts a positive light on an organization. So if you’re in PR/Marketing, and you find yourself constantly thinking or saying things about your employer that are negative, you should move on.
Posted by Mark Campbell
Group: Firefighter, Rescue & EMS Network
Subject: New comment (1) on “Should a Blogger get fired from her Full Time PR Job? | The Fire PIO”
Wow, The first to comment, strange. Last night this topic actually came up in a group that I am active on called ASAP51.
I believe the best general rule of thumb is that if I the reader can connect an incident, story, or even a reference to something that is tied to an employee’s experience while on the job, that information should be declared off limits by a blogger.
Exceptions could include the following, if enough time has expired since an event. The material is not sensitive or illicits an emotional response by someone, then it is probably safe to talk about. However recently in some high publicized cases, the material that caused the firing controversy was definitely to hot to address in the social media setting.
A public safety person is hired for the role of protecting those they serve. The blogging is a secondary role that really unfortunately should take a back seat to the afore mentioned tasks.
Posted by Tom Gottschalk
My entry post was not about the employer or the client. I am a paid defense writer who happens to have created a column (blog) for the Military Officers’ Association. All parties knew of my work and my associations. I stand by the post, which to me, of course, was completely appropriate.
That the client was upset and we parted company is the client’s choice. I’m fine with it.
Shill by day write by night? Of course. These are disparate revenue streams and outlets for different creative energy.
The full post: http://moaablogs.org/inside/2010/07/rimpac-foreign-policy-tool-or-snoozer/
Note, the Navy Times version is somewhat embellished.