We are over half way through the University semester and I am rapidly nearing the end of my placement. I have learnt so much throughout my time with the Perth Fashion Festival and I will be very glad to stay with the company when my placement is complete. I have been given much more responsibility and proven my value and trustworthiness to the organisation. Most recently I have been working on sponsorship proposals and other important documents and would like to discuss what I have learnt about privacy and confidentiality. I am sure most of you are dealing with very important information and are also in the process of preparing your final reports.
No matter what industry or company you work in there is an important need for confidentiality and privacy guidelines. It’s not about hiding or concealing the truth or “putting a spin” on the facts, it’s about protecting the welfare, growth and success of the business including the safety and interests of the staff and stakeholders. This is really important to remember when writing your final reports. The Perth Fashion Festival, along with many other companies, is of high public interest and any information or gossip is snapped up by the media almost instantly! Not only are the specific details of the Festival of interest and of high demand, but also the views and opinions of our top management team on various issues, particularly those within the Perth spotlight.
It is my job to not only protect the business and other staff members but also to protect myself from public scrutiny and unwanted exposure. By simply answering the telephone and speaking to media and journalists without consulting my Manager I can release confidential information, attract unwanted attention, mislead others and ultimately lose my job and get a bad reputation.
One of the main problems with the media and one which Public Relations professionals need to be aware of is that journalists always have their own agenda and their job is to sell copies of the news, not to care about any implications which may proceed after what they have released to the public. A lot of the time without even knowing it information can be misread or become misleading if the entire story or background is not known by the reader. Also information that may seem positive to some can also be taken very negatively amongst others. This is so important when dealing with Government or not-for-profit bodies especially. In comparison many large corporations which are quite transparent, Government information is very confidential and non-profits deal a lot with sponsors and funding and releasing that information can often be inappropriate. They also both deal heavily with the community and the general public and therefore any information that is released must be spot on.
We all need to be careful about what we are writing about the companies we work for and ensure that we are respecting their privacy. When writing your final reports by all means don’t compromise your writing skills or ability to produce a top report by not including any relevant information, but just make sure that you check with your supervisor before you hand it in at least to make sure it is correct and truthful. It will save you and the organisation!
2 comments:
Hi Danielle,
Firstly, I'd like to congratulate you on scoring a job with the Perth Fashion Festival! Well done! That is amazing, especially to me as I worship fashion!
I think your blog post on privacy and confidentiality was very well-written and could not have been published at a better time. Seeing as the semester is slowly coming to an end, final report writing should be well and truly underway for us all!
The issue of privacy and confidentiality was brought to light during my day at work today when I was discussing my report with my supervisor. I quickly discovered that there was lots of information that I was not permitted to write about as client confidentiality is extremely important. My supervisor made the point that this information is extremely sensitive because if it got to the client's competitors, the PR effort would be severly hampered.
Furthermore, I would like to thank you for emphasizing the vested interest of journalists versus clients and PR professionals. As students I believe we can forget quite easily that the journalist is pursuing their own set of goals and increasing circulation, distribution and selling copies is one of them! Also, I strongly agree with the point you made about one small wrong move such as accidently divulging confidential information during a telephone conversation can prove to be very harmful. This is certainly true and should be thoughtfully considered in practice every day.
You have produced an insightful and enriching blog post. I hope you enjoy the rest of your internship as well as your career with the Perth Fashion Festival.
Kind regards,
Suzi Petkucevska
I too have had some problems determining what is private and confidential and what is not, especially now that I am adding more and more to my report. I worked on a variety of projects at my time at the Department for Communities, but I’ve now realised that a lot of the pieces of work I was hoping to add into my report and also to my portfolio are not classified as ‘public information,’ at least at this stage anyway.
Although, I did find some parts of the ‘private and confidential’ activities quite exciting! It does make you feel important when your supervisor trusts you with important tasks, and a lot of the time the more contentious tasks I got involved with were to do with one of the Ministers. It was quite a rush to know your work was going to the Minister’s office to be approved.
I’m planning on meeting with my supervisor at least one more time over the next couple of weeks, armed with a copy of my report ready to be approved by him.
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