From Mexico to Stockholm

The Mexican statement of 1978 was a milestone attempt by a committee to define the role and purpose of public relations.

It is still widely cited today and established the concept that public relations should “serve both the organization’s and the public interest.”

Three decades later, the public relations industry has grown rapidly and organizations face many challenges to their legitimacy.

This summer, The World Public Relations Forum meeting in Stockholm, Sweden, aims to formulate and agree The Stockholm Accords, a new statement on the role of public relations in the ‘value network society’.

The link takes you to a statement of guiding principles and the vigorous debate in the comments section on the appropriateness of this approach. At one level, it’s a power struggle over leadership of the industry. Should this come from academics, from practitioners, from their clients or from the professional bodies? Can they come together and agree on anything?

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