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Positive press: priceless

Area P.R. experts say colleague may have crossed line by paying reporter

Janet Forgrieve, Rocky Mountain News

Published January 21, 2006 at midnight

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Area public relations professionals are reserving judgment on whether colleague Charlie Russell's $2,500 check to a Birmingham, Ala., journalist was compassion or commerce.

But they all agree on one thing: Paying to place positive stories in a newspaper crosses an important ethical boundary.

"I think those of us who work in the public relations profession have got to be committed to truth in communications and working with integrity," said Scott Harris, president of the Colorado Chapter of the Public Relations Society of America.

"At some level, we need to think about possible perception risks," said Harris, president of Harris Communications. "If there's even a remote possibility that it could be misunderstood or perceived as unethical, we really have to think about forgoing it."

Russell, a longtime Denver public relations representative known for taking on clients in crisis situations, agreed to represent Richard Scrushy during his trial last year.

Scrushy, then the fired CEO of Birmingham-based HealthSouth Corp., was subsequently acquitted on 36 counts involving a $2.7 billion fraud allegation.

On Thursday, the Associated Press reported that Audrey Lewis, who sometimes wrote for The Birmingham Times, claimed that Scrushy paid her $11,000 through a local public relations firm in exchange for positive news coverage.

The firm, The Lewis Group, is run by Jesse J. Lewis Sr., father of James Lewis, who edits the small newspaper that serves Birmingham's black community and that published Audrey Lewis' HealthSouth articles. Neither are related to Audrey Lewis.

Scrushy denied paying for the coverage, the AP story said.

Lewis also named Russell, who had written her a personal check for $2,500, during the jury deliberation in May 2005.

Russell acknowledges giving Lewis a check for $2,500 so that she could travel to Detroit for a family funeral but insisted it was in exchange for a contract in which Lewis agreed to do community relations work on Scrushy's behalf in Birmingham's black community after the trial was over.

On Friday, Russell faxed the News a copy of the contract dated May 24, 2005, apparently signed by both parties. Lewis could not be reached for comment Friday. The jury acquitted Scrushy about a month after the date on the contract.

Lewis was not called upon to fulfill her commitment under the terms of the handwritten contract, Russell said, because the judges handling two civil cases against Scrushy imposed gag orders, effectively silencing all parties involved.

Russell, whose past clients have included John and Patsy Ramsey and cigarette maker Philip Morris, said he has never paid a journalist to influence coverage and that he never would.

It's a sentiment echoed by other Denver publicists, including Webb P.R. President Pete Webb, who also often helps high-profile clients handle crisis situations.

"It's unethical, it raises questions about the veracity of the P.R. professional and his client," Webb said. "It creates a situation that doesn't need to be there. There are plenty of ways to raise interest in the client and the issues without being disingenuous and dishonest."

In its code of ethics, which is not legally binding, the Public Relations Society of America asks members to agree to transparency in their dealings and to "preserve the integrity of the process of communication and to be honest and accurate in all communications."

When there's even the perception that professionals aren't adhering to the code, Harris said, it makes it that much more difficult for the entire profession.

"It's hard to pass judgment because it gets into that he said/she said thing, and will it ever be officially proven how and why those contributions were made," he said. "But I think for our industry, sometimes it's a struggle when you have these kind of reports coming out that fall into this gray perception area."