Burson Backs Licensing PR Professionals

Harold Burson, the founder of Burson-Marsteller, has flagged his support for the licensing of PR professionals. "It would overcome the derogatory manner in which we are depicted in the news media," he told a PR conference in India. The idea of licensing of PR practitioners has a long history within the profession. PR industry pioneer Edward Bernays supported it, while Burson previously opposed it. In a speech in 1992, Bernays argued that without a system of licensing, a set of guiding principles and "a strict ethical code, PR will be relegated to an increasingly diluted status and waning importance in our society."