Institute for Public Relations

Amid the shouting surrounding the announcement that Wall Street paid out some $18 billion in bonuses for 2008 is a sense of outrage. There is real anger that the architects of the global financial crises are still benefiting mightily from their perfidy. Or so goes the latest trope from the popular business press. The reality is that executive compensation is viewed as a zero-sum game; to articulate in favor of such compensation is to be seen as an apologist for rewarding bad behavior. This places public relations professionals in an awkward spot – one that is so uncomfortable that the ...