“Modern times require that public relations experts are among the first to fight against fake news, not only because very often they work against out clients, but also they present the completely wrong picture of the freedom of media these days”, said ICCO President Maxim Behar at a conference this week in Zagreb, Croatia.

“Trolls and fake profiles distributing fake news are threatening the ethical and transparent side of our business, and we must be the guarantee that they will never come from the side of our companies”, Behar added.

The conference in Zagreb, attended by leading Croatian PR experts and professionals, was organised by the local Public Relations Association HUOJ, a very active ICCO member. The speakers were practitioners, University professors and executives from the client-side.

Aleksandra Kolaric, President of the Croatian PR Association said: “We are glad that the ICCO President raised this important question in the conference. In the so called emerging markets it is quite important, but also my feeling is that this is quite crucial now for the whole world. One of the reasons for us to join ICCO and to participate in all its events is that ICCO represents ethical, transparent and highly professional business all over the world.”

 
During the visit in Zagreb Maxim Behar chaired a joint meeting of the Managing and Supervisory Board and also the Ethical Commission of the Croatian PR Association, and presented the two main ICCO events scheduled later this year – the Global Summit in Helsinki, early October and the Global PR Awards in December in London.