Should CEO Blogs Be Ghostwritten?

The PR Princess was asked that very question by my friend Chris Kent at Ragan's Media Relations Report.

There is definite consensus among PR professionals that it is not ethical to literally sit down at a computer, pretending to be a CEO or CFO of an organization and talk about the inner workings of the cmpany as if you are that person.

However, there is much less agreement on the extent that a PR professional or agency should or could be involved. In a previous post I outlined some good general guidelines for non-CEO type blogs. A CEO blog is an entirely different story. I think the CEO should definitely be writing and responding to comments, but a good PR professional can help with the editorial calendar and research. What do you think?

Comments

[Ike]

I addressed a tangent over at Now Is Gone -- that there needs to be some remaining engagement or firewall to keep the CEO in check. The only thing worse than a CEO who won't take to the technology is one that becomes TOO comfortable with it.

http://nowisgone.com/2008/03/04/firewalls-and-hurdles/

[Local Ghostwriter]

Shareholders/customers/constituents should decide this question based upon the quality of the information being offered. I write for a CEO; it's his ethics/plans etc which are being judged in public via the words I suggest. They're not mine; the role wouldn't allow it. A staff exists to advise as to what a CEO's/organization's traits should be, and then to magnify those traits once the CEO has made the decision. An organization is much bigger than one person, even the one who is charged with representing that organization. As such, ghosting becomes very reasonable, and is a good tool within organizations to help identify what could help that organization via the person of the CEO.