Ethics and Professionalism

Ethics Defined:Ethics is concerned with how we should live our lives. It focuses on questions about what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, caring or uncaring, good or bad, responsible or irresponsible, and the like.

(Jaksa and Pritchard, Methods of Analysis)

Four-Way Test for Ethical Decision Making (from Rotary International)Is it the truth?Is it fair to all concerned?Will it build goodwill and better friendships?Will it be beneficial to all concerned?

Professionals have the burden of making ethical decisions that satisfy: The public interestTheir employers (or clients) self interestThe standards of the professionTheir personal valuesIn an ideal world, these four areas would not conflict but in reality they often do. How many PR people have been asked to over-represent a product? How many agencies have been asked to take sides on issues that conflict with a healthy environment? The answer is that many of us participate in areas where ethical standards are vague at best. (comments from a senior PR executive in PRSAs The Strategist)

Public Expectations of PR? Society, in general, expects public relations people to be advocates, just as they expect advertising copywriters to make a product sound attractive, journalists to be objective, and attorneys to defend someone in court But communication efforts will not attempt, for example to present false/deceptive/misleading information under the guise of literal truth no matter how strongly the practitioners want to convince others of the merits of a particular clients/organizations position/cause(from Martinson, Florida International University)

Professional Codes of Ethics in PRThe Public Relations Society of America (PRSSA) Code of Ethics PRSA Code (more detailed) online at: http://www.prssa.org/downloads/codeofethics.pdfThe Codes core values:AdvocacyIndependenceHonestyLoyaltyExpertiseFairnessPRSA, with 22,000 members in 110 U.S chapters, is the worlds largest national PR organizationSouth Carolina PRSA Chapter: http://www.scprsa.org/In second and third place (size-wise) are the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) and the International Public Relations Association (IPRA)

Personal EthicsBe honest at all timesConvey a sense of business ethics based on your own standards and those of societyRespect the integrity and position of your opponents and audiencesDevelop trust by emphasizing substance over trivialityPresent all sides of an issueStrive for a balance between loyalty to the organization and duty to the publicDont sacrifice long-term objectives for short-term gains

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