Drawing the Line

Rachel Gies
rg265214@ohio.edu

Via http://comsoc275.amandarmartinez.com/infographics/media-ethics-law-and-regulation/

Although we have had multiple discussions in class about ethical decision making pertaining to both News and Information Journalism and Strategic Communications, most of our conversations have been dominated by the News and Information perspective. However, after reading PRSA's The Ethical Practitioner Column #1, I gained a new perspective on the types of questions Public Relations Professionals should ask themselves when dealing with ethical dilemmas.

As a PR professional, not only do you have to deal with your own personal ethical dilemmas, but you are also responsible for "cleaning up" bad ethical decisions made by everyone else in the company, firm, organization, etc.. In order to do this we must know our own ethical code and decide where we draw the line.

What We Represent

In a lecture written by David Finn and published on the National Institute for PR's website, Finn said, "I expressed my personal belief that being public relations counsel to a client carries with it the responsibility to believe that what one's client says is in fact true. If my name is on a press release, I should stand behind the legitimacy of what is stated in the release" (Finn, 1).

Not only is it hard to represent a client, brand, or organization that you don't agree with, it could easily raise concerns about how ethical you are being. Finn argues that in most situations PR professionals are likely to give this thought because our image is connected to what we are representing. However, he also argues that the more a company is institutionalized and driven by profit, the less likely it is that someone will think about their personal ethics (Finn, 2).

I think his argument is very valid because the more a company focuses on profit rather than who they are serving, the more they lack a human element to them. In situations like that I believe it would be easier to hide behind the company and not worry so much about your image.

Taking a Stand

In a study also published by the National Institute for Public Relations, researchers found that when faced with an ethical dilemma, millennials who were a member of PRSA preferred to "avoid an issue rather than taking a stand" (Neal, Weaver). This finding is very problematic because in the workforce when dealing with a crisis or problem, our job will be to take a stand on a problem and find a way to fix it.

Rather than backing down and not taking a stand, we should be preparing ourselves using the assessment presented to us in PRSA's The Ethical Practitioner Column #1. Questions such as these can help you to decide where you stand on a subject and identify where things might have gone wrong.

As millennials, it is important that we make a change in the way that we deal with ethical dilemmas. Don't be afraid to stand up for what you believe is right. There are endless resources available to help us decide our right from our wrong.