Ethics and PR

Thomas Carberry

tc173113@ohio.edu

Ethics and PR  

Ethical dilemmas in the communications field are often looked upon solely from the perspective of those reporting the news, yet there is an entire profession dedicated to art of dealing with dilemmas and the press wave that naturally ensues. Strategic communication encompasses a broad variety of different professions such as marketing, advertising, PR, events coordination and many more. Ultimately, that means there is a wide variety of ethical dilemmas one may have to face.

              
Much of the ethical dilemmas faced in PR or any form of strategic communication involve one’s client (those you represent) and the public interest. The Public Relations Society of America has a strict code of ethics that focuses on this tug of war. Within the code of ethics it clearly states that the core values of the profession are honesty, advocacy, expertise, independence, loyalty and fairness. This bears a striking resemblance to the SPJ code of ethics but one must consider how independence, honesty and fairness are always options, especially with one’s job on the line.

             
The role of PR is to act as a consultant for a company, org or corporation on matters that deal with public image. The public’s image is in many ways shaped by interactions with the media. Many of these interactions with the media come when something unfavorable has been done by a company. As a person working in PR it is best for the security of one’s job that one does as much as one can to make the fallout as advantageous for company one represents as possible.

In dire times the boss may ask you to lie or skew some fact that is of public interest. Doing so may damage your credibility but not doing so may destroy your means of living. The truly ethical thing to do when an employer asks you do something wrong is to say no, but that could surely get you fired. To be in PR you must be willing to face tough decisions that don’t always have a best answer but surely have a right answer.

http://commbasics.typepad.com/my_weblog/2015/01/corporate-media-supplants-independent-journalism-in-semiconductor-market.html

Corporate Journalism

 Within the communication field there has been a huge influx of strategic communication professionals and a gradual decrease in journalists. This trend stems from a variety of elements that have greatly hurt the journalism profit model. The profit model of strategic communication entirely relies on the corporation, company or org that is represented.

             
 Another trend has taken hold: advertisements and marketing campaigns with a well-developed story that goes beyond simply telling the consumer to buy their product because it’s nice. More and more they are beginning to look and feel like real journalism. Some believe that this may be the cure to journalism’s broken profit model. Branded content and native advertisements embedded into real news content and published by strategic communication firms, which would allow for greater ad revenue.

              
However, corporate journalism goes directly against the journalistic value of independence and freedom from conflicts of interest. The real question is what’s more important, making a sustained profit or our values?