Ray The field of ethics, also called moral philosophy, involves systematizing, defending, and recommending concepts of right and wrong behavior” Definitions of ethics normally have in common the elements of requiring some form of systematic analysis, distinguishing right from wrong, and determining the nature of what should be valued.
Matt Woods International Codes: Global alliance for PR and Communication Management is a group of PR organizations throughout the world and bases its ethics code on cooporation, team work, professionalism, credibility, integrity, innovation, change, openness and dialogue Societal Codes: The Ten Commandments Professional Codes: a doctor’s Hippocratic oath Organizational Codes: business organizations may enact an ethics code that every employ is asked to read, sign and follow Personal Codes: personal values such as not working on sunday, recycling ect.
Chris Tucci
Matt Woods Advocacy: acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts and viewpoints to aid public debate Honesty: Adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public Expertise: Acquire and and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience Independence: Provide objective council to those we represent and are accountable for our actions Loyalty: faithful to those we represent while honoring our obligations to serve public interests Fairness: Deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, piers, vendors, media and the general public
Ray Corporate Watch believes By giving vested interests the opportunity to deliberately deceive, and derail public debate on key issues the public relations industry reduces society’s capacity to respond effectively to key social, environmental and political challenges.
Chris Tucci
Mushirah WHAT IS THE PUBLIC’S PERCEPTION OF PR PEOPLE?-The first response was: “are you serious?” This was followed by: “whyever would you want to do that? So you want to be in a profession whereyou deceive everyone to further yourself?”Many people ask me: “So what actually is PR?” whilst others can’tunderstand why I’m studying it at all responding with: “Oh I could do that,easy.” I would love to put them to the test.I am starting to believe that PR’s reputation is an issue that practitionerssimply learn to accept mainly because it is very difficult to control orchange opinions.
Mushirah Reed Often people do not understand the connection between PRs action and their outcomes, The Florida department of heath used a character named Ben Spring and according to researchers he wouldn’t wash his hands, cough and sneeze with out covering his mouth. This edgy and humorous 2008 PR campaign was created wutg a serious purpose in mind: To convince people to take steps to halt the spread of highly contagious germs to avoid a much-feared flu pandemic. This was given world wide media coverage and most important made people more health conscious.
Mushirah Reed (To the warm and fuzzy spin) Although technically they’re not lying, does an action like this conflict with the honesty value in the code of ethics?
Ray The ability to engage in ethical reasoning in public relations is growing in demand, in responsibility, and in importance. Academic research, university and continuing education, and professional practice are all attending more than ever to matters of ethics. The public relations function stands at a critical and defining juncture: whether to become an ethics counselor to top management or to remain outside the realm of the strategic decision making core. How we choose to respond to the crisis of trust among our publics will define the public relations of the future. Although it is true that no single person or function can be the entire “ethical conscience” of an organization, the public relations function is ideally informed to counsel top management about ethical issues. Public relations professionals know the values of key publics involved with ethical dilemmas, and can conduct rigorous ethical analyses to guide the policies of their organizations, as well as in communications with publics and the news media. Careful and consistent ethical analyses facilitate trust, which enhances the building and maintenance of relationships – after all, that is the ultimate purpose of the public relations function.