Public Relations Ethics
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Public Relations Ethics

Dick Martin, Donald K. Wright

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eBook - ePub

Public Relations Ethics

Dick Martin, Donald K. Wright

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About This Book

This book represents a practical guide to ethical decision-making tailored specifically to the needs of those who practice and study public relations. It traces the development of ethical theory from ancient Greece through the works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle to modern day public relations executives including Harold Burson, Robert Dilenschneider, and Richard Edelman. The book helps readers build personal frameworks for ethical reasoning that will enable them not only to recognize the ethical issues at play in public relations practice but also to analyze the conflicting duties and loyalties in these situations. This volume fills a gap in the currently available books on the subject, most of which either lack theoretical grounding or practical application. Illustrative cases used in this book span a wide range of public relations functions. To update readers on issues discussed in this book, the authors have started an online conversation. Please join the discussion at http://Updates.PRethics.com.

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Information

Publisher
Business Expert Press
Year
2015
ISBN
9781631571473
Topic
Commerce
Subtopic
Relations publiques
CHAPTER 1
Introduction
The topic of ethics presents both a challenge and an opportunity to public relations practitioners. In a world where far too many consider “public relations ethics” an oxymoron, those who practice public relations frequently must deal with diverse ethical dilemmas. Yet few practitioners have developed frameworks for making ethical judgments.
Noting that public relations practice offers “unique and challenging ethical issues,” the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) encourages its members to “protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.” Through its Member Code of Ethics, PRSA also encourages “informed decision making through open communication” and urges public relations people to strengthen public trust in the industry.1
Ethics involves questions of moral behavior and the difficult choices people face when trying “to do the right thing.” It concerns moral principles that govern human behavior and the moral correctness of specified conduct. Ethics scholar Richard Johannesen (1983) says ethical situations are multifaceted and usually arise when a moral agent (the one making the ethical decision) commits an act (either verbal or nonverbal) within a specific context with a particular motive directed at an audience. Johannesen stresses that each of these factors need to be taken into account before passing judgment on the outcome of any moral scenario.
Steven R. Van Hook (2011), who has both practiced and taught public relations, points out the public relations department often is the “ethical heart” of most organizations. Public relations ethics scholar Thomas Bivens (2006) notes people seek accountability and “want to know who is responsible for certain actions and who is accountable for the consequences of those actions” (p. 19). Van Hook notes that even though “many people perceive public relations to be something less than respectable,” those responsible for internal and external communications in an organization control the flow of both good and bad news to employees, customers, stockholders, and other strategic stakeholders. He also notes public relations people are part of organizational decision making.
About This Book
This book represents a practical guide to ethical decision making tailored specifically to the needs of public relations students and practitioners. We do not spend much time on the day-to-day ethical issues every white-collar worker faces, whether mundane or serious—from whether it’s wrong to bring pens home from the office or to sleep with a client or boss. Rather, we focus on issues arising from public relations’ role within society, especially the potential to abuse techniques of communication, persuasion, and advocacy.
We trace the development of ethical theory from the ancient Greeks to modern time to give the reader an understanding of the principles that underlie current standards of behavior. But the book’s major emphasis is on practical application of these theories and principles through the analysis of contemporary cases. Our goal is to guide readers in building a personal framework for ethical reasoning that will enable them to do the following:
• Recognize the ethical issues at play in the practice of public relations, including those inherent in business decisions that do not directly involve the public relations function.
• Analyze the conflicting duties and loyalties at play in these situations, as well as the likely consequences to all affected publics, so they can choose the best option in their own practice or counsel their clients in their decision making.
• And, finally, justify their decision and/or counsel in terms that others will understand and ultimately accept.
Our book fills a gap in currently available literature on the subject, most of which lacks either theoretical grounding or practical application. Unlike other books that focus on the broad field “mass communication,” this book focuses solely upon public relations and cites illustrative cases spanning a wide range of its functions.
Although we do not advocate a specific ethical approach, we attempt to give readers sufficient grounding in the major theories of normative ethics to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each, and to construct their own frameworks, appropriate to their circumstances.
The Importance of Ethics
Public relations counselor Bob Dilenschneider has represented a third of the Fortune 500 companies and, from that vantage point, he has concluded that ethics has never been more important. “The desire to succeed at any cost is washing over the world in a relentless wave, flying in the face of ethics and integrity,” he warns. “It takes strong willed people to resist it, and there are fewer strong-willed people today than there used to be.”2 Governments have issued stacks of new regulations and imposed layers of additional oversight in response to corporate scandals. And misconduct by leaders of institutions from our colleges and churches to our sports teams and news organizations has severely rocked public confidence. That may be why the 2015 Edelman Trust Barometer shows “an evaporation of trust across all institutions” not only in business but also in government, media, and nongovernmental organizations (NGOs).3 The practice of public relations is not immune from these forces. In fact, it could be complicit.
Although few have ever perceived public relations to be a highly ethical industry, in recent years its reputation has taken serious hits thanks in no small part to the actions of a few prominent practitioners. For example, Hill & Knowlton prepped the Kuwaiti ambassador’s daughter to give false testimony before a Congressional committee in the run-up to the first Gulf War.4 Ketchum and ConAgra tricked food bloggers into eating Marie Callender’s frozen food when they thought they were dining on meals prepared by noted chefs,5 and two FleishmanHillard executives were jailed for fraudulently billing the Los Angeles Water Department.6 Not to mention an abundance of unpaid internships that some say are unfair to public relations students, especially when the agencies bill clients for their time.
Theoretical Foundations
According to ethics scholar J.C. Callahan (1988), the formal study of ethics can be divided into four subareas: meta-ethics, descriptive ethics, normative ethics, and applied ethics. Meta-ethics concentrates on what morality is by examining the meanings of ethical terms, the nature of ethical judgments, and various types of ethical arguments. Descriptive ethics, also known as comparative ethics, studies what people believe about morality. Normative ethics provides the foundation for decision making through the development of general rules and principles of moral conduct. Applied ethics is concerned with using these theoretical norms to solve real-world ethical problems.
The study of ethics can provide a framework for making difficult moral choices at every stage of the decision-making process, from identifying and analyzing ethical issues to weighing and justifying options to resolve them. Inevitably, this process will reveal conflicts among competing values and interests. The study of ethics cannot always settle such conflicts, but it can provide the tools to unravel them by clarifying such concepts as truth, fairness, respect, integrity, and loyalty. That not only makes it easier to live with our choices but it also makes justifying them easier. As many public relations practitioners have discovered, knowing how to justify an ethical decision is almost as important as the decision itself.
Normative Ethics
Most of the scholarly research exploring public relations ethics has focused on normative ethics. As described in more detail in later chapters, the study of normative ethics has historically concentrated on three areas: virtue (ethical behavior depends on moral character), duty (actions are right or wrong in themselves), and consequences (results determine whether an action is right or wrong).
As we explain in Chapter 3, the study of virtue ethics can be traced back to ancient Greece where Socrates (c. 470–399 BCE) said virtue could be identified and practiced. His disciple, Plato (c. 428–348 BCE) encouraged moral conduct even in situations where responsible behavior might be different from societal norms. His student, Aristotle (c. 384–322 BCE) stressed that moral virtue frequently required difficult choices (Blackburn, 2001). This Greek interest in virtue has been credited by some for developing a school of thought concerned with the nature of goodness and self-discipline as advocated by Epictetus (c. 55–135 AD), who stressed individuals must be responsible for their own actions (Plaisance, 2014).
Deontology, or the study of duty-based ethics, judges people by their actions regardless of the consequences and is discussed in greater detail in Chapters 5 and 6. Deontologists believe acts are moral or immoral by their very nature regardless of consequences or outcomes.
This theory’s major advocate was Immanuel Kant (1724–1804) a German philosopher who authored the categorical imperative, a moral principle he considered absolute and unconditional. For example, he believed it required people to tell the truth even if it resulted in harm to others (Hinman, 2012). At the core of Kant’s ethical thinking was his strong belief humans never should treat other people as a means to an end.
Public relations ethics scholar Shannon A. Bowen (2004) sees considerable relevance for public relations in Kant’s thesis and has proposed a theoretical model for ethical decision making in public relations that is based upon Kant’s categorical imperative and James E. Grunig’s two-way symmetrical model of public relations.
Teleology, or the study of consequence-based ethics, focuses on the end result of an act or a decision. Teleological ethics has two basic approaches, ethical egoism and utilitarianism. Ethical egoists make decisions based on what result is best for their own self-interests. This philosophy dates back to Epicurus (c. 342–271 BCE), who advocated people should do those things that would lead to their own satisfaction.
Utilitarianism, which is covered more completely in Chapter 7, is an ethical philosophy that fosters whatever is best for society as a whole, endeavoring to provide “the greatest happiness for the greatest number.” Jeremy Bentham (1748–1832) is recognized as the founder of utilitarianism, a theory also advocated and promoted by John Stuart Mill (1806–1873). More modern versions of utilitarianism focus on either acts or rules. Rule utilitarianism is concerned with what rule or action, when followed, will maximize the greatest good for the greatest number. Act utilitarianism places little value in precepts, claiming rules such as “thou shalt not kill,” “never lie,” and so forth only provide rough directions for ethical experiences.
Ethics and Individual Public Relations Practitioners
Kenneth F. Goodpaster and John B. Matthews (1989) claim the desire for ethical behavior has deep roots in the actions of individual people who wish to act responsibly. As one of us has explained previously, this endorses the notion that some individual public relations people might elect to be ethical while others might not (Wright, 1996). As we explain in greater detail in Chapter 11, most people understand clear-cut differences between good and evil, right and wrong, and similar dichotomies. However, when ethical decision making comes down to the bottom line, the final arbiter in separating right from wrong or good from evil is the free will of the individual decision maker.
Goodpaster and Matthews maintain that the notion of ethical responsibility has three meanings: who is to blame, what has to be done, and what we think of someone’s moral reasoning. The first meaning of responsibility concerns who is the cause of an action or event, (i.e., who is answerable for it). The second meaning concerns what standards or social norms one should be following. This most often occurs when individuals are responsible to others: lawyers to clients, physicians to patients; or, in the communication context, journalists to their readers and public relations managers to their organizations, their clients, or the public at large. The third meaning reflects our judgment that an individual has made reliable and trustworthy moral decisions.
Ethics and Decision Making
The topic of ethics has ...

Table of contents