Ethics
ETHICS IN PUBLIC RELATIONS
The PR industry has always, and will always be an ever-changing strategic component of every company. Without it, companies would be left without strategic plans that can help collaborate companies between various industries and the like. In order to be able to understand the ethics of the Public Relations world, one must really understand Public Relations itself.
Public Relations or better known as ‘PR’ can have so many different interpretations and meanings. Robert Wakefield put it simply in This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations, he stated that PR should be defined, as “All Public Relations should exist to pre-serve a consistent reputation and build relationships” and another way to understand what a Public Relations practitioner is. “The Public Relations (PR) practitioner serves as an intermediary between the organisation that he of she represents and all of the organisation’s stakeholders/publics.” The Public Relations Institute of Australia describes PR as “The management function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organisation with the public interest, and plans and executes a programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.” This all being said, it is clear that Public Relations can often be described as the front door of a company, and the overall key communicator between clients.
In todays society, there is an often-misconstrued notion about Public Relations, and to many, PR can be an often-glamorised industry that often only deal with high profile clientele and organising events. There is a truth to the above sentence, but at large, there is so many more components to PR that that. I’ve realised this myself because this is something I hear regularly when I speak to family and friends about my area of study, which is, Communications — specifically, Public Relations. Unless familiar with the industry, many people believe PR is all about celebrity clientele, door lists, social events and managing their timetables. Although often confused with a Publicist and or Event Manager, there are key components of which door overlap — so I can understand the confusion to a degree. Public Relations is not only needed in small business, but more commonly, a PR team is crucial for the engagement between the stakeholders and their desired target audience.
Now that we have a better understanding of the Public Relations realm, I’d like to open up the ethical issues that PR practitioners encounter. In order to keep Public Relations strong, there must be a solid and credible relationship formed between the stakeholders and their target audience. Being credible in PR is vital, without which, they would be unable to keep an image of a trustworthy and moral company. Harvey Thomas, who is an international Public Relations and Presentation consultant stated that the Ethics of PR can be described as a ‘professional of credibility’ and that in order to regain its credibility, company directors and practitioners must accept some basic facts about ‘communication’ and about informed and sophisticated ‘publics.’ To me, the key indication of ethics comes down to trust. Are you practicing PR in a way that is credible and trustworthy? ‘Public relations should be the uncomplicated concept of getting to know the people the partitioner deals with, serving them professionally and developing understanding and trust with each other.’ — Harvey Thomas.
In “Ethics in Public Relations: A guide to Best Practice” by Patricia J Parsons she discusses that, ethics should be seen and work in conjunction with public relations in a way that is “the application of knowledge, understanding and reasoning to questions of write or wrong behaviour in the professional practice of public relations.”
Every country around the world operates under different codes of conduct. In Australia, the governing body is the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), which is a national industry body for public relations and communications professionals in Australia. Currently, the code of ethics has 15 key points which practitioner must adhere and abide by. Some important examples are, the code “is mindful of the responsibility which PR professionals owe to the community as well as to their clients and employers.” Another being, Members are required to “adhere to the highest standards of ethical practice and professional competence.” Within the PR industry, ethical questions can often arise and that is way the above codes have been implemented, in order to allow trustworthy and fair work place practices. Although I have only listen several codes or practice, it is crucial to understand that these codes are in place to maintain an ethical and responsible mindset to their employers, clients and the community.
There are however ethical issues, concerns and questions that can arise. Some of which are related to privacy with the stakeholders and what is show to the public. In the PRIA code of ethics, there is a clause that states that “members shall safeguard the confidences of both present and former employees and clients including confidential information about the employer” This is a controversial issue because public relations is about maintaining a healthy and open relationship with their publics, however if issues are being kept from the stakeholders and the public, is there some type of reason to be concerned as to why they are doing this?
Shannon Bowen asked the question, is there such a thing as Public Relations ethics? She states, “Current research supports a historical trend of associating public relations with all things unethical — lying, spin-doctoring, and even espionage”. She then finishes with claiming that “the term ‘public relations ethics’ is an oxymoron: either an unreal possibility, or smoke and mirrors to hide deception” Obviously this goes against what general ethics not only in PR, but in most workplaces would stand for.
The Public Relations industry is and will always be changing. Not only here in Australia, but on an international level — PR has the ability to put communication levels in place to work and co-operate between states, countries and even language barriers. Having an ethically sound and morally strong industry helps the onward progression of this industry. The foundations of this industry are built on a trustworthy base, and the ability to convey a mixture of communication skills in which enable stakeholders and publics with their desired responses. The ability for PR to continue to change and facilitate the necessary ethics and entrepreneurship thus show how important PR is and will be in the future.
References
Ethics and PR — Harvery Thomas