Sophie Bonnewijn

Morals and Ethics in Public Relations

Sunderland University Philip Young MACM 70 CW1 119050134

2011-2012
Essay: Is flexibility a quality required of any pr practitioner?

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Public Relations specialists make flower arrangements of the facts placing them so that the wilted and less attractive petals are hidden by sturdy blooms. Alan Harrington

A reputation once broken may possibly be repaired, but the world will always keep their eyes on the spot. Joseph Hall

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Table of Content
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. Introduction ................................................................................................................................3 Defining ethics ............................................................................................................................5 The truth and nothing but the truth? ..........................................................................................8 Any practitioner? Some examples........................................................................................... 11 Conclusion ................................................................................................................................ 15 Bibliography .............................................................................................................................. 17

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

1.

Introduction

With the Public Relations industry on the rise, controversy about the definition and goals of the profession has appeared just as quickly (Sally, 2008: online). Considering the obscurity that surrounds Public Relations, it is therefore no wonder that discussions about ethics in the profession have also intensified in recent years. Throughout history, ethics, as well as morality, have established the foundation of certain standards and regulations on which humanity judges the honesty and genuineness of people and organizations. Professions, such as the Public Relations profession, have particular standards, gathered in certain codes of conduct. Furthermore, every professional body has its own ethical regulations and moral values, which it expects its members to follow and abide (Grunig, Hunt, 1984, p. 127). However, every society and culture has a different set of rules, just as every person and organization has a different sense of morality. The same can be argued about Public Relations practitioners and the Public Relation profession. Considering the many existing ethical boundaries that are bestowed on Public Relations practitioners, is it even possible for them to perform their obligations at the best of their capabilities while following all the rules stated by a company or their own professional codes?

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Is it possible for a practitioner to be ethical without altering the very nature of the Public Relations profession? On the other hand, do practitioners have the luxury of being flexible with ethical rules, since they are often even more scrutinized then other professions? This paper will try to bring forth answers to these and other conundrums by analyzing in some subchapters the different views, contexts, treats and opportunities that influence the use of ethics and codes of conduct in the Public Relation profession. It will try to discover at which point Public Relations evolves from a voice to a vice. It will examine if and how much flexibility is allowed for Public Relations practitioners and will search for the invisible ethical line that can not be crossed.

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

2. Defining ethics
To truly understand the duality of ethics in Public Relations, it is important to define what ethics is, and how it relates to the Public Relations profession. Since Ivy Lees influence on the notion of the public be damned to the public be informed, Public Relations ethics debates have gained a great deal of attention (Moloney, 2006, p. 48).

In the UK this attention is mostly caused by the spin phenomenon of the 1980s and by previously occurred business scandals. However, as the following ethics definitions and codes of conduct will illustrate, Public Relations has come a long way from being linked to amoral propaganda and spinning.

Wilcox and Cameron state that: Ethics focuses on questions about what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, caring or uncaring, good or bad, responsible or irresponsible, and the like. Ethics is concerned with how we should live our lives and is expressed through moral behaviour in specific situations. 2011, p.182).
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(Wilcox, Cameron, Reber., et al.

Moloney states that ethics is: The application of knowledge, understanding and reasoning to questions of right and wrong behaviour in the professional practice of Public Relations. (Moloney, 2006, p. 104)

James Jaksa and Michael Pritchard In Communication Ethics: Methods of Analysis.

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

In turn, the Josephon Institute of Ethics describes the term as: Standards of conduct and behavior based on moral duties and virtues derived from principles of right and wrong. (Martin, 2011: online)

Other then depending on explanatory views of ethics, Public Relations practitioners also depend on codes of conduct, held by a major of professional associations. If practitioners decide to become a member of these organizations, they agree to abide by the mentioned codes of conduct (Bowen, 2007: online).

For example, the CIPR code of conduct mentions honesty, integrity and transparency (CIPR, PRSA, s.d.: online). The PRSA states that professionals should have the will to be ethical and that they should excercise responsibility to the public.

The Canadian Public Relations Societys code of professional standards states, A member shall practice the highest standards of honesty, accuracy, integrity and truth, and shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information. (Parsons, 2004, p. 17)

As is illustrated by the definitions mentioned above, ethics includes principles such as honesty, integrity, transparency, loyalty and respect. In conclusion, there seem to be two main principles of ethics. Firstly, ethical practitioners should strive to be ethical, honest and trustworthy and not willingly injure others. Secondly, the actions of ethical practitioners should not willingly injure others or should not have adverse consequences upon others (Grunig, Hunt, 1984, p. 72).
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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Keeping these definitions in mind, it seems quite clear that Public Relations practitioners should simply perform their jobs with honesty and openness. However, in reality, a practitioner will always be thorn between serving loyally to: themselves, clients, employers, the profession and society (Fitzpatrick, Bronstein, 2006, p. 156 and Seitel 2007). In most cases, it is the practitioners duty to his/her employer or client that will collide with his or her professional or societal duties. After all, Public Relations practitioners are advocates for the professional bodies, clients or initiatives that they represent. Therefore, not all practitioners agree that ethics can be linearly aligned with Public Relations.

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

3. The truth and nothing but the truth?

Tedlow argues that pr practitioners who have self-consciously set about to reform their employers as the first order of business... will most likely meet with failure more often than success. (Moloney, 2006, p. 105) Therefore, some practitioners feels that Public Relations is still predominately about trying to achieve certain organisational goals, with social responsibility, morals and ethics being a operational consideration. A similar idea is put forward by people who argue that pr practitioners are like lawyers, and that every professional body is therefore entitled to legal (pr) representation. The advertising industry agrees, as it states that: If it is legal to sell it, it should be legal to advertise it. (Chapman, 1986, p. 17)

However, it is true that lawyers indeed represent clients, but they also advocate a legal system, a system that does not (yet) exist in the Public Relation profession (Parson, 2004, p. 9). It is true that more emphasis on ethic in Public Relations would improve the professions reputation, but, according to the views mentioned above, because of the self- advantaging nature of pr (propaganda), total transparency would not benefit all companies (Moloney, 2006 p.106-107). This paradigm highlights deceit, manipulation and control in Public Relations. Compromising ethic standards is not an option for pr practitioners since companies need to be considered trustworthy if they mean to build long-term relationships with their publics.

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Since PR is about building and maintaining relationships, thrust is an essential part of retaining the goodwill of publics. Therefore there are some such as Heath and Ryan who argue that pr practitioners should create awareness and help organizations implement or develop codes of conduct (Toth, Heath, 1999, p. 23, 26, 274). These authors consider a dialogue between companies and publics to be important, and use this idea to win arguments by framing messages in a persuasive manner. On the other hand, as Bivins states: With power and influence comes responsibility. In conclusion, the rhetoric view supports the idea that Public Relations practitioners help define standards by which public and private sector organizations are judged, but they acknowledge that telling the truth is a complicated issue that is open for interpretations.

However, author Jacqui LEtang does not see much evidence of the ideal role of the practitioner as a guardian of the organizations ethics, and the Public Relations discipline acting for the public interest (Theaker, 2004, p. 143). She supports the view that corporations often claim to be a good corporate citizen and to do good in society when in reality the real motive is the marketing of the company (LEtang, 1993, p. 117). An example of this can also be seen in the movie Thank you for Smoking. There the company has implemented a Corporate Social Responsibility plan, designed to reflect public interest in corporate decisions and give back to the community. However, their campaign is simply a means of avoiding bad publicity.

Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Another view towards ethics in Public Relations is the advocacy theory. This theory considers ethics to begin where the law ends (Fitzpatrick, Bronstein, 2006 p. 4- 24). Authors of this theory highlight the importance of freedom of speech, though they also state that interests groups who do not abide the marketplace principles are unethical and untrustworthy. They state that pr practitioners should be advocates of the truth and work on the clients behalf. They consider loyalty one the most important assets of any pr practitioner but also state that professionals must remain: Ethically free and responsible persons. However, considering the proven broad spectrum of ethical intake in Public Relations, not every corporation or pr practitioner has the luxury of being ethically free, truthful, and at the same time fight for the clients benefits. To be able to combine all these aspects requires a certain amount of flexibility with the interaction of morals, but to what extend?

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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

4. Any practitioner? Some examples

Generally speaking, Public Relations practitioners should always be ethical and should always perform to their upmost capabilities. However, there seems to be a difference in the amount of ethical flexibility and transparency that is allowed in the commercial sector , in regard to the charity sector (Gregory, 2003, p. 139). Working in the volunteer sector demands an unorthodox approach and a lot of tact and ethics. The needs and sensitivities of charity beneficiaries are of the upmost importance for these organizations, therefore the reputation of these organizations has to be flawless.

For example, in July 2004 an animal rights organization (PETA) was able to establish awareness about abuses in commercial poultry plants (Fitzpatrick, Bronstein, 2006, p. 80 -81). However, to acquire information, PETA infiltrated one of the plants and secretly recorded the cruelties. They used unethical tactics and fell short of responsible advocacy. By using this type of Public Relations, the organization ran the risk of undermining its reputation and accomplishments, as well as violating the rights and interest of stakeholders and potentially harmed publics. This collides with Parsons view that: if the truth should harm one or more publics, full disclosure is not advised, which is in accordance with the codes of ethics that states that no harm can be done (Parsons, 2004, p. 17).

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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

A similar story is to be found with the Sony Corporation (Seitel, 2006, 70). This organization used a graffiti campaign to promote their hand held portable playstation. Many graffiti were created on different platforms, however, there never was a mention of sponsorship by Sony. Consequently, people found the tactics that were use sneaky which in turn damaged Sonys reputation. Sony argued that this was subjective. Pr practitioners and companies may be flexible sometimes but the public opinion may judge harshly afterwards.

As is illustrated by this example, even though the goals were straightforward and ethical, the means and the context not always is. Many individuals have strong positions on issues such as drinking, smoking and abortion, but, sometimes compromise has to be made. For example, after not being able to convincing students that drinking could be dangerous, an organization decided to change tactics and instead emphasized moderation over abstinence (Newsone, Turk, Kruckeberg, 2004, p. 148).

However, bending the rules or being flexible is not the same as hiding information or refusing to act. Ford/Firestone received knowledge of a malfunction in its tire production, and did not act swiftly or spread the information as an ethical company and linked pr practitioner should (Wilcox, Cameron, 2006, p. 83). Consequently, the organizations saw their reputations and credibility plummeting after disclosure of the information.
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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

A final example can be given with the case of the cigarette brand Premier. This company tried to stave of FDA regulation (Toth, Heath, 1992, p. 250). They used dubious terms and insinuations such as implying health benefits and promoting the brand served health imperatives. In this campaign, the lack of transparency and furthermore the deliberate attempt at misguiding publics, was in violation with moral and ethical codes of conduct. These tactics are similar to the ones used by P.T. Barnum, which consist of hoaxes and deception. In the movie Thank you for Smoking, Naylors lobbying is similar (Hill, 2011: online). However, the actions undertaken by Naylor are no example of flexibility, since they are in direct violation of the PRSA Code of Ethics and the American League of Lobbyists, who state that lobbyists may never disrespect government institutions or undermine public confidence. Furthermore, according to most scholars, four criteria; shared values, wisdom, justice and freedom, compose the foundation of all systems of ethics. Fombruns Corporate Reputation Strategies insinuates similar key points, such as distinctiveness, authenticity, transparency and consistency. Keeping both views in mind, it is clear that Naylor does not respect the concept of ethical advocacy, which resulted in a lack of authenticity and transparency.

Publics expect honesty and transparency from corporations and public relations practitioners, since they hold them to account. By studying the above-mentioned examples, it is clear that ethics and morals are essential in the Public Relations business, for charities, as well as other types of organizations.
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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

By abiding the codes of conduct, it helps corporations avoid the threat of consumer boycott, and, helps them get the approval of ones professional peers and keep their license to practice the profession (Smythe, Reback, 1992, p. 3-6). Furthermore, by telling the truth, pr practitioners and corporations protect the companies reputation, and give them a moral advantage over the competition, since these professional bodies are consequently considered as trustworthy. It might also be that following proper ethical standards can have an positive effect on an organizations financial success (Guth, Marsh, 2007, p. 178)

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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

5. Conclusion
After assessing the different views on flexibility and ethics in the public relations profession, it is clear that groups such as the PSRA and the CIPR play an important role in setting the standard of ethical behavior (Wilcox, Cameron, Reber, 2011, p. 200). Most professions have also established codes of conduct. It is clear that thanks to the increasing awareness of publics, increasing governmental regulations and other environmental factors, organizations and practitioners alike have clearly realized that ethical decisions should be more than just individuals decision making (Heath, Vasquez, 2001, p. 420-421). Ethics is not only an individual choice, it is also determined by society, professional groups and employers (Wilcox, Cameron, 2006, p. 76-77). However, often these different spheres conflict with each other. A solution can be found in performing ethical advocacy: pr practitioners are justified in disseminating persuasive information so long as objectives and reasonable persons would view these persuasive messages as truthful. Such advocacy needs to be converted towards genuinely informing publics. However, trough these analysis it is also apparent that no ethical approach dominates because no functional definition of public relations exist nor do specific rules and detailed regulation for ethics in the profession. Therefore to accomplish more results in ethical standards, public relations practitioners need to move up in the responsibility levels within organizations, since pr is a crucial element in addressing social responsibility (Stone, 1991, p.146). Ethics and moral values are increasingly regarded as the building block of sustainable development or corporate social responsibility (Regester, Larkin, 2008, p. 81).
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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Furthermore pr practitioners can contribute by helping individuals learn about organizations and be flexible in changeable cultures and times (White 1991, p. 138139). So for Public Relations to move from the expertise and contractual models of practice into a covenantal model as a profession worthy of public trust, the field must devote itself to a defined human good (relationships), and must be grounded in a public pledge to serve this good (Baker, 1982, s.p.). In conclusion, argument could be made that flexibility is required from public relations practitioners, as long as it is within ethical boundaries, however unclear they might sometimes appear.

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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

6. Bibliography
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Wadsworth/Thomson Learning Guth D.W., Marsh C., 2007. Public Relations: A values-driven approach. Boston: Pearson Education Heath R.L., Vasquez G., (ed.) 2001. Handbook of Public Relations. London: Sage Publications

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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Hill G., 2011. Thank you for smoking: The ethics of spin . Web. 13 December 2011.http://gaylene-hill.suite101.com/thank-you-dr-spin-a329009 LEtang J., 1996. Public Relations and Corporate Social responsibility: Some Issues Arising. Journal of Business Ethics, 13, 2, P. 111-123. Netherlands: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Jeffrey L., Smudde P.M. (ed.), 2007. Power and Public Relations. Cresskill: Hampton Press Martin T., 2011. Burson-Marsteller and Facebook: Lessons learned again. Web. 13 December 2011. http://josephsoninstitute.org/business/blog/tag/public-relations/

Moloney K., 2006. Rethinking Public Relations. PR Propaganda and Democracy. London: Routlegde Taylor& Francis Group Newson D., Turk J.V., Kruckeberg D., 2004. This is PR: The realities of Public

Relations. Belmont, USA: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning

Parsons J. P., 2004. Ethics in Public Relations. A Guide to Best Practice. London: Kogan Page PRSA, s.d. Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Member Code of Ethics. Web. 13 December 2011. http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/CodeEnglish/

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Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Regester M., Larkin J., 2008. Risk Issues and Crisis Management in Public

Relations. A Casebook of Best Practice. London: Kogan Page

Sallys Communications Blog. 2008. Ethical Considerations in PR. Web. 13 December 2011. http://sallyscommunicationblog.blogspot.com/2008/02/ethical-

considerations-in-pr.html Seitel F.P., 2007. The Practice of Public Relations. New Jersey: Pearson Education Smythe J., Doward C., Reback J., 1992. Corporate Reputation. Managing the new

strategic asset. London: Random Century House

Stone N., 1991. How to manage Public Relations. Practical guidelines for effective

PR management. London: McGraw-Hill Book Company

Tench R., Yeomans L., 2009. Exploring Public Relations. Harlow: Pearson Education/Prentice Hall Theaker A., 2004. The Public Relations Handbook. London: Routledge Taylor& Francis Group Toth E.L., Heath R.L., (ed.) 1992. Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public

Relations. New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates

White J., 1991. How to Understand and Manage Public Relations. A jargon- free

guide to Public Relations management. London: Business Books Limited

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Sophie Bonnewijn

Public Relations MACM70 CW1

2011-2012

Wilcox D.L., Cameron G.T., 2006. Public Relations Strategies and Tactics. Boston: Pearson Education Wilcox D.L., Cameron G.T., Reber B.H., et al. 2011. Think Public Relations. Boston: Pearson education

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