Transcription
[Music] hi so far we have discussed about the basic concepts of the ethics. now you know what teleology is, what a consequentialist perspective brings, what someone with a canteen background acts in harmony with categorical imperatives, in what way prima facie principles affect the way we evaluate justice, and so on. so many things. thank you so far, and i hope that you've also questioned yourself during this introduction. i hope that you never forget the relation between ethos and ethics. i mean, the significance of your credibility and reliability when you act in professional life. do not underestimate the impact of your personality when you work hard to improve your professional skills and experience.
now we can say that you have a theoretical frame of ethics, which will shape the way you define practical knowledge in your domain. from now on, we're going to discuss more about the place of ethics in public relations. as you know, ethics, in other words, the moral philosophy, is a search for systematic knowledge of right and wrong, of right and wrong behavior, and its defense in every domain. so distinguishing the right from the wrong demands a set of values so that we can examine different actions in different contexts. in your discipline, i mean in public relations, in specific, those values are mainly honesty, openness, loyalty, fair-mindedness, respect, integrity, and forthright communication. if these are the values expected from any public relations professional with the correct ethical ground, we can also identify what kind of values or activities are not preferred, positive and negative. for example, spin doctoring. spin doctoring is definitely unethical. what is it? as you know, it is the practice of creating, promoting, or maintaining goodwill and a favorable image among the public towards an institution, public body, etc. here, the means are important. the way you highlight the success and shadow the negative aspects is important. the unscrupulous over-the-top tactics, omitting the right to be informed correctly, and creating an appealing but not real image is far from being ethical, isn't it?
or let's go one step further. say that you work for your government's public relations campaign, and in order to develop an efficient strategy, they let you know so many things about the policies, for example, use of national resources, weaknesses and strengths of your country, etc. which means that you know a lot. you have lots of insider information about your country, which is a gem for other nations. what if you use this power to be an espionage, selling all these information to other countries? do you think that it complies with the ethical values of public relations? well, there have been many people who did it, especially during the cold war. maybe they have been happy personally, but the damage that they that they have done to this profession is very hard to repair. never forget this. if you look at the history of political communication, all these practices of propaganda, spin doctoring, espionage, manipulative communication strategies, etc., have caused so many harms that today many people believe that ethics of public relations is just an oxymoron. what a shame. to be specific, they believe that it is in public relations nature to manipulate, to impose a propaganda, hiding the truth or deception of clients or citizens. well, it's up to you how to position the job you learn, the profession you take part. you can either say we would even present satan if he paid us as a pr executive paid by the quality government during the gulf war in the 1990s, or use your professional knowledge in harmony with the values we've just listed.
is there really no escape from twisting reality? do you really have to face that moment where you are about to spread a manipulative campaign in order to overcome your clients' crisis? the answer is probably yes. yes, you are going to find yourself in a position where the conditions will force you to distract people, to use different kind of information, to create not so real but appealing to eye public images. but that doesn't mean that you will be in favor of unethical decisions. so it is not just a matter of list of ethical quotes written by certain international authorities, shaped and reshaped according to bitter experiences in the past decades, but it is a set of values inside you. so the company should follow an open communication, so should you. it should be honest in any crisis, so should you. that's gonna help you. it is the values in organizational scale, it's a macro scale, and also in personal level, which is a micro level. so both you personally and the organization you work for institutionally should refrain from hyperbole, which is exaggerating and over dramatizing the truth, sensationalism, and lacked truth. humanity has learned this during the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th century. this era witnessed a gun green journalism, using any tactic to get the public attention at any cost, and this has been one of the causes to be known as unethical for pr people. what a pity.
fortunately, ivy lee declared one of the first ethical principles in the name of the whole domain, which was based on public information by telling the truth and providing accurate information. then john w. hill contributed to the evolution of public relation ethics by developing a philosophy of corporate responsibility and conscience, which takes into account its far-reaching effects in society. and then the civil demands of the 1960s provided a more accountable, open, and socially responsible models of corporate ethics, which pushed executives to act in a more ethically responsible policy decisions. and nowadays, it is beyond acting wise, ethically being wise, acting wise. that wisdom, that personal conscious conscience, it's beyond that, but it has become an ethical attitude itself. it is the voice of ethical sensibilities in corporate decisions, which intrinsically had the values mentioned before. so we can say that it is a shift toward a more self-aware and ethical communication.
currently, there are universal codes of ethics held by major professional associations. you don't have to be a member of this to become a public relations professional, but that will increase your credibility. remember the importance of ethos here. these codes include both negative and positive terms, in other words, a list of forbidden activities and a set of ethical principles to be followed. which organizations are we talking about? for example, the global alliance for public relations and communication management, or the international public relations associations (ipra) code of athens, or the european public relations confederation, which also endorses the code of lisbon together with the code of athens. these are important keywords: the code of athens, code of lisbon, ipra. these institutions are important not just for this lesson, but also for your professional life, because they will be your guidelines in the future.
in the conduct of public relation practitioners shall first, this is the script, this is what is written in this code, in this declaration, i give you as an example:
first, observance: observe the principles of the united nations charter and the universal declaration of human rights. this is important. you should always check yourself and check the company where you work if the action to be followed is in harmony with the human rights. if there is any abuse, you should refrain from it personally and organizationally.
second, integrity: act with honesty and integrity at all times so as to secure and retain the confidence of those with whom the practitioner comes into contact.
third, dialogue: this seeks to establish the moral, cultural, and intellectual conditions for dialogue and recognize the rights of all parties involved to state their case and express their views.
fourth, transparency: be open and transparent in declaring their name, organization, and the interest they represent.
so this is the consolidated ipra code of contact written in 2011.
fifth, conflict: avoid any professional conflicts of interest and to disclose such conflicts to affected parties when they occur.
sixth, confidentiality: honor confidential information provided to them.
seventh, accuracy: take all reasonable steps to ensure the truth and accuracy of all information provided.
eighth, falsehood: make every effort to not intentionally disseminate false or misleading information, proper care to avoid doing so unintentionally, and correct any such act promptly.
ninth, deception: not obtain information by deceptive or dishonest means.
tenth, disclosure: not create or use any organization to serve an announced cause but which actually serves an undisclosed interest.
eleventh, profit: not sell for profit to third parties copies of documents obtained from public authorities.
twelfth, remuneration: was providing professional services, not accept any form of payment in connection with those services from anyone other than the principal.
thirteenth, inducement: neither directly nor indirectly offer nor give any financial or other inducement to public representatives or the media or other stakeholders.
fourteenth, influence: neither propose nor undertake any action which would constitute an improper influence on public representatives, the media, or other stakeholders.
fifteenth, competitors: not intentionally endure the professional reputation of another practitioner.
sixteenth, poaching: not seek to secure another practitioner's client by deceptive means.
seventeenth, employment: when employing personnel from public authorities or competitors, take care to follow the rules and confidentiality requirements of those organizations.
eighteenth, colleagues: observe this code with respect to fellow ipra members and public relations practitioners worldwide.
so some of these guide you practically case by case. they introduce you right models to act. some of them, on the other hand, cover more universal moral values to improve the quality of the profession, such as dignity, respect, and human rights. as you can expect, these are cross-cultural universal moral principles which focuses on concepts like honesty, fairness, and not harming others. well, do they sound familiar? does it remind you our virtue discussion? but if you tell me that they sound a little vague, not very clear in specific situations, hard to define concretely, then i will say yes, you are definitely right. indeed, many scholars agree with you. moreover, the sanctions may not be sufficient and effective. these written statements do not guarantee people's action. so we go back to square one. remember platon, who told that being good is something personal, it cannot be formed by regulations. but if you also remember the enron scandal in the early 2000s, or facebook algorithms during the american elections recently, very recently, you can be more demanding for stronger ethical codes in corporate life.
so you can be a professional. you can work at the public relations department of any media company, or you can be an executive of public relations company, any pr company, or you can be the agent of an artist, or you can work in a political party or with a state as a communication strategist. no matter which level or what kind of a corporate life you will have, ethical concerns and you will be guided by international ethical codes like the codes of athens, as we mentioned before, or the special ethical terms of the company you work with. but at the same time, you will be guided by yourself, by your own values. remember, you can always examine yourself by checking the balance between your values, purposes, and actions. thank you and see you next week.