Week 3 Readings- Public Relations Ethics

Ethics is often a debatable issue surrounding its definition and principles. Many questions cloud the issue of ethics, such as ambiguity, consistency and professionalism. From my understanding, ethics is defined as standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues. According to the reading, the attention to ethics is magnified in recent times as PR undergoes the evolution from a technical process to a managerial function. This simply means that additional factors with regards to ethical issues are to be considered in current PR practices. The main question stands: Should PR consultants stick to their ethical guidelines or leave that for external forces to govern?

The reading stated that if we leave ethics to natural instincts, we put ourselves and the organisations at risk of unconscious incompetence. This is true as one of the key component for building trust among the public is having good ethics. If ever the public discovers unethical practices, the news may get blown up and the organisation's reputation may receive negative impacts. Unethical practices may cloud the organisation's credibility and business reputation, further preventing transparency and honesty in its practices. The suggested solution is to make ethics a proactive, deliberate, planned and sustained component of our everyday PR activities. By doing so, the professionalism of PR is upheld and consciously monitored. However, while this is definitely the ideal solution, it remains easier said than done.

As mentioned earlier, the definition and practices of ethics is still debatable in current times. And within the circle of PR researchers and practitioners, there remains differing school of thoughts. One interesting quote is that "a business best serve society by increasing its profits." This is contrary to many people's idea that businesses should uphold integrity and ethics as its top priority. The argument against this is that we should allow external forces to govern ethical behaviours and practices. And since PR practitioners are hired by organisations, they should consider placing the organisation's interest as their top priority.

-Andy