PRP 386 Ethical/Critical Issues in Public Relations
Instructor:
İlker C.Bıçakçı PhD
Professor
phone: 0 216 578 08 36
e-mail: ilkerbicakci@mynet.com
Office Hours will be posted on the door of room 603.
Course Description: This course is about ethics and professional responsibility in public
relations.
Teaching Format: Lecture + Presentations+ Socratic Exchange (direct question and response)
Text Book: Lecture notes given by the lecturer
Class Assignments:
Attendance will be taken for each scheduled session. It is important as the students’ success in this
course depends on their attendence and participation because of the nature of the course. You are
allowed %20 unexcused absences for the semester. You can contact me for any excuse.
Notice
-Each student has to make preparation before the lecture regarding the next topic written on the
syllabus, as finding out the meaning of the keywords given by the lecturer.
- Students -or groups- have to choose and present two topics mentioned in the syllabus.
- The presentations will be in the form of PowerPoint, will last for at least an hour. Weeks of
presentations are written on the syllabus and there will not be a delay unless an important excuse.
Exams: Students have to prepare two research papers based on their presentations topics as a
midterm exam. There will be a final exam. Both will cover lectures and class discussions. Cheating
on any exam will result in a failing course grade. According to the regulations, any grade lower than
50 in the final exam, also will result in a failing course grade.
Grading:
Attendance & Participation
Homework (meaning of the keywords)
Presentation Performances
Midterm
(two research papers)
Final
%10
%10
%20
%10
%50
Objectives:
1. to enhance the student's awareness of the ethical responsibilities of the public relations
professional;
2. to increase the student's ability to identify the moral dimensions of issues that arise in the
practice of public relations;
3. to enhance the student's ability to employ reason as a tool for dealing with moral issues;
4. to provide students the knowledge and skills necessary to reach and justify ethical
decisions; and
5. to elicit a sense of personal and professional responsibility.
SCHEDULE
Weeks
1-2
General Nature of Ethics. (Descriptive Ethics, Metaethics, Normative
Ethics,Applied Ethics,Special Ethics)
3- 4
Ethical Problems related to Public Relations. Theories of Ethics in
Public Relations.
5-6
Corporate Public Relations as the conscience of the global companies
in the globalization process.
PRESENTATION TOPICS:
7-8
Practical Frameworks of Ethics in Public Relations:
.The Potter Box Decision-making Model
.The Navran Decision-making Model
9-10
.Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)
.International Public Relations Association(IPRA)
.International Communications Consultancies Association(ICCO)
.United Nations Global Compact
11-12
.Ethics in free market economy and the role of Public Relations(*)
.Ethical Dealings with The News Media(*)
13-14
.Political Public Relations and Ethics(*)
.Ethical Dealings with Employees in Business Enterprises
(*)
(*) The topic can be selected by a few students -or groups-.
READING LIST:
Baskin,O.-Aronoff,C-Lattimore D.(1997) Public Relations The Profession and the
Practice,Mc Graw Hill.
Bivins, T. H. (1980). Ethical implications of the relationship of purpose to role and function in
public relations. Journal of Business Ethics, January, 65-73.
Cavanaugh, G. F., & McGovern, A. F. (1988). Ethical dilemmas in the modern corporation.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Grunig, J. E. (Ed.). (1992b). Excellence in public relations and communication management.
Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Grunig, J. E., & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing public relations. New York: Holt, Rinehart and
Winston.
Habermas, J. (1984). The theory of communicative action: Reason and the rationalization of
society (T. McCarthy, Trans.) ( Vol. 1). Boston: Beacon Press.
McElreath, M. P. (1996). Managing systematic and ethical public relations campaigns (2nd
ed.). New York: Brown & Benchmark.
Pearson, R. (1989a). Beyond ethical relativism in public relations: Coorientation, rules, and
the idea of communication symmetry. In J. E. Grunig & L. A. Grunig (Eds.), Public relations
research annual (Vol. 1, pp. 67-86). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Pearson, R. (1989b). A theory of public relations ethics. Unpublished doctoral dissertation,
Ohio University, Athens.
Seib, P., & Fitzpatrick, K. (1995). Public relations ethics. Fort Worth: Harcourt Brace College
Publishers.