The Ethics of Public Relations:
Yes, satisfyingly
Dark – but is
it right?
Black and white or 50 shades of grey?
Can you have PR without ethics?
• Yes. But:
• PR has the power to shape opinion on a large
scale. This brings responsibilities.
• People are already dubious about the truth.
Upholding values (honesty, openness, integrity,
doing no harm etc) counters that.
• If PR is done without considering what is right,
eventually the public, the client or the PR
themselves suffer.
What ethics in PR is NOT
• Getting away with it when you know it is
wrong.
• Doing what has always been done
because that’s the way things are done.
• Doing whatever the ‘client’ tells you is
right (hierarchy or private client).
• Abiding by the letter of the law and nothing
else.
How do you tell something is ethical?
•Common model: the ‘Five pillars’:
1 Tell the truth.
2 Non-malfeasance (do no harm).
3 Benificence (do good).
4 Confidentiality. Respect privacy.
5 Fairness.
In practice
•Conflicts in decisions are inevitable. Question of
weighing up values, loyalties, principles.
•How? Common method is the ‘Potter Box’:
- Define the situation. Get the facts.
- Identify what values apply (honesty, fairness
etc)
- Choose which principles are used (the law?
Company policy? Code of conduct?)
- Choose your loyalties (prioritise stakeholders).
•Make your decision and make it known.
A personal example: an ethical place?
• Senior PR at Birmingham Children’s
Hospital.
• Daily press contact.
• Nearly every decision had an ethical
component.
The Good Stuff
Ethics
• Facts easy to obtain, situation easy to
define.
• Values: truth-telling, benificence (‘miracle’
or £), non-malfeasance.
• Principles: Trust policy on consent, the law.
• Loyalties are unified: the patient, the Trust,
the media, the public. Everyone wants to
see a sick child get better and smiling. But...
The Bad Stuff
Ethics
• Facts easy to obtain, situation easy to
define.
• Values: truth-telling, benificence, nonmalfeasance.
• Principles: Trust policy on consent, the law.
• Loyalties can be divided: the patient, the
Trust, the media. First two outweigh third.
The Really Bad Stuff
Ethics
• Facts may be hard to obtain in available time,
situation may be unknown.
• Values usually apparent: truth-telling,
benificence, non-malfeasance. But without the
full facts, how do you tell the consequences?
• Principles usually easy: Trust policies, the law.
• Loyalties often divided: the Trust, the media. First
usually outweighs the second. But always? Mid
Staffs? Barrow? Where managers are failing?
A Really Bad Example
What happened?
• Facts were not obtained in available time.
Management clammed up.
• Values apparent: truth-telling, benificence,
non-malfeasance. But without the facts,
impossible to gauge.
• Principles: Trust policies, the law.
• Loyalties completely divided: the Trust, the
media. Placed in an impossible position.
FAILURE
• Story went ahead without a good counterargument (facts unknown).
• Loyalties were questioned internally.
• Breakdown in client-PR relationship: external
‘experts’ brought in, in-house team
marginalised. Trust senior managers shot
themselves in the foot by not allowing an ethical
decision.
• Change of CEO, hardening of attitudes,
worsening of PR for the Trust as a whole.
Is PR Good for Journalism?
Yes
• Many shades of grey.
• Ethical decision making is important: some
common values with journalism, some
important differences but both place value
in telling the truth and not doing harm.
• Can be done in a practical, reliable way.
• Professionalism and a defined ethical code
are important to support that.
• As is a peer network: NUJ
Alan Taman
Tel: 07870 757 309
www.alantaman.co.uk