Ethics of Public Relations

Organizational Conscience: Power and Responsibility

Attitude and behavioral changes resulting from the power inherent in public relations are demonstrable. Public relations has the power to define issues, thereby shaping public opinion by deciding what information is important and thereby altering perception of an issue. Public relations pursuits such as public affairs and lobbying, political communication, corporate communication, and activist communication all shape the societies in which we live. Add to this list the ability to shift financial markets and alter supply and demand, and it becomes clear that public relations is powerful. The power to influence society means that public relations holds a responsibility to the public interest and society itself to be ethical. That responsibility is argued to far outweigh concerns of self-interest or advocacy on behalf of a client.

Organizational Role: Public Relations as Ethics Counsel

Systems theory explains that the public relations practitioner is a boundary spanner, holding roles both inside the organization and in publics outside the organization. To understand the publics outside an organization, the public relations practitioner must maintain effective and open communication with them, sometimes joining their groups to understand their viewpoints. He or she acts as a representative of the organization's position while meeting with publics, and while meeting with management acts as a representative of publics’ opinions.

The relationships that the public relations practitioner maintains with publics outside the organization are unique because they provide valuable information to top management on how those publics view certain topics, the values each public holds, and how that public is likely to react to a given decision. This input can become a crucial part of strategic decision making. It can also help to identify issues and solve them proactively before they become major problems. In general, this boundary-spanning role puts pressure on public relations practitioners to be ethical. In performing the public relations functional ethically, a positive social role is created in which public relations facilitates the information needed in society and helps facilitate civil society.

Spin and Credibility

The credibility of the public relations field has been called into question by numerous critics. Research analyzing how the term public relations was used found consistent use of the term public[Page 305]relations to suggest manipulation of the truth to a dubious end. In 2003 and 2009, Shannon A. Bowen found that even university students majoring in public relations held negative misperceptions of the discipline and misunderstood its basic responsibilities early in their course of study.

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