Ethics is an essential commodity

Peter Turkington
Editorial
CCM 702 BB

Thursday March 11, 2004

Today, I am writing on the topic of ethics as it applies to public relations.  It is a topic about which I am even more passionate in the wake of recent political scandals.  Now that the results of the Auditor General’s report have been made public and show the growing ethical malaise in Ottawa, I believe it is necessary to advocate principled, honest and sincere conduct in political, business and personal relationships.

I have touched on this topic in articles published in the Kitchener-Waterloo Record, the Toronto Sun, and, the National Post.  So, I think my advocacy for attention to this topic is evident.

This being said, what is the actual definition of ethics?  Simply stated, ethics deals with issues of right and wrong.  In considering ethics, we ask ourselves if a course of action is moral or immoral, fair or unfair, honest or dishonest.

We have had plenty of opportunities to ask these questions of our political leaders recently.  Whether it has been political favours for holidays at salmon lodges, sponsorship contracts in return for political support, or free flights on corporate jets.

But how do we relate ethical conduct to public relations?  Public relations practitioners have the obligation to be truthful and consider the public good when they are addressing audiences.

However, in practice, this is not always the case.  We only have to look to recent history for a demonstration of how the power of public relations can be abused.  Consider Adolf Hitler and Joseph Goebbels, his Minister of Information.  Goebbels was a genius in communicating the Nazi message through film, and writing while Hitler brought Goebbels’ words to life with charismatic and persuasive oratory.  Together, they incited the German people to rally behind Nazi ideals and leadership, resulting in some of the worst atrocities in human history.

This example alone provides enough justification for strong ethical guidelines and standards for public speaking.

In order to make sound ethical decisions in public relations, we need to weigh a potential course of action against a set of standards and guidelines.  For many, this will be a personal decision based on the values and morals that have been ingrained through life experience.  As such, one person’s ethical decision making process may differ slightly from that of another person.  It is obvious that, when it comes to ethical issues, there are some gray areas.

However, in his book, The Art of Public Speaking, Stephen Lucas provides us with guidelines to help clarify some of those gray areas and construct an ethical speech.  These same principles can be applied in a more general way to the field of public relations.

First of all, you must make sure that your goals are ethically sound.  To do this, it is necessary to clearly define the outcomes you want to achieve (i.e. pay tribute, educate, or report information).

Secondly, you must be fully prepared by analyzing your audience so you can tailor your communications.  Then you will need to organize the ideas you want to communicate in a clear and concise manner.  In order to do this, it might be helpful to create, and use visual aids.  Knowledge of all that there is to know about your topic is also important at this stage of the game.

You would be well advised to research all sides of the issue and ensure the accuracy of the information being presented.  The audience will view you as a credible source of information and could be making business or personal decisions based on your presentation.  From a legal standpoint, one could say that we owe a duty of care and due diligence to our audiences when we write and present our material.

Thirdly, honesty is the best policy.  Your audiences assume that the communications you are sending can be trusted.  Once the bond of trust is broken, it cannot be regained.  It is important to note that dishonesty does not always involve outright lies.  There are more subtle forms such as juggling statistics, quoting out of context, misrepresenting sources, and stating preliminary findings as fact.  These tactics for ‘bending the truth’ should be avoided.  If you find yourself tempted to use them, it may be beneficial to remember that as public relations practitioners, our credibility with clients is based on the relationship of mutual understanding and trust.

It is not enough just to be aware of these points on ethics.  We must put them into practice and not just offer them lip service.  Ethics should be considered as important to constructing your communications methods and messages as your strategic objectives.