Читать книгу The PR Campaigns Worktext - Maria Elles Scott - Страница 24

Ethics are defined as the moral base that governs a person’s behaviors and/or the ways in which a person makes decisions and takes action. Within the field of Public Relations, a practitioner must apply their own person ethics within their decision-making process. Additionally, a practitioner must take into account the ethics of their company if they work for an agency and most important, they must consider the ethics of the client. I suggest at this stage that it is imperative to have an important conversation with your client about their values and their ethics. Many times, a company has an ethical standard or practices if it interacts with the public in any way.

Ethics are interpreted loosely and because each person has their own set of ethics, it is challenging to find a common ground when people approach the conversation from a broad approach. I suggest the best way to approach a rational and productive discussion on setting your own code of ethics for the project is to begin with the very basic elements that impact most communication projects such as use of imagery, use of shared information, historic documentation, attribution and credit and more. It’s not uncommon to then incorporate the code of ethics or ethical standards from the company.

Example: An organization that works with children might have a standard of ethics that includes that all adults working in direct contact with children are subjected to a background check and annual mandatory training. Additionally, the code of ethics might dictate that parents only pickup their only children and follow similar standards to schools.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) offers members a set of professional guidelines and code of ethics to follow in their professional career. The International Public Relations Association (IPRA) offers members a code of conduct that guides their professional actions and offers clarity of actions. Both the PRSA and IPRA codes are seen as core guidelines in the PR field and are used as guidelines for professionals as well as taught in college courses.