Editorial Record: Submitted February 25, 2024. Revised March 8, 2024. Accepted April 11, 2024. Published June 2024.

Author

ABSTRACT

Public relations practitioners need to be prepared to serve as ethics counselors and values managers. However, as revealed in the 2023 Commission on Public Relations Education report, public relations managers are not satisfied with the level of ethics knowledge possessed by recent graduates they have hired. Through additional analysis of the CPRE data collected from surveys with public relations practitioners and educators, this study reveals what topics managers believe should be taught related to public relations ethics to adequately prepare students for their careers. The results revealed significant deficiencies, especially in colleges and universities that do not offer standalone ethics courses, but simply integrate ethics content into other public relations courses. We provide specific recommendations of resources and pedagogical approaches for addressing five of the core topic areas.

Keywords: Public Relations Ethics

To cite this article: Neill, M.S., Bowen, S.A., & Bortree, D. (2024). Identifying & addressing gaps in public relations ethics education. Journal of Public Relations Education, 10(1), 108-132. https://journalofpreducation.com/?p=4659