Tag Archives: PR ethics

PR Ethics: An Interactive Adventure

Editorial Record: Special issue deadline June 15, 2020. Revision submitted August 27, 2020. First published online December 22, 2020.

Author

Arien Rozelle
Assistant Professor, Media and Communication
St. John Fisher College
Email: arozelle@sjfc.edu

PR Ethics: An Interactive Adventure

ROZELLE-PR-ethics-An-Interactive-adventure-JPRE-6.3-1Download

Rationale

The 2018 Commission on Public Relations Education (CPRE) report Fast Forward: Foundations and Future State. Educators and Practitioners recommends that all public relations programs require an ethics course in their curriculum. To prepare students for ethical challenges they may face in the profession, the CPRE report also recommended that “ethics lessons and courses should incorporate moral philosophy, case studies, and simulations to be the most effective” (p. 68). It further recommends that “using classical ethical knowledge and applying it critically to modern public relations challenges will equip future practitioners to thrive in an environment of fake news, high levels of mistrust, management scandals, and public scrutiny of information sources” (p. 68).

Inspired by the popular Choose Your Own Adventure books of the ‘80s and ‘90s, “PR Ethics: An Interactive Adventure” asks students to develop a web-based interactive story based on a PR ethics case study. Students choose one ethics case study from PRSA to adapt into an interactive narrative using Typeform’s interactive fiction template. Once they have completed their interactive story, they will deliver a presentation that applies their work to the PRSA Code of Ethics, the Page Principles, and the theory of Utilitarianism. Through this assignment, students are put in the position of imagining a (real life or fictionalized) scenario, identifying ethical dilemmas, making clear decisions, and planning for a variety of outcomes and conclusions. Through the creation of an interactive story, students identify choices that lead to different outcomes, applying logic and predictive decision making to identify consequences of action or inaction, and make connections between theory and practice. 

“PR Ethics: An Interactive Adventure” is an easily adaptable activity for ethics courses that provides a framework for the discussion and/or analysis of any of the following topics: codes of ethics, crisis and ethics, digital ethics, transparency, corporate social responsibility, diversity, ethical cultures, writing and ethics, global ethics, and more. This assignment can be made to fit any PR course by changing the topic of the case study and adding topic-specific assigned readings. This assignment can be done individually or as a group and is suitable for online or face-to-face course instruction.

Student Learning Outcomes

Note: most outcomes correspond with those found in the CPRE Ethics Education Report (Bortree et al., 2019).

  • Identify ethical issues in communication situations.
  • Demonstrate an understanding of the major ethical approaches that affect moral decision making by organizations as well as the role of public relations professionals in shaping those decisions.
  • Analyze the conflicting duties and loyalties in ethical issues that public relations practitioners and organizational leaders confront.
  • Construct written and oral arguments explaining particular ethical choices.
  • Develop critical thinking and analytical problem-solving skills to address ethical issues using ethical decision models.
  • Understand the broader impact of ethical decision making.
  • Familiarize students with the PRSA Code of Ethics, Page Principles, and ethical guidelines to aid in decision making.


Connection to Public Relations Practice

In our ever-changing media landscape, public relations practitioners face ethical challenges and dilemmas daily. CPRE’s 2018 report states: 

Public relations practitioners and students need to be prepared to address a range of ethical issues including transparency, truthfulness, digital ethics, and decision-making. Greater education on ethics and a model to help with ethical decision-making will help prepare the next generation to work in an environment that does not always value truth. Students need to be vigilant about information they consume as well as information they create and disseminate. This is the role of public relations education. (p. 66) 

Data from the report also suggest that both educators and practitioners identify ethics knowledge as critical for new practitioners (CPRE, 2018). 

This assignment connects ethical frameworks (Utilitarianism) and professional codes of ethics (PRSA Code of Ethics and the Page Principles) to real-life public relations practices.

Assessment
Student learning will be assessed using the rubric below.

Evidence of Student Learning Outcomes

This assignment was created to align with the stated learning goals found in the Ethics Education Report (Bortree et al., 2019). Outcomes will be evaluated following deployment of the assignment in the fall.

I expect students to report that this assignment helped them develop critical thinking and analytical problem-solving skills to address ethical issues and that it helped them understand the broader impact of ethical decision making. My expectation is that students will successfully identify ethical issues in communication situations, but may fail to recognize the more nuanced ethical complexities of professional life due to lack of experience. 

I expect students will demonstrate an understanding of the major ethical approaches that affect moral decision making by organizations as well as the role of public relations professionals in shaping those decisions through the creation of this assignment and corresponding presentation, which will help them construct written and oral arguments explaining particular ethical choices. 

Students may struggle to analyze the conflicting duties and loyalties in ethical issues that public relations practitioners and organizational leaders confront, again because they lack experience in the professional field. They may also have trouble discerning between an ethical dilemma and a legal issue. 

References

Bortree, D., Bowen, S. A., Gower, K., Larsen, N., Neill, M., Silverman, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2019). Ethics Education Report. Commission on Public Relations Education. http://www.commissionpred.org/ethics-education-report-10-14-19/.

Commission on Public Relations Education. (2018). Fast forward: Foundations + future state. Educators + 

practitioners: The Commission on Public Relations Education 2017 report on undergraduate education. http://www.commissionpred.org/wp-content/uploads/2018/04/report6-full.pdf

Appendix

Assignment: PR Ethics: An Interactive Adventure

Inspired by the popular Choose Your Own Adventure books of the ‘80s and ‘90s, you are asked to develop a web-based interactive story based on a PR ethics case study. You will choose one ethics case study from PRSA to adapt into an interactive narrative using Typeform’s interactive fiction template. Once you have completed your interactive story, you will deliver a presentation that applies your work to the PRSA Code of Ethics, the Page Principles, and the theory of Utilitarianism.

This assignment asks you to imagine a scenario, identify ethical dilemmas, make clear decisions, and plan for a variety of outcomes and conclusions. Through the creation of your interactive story, you will identify choices that lead to different outcomes, apply logic and predictive decision making to identify consequences of action (or inaction), and make connections between theory and practice.

Directions:

  1. Read:
    • Use“Ethics and Law in Public Relations” (Chapter 3), from Introduction to Strategic Public Relations (Page & Parnell, 2018)
    • PRSA Code of Ethics
    • Page Principles
    • PRSA’s Ethical Decision-Making Guide
  2. Choose one PRSA ethics case study: https://www.prsa.org/about/ethics
    (Note to instructor: alternatively, students can be provided with real PR cases like Tylenol, BP oil spill, etc.).
  3. Use PRSA’s Ethical Decision-Making guide as a springboard to identify the ethical issue(s), internal/external factors, and stakeholder groups that would be impacted by your case. Brainstorm scenarios that could take place based on different ethics-based decisions.
    https://www.prsa.org/docs/default-source/about/ethics/ethics-case-studies/ethics-case-study-ethical-desision-making-guide.pdf?sfvrsn=8a55268f_4
  4. Using Typeform’s Interactive Fiction template, create an interactive story based on your case. You must include at least 20 decisions as part of your story.
    https://www.typeform.com/templates/t/interactive-fiction/
  5. Once your story is complete, you will create and deliver a presentation that applies your work to the PRSA Code of Ethics, the Page Principles, and the theory of Utilitarianism found in Chapter 3. Your presentation must be at least 10 minutes long and should directly identify the following:
    • All PRSA Member Code of Professional Values that apply to your story
    • All PRSA Code Provisions of Conduct that apply to your story
    • All Page Principles that apply to your story
    • How you used ethical frameworks (Utilitarianism and PRSA Ethical Decision-Making Guide) to create your story
    • What you learned about ethics and ethical decision making in the creation of your story

Sample: Screenshots of the beginning of an interactive story using Typeform.com based on a PRSA ethics case study:


Different responses lead to different outcomes.

© Copyright 2020 AEJMC Public Relations Division

To cite this article: Rozelle, A. (2020). PR ethics: An interactive adventure. Journal of Public Relations Education, 6(3), 97-105. http://aejmc.us/jpre/2020/12/22/pr-ethics-choose-your-own-adventure/

A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations

Reviewer
Lois A. Boynton, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill

A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations
Authors: Regina Luttrell & Jamie Ward
Rowman & Littlefield, 2018
ISBN: 9781442272743
https://rowman.com/isbn/9781442272736/a-practical-guide-to-ethics-in-public-relations

BOYNTON book review PDF JPRE 6.3Download

The Commission on Public Relations Education’s (2018) Fast Forward report recommended colleges and universities require an ethics course for undergraduate public relations majors distinct from media law and media ethics classes. A year later, the Ethics Education Report (Bortree et al., 2019) proposed learning outcomes and topics that a stand-alone public relations ethics course should cover. 

Although the Ethics Education Report (Bortree et al., 2019) doesn’t list Luttrell and Ward’s book as a recommended text, A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations covers most proposed topics, including decision-making approaches, ethics codes, loyalties, digital challenges, corporate social responsibility, and crisis communication. It also addresses the Report’s 10 learning outcomes such as the ability to create a personal ethics code, analyze competing duties, identify ethical problems, and defend ethical decisions. 

There’s another reason to pick up the appropriately named Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations.

Textbooks very often are passive vehicles for pushing content. Luttrell and Ward take a different approach, incorporating brief cases within each chapter to help students become active readers who answer questions and apply concepts as they go. 

Eight of the nine chapters begin with a public relations ethics expert Q&A. The four women and four men answer the same seven questions about needed ethical skills, potential for competing loyalties and other dilemmas, and what ethical challenges entry-level practitioners should anticipate. Although there is a gender balance, other elements of diversity are not as evident.  

The first two chapters provide ethics foundations and theories for use in the profession. In Chapter 1, the authors define ethics and professional values and show how public relations has evolved from manipulative spin to a profession that generally values public service more than self-service. They also describe philosophical approaches including utilitarianism, categorical imperatives, libertarianism, and virtue ethics that can guide reason-based decision-making. Readers are encouraged to develop a personal code of ethics and “see where your beliefs fit with other ethical theorists” (p. 21). 

Chapter 2 introduces readers to ethics codes for public relations and the allied fields of marketing and journalism and poses a series of questions for code comparison. The authors further point out that code provisions can compete and do not provide the answer to the types of ethical dilemmas public relations practitioners face. 

Chapters 3-8 each tackle a PRSA Code of Ethics professional value: advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness. Finally, chapter 9 includes five award-winning Arthur W. Page Society Competition case studies for discussion and analysis. All chapters discuss the ethical implications and complexities of social media use. 

Interspersed in the chapters are familiar ethical decision-making models: the Potter Box, the TARES Test, Sherry Baker’s five baselines for ethical advocacy, Ruth Edgett’s 10 criteria for desirable advocacy,  and Frank Navran’s six-step model. 

Luttrell and Ward also introduce their own PURE ethical decision-making model, designed to help entry-level practitioners “apply a multitude of theories and easily assess outcomes” (p. 59). Decision-makers begin by identifying personal and organizational Principles, followed by an assurance that these principles are also Universal standards. Third, practitioners should value the Rights of the client as well as stakeholders. Lastly, they must ethically justify the recommended End Result. They utilize the PURE model to guide case assessments throughout the text. 

While many cases are obviously right vs. wrong situations (e.g., Hill & Knowlton’s misinformation campaign to garner public support for the 1990s Iraq War and Justine Sacco’s racist tweet), others reflect real-world dilemmas:  whether to be a ghostwriter, Germany’s campaign to lead pedophiles to treatment, and the challenges PAO Paula Pedene faced blowing the whistle on Phoenix VA leaders. 

One area to expand is public relations’ ethical responsibilities surrounding diversity, equity, and inclusion—a content topic recommended in the Ethics Education Report (Bortree et al., 2019).  Additionally, the Commission’s Working Group on Diversity and Inclusion report (2019) highlights the need to “incorporate discussion of racial and gender differences in the public relations industry in all major courses” (p. 3). Articles and studies refer to our profession’s ongoing challenge to include diverse voices (e.g., Johnson, 2018; Landis, 2019; “Millennials,” n.d.; Muturi & Zhu, 2019; Simpson, 2018), so textbooks that explicitly encourage these conversations will better prepare students for their future in public relations. 

A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations is not devoid of diversity and inclusion content, however. Chapter 9 lists ethics resource links to the National Black Public Relations Association and Hispanic Public Relations Association, and Chapter 2 includes ethics codes from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the United Kingdom and the Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa.  Case study 3 in chapter 9 presents the Starbucks Race Together Initiative. 

There are areas where diversity references could be expanded. For example, the discussion of Rawls’ veil of ignorance refers to the gender wage gap; factoring in gaps (wage and otherwise) facing people of color, those with disabilities, LGBTQ+ individuals, among others, would strengthen essential discussions and lay foundations to build a more-diverse profession. The discussion of the Flint Water Crisis could include practitioners’ obligations to discuss institutional biases and power inequality. Similarly, the Justine Sacco case provides her perspectives but doesn’t invite expert comment on larger racial and professional implications.

Additionally, it will be important for instructors to delineate Kohlberg’s stages of moral development from ethical approaches of Mill, Kant, and others.  While we may choose to make a decision based on consequences or duties, we do not get to select our stage of moral development. Additionally, Kohlberg’s approach should be counterbalanced with Carol Gilligan’s ethics of care to address potential gender differences. 

In all, however, this is a valuable addition to a rather small pool of public relations ethics textbooks. Its active reading approach with plenty of case examples makes it appropriate for college undergraduates who have taken at least an introductory public relations course.  And, importantly, it’s affordable. 

Keeping ethical obligations at the forefront of public relations practice is paramount to the success of the newest generation of professionals. A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations gives students a leg up not only to prepare them for individual success but also to contribute to the collective realization of public relations as an ethically sound profession.

Works Cited

Bortree, D., Bowen, S. A., Silverman, D., & Sriramesh, K. (2018, April). Ethics: The distinctive commitment that defines public relations as a respected profession. In Fast Forward: Foundations + future state. Educators + practitioners: The Commission on Public Relations Education 2017 report on undergraduate education (pp. 65-69). Commission on Public Relations Education. http://www.commissionpred.org/commission-reports/fast-forward-foundations-future-state-educators-practitioners/

CPRE Diversity and Inclusion Report (2019). Commission on Public Relations Education. Retrieved June 15, 2020 from http://www.commissionpred.org/commission-reports/cpre-diversity-inclusion-report/.

Clark, K. (2019, July 29). Why diversity and inclusion programs are failing. PR Daily. https://www.prdaily.com/why-diversity-and-inclusion-programs-are-failing/

Commission on Public Relations Education (2018). Fast forward: Foundations + future state. Educators + practitioners: The Commission on Public Relations Education 2017 report on undergraduate education. http://www.commissionpred.org/commission-reports/fast-forward-foundations-future-state-educators-practitioners/

Johnson, K. (2018, October 29). Tackling the lack of diversity in the public relations industry. Black Enterprise. https://www.blackenterprise.com/lack-of-diversity-public-relations/ 

Landis, K. (2019, March 19). The public relations industry is too white and the solution starts with higher education. Insight into Diversity. https://www.insightintodiversity.com/the-public-relations-industry-is-too-white-and-the-solution-starts-with-higher-education/

Millennials, diversity and inclusion in the public relations industry. (n.d.). The Plank Center for Leadership in Public Relations. http://plankcenter.ua.edu/resources/webinars/millennials-diversity-and-inclusion-in-the-public-relations-industry/

Muturi, N., & Zhu, G. (2019). Students’ perceptions of diversity issues in public relations practice. Journal of Public Relations Education 5(2). Retrieved June 15, 2020, fromhttps://aejmc.us/jpre/2019/08/17/students-perceptions-of-diversity-issues-in-public-relations-practice/

Simpson, P. (2018, February 2). What it’s like to be Black in PR. PRWeek.  https://www.prweek.com/article/1456118/8ts-black-pr.

© Copyright 2020 AEJMC Public Relations Division

To cite this article: Boyton, L.A. (2020). A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations. [Review of the book A Practical Guide to Ethics in Public Relations, by R. Luttrell & J. Ward].  Journal of Public Relations Education, 6(3), 106-111. http://aejmc.us/jpre/2020/12/22/a-practical-guide-to-ethics-in-public-relations/