Conflicts of interest, particularly around communication from the government, seemed to be the most popular communication ethics issue of the past week. Add into that an update to the Barcelona Measurement Principles including measurement integrity and there are a number topics ripe for discussion. Ethical Measurement – The Barcelona Principles
This week on EthicalVoices, JP Canton, the head of communications and public relations in North America for Polestar discusses ethical issues including:
1) What to do when your boss asks you to make the company seem more diverse than it is
2) Common failings with corporate responses to Black Lives Matter
3) The unethical actions more companies are asking agencies to do and why it is wrong
One of the great things about blogging about communication ethics is I never run out of things to discuss. We had pardons, name changes, sports ethics and on a positive note, a new ethics training guide.
Kelley Chunn, the principal of Kelley Chunn and Associates, discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:
1) What to do when your employer and you have diametrically different ideas?
2) Do organizations that make mistakes on race and systemic injustice deserve help?
3) Advice for making substantive diversity strides
Three very interesting stories this week in PR ethics, all dealing with timeless issues. What is our obligation to protect users’ privacy? What do we do when we see an unethical business practice? And Should you have meetings with stakeholders when you may not want to act on what they say?
I figure everyone is either still gone/checked our for the long July 4th weekend, or is insanely busy covering for those that are out, so Ethical Voices this week is just sixteen words of wisdom about ethics.
A number of significant and lingering ethical issues appear to be moving from words to action this week – most notably the social media advertising boycott. The challenge is how do we seize the moment? I highlighted a few organizations that have helpful advice and research to share on the topic.
Melody Kimmel is one of the nation’s leading media,presentation and message trainers. In this interview, she provides insight into a number of key issues including:
1) Ethics and media interviews
2) How to conduct ethical media training
3) What to do when you make a mistake
4) The perversion of the strength of PR and the decline of trust
This week in PR ethics it was all about research. There were fascinating studies and reports on ethics training, the role of professional associations in ethics and moral reasoning maintenance, and the challenge of weasel statements.
Michael Meath, the retiring interim chair of public relations at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University discusses a number of important issues, including:
1) How to make sure Codes of Ethics are not worthless
2) Why taking the critical 10 helps you make more ethical decisions
3) The ethical challenges that most engage students
4) The little ethics issues that challenge us every day