One of the most common areas of ethical failure (in my opinion) revolves around data. The four articles I share this week highlight different elements of this – from cutting corners and misrepresenting data, to data privacy, disclosure and the misrepresentation of old data. Data has the power to shape opinions and actions, and we all need to uphold the highest standards when gathering, using and sharing it.
Today is Memorial Day in the United States. A day where we remember and honor those that have died while serving in the U.S. armed forces.
I plan to continue the tradition I started last year. Rather than have a regular post, I’m asking people to take a moment and reflect and think about what we complain about regularly and how that right to complain was bought by the people that served and came before us. Then spend the time with your loved ones and be thankful. This is more important now than ever.
This past week in PR ethics was filled with some very important news and examples, and a few that are less important and make me smile. A discussion on ethics and pizza arbitrage blew up my social media feeds. While it is interesting, the research on tobacco co-opting #stayathome hashtags was chilling. There was also the important news of the PRCA launching a Global Ethics Council, and the much less important news of me being interviewed on the great Look Left @ Marketing podcast.
While last week the most interesting PR ethics stories dealt with leadership. This week it was a true potpourri. There are some great articles and discussion topics on art, yoghurt, aiding your enemies and right vs right.
On this week’s EthicalVoices, BJ Whitman, a PR professional with more than 30 years of public relations expertise in the education, maritime, and hospitality management fields joins me to discuss a number of ethics issues, including:
1) Life, death, ethics and a photograph
2) Why silence is a killer to resolving ethical issues
3) Ethical issues in the maritime industry
We have the first ever “theme week” on This Week in PR Ethics. During “unprecedented situations” and times of crisis, people look for ethical leadership. Some people step up, and some people don’t. Even good people make ethical missteps. I was intrigued to find so much discussion on ethical leadership this week, so I decided to dedicate the entire blog to the topic.
Quentin Langley, the author of Brandjack and an Adjunct Professor discusses a number of fascinating topics related to ethics in public relations. Specifically:
1. What to do if one of your students is accused of apostasy and treason?
2. Can ethical PR pros really follow the “Do not lie” maxim?
3. Global ethics challenges
4. Ethical challenges with brandjacking
This week’s PR ethics highlights are a bit unusual, many of them brought me joy and had me whooping and clapping my hands and frankly scaring my family and students. There were articles that looked at utilitarianism, stoicism, virtue and the nature of news.
Anne Green, a principal and managing director at G&S Business Communications, discusses a number of important ethical issues including:
1) How to ethically handle pressure to fudge numbers
2) Where to find engaging, compelling ethics training and why it matters
3) How to ethically fight back against disinformation
This week three things stood out when it came to PR ethics: Is banning unpopular speech stopping misinformation or cancel culture? What goes into ethics intelligence? What are the ethics of remote work?