This week the ethical issues in public relations rain the gamut, but the core theme was fairness. Fairness in pay equity, fairness in AI decisioning, fairness in promotions, and fairness in accountability.
Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA
Mark W. McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA, is the general manager of C+C's Boston office. C+C is a communications agency all about the good and purpose-driven brands. He has more than 20 years of tech and fintech agency experience, served as the 2016 National Chair of PRSA, drove the creation of the PRSA Ethics App and is the host of EthicalVoices.com
When I started gathering ethics stories for the week, I was sad because I thought it would be a quiet week. Ooh boy was I wrong. From deepfakes, to destruction and self-destruction (and I am not talking the Patriots), to politics and COP27 there is something for everyone.
Sandy Young, the vice president of J. Walcher Communications, discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:
1) What to do ethically when a reporter wants to showcase a vulnerable person
2) How to handle PR with asylum seekers
3) How to help people understand “No” is an option
4) The ethics of how we are covering Kanye West
5) Why we need to update disclosure rules
This week there were a wide range of ethical issues from slum tourism to sensationalistic news to the importance of stakeholders. But my favorite is celebrating the positive, virtuous action by a radio station show host.
Clark’s Bears is a great example of a company living the Page Principle #6 – An enterprises true character is expressed by its people
Ethan McCarty, the founder and CEO of Integral, an award-winning employee activation agency, shares some great ethics insights including:
1) The ongoing ethical challenge of creating shared beliefs
2) Ethical issues with creating your own echo chamber
3) Ethical perils in personalizing employee communications
4) The ethics of quiet quitting
Just a few ethics articles jumped out at me this week. The Kardashians once again grabbed headlines and there is interesting ethics research from WE and the Page Center.
Renea Morris, APR, Fellow PRSA, the Vice Chancellor for Marketing and Communications at the University of Denver, discusses a number of important PR ethics issues including:
1) What to do when you are uneasy with your company’s growth strategy?
2) Why organizations should worry less about filtering people’s comments on social channels and trust the people doing the work?
3) Where can Higher Ed improve?
This week the most interesting ethics stories highlighted how failure to disclose information cost a company $200 million and the crackdown on greenwashing.
Kena Lewis APR, Fellow PRSA, the Senior Director of Public Affairs and Media Relations at Orlando Health. discusses several important ethics issues, including:
1) What to do ethically when your boss is the problem
2) The ethical challenges of online identity
3) The most important ethics priority for healthcare communicators
4) How do you balance safeguarding confidences with transparency and honesty?