AI - EthicalVoices

Purpose, Profit, and AI: The Ethical Trade-Offs Every Organization Is Making Today

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • September 14, 2026 • 0 Comments

This week on EthicalVoices, Martina Quinn, the CEO of Alice PR and co-chair of the Ethics Board to the International Communications Consultancy Organization discusses:
1) Can PR agencies embrace AI without compromising their values or contributing to the very problems they are trying to solve?

2) What happens to trust in PR when unethical practitioners ignore professional standards and the entire industry gets blamed for their behavior?

3) How to bring your whole team into AI decisions instead of imposing a strategy from the top down.

4) Three principles for making hard ethical calls when the answer isn’t black and white

Why kindness may be the most overlooked principle in ethical AI leadership

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • June 1, 2026 • 0 Comments

This week on EthicalVoices, Loren King, digital marketing supervisor for AI and insights at MorganMyers, discussed:

1) How coffee talks can build a healthy AI adoption culture

2) Why organizations need an AI philosophy, not just policies

3) Why communicators must balance AI innovation with humanity, empathy, privacy, and environmental impact

Somebody Has to Ask the Question: Mentorship, AI, and Ethical Courage

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • January 5, 2026 • 0 Comments

This week on Ethical Voices, Kristin Amico, a writer, editor, content strategist, and the most traveled person I know discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:

1) Why most ethics failures don’t start with scandals
2) What the “Wild West” of AI really looks like inside organizations under pressure to perform
3) How fear, job insecurity, and “do more with less” environments quietly undermine ethical decision-making
4) Why mentorship is the most effective ethics safeguard for junior staff

How to Deal with Biased Reporters – Missy Hurley

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • April 22, 2024 • 0 Comments

This week on Ethical Voices, Missy Hurley, the co-founder and CEO of B2 Communications, discusses a number of important ethics issues:

1) What to do when advocacy groups change your words to spread misinformation

2) How to deal with biased reporters

3) When ethically to disclose you used AI

The Importance of Comprehensive Ethics Policies – Joseph Abreu

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • April 2, 2024 • 0 Comments

Joseph Abreu, the Chief Communications Officer for the Clerk of the Circuit Court and Comptroller of Lee County, Florida, and 2024 National Chair of PRSA., discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:

1) The ethical importance of avoiding even the appearance of impropriety.

2) How to get ahead of AI ethics challenges

Promise and Pitfalls, the Ethical Use of AI for Public Relations Practitioners – A Conversation with Michelle Egan and Mark Dvorak

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • January 8, 2024 • 0 Comments

In November 2023, PRSA issued new ethics guidelines titled “Promise and Pitfalls, the Ethical Use of AI for Public Relations Practitioners”.

Michelle Egan, the 2023 National Chair of PRSA and Mark Dvorak, the 2023 Chair of PRSA’s Board of Ethics and Professional Standards discuss them and more.

We need to tell the hard truths – Ed Harrison

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • December 18, 2023 • 0 Comments

Ed Harrison - We need to tell the hard truths

Ed Harrison, the managing director of Inkhouse in Boston discusses several ethics issues including:

1) Ethical failures with data

2) Why we need to tell the hard truths

3) The important difference between being nice and being kind

4) An interactive discussion on AI tools and training

How to Conduct PR Research Ethically – Marcia DiStaso

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • November 20, 2023 • 0 Comments

Marcia DiStaso, Associate Dean for Research in the College of Journalism and Communications and Professor of Public Relations at the University of Florida. discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:
1) How do we ethically ask questions in research?

2) What to absolutely never, ever do when conducting research for a PR campaign

3) Ethical challenges with AI in PR

How Much Human Agency Do We Require in Public Relations? – Ant Cousins

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • August 21, 2023 • 0 Comments

This week Ant Cousins, the Executive Director of AI Strategy at Cision, discusses a number of important issues, including:

• Cision’s AI ethics policy
• The ethics implications of the use of AI in public relations
• How much human agency do we require in public relations?
• The most concerning AI ethics issues
• Where should PR pros start when they want to learn more about AI?

We Must Confront the Uncomfortable Truths – Roger Bolton

By Mark McClennan, APR, Fellow PRSA • April 17, 2023 • 0 Comments

Roger Bolton, the president of Page, discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:

1) What to do when a reporter is writing a story that you know will quickly become inaccurate
2) Why we need to confront the uncomfortable truths
3) The ethical use of technology and AI
4) Understanding the Page Principles

Category: AI