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
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
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
Marcy Massura, the CEO of MM & Company, discusses client dishonesty, Wikipedia, PR super powers and how they are misused, and inherent ethical biases in the social media infrastructure.
Ethics and political communication. It is an essential topic, but one that is not often discussed. Joining me on this week’s episode is Peter Loge, Associate Professor of Media and Public Affairs, and director of the project on ethics and political communication at George Washington University to discuss:
1) What are the true ethical challenges most communicators face?
2) Why “The Stakes are High” is an insidious ethical temptation
3) Is political communication today very different from the 1700s?
Hasan Zuberi, the President of the PR Council of Pakistan, shares great global ethics insights and advice, including situations many of us in the U.S. never have to face including:
1) What to do when your client is accused of espionage and his life and property are threatened
2) The ethical challenges of fake news and the coronavirus
3) The evolution of public relations in Pakistan
4) Expense report ethics
Ray Kotcher, the former CEO of Ketchum and the Professor of the Practice of public relations at Boston University discusses:
1) How to navigate situations where your values and your organizations values differ
2) Why good managers think of themselves as the mayor of a small town
3) Will GenZ succeed where the Boomers failed?
4) What we need to do to thrive ethically in an era of disruption
Col. Ann Knabe, PhD, APR+M, discusses the growing threat of disinformation. She also discusses:
1) Taking a stand for PR ethics – is licensing the answer?
2) The importance of education and accreditation to ethical behavior
José Manuel Velasco, the Past President of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management discusses global ethics and taking care of the truth. Specifically, he addresses:
1) How to respond ethically when your company is caught making illegal payments
2) The most important PR job: Taking care of the truth
3) The importance of emphatic listening
4) How to ethically deal with emotions
5) What skills do PR pros need to be great advisors
Karen Swim, APR, the President and CEO of Words for Hire discusses:
– What to do when your friend acts unethically
– What to do when your organization values results over ethical behavior
– Why every PR person needs to step up and be an ethics champion
– Why ethics cannot be a uniform you wear