Category: This Week in PR Ethics

This week is chock full of high-profile ethics issues. I can’t wait until I start teaching my PR Ethics course again at Boston University in less than a month as we will have great discussions on these and other issues.  Some highlights (or lowlights) include the ethical use of money, bad behavior and inspiration from Marilyn Laurie, the first female CCO.

This week I came across three different but interesting stories looking at ethical issues around virtual people. Authenticity was a theme that wove through most of the articles as well. Plus, we get to look at payola in sports media and a really fascinating article on the communication metaverse which introduced a few new areas of concern to me, including brain computer interface data.

This week we discuss the perils of wokewashing, see training resources for ethics classes courtesy of the Page Center, and discuss the article on how hedonism and teleology helps you live a happier life.

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 3.0 came out on July…

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.

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?

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.

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.

This week there continued to be a number of interesting social ethics issues top of mind including a fascinating article from HBR asking if we are moving from CSR to CSJ and what implications does that have for business. Brands are moving to eliminate racial stereotypes, and honesty and privacy are top ethics issues of concern to communication professionals in Europe. 

Ethical issues continued to be at the forefront this week and the various articles I saw reinforced one point – being ethical is not just about saying the right thing, it is about taking action. This was driven home by Mike Paul, the PRISA, and brands that are doing and not just saying.