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Public Relations Ethics: How to Practice PR Without Losing Your Soul

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Public Relations Ethics: How to Practice PR Without Losing Your Soul MARTIN • WRIGHT • MARTIN Public Relations Collection THE BUSINESS Public Relations Ethics EXPERT PRESS How To Practice PR Without Losing Don W. Stacks and Donald K. Wright, Editors DIGITAL LIBRARIES Your Soul EBOOKS FOR Dick Martin • Donald K. Wright BUSINESS STUDENTS This book represents a practical guide to ethical decision-making Curriculum-oriented, born- tailored specifi cally to the needs of those who practice and study digital books for advanced public relations. It traces the development of ethical theory from business students, written Public by academic thought ancient Greece through the works of Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle leaders who translate real- to modern day public relations executives including Harold Burson, world business experience Robert Dilenschneider, and Richard Edelman. The book helps readers into course readings and Relations build personal frameworks for ethical reasoning that will enable them reference materials for not only to recognize the ethical issues at play in public relations students expecting to tackle practice but also to analyze the confl icting duties and loyalties in management and leadership these situations. Ethics challenges during their professional careers. This volume fi lls a gap in the currently available books on the subject, most of which either lack theoretical grounding or practical How To Practice POLICIES BUILT application. Illustrative cases used in this book span a wide range of BY LIBRARIANS public relations functions. To update readers on issues discussed in • Unlimited simultaneous ETHICS PUBLIC RELATIONS this book, the authors have started an online conversation. PR Without Losing usage • Unrestricted downloading Please join the discussion at http://Updates.PRethics.com. and printing Dick Martin writes about public relations and marketing. He has Your Soul • Perpetual access for a authored four books for the American Management Association one-time fee and articles for such publications as the Harvard Business Review, • No platform or maintenance fees Chief Executive, and the Journal of Business Strategy. He also conducts • Free MARC records popular workshops on public relations ethics. From 1997 to • No license to execute 2003, he was Chairman of the AT&T Foundation and executive The Digital Libraries are a vice president responsible for the company’s public relations, comprehensive, cost-eff ective employee communications and brand management. Dick Martin way to deliver practical Donald K. Wright is the Harold Burson Professor of Public treatments of important Donald K. Wright Relations at Boston University and has been studying and writing business issues to every about communication ethics for 40 years. A former practitioner student and faculty member. in corporate, agency and pro sports public relations, he has a PhD from the University of Minnesota, is a past president of the International Public Relations Association, serves on the Board For further information, a of Trustees of the Institute for Public Relations, and is a former free trial, or to order, contact: trustee of the Arthur W. Page Society. [email protected] Public Relations Collection www.businessexpertpress.com/librarians Don W. Stacks and Donald K. Wright, Editors Public Relations Ethics Public Relations Ethics How to Practice PR Without Losing Your Soul Dick Martin and Donald K. Wright Public Relations Ethics: How to Practice PR Without Losing Your Soul Copyright © Business Expert Press, LLC, 2016. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means— electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or any other except for brief quotations, not to exceed 250 words, without the prior permission of the publisher. First published in 2016 by Business Expert Press, LLC 222 East 46th Street, New York, NY 10017 www.businessexpertpress.com ISBN-13: 978-1-63157-146-6 (paperback) ISBN-13: 978-1-63157-147-3 (e-book) Business Expert Press Public Relations Collection Collection ISSN: 2157-345X (print) Collection ISSN: 2157-3476 (electronic) Cover and interior design by S4Carlisle Publishing Services Private Ltd., Chennai, India First edition: 2016 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 Printed in the United States of America. Dedication For my former colleagues at AT&T, from whom I learned so much and whose friendship I will always cherish. —Dick Martin For hundreds of students I’ve had the pleasure of teaching public relations ethics at Boston University and other institutions. —Don Wright Abstract This book represents a practical guide to ethical decision making tailored specifically to the needs of public relations students and practitioners. Co- authored by a corporate public relations officer of deep experience and a widely published public relations ethics scholar, the book thoroughly explores both ethical theories and their practical applications. With emphasis on the analysis of contemporary cases, the authors guide readers in building personal frameworks for ethical reasoning, enabling them to (1) recognize the ethical issues at play in public rela- tions practice, (2) analyze the conflicting duties and loyalties at play in ethical situations, and (3) justify their decision and/or counsel in terms that others will understand and ultimately accept. The book fills a gap in the currently available literature on the sub- ject, most of which lacks either theoretical grounding or practical appli- cation. Unlike other books that focus on the broad field of ethics in “communication” or “mass communication,” this book focuses solely upon public relations ethics. It cites illustrative cases spanning a wide range of public relations functions that involve several of the world’s largest public relations agencies as well as a number of their clients. As the authors consider questions of right and wrong, good and bad, they explore ethical theory from the times of the ancient Greeks through the period of the Enlightenment and into modern-day scholarship, in- cluding the emerging field of feminist ethics. The authors examine the works and writings of Socrates, Plato, Aristo- tle, Immanuel Kant, Jeremey Bentham, and John Stuart Mill along with more contemporary ethics scholars such as Kenneth R. Goodpaster, John Rawls, Lawrence Kohlberg, John B. Matthews, W. D. Ross, Virginia Held, Carol Gilligan, Marilyn Friedman, and Alasdair Macintyre. They review the work of Daniel Kahneman, Amos Tversky, and Jonathan Haidt, among others, as they examine how behavioral psychology affects ethical decision making. They also touch upon those who have made significant contributions to the literature of public relations ethics including Tom Bivens, Shannon A. Bowen, Kathy Fitzpatrick, Dean Kruckeberg, Patricia Parsons, and Brad Rawlins. Throughout much of the book the authors focus extensively upon the role of the public relations practitioner including exclusive interviews with such prominent leaders as Harold Burson, Robert Dilenschneider, and Richard Edelman. They also extensively review ethical codes of con- duct as well as topics such as character, virtue, reason, duty, justice, and ethical decision making. Although the authors do not advocate a specific ethical approach, they attempt to give readers sufficient grounding in the major theories of normative ethics to identify the strengths and weaknesses of each and to construct their own frameworks, appropriate to their circumstances. To update readers on cases and issues discussed in this book, and to help all public relations people stay abreast of current ethical questions, the authors have started an online conversation. Please join the discus- sion at http://Updates.PRethics.com. Keywords Ethics, Public Relations, Corporate Communication, Character, Rea- son, Social/Corporate Responsibility, Ethical Reasoning, Justice, Duty, Virtue, Care, Consequences, Deontological Ethics, Utilitarian Ethics, Teleological Ethics Contents Acknowledgments .................................................................................. xi Chapter 1 Introduction ..................................................................... 1 Chapter 2 Is Public Relations Inherently Unethical? ........................ 15 Chapter 3 Virtue and Character ...................................................... 29 Chapter 4 Public Relations of Character .......................................... 49 Chapter 5 Veracity, Visibility, and Validity ..................................... 69 Chapter 6 Respect for Reason .......................................................... 91 Chapter 7 The Public Interest ....................................................... 111 Chapter 8 Corporate Responsibility .............................................. 131 Chapter 9 Duties and Rights ......................................................... 149 Chapter 10 Care and Justice ............................................................ 161 Chapter 11 Ethical Decision Making .............................................. 173 Chapter 12 Frameworks for Ethical Reasoning ................................ 189 Chapter 13 Constructing a Personal Framework for Ethical Reasoning .................................................... 203 Chapter 14 Conclusion ................................................................... 219 References .......................................................................................... 227 Index ............................................................................................... 241 Acknowledgments
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