"Public relations is a strategic communications process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics...Simple and straightforward, this definition focuses on the basic concept of public relations - as a communication process, one that is strategic in nature...." (1 PRSA 2016).
From every dimension, from inquires on the outside looking in, individuals researching public relations trying to figure it out, to the inside, those of us who study the art itself, the aforementioned statement is ingrained and pushed into every recess of our memories. We are public relations practitioners and, truly, the ethical decision making in our field will rest in the hands of each of us individually. Simply put, we each run our own personal code of ethics concurrent to the guidelines provided by the Public Relations Society of America and it is our job to maintain the reputation of an organization.
Where many see a valiant solution - ethical enforcers of morality standing between the public and the organization - there is also a problem:
"Ethics - in essence what is 'good' - differ from legal issues
- what society considers 'right.' There also are matters of 'absolute' ethics - what's good regardless of other variables - and 'situational' ethics which takes into account the many gray areas of the practice" (Wright 1989, p. 3).
Ideally, each of us understand what ethics should be, how important it is, and what is considered moral. We are then hired by organizations who have had PR practitioners create a code of ethics to present to their public and audience (in hopes of giving them a prevailing sense of what the company stands for). Often, however, PR practitioners are used when their "client's organization has been labeled 'unethical,'...[and then] the practitioner must try to convince the public otherwise" (Wright 1989, p. 3). Run that thought concurrent tot the many loopholes we can find in the PRSA's code of ethics, with the idea that a majority of ethics are situational, and while understanding that public relations is a strategic methodology to develop mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics and you will find an anomaly: the beneficial relationship shared between an organization and its publics is that of the public enjoying the product of the organization for a price/the organization enjoying a profit or its goals met (both of which isn't inherently terrible in itself but that it is the mutual beneficial relationship discussed). The public will communicate with an organization based on how much they trust the organization. PR practitioners exist to build that mutual trust. The more you communicate with your public, the more products you can push through to them - success.
"Ethical practice is the most important obligation of a PRSA member...[however] emphasis on enforcement of the Code has been eliminated'' (2 PRSA 2016). Because the code of ethics cannot be enforced, which would be a challenge to do in the first place (due to the very fluid and relative nature of ethics in each individual) the guidelines are similar to that of the 'do not run sign' by public pools. Nobody is really there to stop everybody all the time, you have been trained in correct public pool participation, but if you run anyway, and slip and fall, it is your fault.
The situation as it stands, holding true the aforementioned regarding the lack of enforcement from the PRSA, the idea that everyone is shaped ethically separate, and the fact that public relations is still a strategy based position, regards that the ideal PR practitioner is an individual who is tactically brilliant and is someone who, while ethical themselves and will do what is right in the eyes of the public, will be able to control the situation in a favorable way. "By selectively using only positive aspects of a program...practitioners can portray their clients in a favorable light. Conversely, the endeavors of an opponent may be selectively portrayed in the negative" (Hendrix & Hayes 2010). The idea focus on selectivity and strategy, that is what determines your value as practitioner. How well you research, you tactivity, and how you select what is right or wrong in every changing situation where sometimes the top is bottom or the bottom is top.
References
Hendrix, J. A., & Hayes, D. (2010). Public relations cases. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth Pub.
Lindstrom, L. (2012). What is ethics? cl. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAuv0HujFbc
Lotan, Y. (2012). What is public relations by yael lotan. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jmjxu5f_Bng
Mireles, A. (2015). PR Is Facing Challenges, But They're NOT Insurmountable! | Cision. Retrieved October 28, 2016, from http://www.cision.com/us/2014/11/pr-is-facing-challenges-but-theyre-not-insurmountable/
PRSA 1. (n.d.). About Public Relations. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from https://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/publicrelationsdefined/#.V98-BvArLIU
PRSA 2. (n.d.). Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Member Code of Ethics. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from https://www.prsa.org/aboutprsa/ethics/codeenglish/#.V99F3fArLIU
Wright, D. K. (1989). Ethics research in public relations: An overview. Retrieved September 18, 2016, from http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0363811189800499
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