Can you regulate ethics???

To many ‘public relations ethics’ sounds like a laughable oxymoron at best. In an industry deemed as salacious and deceitful, could the adoption of a code have any real merit or is just another PR stunt?

In an attempt to spin its way into.. ahm.. I mean obtain recognition as a ‘true’ profession, the leading PR associations, the UK’s Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) and US’ Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) have enacted codes of conduct, which seek to guide practitioners’ behaviours. Both organizations have emphasized the importance of ethics in PR and the role it plays in establishing the practice as honest and trustworthy. Tench and Yeomans (2006), however, view the CIPR’s policy as an ‘aspirational and rhetorical document rather than codes that really restrict and sanction inadequate or unethical conduct.’ (p. 74). Similar complaints have been made against the PRSA’s attempt to influence the actions of its members.

Could the failures of the CIPR Code of Conduct and PRSA Code of Ethics stem from an inability to regulate personal ethics? Are rules about moral principles even feasible?

These are important questions to pose as they highlight the complexities of ethics. They are heavily influenced by range of factors including family upbringing, culture, values and morals. They may change over time depending on life experiences and external forces such as natural disasters and a global recession. With the possibility of several conflicting views, who’s to say who’s right?

The fashionable term ‘public interest’ appears numerous times in both the CIPR and PRSA’s codes. What exactly is ‘public interest’? Some could argue that it isn’t in the ‘public interest’ to promote products from the tobacco, weapons or alcohol industries, and yet PR practitioners flourish in these environments. Does respecting the customs and practices in other countries mean partaking in it?; acknowledging the fact that bribing is looked upon as a necessary part of business transactions in other cultures. The list could go on as the codes present several ambiguous areas related to competition, independence and fairness, which could be interpreted differently from one individual to the next. (PRSA and CIPR)

The codes have failed for a number of reasons including their lack of enforceability, vague rules and lacklustre attempt to legislate ethics. Aside from the obvious circumstances where lying can be detected and proved, creating regulations pertaining to ethics is a complicated task. Even if the CIPR and PRSA decided to take more than 20 minutes to put together a more comprehensive and restrictive code, ultimately, when faced with moral dilemmas, it is individual not a haphazard document that has to make the decision.

References

Chartered Institute of Public Relations, (2000). CIPR Code of Conduct [online] Available from: <

http://www.cipr.co.uk/Membership/conduct/index.htm> [Accessed 14 March 2009].

Public Relations Society of America, (2007). Preamble. [online] Available from: <http://www.prsa.org/aboutUs/ethics/preamble_en.html> [Accessed 14 March 2009].

Tench, R. and Yeomans, L., (2006). Exploring Public Relations. Essex: Pearson Education Limited.