The Public Relations Professional

Questions of responsibility and ethics have become the cause of much concern and discourse of society. The “ethics crisis” is a familiar topic in corporate boardrooms, university classrooms, and many other forums.
The institute for Crisis Management reports that new coverage of business crises increased 45 percent from 1991 to1992 alone, with increasing focus on management decisions and their impact on business.
A survey of corporate executives found that 36 percent rated corporate America “fair” to “poor” in maintaining credibility with the public. One wonders why anyone is surprised that the public lacks trust in these same institutions.
The ethical sensitivity of all professionals has come into question in recent years. Because of their roles as both consolers and messengers, public relations professionals are targeted perhaps more than any others for allegedly unethical conduct.
The real issue of ethics is not so much how well we know the rules and stipulations but how we counsel on the subject. If we really do an effective job the ethical violations will be more the exception than yet another of the moral decay believed by some to be endemic in business.…