The Role Of Ethics In Public Relations And Ethical Film Analysis

Introduction

Ethics in public relations begins with the individual and is directly related to its own value system and to the good of society. This article provides ethics in public relations and learning public relations through film analysis. Evidenced from historical trend, public relations have been associated with all unethical practices – lying, spin-doctoring, and even espionage. Extreme criticism that the public relations industry for a lack of ethics, counting the influence of public relations and lobbying as one of the primary threats to truthful journalism have also been experienced. The development of public relations translates a progression toward more self-aware and ethical models of communication overtime. By reviewing this development, the historically negative reputation of public relations, as well as its potential for encouraging ethical communication, we can see the nurturing of the involvement in creation of ethical communication. Film, a powerful media connects us and the lives of others. Film is a source of ethical medium portraying ethical encounter between the various individuals engaged in its experience. In revealing others’ vulnerability, film requires us to feel in relation to them, to care about what happens. Immersive exposure to character-driven narratives that struggle with ethical dilemmas not only widens their knowledge of film forms, but also allows them to vicariously participate in life experiences that can lead to greater self-analysis, awareness, and growth. It may be argued that regardless of controversies and scandals in media and films regarding public relation practices, PR professionals should always value ethics to gain public trust and community building.

Defining “Ethics”

Ethics requires some form of systematic analysis, distinguishing right from wrong, and determining the nature of what should be valued. In the public relations discipline, ethics includes values such as honesty, openness, loyalty, fair mindedness, respect, integrity and forthright communication. The relevance of how to assess behaviour and to differentiate and decide between right and wrong have intrigued mankind since long. Ethics in Public Relations

The Public Relation Institute of Australia (PRIA) defines Public relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. It requires organisations to interact with their publics to understand them better and respond respond to their comments, complaints and questions. PRIA requires members to adhere to the highest standards of ethical practice and professional competence. All members are duty-bound to act responsibly and to be accountable for their actions. The current state of ethics in public relations practice depends heavily on codes of ethics held by the major professional associations. These codes of ethics offer as examples to offer guidance of a practical, professional nature toward agency practitioners, attempts to identify general moral principles of ethical behaviour such as the focus on dignity, respect, and human rights.

Trust

Public relations are about building and maintaining relationships. Trust is the key to successful relationships. If a public relations practitioner acts ethically and professionally, they are likely to be trusted. They will be described as having integrity – there is something wholesome, honest and trustworthy about them. Being ethical and professional is core to having a good reputation. It is important for an organisation to be represented by someone who is ethical and professional. It says something about the values and character of the organisation itself. Stakeholders are more likely to trust the organisation and believe what it says if the person representing it is regarded as trustworthy. Heath and Ryan (1989) argue that a part of the role of public relations practitioners is to monitor the environment to detect various publics’ attitudes to certain values. They should then make company managers aware of external ethical standards and help companies implement CSR programmes or develop codes of ethics.

Community building and conflict resolution

Public relations build community by helping to resolve conflict. By engaging in dialogue, understandings can be reached, and accommodations made that allow opposing factions to live together with a measure of tolerance. Public relations support building community structures so that people take a shared responsibility for what happens to them. People should take a collective, mutually supportive responsibility for each other through local community institutions.

Public Relations, Propaganda and Ethical Persuasion

The fields of persuasion, propaganda, and public relations have all been extensively researched and studied. Public relations texts provide a kind of mirror image to these critical voices: issues of propaganda, past and present are largely absent from the debate and persuasion is often marginalised. Persuasion is higher up the scale, covered in the two‐way asymmetrical model of communication, though it is still “inferior” to the excellent two way symmetrical ideal. Despite G. Miller's (1989) famous argument that the similarities between public relations and persuasion are “overwhelming”, persuasion is still viewed with distaste, and persuasion is not explored in depth within systems theory approaches. Today’s communication environment is certainly more complex, contentious and litigious than the time of Isocrates, with exponentially larger, more diverse and empowered audiences taking advantage of myriad forms of media. Digitization has fragmented, mobilized and socially networked most forms of mass media, empowering a privileged portion of today’s audiences to fully control their media choices. Many publics can now consume media when they want, how they want, and even where they want. At the same time, digitization enables authors to create revolutionary immersive and interactive media environments that require new levels of technical skill from both authors and audiences. Twitter, Facebook and other social media allow organizations to talk directly to their publics and active publics to speak to each other more than ever before. Therefore, now more than ever, the scholarship of public relations needs to revise its terminotics screens to examine the entire public relations process, which includes persuasion as one of the most common objectives of real practice. Persuading and influencing in PR is not about bending the truth, insincere flattery or omission of facts. It’s about negotiating, considering a situation from the perspective of the other person (as well as a third-party observer), understanding how others operate, and anticipating and overcoming potential challenges to ultimately achieve the best results. The words public relations and persuasion often co‐habit with propaganda and its pejorative implications. It is important to scrutinise the concept of propaganda because, in asking what ethical persuasion is, it is imperative to understand first what is not. Propaganda is commonly defined as control, deception and disregard for truth which is deployed (or not) only to achieve ends. And the ends serve the propagandist's interests. This entails an “indifference to truth” unless it serves the propagandist. Jowett (1999) highlights the means and ends: “Propaganda is the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behaviour to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist”.

Ethics in Films

Nothing brings concepts and events to life more vividly than a good movie. Ethics is not simply a set of politically correct views on specific issues, or a moralistic stand, or a bully flag planted in the sand. It’s a process that helps us come to terms with our toughest dilemmas. It’s not a compromise; it’s a lens. A wealth of theoretical and applied ethical knowledge can be learned through film viewings, analysis, discussion, and writing.

Ethical Analysis: Thank You for Smoking Motion picture

Released in 2006 and based on Christopher Buckley’s 1994 novel of the same title, Thank You For Smoking is a film that provides a cynical sense of humour to specifically tobacco lobbying. The main character, Nick Naylor (played by Aaron Eckhart, spins on behalf of cigarettes while trying to remain a role model for his twelve-year-old son. This poses a problem as he must find the balance between doing his job and protecting his son. The film is more intriguing as a representation of political demagoguery, corporate spin and public relations in which one has to define where the truth lies. Nick Naylor is a handsome, smooth-talking tobacco spokesman who attempts to influence the act of people in daily life and the vice-president of a tobacco lobby called the 'Academy of Tobacco Studies', which has been researching whether smoking tobacco causes lung diseases or not. They claim that their research, funded primarily by tobacco companies, has found no definitive evidence for it. Nick's job is mainly defending Big Tobacco on television programs by presenting this research to the public. The primary ethical issue in this film is actions of Nick Naylor, the chief spokesman for the Academy of Tobacco Studies, which is a tobacco industry-lobbying firm that promotes the benefits of cigarettes. He has a clear lack of ethical behaviour and almost takes pride in his ability to ignore moral and ethical guidelines. Naylor discusses the inner workings of the Academy of Tobacco Studies and mentions their team of lawyers, and how they’re drafted out of law school and bribed into the company with timeshares and sports cars. This introduces another component of Naylor’s lack of ethics. According to Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), “Members shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information and shall take care to avoid doing so inadvertently. ” In this movie, Nick Naylor deliberately conceals the truth and goes on to promote the benefit of tobacco. Another ethical issue in Thank You for Smoking involves journalist Heather Holloway (played by Katie Holmes), who is pursuing a story about Nick Naylor. She goes to incredible lengths to find out more about Nick (by sleeping with him on multiple occasions) and loses her credibility in the process. She publishes an article in “The Washington Probe” revealing all of Nick’s secrets, including his meetings with the “MOD Squad” (Merchants of Death – firearm lobbyist Bobby Jay Bliss and alcohol lobbyist Polly Bailey), and the hush money he delivered to a former cigarette representative who contracted lung cancer as a result. Another important code of ethics in Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) states that “Members shall avoid conduct or practices likely to bring discredit upon themselves, the Institution, their employers or clients. ” In the film, the journalist Heather Holloway compromises this code of ethics. The film is nicely crafted with great sense of manipulation and spin of scientific information through media in saving their vested interest. The film narrative uses lots of rhetoric and punch line to control the situation. It shows how the America currently living in spin where person like Nick Naylor doesn’t hide the truth but filters it. The film “Thank-you for smoking” is a masterpiece of the art of persuasion. Throughout the movie, the aspect of persuasion is widely used. Few issues could be brought up that deal more with propaganda than smoking. The ubiquitous ad campaigns on television warning of the dangers of smoking and the evil empire of smoking companies are legion and offer very little on the other side of the coin. Smoking is dirty, unhealthy and tobacco companies do nothing but deceive trying to make a quick buck.

Conclusion

The main role of public relations to maintain and harness the relationship between an organization and its publics remains the same (Johnston 1993). This is one of the main reasons, why public relations today have become the custodian of the organization’s reputation. Therefore, public relations practitioners play an important role in creating and maintaining an organization’s reputation. To achieve this, a high level of professionalism is required from the practitioners. Trust is the key to successful relationships. If a public relations practitioner acts ethically and professionally, they are likely to be trusted. In the public relations discipline, ethics includes values such as honesty, openness, loyalty, fair mindedness, respect, integrity and forthright communication. The current state of ethics in public relations practice depends heavily on codes of ethics held by the major professional associations. Regardless of controversies and scandals in media and films regarding public relation practices, PR professionals should always value ethics to gain public trust and community building.

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