Public Relations Ethics and Ethical Codes

Abstract

The term Public Relations Ethics is often understood as an oxymoron, as rare are those who find anything ethical in it. The fact that PR incurred a bad reputation and PR professionals became manipulators of public mind rather than conveyers of truth was a result of a PR' misrepresentation in the public. Tarnished history that effected opinion about PR may be explained by several situations in which PR were used to camouflage some serious problems, not to mention something that is today called „spin“, a whole new area of PR dedicated only for working behind the scenes. There is nothing ethical in spin, and it is not a surprise that everyone involved in communications claims that spin has nothing to do with PR. Ethics are important in business as much as in everyday life, but determining the criteria of good and evil and then acting accordingly may seem rather easy. But PR professionals often stumble over many questions and everyday decisions about what is and what is not ethical. That is why PR and communication organizations have a set of rules or codes by which they act and in which they believe. Ethical codes make a kind of promise about what behavior can be expected and accepted.

Imidž odnosa s javnostima kao profesije često je nepravedno negativan, a razlog tome je neprofesionalno i neetično postupanje nekih pojedinaca u okviru struke. Ide se toliko daleko da se etika u odnosima s javnošću smatra oksimoronom, dvama nespojivim i kontradiktornim pojmovima. Autorice će stoga u radu pokušati definirati najprije odnose s javnostima te najvažnije ciljeve, a potom i etiku općenito te važnost etike u poslovanju. Etično rezoniranje stručnjaka u odnosima s javnošću balansira između Biblijskog stava tipa”sve što želite da ljudi čine vama, činite i vi njima” (Matej 7:12) i profesionalne odanosti kompaniji za koju rade. Stoga je bilo potrebno donijeti pravila, kodove prema kojima će se ravnati stručnjaci odnosa s javnostima, i koji će im pomoći razriješiti eventualne etičke dileme.