Public Relations Ethics The Real-World Guide

This book is a pragmatic, case-rich guide to how current and future public relations practitioners can apply ethical principles and the industry?s codes of ethics to their day-to-day work.

Authors Trevor Morris and Simon Goldsworthy draw on their years of industry and academic experience to illustrate key ethical issues and ground them in reality, all within an international frame of reference. Public Relations Ethics incorporates interviews with industry practitioners, offering contrasting perspectives as well as recent examples of real-life complaints and disciplinary issues. Provocative questions and exercises help readers grapple with ethical dilemmas and review the key scenarios and challenges that PR people face.

The book is ideal at the undergraduate, postgraduate and continuing education levels as a core text for public relations ethics courses and a supplementary text for general public relations survey courses. Accompanying the text are online resources for both students and instructors, including lecture slides and links to further resources.

1. Introduction 2. Why PR Ethics Matter 3. Theory and Practice 4. PR’s Own Codes of Ethics 5. Who Wouldn’t, or Shouldn’t, You Work For? 6. The Ethical Issues in Dealing with the Media 7. Lobbying and Ethical Outrage 8. PR Specialisms and Their Ethical Dilemmas 9. PR Business and Management Ethics 10. The Ethical Future 11. Conclusion and Our Ethical Checklist

Trevor Morris is former CEO of Chime PR. He taught Public Relations for 14 years, first at the University of Westminster, and then at Richmond, the American International University in London, where he was Professor of Public Relations. He is currently a non-executive director, consultant and PR trainer. He is a Fellow of the Public Relations and Communications Association and the co-author of PR – A Persuasive Industry?: Spin, Public Relations and the Shaping of the Modern Media and PR Today: The Authoritative Guide to Public Relations.

Simon Goldsworthy taught Public Relations for 20 years, first at the University of Westminster, and then at Richmond, the American International University in London, where he was Professor of Public Relations and Advertising. Prior to his academic career, he was a member of the UK Government Information Service, serving in a range of government departments as a press officer. He is a Fellow of the Public Relations andCommunications Association and the co-author of PR – A Persuasive Industry?: Spin, Public Relations and the Shaping of the Modern Media and PR Today: The Authoritative Guide to Public Relations.