When deciding on a topic to base my final project for the CIPR professional diploma we were advised to choose a topic we felt genuinely connected with. I decided to base my project on the question of ethics in PR, my focus was drawn to the ethics of charity sector communication techniques. I wanted to explore whether we are sometimes guilty of overlooking ethics in pursuit of the greater good?
The main aim of my final project was to qualitatively research the 'assumed' ethical approach of charity sector communicators when applying communication techniques, and how this compares with the reality of working in charity sector PR. The ethics of PR is an ever looming issue and not just for the not for profit sector. Ethics in PR, or the lack of ethics, has wider implications of the professionalism of the discipline as a whole.
The qualitative nature of the project allowed for the organic growth of emerging themes, adopting an Interpretist approach allowed the primary and secondary data to dictate the focus of the findings.
When conducting the literature review on ethics and PR recurrent themes began to emerge. These themes provided the basis for the interview questions and were identified as; The practicalities of ethical PR practice, Trust and Professionalism. The primary research data was collected through the use of a small sample of semi-structured, face to face interviews. The interviewees were selected from a variety of charity sector organisations. The findings of the project emerged organically as recurrent and prominent themes became pronounced.
Code of ethics fit for purpose?
Through thematic analysis an ethical PR code was identified as the prominent theme across the data. This was a surprising finding in that the topic was not raised as a research question; the literature review identified the existence of numerous examples of industry codes, therefore it was thought unnecessary. The fact that ethical codes exist and yet practitioners still highlight a gap clearly undermines the credibility of current industry codes. These findings suggest that very little respect is accorded to existing codes of ethics.
"PR is quite a dirty word"
The intention of the project was to explore the assumed advantage of charity sector communicators working within widely trusted organisations. The data collected did not make any solid conclusions on this point. The research findings found that anxiety and stress were often the result of negative internal relationships and perceptions. With one exception, all the respondents acknowledged a level of alienation and conflict within their organisations.
This finding has wider implications in that it relates to the issue of the negative reputation ascribed to PR more generally. Shockingly one respondent felt extremely reluctant to associate their communication practices with PR; "I guess it's 'cause I don't see what we do as PR, even though it is. PR is quite a dirty word." This finding highlights the importance of acknowledging best practice for application across the industry and beyond, encouraging PR practitioners to be proud of their achievements.
