PR ethics - a white paper

My friend and long-time advocate for all things ethical PR, Mary Beth West, has published a white paper “The State of Ethics Codes in the Public Relations Industry: A Global Analysis.”

September marks PR ethics month for PRCA and the newly released independent analysis reveals major opportunities to close documented gaps toward best practice.

“The State of Ethics Codes in the Public Relations Industry: A Global Analysis” features data collection by the London-based Institute of Business Ethics (IBE), specific to published ethics codes from 24 PR member associations across a diverse range of nations worldwide, on six continents. The study was fully funded by a grant from PR industry veteran Mary Beth West APR FPRCA (@marybethwest).

The IBE incorporated nearly 50 individual criteria points and categorised its PR industry code analysis under a variety of headings, such as structural elements, user- friendliness, content, leadership role / governance structure, and enforcement.

The IBE’s independent analysis found that while all 24 PR member associations included in the study offer published codes of ethics and that all include “Honesty” and “Accuracy” provisions – which is a good starting point for any association – a vast majority (83%) could opt to take new, specific measures toward demonstrating “strong elements of good practice,” reflective of the IBE’s criteria.

According to the IBE’s findings, “the results of the (IBE) bespoke scoring system applied suggest that 17% of the codes possess strong elements of good practice, 29% possess elements of good practice but lack in other areas, whilst 54% of the codes show significant room for improvement.

The State of Ethics Codes in Public Relations, a Global Analysis Download

You can read the full report and visit Mary Beth’s website here.