ETHICS OF THE RELATIONSHIP

The character of the relationship between public relations and the media is often at the heart of the potential ethical conflicts. While we're all clear that many, perhaps most, journalists consider us to be, at the very least, manipulators of the truth, perhaps we could consider what Janet Malcolm wrote in the 13 March 1989 issue of The New Yorker: ˜Every journalist who is not too stupid or too full of himself to notice what is going on knows that what he does is morally indefensible. He is a kind of confidence man, preying on people's vanity, ignorance, or loneliness, gaining their trust and betraying them without remorse.

So it seems that the two fields are on a pretty even footing when it comes to the moral high ground (or low ground). What, then, are the issues that can get in the way of an ethical relationship?

The two big issues that emerge are honesty in our communication and access ”access to media and access by media. Both of these potentially problematic issues can affect not only the relationship between public relations and the media, but also between organizations and their communities that use the media as a conduit for information.