PR Ethics & Law

1. Is it fair to ever assume we understand what is doing the greatest good for the greatest number?
   1. Egoism acknowledges a lack of knowledge of others. How do utilitarians know what's best? Assumptions.
      1. Nonetheless, still seems the most morally responsible and unbiased route **Personal Conclusion**
2. Ross's moral theory- Dis-satisfied by "oversimplified" util. and the basic question: Does this action (or rule) maximize utility>
   1. Is Ross or Moore more accurate?
      1. Ross: utilitarianism oversimplifies moral relationships among people (Waluchow, 2003, p.190).

1. Society best served by individual pursuit of understood self-interests (Rachels, n.d., p.79)
2. Not an alternative to morality (Bafou, 2011)

1. Social class influences our behaviour and ethical standards
   1. "Middle class morality"
      1. Gertrude Stein commented on the influence this in Hemingway's work
         1. Formative socioeconomic influence on ethical compass
            1. Cultural product creators influence culture AND ethics of their audience
               1. How does the artist/writer/filmmaker's cultural intentions, creative intentions, and self-interest alter audience perspective and ethical framework?
               2. Accuracy of law in literature
                  1. Think things like Bradbury's Farenheit 451: how does creative liberty with law change the way society perceives law?
                     1. Creative take on lobbying
                        1. Inspires thinking and questions

Attachments:

• Terms and Conditions May Apply

1. Prevention

1. Probably not
   1. Is that a bad thing?
      1. Probably not
         1. How does anonymity impact bad bahaviour online?
            1. Conversely, how does a soapbox encourage bad behaviour?
               1. Controversy
                  1. Ratings
               2. Citizen journalism
               3. Sensational journalism
               4. False celebrity
               5. Desire to be notorious

1. Fashion benefits from a lack of copyright law or ethical protectionist standards

   Attachments:

   • Johanna Blakely - FASHION's free culture
   1. Utilitarian
      1. Sparks innovation
         1. Could this work for other industries?
            1. Franchises struggle to protect their IP with things like fan fiction, but could fan fiction ever help the franchise?
               1. Strong parasocial bonds
                  1. Word-of-mouth advertising
                     1. Is it ethical? See blogging with integrity; Carolina Pad; Code of Ethics for various associations
                        1. Is there a duty to the audience to keep producing fiction to satiate the appetite created for the fictional characters? Think rules of superhero franchises to make a movie every two years.
                           1. Maybe fan fiction violates copyright law but depriving fans of access to beloved characters violates a social contract in some way. The relationship between the reader and content is abandoned. Maybe a code of ethics for CPRS or PRSA could support that in some (strange) way.
                              1. “Communication is not the ultimate goal of public relations. Our goal is building relationships through the use of ethical communication, listening, and strategic alliances” (Bowen, Rawlins & Martin, 2010, p. 130).
   2. How do ethics influence other relationships between revenue and ethics?
      1. Duty to bottom line versus duty to company
         1. Shell's triple bottom line
            1. Symmetrical versus asymmetrical communication
               1. Accountability
                  1. Crown Worldwide
                     1. UN 10 Principles
                        1. Duty to all stakeholders
                           1. Balance with influence to stakeholders and bottomline
                              1. Personal conclusion/opinion: Guided by ethics organizations should serve stakeholders in a way that will eventually balance out with revenue obligations (big picture)
            2. Roper, J. (2005). Symmetrical Communication: Excellent Public Relations or a Strategy for Hegemony?.Journal of Public Relations Research,17(1), 69-86.

1. Social media is not going to save those girls (Becker, 2014)

1. Does the wildfire spreading of hashtag revolutions make it too easy to slide onto and off of the bandwagon?
   1. Is there a greasiness to Twitter revolutions?
   2. It's as easy to feign interest and commitment in online friendship as it is online activism. Citizen journalism for topical issues isn't far from an exciting video posted by a quasi-friend. The interest is there, influenced by the interest of others, but it isn't necessarily sustainable or meaningful
      1. How does this factor into ethical behaviour in online friendship and/or citizen journalism?

1. Can greased content still be factual and produced with integrity?
   1. "When information is computerized, it is greased to slide easily and quickly to many ports of call" (Ess, 2013, p. 47).

1. How does digital ethics change from ethics of pornography in other forms?
   1. Is it possible to be empowered from sexualization?
      1. Is that ever the true intention?
2. Opportunity for women to rally together
   1. Activism
      1. Turn to laws, ex. women rights laws

1. "Integrity" & Blogging
   1. Duty to the public, ethical principles, ROI?
   2. Product integration

1. Egoism: Does this theory exempt people from more rational ethical thought and application? To what end can we serve ourselves?
   1. Can corporate social responsibility be conducted when operating through an egoism paradigm? Or is it meaningless?
      1. Does Mouron's self-interest in the causes he's supporting make it a self-serving CSR act?
         1. In true CSR is there a duty to serve the group with the greatest need? Is there always some egoism in CSR pursuits?

1. Utilitarian versus egoism
   1. Greenwashing

1. Crisis Communications
   1. Ethical basis should be established pre-crisis or it's harder to be ethical
      1. PRSA - Apt parady

1. Social media now plays an important role in lobbying
   1. Symmetrical communication
      1. Political figures need consensus for democracy
         1. Lobbyist influence politics and "the people"
         2. Subterfuge or utilitarian-inspired messaging?
            1. Propaganda
               1. Is propaganda ever inspired by utilitarian good? Is it always egoism-based?
                  1. What would Immanuel Kant think of propaganda?
                     1. Would propagandists respect receiving propaganda messaging? (Deontology)
                        1. Is more knowledge always good?
                           1. If the information (propaganda) you receive is manipulative, it isn't true knowledge
                              1. Effective propaganda influenced public opinion and thereby the fabric of the democracy with new laws based on the grounds of politicians keeping the favour of their public
                              2. It seems exploiting simplistic tools that make naive statements turns out to be an effective propaganda tool
                                 1. Does it patronize the public?
                                    1. Does that matter?
                                       1. In a democracy, is there anything more imperative than influencing public opinion to enact change (law)?
                                          1. Propaganda and lobbying are dangerously similar
                        2. What motivates propaganda?
                           1. Consequentialism
                              1. Belief in the cause
                                 1. Connects with citizen journalism and the manipulative messaging of sensationalist journalism
                           2. Money (or "paying the mortgage" as Nick Naylor would say (circa Thank You for Smoking")
                     2. The universal maxims of categorical imperative (Kant) would likely irk the propagandists

Attachments:

• Unprotected liberties versus protected freedoms

1. Prudential judgment: based on the interest of the individual whose conduct/character is in question
   1. Waluchow, 2003, p. 17
2. Good versus bad?
   1. Opinion based on ethics, legality, or something else?
      1. A "good" decision
         1. A "good" book
            1. Not always matter of taste... Think of a book that instructs people how to make a bomb. Is it ethical to write/publish/read this? Could this be a "good" book?
               1. Quality versus ethics
                  1. Illegal content at times - could this ever be considered "good"?
      2. This is an important consideration in good versus bad and how ethics aren't necessarily inherent in those distinctions. However there could be cases where literature is "bad" because it is not moral or ethically created. So it's not impossible for good and bad to line up between taste and ethics, however, it is not necessary.