Week 5 readings

I think the two key points to remember from this week's readings are the three basic ethical doctrines and the four major roles of a public relations practitioner.

The three basic ethical doctrines are deontology, teleology and Aristotle's Golden Mean. Depending on which ethical doctrine an organisation observes, it can affect its public relations approach and its reputation in the eyes of the public. Usually, most public relations professionals would use a balanced approach to ensure that actions taken are in the best interests of both the organisation and the public.

Meanwhile, the four major roles of PR professionals are as a counsellor, advocate, monitor and corporate conscience. These four roles enable PR professionals to influence corporate ethics and ensure that ethical practices are being observed by their clients.

The readings made me think more about public relations practice in that both the ethical doctrines and the four major roles remind us that PR practitioners should play an active role in ensuring ethical practices in organisations and allow us to be able to properly advise these organisations. While we as professionals have the mantra that "the customer is always right", under no circumstances should we violate our own personal and professional ethics when serving our clients. Instead, we should try and guide our clients to be more ethical in their practices. Just as no sane person would jump off the roof of a building when told, we as professional should know when to draw a line when it comes to listening to our clients.