Doing the Right Thing, Not the Easy Thing: An Examination of PR Ethics

At the heart of public relations work is persuading people to think, feel or do something. This is a superpower. And when using any superpower, one must act responsibly.

While serving as a strategic communication professor for the last 20 years, I have prioritized arming students with a clear understanding of ethics. Of course, discussing concepts in the classroom is one thing, and dealing with realities in practice is quite another. In this post, members of the PR Club Board of Directors reflect on that tension by examining each of the six Public Relations Society of America Professional Values and answering two key questions:  How do matters of ethics present themselves in the real world, and how should we respond?

Value #1 Advocacy: We serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent. We provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts, and viewpoints to aid informed public debate.

“The term ‘advocacy’ conjures the notion of credible ambassadors championing above-brand causes that advance public interest. In my world of healthcare PR, advocates are indispensable allies who connect companies to the patients and physicians they serve.

But as PR professionals, we have a dual obligation: advocate for organizations we represent and for the integrity of the information we put into the public conversation.

Each time we counsel a company, we advocate for transparency and champion objective communications that stand up to scrutiny.

We advocate for these because they are foundational to trust.

Be an advocate for trust between the company you represent and its audience. Equally important, if not more so, be an advocate for trust in our profession.

It’s a responsibility that goes deeper than most people realize, because we have to champion the credibility of an entire industry that’s spent decades fighting the misconception that all we do is ‘spin’ things.

If that’s what people believe about us, then the PR industry cannot thrive.

When trust erodes in healthcare, patients disengage from the companies trying to help them, and physicians resist embracing the science that may hold clinical value. From there, it’s more than just trust that’s compromised.

It’s people’s lives.

So the next time someone mischaracterizes the value of what we do, be an advocate for the truth about PR, and know that advocating for trust in our profession is the most critical part of our job.

If people don’t trust us, they won’t trust the organizations we represent. Without that, we lose the privilege to be advocates for anyone.” – Joshua R. Mansbach, Managing Director, Disrupt PR

Value #2 Honesty: We adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those we represent and in communicating with the public.

“Honesty sounds like a given in public relations, but the real test comes in the moments when the truth is inconvenient. Having spent years on the agency side, from boutique shops to larger firms with teams spread across the country and internationally, I watched how easy it is to let optimistic framing drift into overstatement, especially under the pressure of a client who wants a bold story. The discipline of honesty is not just about avoiding outright lies. It is about resisting the smaller temptations too: the headline that overpromises, the statistic stripped of its context, the quote shaped just a bit too perfectly.

Moving in-house and working closer to the marketing side gave me a view that some agency professionals never get. Decisions that look strange from the outside often make complete sense once you understand the internal dynamics, the legal reviews, the regulatory cautions, the competing priorities pulling at a message before it ever reaches a PR team. That exposure made me a more honest counsel, because it also taught me that honesty in our work is not just about what you say outwardly to journalists or the public. It is also about what you say internally: telling a marketing team when a claim is a stretch, pushing back on a spokesperson when the talking points do not hold up, and being the person in the room who asks whether this is actually true or just what we wish were true.

The through line across every environment I have worked in is that honesty is what makes the rest of the job possible. Some of the most important moments of honesty in my career had nothing to do with a press release or a media statement. They happened internally, with teammates and clients: telling a colleague that a pitch angle was not going to land, letting a client know that the story we had built together was not resonating with journalists, or simply admitting that an approach I championed was not working and that we needed to pivot. Those conversations are uncomfortable, but they are the ones that build the most trust. A teammate who will tell you the truth when a plan is not working is worth more than one who stays quiet to avoid friction. Relationships with media, trust with clients, credibility in a room with executives, none of that survives without honesty as the foundation.“ – Abigail O’Malley, Director of Marketing, Revenue Analytics

Value #3 Expertise: We acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience. We advance the profession through continued professional development, research, and education. We build mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions and audiences.

“In the early days of the profession, anyone could ‘put out a shingle’ as Edwards Bernays called it and offer public relations counsel. Not surprisingly, this led to shoddy work and negative repercussions for the field.

In a more modern example, just a couple decades ago public relations degrees didn’t exist. One would study Journalism or Speech Communication or end up performing public relations tasks because they were the best writer on staff and, therefore, the most logical person to do so. No formal training in strategic communication was required or even expected.

Thankfully, things have changed in terms of schooling, however, the responsibility to bring legitimate expertise to the table remains crucial. Ethical practitioners must be intentional to stay current in an ever-changing landscape of communication tools, online trends and social mores.

So how do we ensure we have the requisite expertise to serve our clients ethically?

·       Read, watch and listen to everything you can get your hands on (even things that you have no personal interest in or disagree with)

·       Attend industry conferences and/or talks given by experts in the field

·       Be an active member of a professional organization (or two!)

·       Stay up to date on hard and soft news stories as well as pop culture happenings

·       Try new technologies whenever possible

·       If you can’t get a paying job in PR, volunteer for an organization in your community

Whatever method you use to keep learning and keep asking questions will be beneficial for you, your clients and the public relations field as a whole.  And, yes, Edward Bernays would approve!”- Jill Flanagan, Strategic Communication Professor of Practice and advisor to nonprofit organizations

Value #4 Independence: We provide objective counsel to those we represent. We are accountable for our actions.

“One of the core values in the PRSA Code of Ethics is independence, defined as providing objective counsel and being accountable for our actions. In theory, that positions PR professionals as truth-tellers and those responsible for shaping stories that are accurate, meaningful, and grounded in reality. We’re not just here to promote our clients’ features and benefits or take shots at competitors. Instead, we’re expected to guide organizations toward communication that reflects truthful storytelling and engages key audiences. At its best, this positions PR as a form of strategic counsel, not simply here to deliver promotional material.

In practice, though, independence is more complicated. PR professionals work within organizations where CMOs and executive teams have their own priorities, pressures, and opinions about what should be said and how. At times, those teams may lean into more marketing or advertorial language, or rely on AI-generated content that can compromise authenticity. This can cause the full nuance of a story to be distorted or interpreted differently. While we’re responsible for the counsel we provide, we’re often just one piece of a much larger marketing ecosystem, and our recommendations can be reshaped and selectively applied.

That tension is why the independence pillar is valuable to all practitioners. It’s less about having full control of each communication effort, and more about maintaining accountability for the integrity of our guidance. Even when our counsel isn’t executed perfectly, we are still responsible for delivering quality guidance because that’s ultimately what earns trust and defines the role of PR.” – Kristina Markos, Assoc. Professor and Chair of the Graduate Program in Communications, Lasell University

Value #5 Loyalty: We are faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.

I always joke that my clients are my ‘children.’ It’s a light-hearted comment, but it carries a weight that reflects the significant responsibility I feel toward the partners who trust us to steward their brands.

PR teams are typically the front lines of a brand, and of course the conduits to the media. While we may not know every internal detail like an in-house employee, it is our responsibility to understand the business and its audience so deeply that we can represent them with complete conviction. Our success is fundamentally tied to theirs.

But true loyalty in PR isn’t just about echoing a brand’s narrative; it’s about honoring our parallel obligation to the public interest. This is where a client’s greatest value in an agency investment lies: in our commitment to navigating the broader landscape to shape narratives that support the bottom line while also serving the general public. The ‘magic’ happens at that intersection. It’s often tempting to lean too heavily into a brand’s internal narrative to prove our loyalty, but the real work — and the most rewarding part of the job — is the strategic problem-solving required to expand a story so it serves both sides.

And it’s impossible to write this without also acknowledging the loyalty we must extend to our partners in journalism. We must continue to honor that relationship by providing high-integrity information that makes it easier for them to do their jobs and by supporting the platforms that allow them to show up for their communities. When we achieve this, we’re not just ‘doing good PR;’ we’re fulfilling our ethical mandate and our roles as PR practitioners.” – Eva Wasko, SVP and Head of PR at A&G (Allen & Gerritsen)

Value #6 Fairness: We deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the general public. We respect all opinions and support the right of free expression.

On paper, fairness sounds pretty straightforward. You deal fairly with all stakeholders, whether they are clients, competitors, media, vendors, or the public. In reality, though, that value is often put to the test, especially when the pressure of new business creeps in.

I’ve worked both agency-side and in-house, and that experience has only reinforced my view that the best work happens when fairness is treated as a strength, not a constraint. Not every client is the right fit for you and your team, and that’s okay. In my world, that often means peers sending opportunities my way when the work calls for deep expertise in AI infrastructure or semiconductors. And I do the same when something falls outside my lane. That is what fair competition looks like in practice.

This same principle carries over into how we handle information. If fairness means putting the right people on the right work, it also means making sure all stakeholders have an equal opportunity to understand what is in front of them. As PR pros, our job is to help people know something exists, explain why it matters, and ensure they can access the information needed to make informed decisions.

Here’s a useful gut check: are you trying to win on merit, or just win? That answer alone usually tells you whether you’re practicing PR fairly.” – Garrett Krivicich, VP | AI & Deep Tech PR

BerlinRosen, an Orchestra Company

Final Thoughts

The study of ethics and grappling with the gray areas is not just for students. Public relations professionals at all career stages can benefit from an honest assessment of the ethical minefields,and how they can honor PRSA’s recommendations. Holding oneself to a high standard, while certainly difficult at times, will benefit the individual practitioner, our clients and the PR field.

This blog was written by Jill Flanagan, PR Club Board Member