Ethics in Public Relations : Responsible Advocacy

"This is an intelligent book about serious issues in public relations: accountability, responsibility, transparency, loyalty, truthtelling, and fairness. It should be required reading in boardrooms, in PR classrooms, and at the Pentagon." - Jay Black, Editor, Journal of Mass Media Ethics  

"Ethics in Public Relations fills an important need at a time when the credibility of public relations (and some public relations practitioners and public relations firms) is under attack. In a manner that is never preachy or dogmatic, Fitzpatrick and Bronstein have put together a series of essays that have application across the public relations spectrum. They are sure to be informative and instructive both to long-time professionals and candidates for entry-level positions." - Harold Burson,  Founding Chairman, Burson Marstellar  

"This book is both highly readable and long overdue.  Fitzpatrick and Bronstein have produced a thoughtful, thorough, and very practical look at the ethical dimensions of public relations, not just in theory, but in everyday practice. The essays are sharp, witty, on-point and highly pragmatic. Their examples are relevant, their anecdotes purposeful. Given the state of the profession these days, it′s difficult to see how students of public relations could call themselves current without first reading this smart collection of essays." - James S. O′Rourke IV, Professor and Director, The Eugene D. Fanning Center for Business Communication, University of Notre Dame  

"Fitzpatrick and Bronstein have for every public relations professional established a foundation to practice advocacy ethically. Practice settings may change, but Fitzpatrick and Bronstein demonstrate that the individual professional has an ongoing ethical imperative to advocate responsibly. Fitzpatrick′s discussion of the PRSA Code of Ethics concept of advocacy (which she helped draft) breaks new and helpful ground, bringing clarity and substance to this crucial ingredient of most public relations practice." - James E. Lukaszewski, Chairman and President, The Lukaszewski Group Inc.  

Ethics in Public Relations: Responsible Advocacy is the first book to identify universal principles of responsible advocacy in public relations. In this engaging book, editors Kathy Fitzpatrick and Carolyn Bronstein bring together prominent authorities in the field to address theoretic and practical issues that illustrate the broad scope and complexity of responsible advocacy in 21st-century public relations. The collection explores such matters as the fragile line between ethical and legal public relations practices, ethical challenges in building relationships with increasingly diverse publics, the requirements of ethical advocacy online, ethical accountability in organizational settings, the special ethical obligations of nonprofit groups, and ethical mandates in cross-border public relations.  

Kathy Fitzpatrick is an associate professor of communication at DePaul University in Chicago, where she directs the master’s degree program in public relations and advertising. In 2005, Fitzpatrick was named the Wicklander Fellow in Applied and Professional Ethics. She teaches a range of undergraduate and graduate courses in public relations, public relations ethics, communication law and crisis management.  Her research focuses on issues involving public relations, ethics and law. Fitzpatrick is the co-author of Public Relations Ethics and Journalism Ethics (with Philip Seib) and the author of articles in  Public Relations Review, Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Mass Media Ethics, Journal of Advertising, Journalism and Mass Communication Educator, Journal of Communication Management and Corporate Reputation Review. She is a licensed attorney, an accredited member of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and a past president of the PRSA Dallas Chapter. In 2002, Fitzpatrick was elected to head the PRSA Educators Academy. She served for six years on the PRSA Board of Ethics and was a member of the task force that developed the Member Code of Ethics 2000. She is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society and serves on the editorial review boards of Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, and Journal of Mass Media Ethics.

Carolyn Bronstein (Editor) is an Assistant Professor of Communication at DePaul University in Chicago, where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses that focus on the cultural impact of public relations and advertising in a global society. Her research examines the role of the mass media in the social construction of women and women’s issues, with emphasis on mainstream news and advertising. She received the Nafziger-White research award from the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) for tracing the relationship among advertising trends in the 1970s, gender consciousness, and the development of the American feminist antipornography movement. Her work appears in a variety of mass media journals, including Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, Journalism and Communication Monographs, and Journalism and Mass Communication Educator.