1st Edition

The Moral Compass of Public Relations

Edited By Brigitta R. Brunner Copyright 2017
    246 Pages
    by Routledge

    246 Pages 4 B/W Illustrations
    by Routledge

    The civic and moral responsibilities of public relations are hotly contested topics. While many researchers call for focusing on ethics in public relations, they concentrate on ethics in relation to how people do their jobs. In actuality, emphasis should move beyond professional codes of ethics to include general morality and citizenship. Currently, as the profession receives greater scrutiny, it is important to be aware of the value of public relations in the community. This book centers on four areas of public relations’ conscience in order to examine its role in morality and citizenship: civic professionalism, corporate social responsibility, ethics, and public communication. This approach will help to answer the question of what is public relations’ responsibility to the public good.

    Introduction



    Brigitta R. Brunner



    Part I: Moral and Civic Responsibility and Strategy



    1. The Historical Development of Corporate Social Responsibility as a Strategic Function of Public Relations





    Young Eun Park and Melissa D. Dodd





    2. Penn State’s After-Sanction Response Strategy





    Chang Wan Woo, Michael Gulotta and April Gulotta





    3. Communicating Social Responsibility Efforts: A Success Strategy for Nonprofits or A Shift from Stakeholders’ Priorities?





    Richard D. Waters and Holly K. Ott





    4. A Rising Tide Lifts All Boats? The Constitutive Reality of CSR in Public Relations





    Ashli Q. Stokes



    Part II: Moral and Civic Responsibility in Theory and Practice





    5. The Public Relations Postures of Organizational Civic Responsibility





    Christie Kleinmann





    6. Hope for the Future: Millennial PR Agency Practitioners’ Discussion of Ethical Issues





    Tiffany Derville Gallicano and Kelli Matthews





    7. Public Relations and Development: Ethical Perspectives on Communication for Societal Effectiveness





    Amanda Kennedy, Sifan Xu, and Erich J. Sommerfeldt





    8. The Impact of Organizations’ Ethical Approaches in Times of Crisis





    Sora Kim, Jooyun Hwang, and Xiaochen (Angela) Zhang





    9. In the Bind between Theory and Practice: Public Relations and Ethics of Neoliberal Global Capitalism





    Marina Vujnovic and Dean Kruckeberg





    10. Public Relations Ethics, Corporate Social Responsibility, and the Private Sector: The



    Case for Corporate Community Resilience Support for Disaster Preparedness





    Natalie T. J. Tindall, Jan Uhrich, and Jennifer Vardeman-W

    Biography

    Brigitta R. Brunner, Ph.D., is Professor in the School of Communication & Journalism at Auburn University, USA. Her first edited volume, Creating Citizens: Liberal Arts and Community & Civic Engagement in the Land-grant Tradition, was published in May 2016.