david j. garcia

This is the final installment in a three-part series:

Part I: Let’s talk ethics! The PRSA Code of Ethics (part I)

Part II: Let’s talk ethics! Truth and Secrets (part II)

The PRSA Code of Ethics and Sissela Bok’s two books provide useful guidance in specific situations where public relations professionals are likely to find their ethics challenged, perhaps on a regular basis. However, to be fully prepared for the most complex and trying ethical decisions, we need to have access to a more comprehensive ethical framework. Ideally, it should be adapted specifically to the challenges facing communicators. Sherry Baker’s paper “The Principled Advocate versus The Pathological Partisan: A Model of Opposing Archetypes of Public Relations and Advertising Practitioners” provides just such a model.

Baker, a professor in Brigham Young University’s Department of Communications, builds from the foundation of virtue ethics to give professional communicators a framework for addressing the most complex ethical dilemmas. She presents two opposing archetypes: the “Principled Advocate” and the “Pathological Partisan.” The first represents “the embodiment of virtues,” and the other represents a similar embodiment of all vices.

We can think of the “Principled Advocate” as someone perfectly ethical in his or her profession. Our understand of this person comes as we observe those we admire making good decisions and as we learn from such sources as the PRSA Code of Ethics and the writings of Sissela Bok. Our understanding of the “Pathological Partisan” stems from the examples of the least moral people in our field—and from the stereotypes mentioned earlier (”Spin doctors. Flacks. Even liars.”).

In order to make an ethical decision within this framework, we simply ask ourselves what a principled advocate would do and try to follow suit. We also ask what a pathological partisan would try, and then we avoid those actions.

The “Principled Advocate” model might not always give the most clear answer as to what to do in a given situation. However, a public relations professional with a commitment to ethics will find that a clearer and more complete picture of the ideally virtuous advocate develops as he or she practices and studies ethics and learns from the examples of others. Additionally, communicators who try to apply this model throughout their careers will find themselves gradually becoming a virtue-filled “Principled Advocate.” The principles they learned from others will become more and more part of their own characters and practices that the ethical choice will not only be clear but also natural.

The “Principled Advocate” model fills in the pieces that are missing from the PRSA Code of Ethics and writings of philosophers who focus on issues not occupations.

Baker, Sherry. “The Principled Advocate versus The Pathological Partisan: A Model of Opposing Archetypes of Public Relations and Advertising Practitioners”. Presented to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Media Ethics Division. San Francisco, CA. 2 August 2006.

(photo from BYU Department of Communications)