Ethikos Editor’s Weekly Picks: How PR Ethics Affect You

By Shannon Bowen for PR Week

The ethical conundrums faced by public relations pros are only getting more complicated.

We’ve developed far beyond the “don’t use deception” standard. Examples abound of scandal and unethical behavior, but the lines have blurred on what constitutes ethics in the face of changing technology, changing communication channels, or social media, and a swirling nexus of mixed responsibilities to organizations, clients, stakeholders, and publics.  Read more

By Adam Kirsch for The Atlantic

What is the virtue we most urgently need more of in America today? A few obvious answers come to mind: honesty, to counteract the corruption at the highest levels of government; compassion, to spur action to help the poor and powerless; patience, to deal with an increasingly toxic public discourse. But in his new book, Tamler Sommers, a philosopher at the University of Houston, argues on behalf of a more unexpected virtue—one that some people don’t consider a virtue at all. What Americans ought to cultivate, he writes, is a sense of honor. “Honor,” he writes in Why Honor Matters, is “indispensable … for living a good life in a good and just society.” Read more

By Chris MacDonald for Canadian Business

A friend of a friend of mine runs a mid-sized construction company in Latin America. As many readers will know, that industry in that region has a reputation for a relatively high degree of corruption, in particular bribery.

This friend-of-a-friend says he absolutely refuses to give bribes, in spite of the obvious temptations. When asked whether he loses business because of it, he is candid. “Yes, of course.” And when asked whether he still does lots of business, and still makes a good living, he is again candid: “Yes, for sure!” Read more

By Kimberly Marselas for McKnight’s Long-Term Care News

One-third of newly licensed registered nurses leave the field after just two years.

Citing moral distress as a major factor, Professor Cynda Rushton, Ph.D., RN, FAAN, of the Johns Hopkins School of Nursing, developed a mindfulness program that helps professionals identify and cope with ethical dilemmas. The idea is to help frontline staff address those issues while staying in the field.  Read more