Art or dark art? Moral failure and ethical obligation in South African public relations practice

Abstract

Ethical failures are not just philosophical problems, but also economic problems that hold significant social and political consequences for the social and communal contexts in which these are enacted. Recent ethical scandals such as Bell Pottinger and Cambridge Analytica have reawakened public debate on ethical standards in professional practice. While some research on PR roles has been conducted in the South African context since 2002, there are no formally documented studies regarding the moral philosophy and ethics of PR practice in South Africa. This article seeks to determine how South African PR practitioners respond to their ethical obligations. Research findings confirm that partisan values still dominate and that contexts of practice do not facilitate ethical practice by meeting ethical obligations through ethics of care and communality. The findings seem to indicate that the roots of ethical failures in the industry run deep. South African PR practice will continue to be regarded as a "dark art" unless it can free itself of moral constraints inherent to the reflexive modernist PR practices and assumptions that prevail. To facilitate a transition away from compliance to codes of conduct towards greater moral accountability, moral character in role enactment must be engaged with on a more profound level.

Perceptions of ethically ambiguous public relations practices on social media

“…Technological advancements have forced PR practitioners to reimagine their roles as boundary spanners and develop multiple approaches to deal with challenges and tensions that may arise (Verwey, 2015), such as ethical dilemmas on social media. Hagelstein et al (2021) reported that practitioners today encounter more moral challenges in their day-to-day work than they have before.…”

Purpose and practice

“…It is evident that going forward, South African public relations and communication practitioners will be required to embrace and expand their boundary spanning roles. This will enable collaboration between variously situated participants from a variety of disciplinary and social, and institutional contexts, and to embrace mechanisms of stakeholder participation which will transform values, practices and institutions through experimentation, social innovation and collaborative learning (Verwey, 2015). It is also evident that current disciplinary boundary-setting practices, and paradigmatic fixation -along with outcomes based pedagogical approaches to PR education in South Africa -do not adequately prepare future practitioners for the possibilities and social consequences of PR practice.…”

The limited role of African strategic communication practitioners in ethical communication practices

“…The literature claims that SCPs are increasingly subjected to 'individual relativism' (Verwey and Muir, 2018). Individual relativism involves establishing personal moral reference points using consistent balancing of their position with organisation requirements, contracted duties and accountability (Verwey and Muir, 2018). The boundary lines are often blurry for SCPs.…”

“…It implies redefining roles and acting virtuously based on having a conception of good, personal values on what they identify with and work towards (Verwey et al ., 2017). The literature claims that SCPs are increasingly subjected to ‘individual relativism’ (Verwey and Muir, 2018). Individual relativism involves establishing personal moral reference points using consistent balancing of their position with organisation requirements, contracted duties and accountability (Verwey and Muir, 2018).…”