Submit

As a media professional using persuasion in your writing, you bear responsibility for upholding a public trust. You should have a highly developed set of personal and professional ethics. Your responsibilities as a professional persuader include focusing on your client’s needs yet producing writing that is fair to all of your audiences. In short, you must practice ethical persuasion in all that you do. Public relations and advertising professionals often gain certification through professional organizations that have developed codes of ethics for practitioners to follow. These organizations include those mentioned below. Chartered in 1947, the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is the world’s largest and foremost organization of public relations professionals.

 

PRSA provides professional development, sets standards of excellence, and upholds principles of ethics for its members and for the public relations profession as a whole. AAF is the nation’s oldest national advertising trade association. As the only association representing all facets of the advertising industry, AAF is headquartered in Washington, DC. It acts as the “unifying voice for advertising.” Founded in 1970, IABC is a professional network to help advance members’ careers in public relations, corporate communications, public affairs, community relations, and other sectors. 

Most professional organizations have produced codes of conduct
for practitioners to follow and accreditation programs to reinforce these
principles.