PROFESSIONAL ETHICS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTITIONERS IN THE CONTEXT OF DIGITALIZATION.

In the ever-evolving landscape of public relations (PR), the significance of professional ethics has become increasingly pronounced, particularly in the digital age. This article embarks on a journey to synthesize the dynamic evolution of professional ethics in public relations and underscores the pressing need for its application in contemporary communication landscapes. Exploring the core values and principles that underpin ethical practices, the study extends to the alignment of these principles with fundamental human rights. A focal point of this article is an examination of the findings derived from research conducted among Armenian public relations practitioners, offering valuable insights into the challenges posed by the digital age. In this era of rapid digitalization, the traditional ethical codes that once governed the realm of public relations are facing unprecedented challenges. The classic ethical standards, while foundational, are now confronted with a shifting landscape shaped by the proliferation of social networks and online communication platforms. This article scrutinizes the practitioners' perspectives on the development of ethical standards, exploring questions of geographical and contextual relevance in the face of technological advancements. As the digital age transforms the dynamics of communication, the limitations of traditional PR ethics become increasingly apparent. The discussion highlights the intricacies of professional ethics within the realm of social networks, shedding light on the nuanced ethical considerations that emerge in this digitalized era. Amidst this exploration, a crucial issue emerges - the imperative for the preservation of ethical standards in public relations. The article contends that the challenges posed by digitalization necessitate a revision of the conventional PR ethical code. While the foundations remain relevant, there is a pressing need for an updated ethical framework that can effectively navigate the complex ethical terrain presented by social networks and digital communication channels. In conclusion, the article endeavors to provide a comprehensive understanding of the evolution of professional ethics in public relations, emphasizing the transformative impact of digitalization. By examining the standpoints of Armenian public relations practitioners, it sheds light on the challenges faced in this digital age and advocates for a proactive approach to adapt and enhance ethical standards in response to the dynamic communication landscape.

Building a more engaged scientist from the bottom up: The impact of public engagement training on undergraduate students.

Engaging with the public is increasingly seen as an important role of scientists. Despite that, few opportunities exist for undergraduate students to receive training in engaging with the public about science. Thus, little is known about the impact of such training on students. The goal of the current study was to investigate the impact of public engagement training on participants in a summer program for undergraduates that provides training in both research and engagement activities. The results of our interviews suggest that providing opportunities for undergraduates to engage with the public (1) has many personal, academic, and career benefits for students; (2) increases participants' interest in public engagement; and (3) may contribute to helping students develop and maintain an identity as scientists. Importantly, students from minoritized racial groups may be even more impacted by this experience. These data suggest that early experiences with public engagement may not only be an important way to increase the number of publicly engaged scientists but may also broaden participation in science.

[A survey on the utilization of internet services to collect job information among medical students and initiation of video public relations activities for the recruitment of public health physicians based on the survey results].

Objectives　It is difficult for medical students to obtain information about public health physicians because there are very few public health physicians near them. To improve this situation, we surveyed the utilization of internet services to collect job information among medical students and produced six videos and conducted public relations activities for the recruitment of public health physicians based on the survey results.Methods　The subjects of the survey were medical students in their third year or above from 18 universities. Public health teachers in these 18 universities sent their students anonymous self-administered questionnaires created with Google Forms mainly by e-mail. The questionnaires included the following items "internet services used to collect job information," "desired length of each video for knowing job information," and "information you want to know about your future work." The responses were reflected in the length and the content of the videos and the settings for their distribution.Results　Responses were obtained from a total of 491 medical students, including 14 third-year students, 177 fifth-year students, and 300 sixth-year students. Homepages were the most frequently used online source for collecting job information (94.7%), followed by blogs (42.0%), Twitter (32.6%), and YouTube (18.9%). Medical students are less likely to use social networking services for collecting job information compared with non-medical job-hunting students. Regarding the length of the videos, 55.8% of the respondents preferred the length of one video to be less than 5 minutes, and 95.1% preferred it to be less than 10 minutes. Almost all of the respondents (93.1%) wanted to know the atmosphere of young public health physicians, and 74.1% also wanted to know the atmosphere of veteran physicians. Based on these results, we selected six public health physicians including young and veteran physicians and produced interview videos that conveyed the atmosphere of each doctor within 5 minutes per person. We refurbished the banner on the top page of the Japanese Association of Public Health Center Directors so that the videos uploaded to YouTube could be watched.Conclusion　We clarified the current situation of the utilization of internet services for job-hunting activities among medical students and were able to initiate video public relations activities for the recruitment of public health physicians in accordance with the needs. It is necessary to increase awareness of the video platform among medical students and clinicians by deepening cooperation with local governments, universities, and medical institutions and expanding the human network both online and in person.

[Patient events in German urology: trend towards hybrid formats?] / Patientenveranstaltungen in der deutschen Urologie: Trend zu Hybridformaten?

BACKGROUND: Patient events are an important tool to respond to the increasing need of the public for health information. Through the "patient forum", the German Society of Urology (DGU) is committed to patient information and public relations at its annual congresses. The goal of the study was to evaluate the events from 2017-2019 and to compare them with the first digital patient forum in 2020. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Using a two-page standardized questionnaire, we surveyed the visitors of the presence patient forums (presence group = P) of the three annual congresses of the DGU 2017-2019 as well as the users of the digital event 2020 (online group = O). RESULTS: We obtained 71 records for 2017-2019 and 18 for 2020. The median age of visitors was 64 years (range 30-89). Males were 66% (P) vs. 83% (O) of participants (p = 0.005). The offer was rated overall as good to very good by both groups, i.e., 1.6 (P) vs. 1.6 (O; p = 0.7) on a scale from 1 to 6 with 1 being the highest rating. In line with the lower interaction in the digital format, the possibility to ask questions was rated worse with 1.5 (P) vs. 2.8 (O; p = 0.003). When asked about the desired future event format, two-thirds of the users of the digital patient forum were in favor of a hybrid event on-site and online. CONCLUSION: Patient events are suitable means of communication for the public and are rated well by visitors. In particular, interaction with experts is highly valued. Face-to-face formats are associated with a high logistical effort and high costs, and their reach is limited. In the future, hybrid formats could be a reasonable alternative, as they combine the advantages of online and face-to-face formats.

Exploring the ethics of political PR professionals using moral foundations theory.

This paper offers a multidimensional theoretical scheme to analyze professional ethics in the field of political public relations. We suggest investigating the decisions of these professionals using moral foundations theory because human ethical reasoning is contextual, and the examination of ethics in a one-dimensional manner as previous researchers have done overlooks the complexity of the moral choices that such professionals make. The prospects of the proposed theoretical approach are demonstrated on 16 interviews with post-soviet Russian political PR industry leaders that were conducted from March 2018 to April 2020. Our empirical findings show that Russian political PR specialists employ all moral foundations, however, in their narratives the "care/harm" and "authority/respect" foundations were not mentioned very often. Overall, this paper makes a critical contribution to research on professional ethics in political public relations, and it provides important insight into the specifics of moral reasoning in the Russian political PR industry that is insufficiently described in the current literature.

From the tobacco industry's uses of science for public relations purposes to the alcohol industry: Tobacco industry documents study.

INTRODUCTION: Associates for Research in Substances of Enjoyment (ARISE) was formed by tobacco companies in the late 1980s designed to counter public health policy development. This study examines the alcohol content of ARISE and the contribution of ARISE to alcohol industry activities in a key period in the globalisation of the alcohol industry, generating insights into the inter-relationships between the tobacco and alcohol industries in their involvements in policy-oriented science. METHODS: We systematically searched the UCSF Truth Tobacco Documents Library for information about ARISE, alcohol and the alcohol industry. This material was supplemented with an analysis of the contributions by ARISE associates to one volume in the International Center for Alcohol Policies (ICAP) book series on alcohol and pleasure. RESULTS: ARISE placed nicotine alongside caffeine, chocolate and other foods, and alcohol as treats which brought pleasure and other benefits. Alcohol was thus intrinsic to the ARISE project for the tobacco industry. This study shows that at a formative moment in the mid-1990s the major alcohol companies took advantage of the intellectual inheritance and personnel provided by the tobacco industry when establishing ICAP. Key to this was an ICAP conference that resulted in Alcohol and pleasure: A health perspective (1999). DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS: Not only did ARISE use alcohol to play a supporting role in a sophisticated tobacco industry strategy, the alcohol industry engaged with ARISE as part of its own strategy. This shows the importance of careful attention to corporate activities on the fringes of peer-reviewed science.

Public Relations as a Factor in the Prevention of Suicide: The Veteran Administrations Crisis Line.

This study examines the effectiveness of the Veterans Administration's (VA) public relations and the effectiveness of advertisements of its suicide hotline, which is called the veterans crisis line (VCL). Using the organization-public relations theory (OPR) this study examined whether known failures of VA marketing campaigns for the VCL could be related to public relations factors. This study found that the VA suffers from a negative perception with veterans, and this translated into lower support for the VCL compared to another suicide hotline. This study concludes that ineffective public relations may indeed be a factor in the reluctance of veterans in crisis to call the VCL for life saving mental health support.

As startups no contexto da organização capitalista financeira e as subjetividades empreendedoras / Startups in the context of financial capitalist organization and entrepreneurial subjectivities / Startups en el contexto de la organización capitalista financiera y subjetividades emprendedoras

As startups são empresas que apresentam modelos de negócios marcados pela inovação, rapidez, flexibilidade e alta capacidade de adaptação aos mercados. Atuando em diferentes setores socioeconômicos, elas prometem criar e transformar produtos e serviços. A emergência e disseminação dessas empresas ocorrem em um momento histórico de mudanças iniciadas a partir de 1970 e marcadas pelas crises geradas com o esgotamento do paradigma da sociedade urbano industrial. No Brasil, o número desse modelo de negócio apresentou uma expansão expressiva, alcançando a marca de 13.374 nos últimos cinco anos. Atento a esse cenário, o objetivo desta pesquisa consistiu em compreender como sujeitos, grupos e instituições atribuem sentidos à experiência de trabalho nas chamadas startups. Na parte teórica, as condições sociais e econômicas que possibilitaram a emergência e disseminação das startups são analisadas em uma perspectiva crítica. A parte empírica, por sua vez, apresenta depoimentos de empreendedores relatando o contexto geral de atuação nas startups. Ao final deste artigo, conclui-se que há uma instrumentalização capitalística de componentes subjetivos específicos selecionados e colocados em circulação para fortalecer o modo de produção capitalista financeirizado.(AU)

Startups are companies that have business models characterized by innovation, speed, flexibility, and a high capacity to adapt to markets. Operating in different socioeconomic sectors, they promise to create and transform products and services. The emergence and dissemination of these companies occur at a historical moment of changes that began from 1970 and are marked by the crises generated by the exhaustion of the paradigm of industrial urban society. In Brazil, the number of businesses in this model showed a significant expansion, reaching 13,374 companies in the last five years. Attentive to this scenario, the objective of this research was to understand how subjects, groups, and institutions attribute meanings to the work experience in so-called startups. In the theoretical part, the social and economic conditions that enabled the emergence and dissemination of startups are analyzed in a critical perspective. The empirical part presents entrepreneurs reporting the general context of action in startups. At the end of this article, it is concluded that there is a capitalistic instrumentalization of specific subjective components that are selected and put into circulation to strengthen the financed capitalist production.(AU)

Las startups son empresas que tienen modelos de negocio marcados por la innovación, la velocidad, la flexibilidad y una alta capacidad de adaptación a los mercados. Desde diferentes sectores socioeconómicos, las startups prometen crear y transformar productos y servicios. La aparición y difusión de estas empresas se produce en un momento histórico de cambios que comenzó a partir de 1970 y que está marcado por crisis generadas por el agotamiento del paradigma de la sociedad urbana industrial. En Brasil, estas empresas se expandieron significativamente alcanzando la marca de 13.374 empresas en los últimos cinco años. En este escenario, el objetivo de esta investigación fue entender cómo los sujetos, grupos e instituciones atribuyen significados a la experiencia laboral en las startups. En la parte teórica, se analizan las condiciones sociales y económicas que permitieron el surgimiento y la difusión de las startups en una perspectiva crítica. La parte empírica presenta testimonios de emprendedores que informan sobre el trabajo en startups. La investigación concluye que hay una instrumentalización capitalista de componentes subjetivos específicos que se seleccionan y ponen en circulación para fortalecer el modo de producción capitalista financiero.(AU)

Happiness at Work among Public Relations Practitioners in Spain.

Happiness at work is a consolidated topic. Perhaps the PR and communication sector, often at the forefront of organizational change, is one of the industries where most progress has been made in this regard. The objective of the present study was to carry out an exploratory analysis on the extent to which PR is a profession that enables the development of happiness in the workplace. To this end, a questionnaire was administered to a sample of PR professionals in Spain (N = 256). The questionnaire consisted of the PERMA-profiler, a model where work relationships, engagement, positive affections/emotions, vital sense/purpose and achievements are measured. The results show a remarkable level of happiness among surveyed professionals, especially among women, who obtained higher scores on all five factors, although with a statistically significant difference only in two of the five factors in PERMA (Engagement and Relationships). Neither age nor the hierarchical level of the respondent had any incidence. Therefore, PR can be a profession that notably enables human flourishing at work, even more so among women.

Evidence-Based Message Strategies to Increase Public Support for State Investment in Early Childhood Education: Results from a Longitudinal Panel Experiment.

Policy Points  Investments in early childhood education can have long-lasting influence on health and well-being at later stages of the life course.  Widespread public support and strategies to counter opposition will be critical to the future political feasibility of enhancing early childhood policies and programs.  Simple advocacy messages emphasizing the need for affordable, accessible, high-quality childcare for all can increase public support for state investments in these policies.  Policy narratives (short stories with a setting, characters, and a plot that unfolds over time and offers a policy solution to a social problem) that describe structural barriers to childcare and policy solutions to address these barriers may be particularly effective to persuade individuals inclined to oppose such policies to become supportive.  Inoculation messages (messages designed to prepare audiences for encountering and building resistance to opposing messages) may protect favorable childcare policy attitudes in the face of oppositional messaging. CONTEXT: Early childhood education (ECE) programs enhance the health and social well-being of children and families. This preregistered, randomized, controlled study tested the effectiveness of communication strategies to increase public support for state investments in affordable, accessible, and high-quality childcare for all. METHODS: At time 1 (August-September 2019), we randomly assigned members of an online research panel (n  =  4,363) to read one of four messages promoting state investment in childcare policies and programs, or to a no-exposure control group. Messages included an argument-based message ("simple pro-policy"), a message preparing audiences for encountering and building resistance to opposing messages ("inoculation"), a story illustrating the structural nature of the problem and solution ("narrative"), and both inoculation and narrative messages ("combined"). At time 2 (two weeks later) a subset of respondents (n  =  1,436) read an oppositional anti-policy message and, in two conditions, another narrative or inoculation message. Ordinary least squares regression compared groups' levels of support for state investment in childcare policies and programs. FINDINGS: As hypothesized, respondents who read the narrative message had higher support for state investment in childcare policies than those who read the inoculation message or those in the no-exposure control group at time 1. Among respondents who were initially opposed to such investments, those who read the narrative had greater support than respondents who read the simple pro-policy message. Those who received the inoculation message at time 2 were more resistant to the anti-policy message than respondents who did not receive such a message, but effects from exposures to strategic messages at time 1 did not persist at follow-up. CONCLUSIONS: Results offer guidance for policy advocates seeking to increase public support for early childhood policies and programs and could inform broader efforts to promote high-value policies with potential to improve population health.

Social sentiment segregation: Evidence from Twitter and Google Trends in Chile during the COVID-19 dynamic quarantine strategy.

The Chilean health authorities have implemented a sanitary strategy known as dynamic quarantine or strategic quarantine to cope with the COVID-19 pandemic. Under this system, lockdowns were established, lifted, or prolonged according to the weekly health authorities' assessment of municipalities' epidemiological situation. The public announcements about the confinement situation of municipalities country-wide are made typically on Tuesdays or Wednesdays before noon, have received extensive media coverage, and generated sharp stock market fluctuations. Municipalities are the smallest administrative division in Chile, with each city broken down typically into several municipalities. We analyze social media behavior in response to the confinement situation of the population at the municipal level. The dynamic quarantine scheme offers a unique opportunity for our analysis, given that municipalities display a high degree of heterogeneity, both in size and in the socioeconomic status of their population. We exploit the variability over time in municipalities' confinement situations, resulting from the dynamic quarantine strategy, and the cross-sectional variability in their socioeconomic characteristics to evaluate the impact of these characteristics on social sentiment. Using event study and panel data methods, we find that proxies for social sentiment based on Twitter queries are negatively related (more pessimistic) to increases in the number of confined people, but with a statistically significant effect concentrated on people from the wealthiest cohorts of the population. For indicators of social sentiment based on Google Trends, we found that search intensity during the periods surrounding government announcements is positively related to increases in the total number of confined people. Still, this effect does not seem to be dependent on the segments of the population affected by the quarantine. Furthermore, we show that the observed heterogeneity in sentiment mirrors heterogeneity in stock market reactions to government announcements. We provide evidence that the observed stock market behavior around quarantine announcements can be explained by the number of people from the wealthiest segments of the population entering or exiting lockdown.

When citizen science is public relations.

Amid rising interest in participatory research, some industries have recently begun to practice public relations citizen science (PRCS). Unlike citizen science and crowdsourcing projects that generate raw materials for product development, PRCS benefits capitalist firms primarily by improving their public image and deflecting accusations of causing harm. Three cases illustrate how PRCS works: (1) a growing assortment of citizen science projects associated with Antarctic tourism, (2) an initiative to document biodiversity, linked to Canada's oil and gas industry, and (3) a study sponsored by Biology Fortified, a nonprofit organization that works to communicate positive information about agricultural biotechnology. Scientists and research organizations may have legitimate reasons for entering into these partnerships, but PRCS can benefit industries in problematic ways. First, by supporting environmental science, PRCS can attach a 'sustainable' image to a polluting industry, without changing its core practices. Second, PRCS can accumulate data and steer volunteers' observations in ways that undermine claims about the harms caused by the industry's practices or products. Finally, in some cases, PRCS organizers hope to induce people to view an industry more 'rationally' than those who make 'emotional' or 'ideological' claims about its harms.

The science of spin: targeted strategies to manufacture doubt with detrimental effects on environmental and public health.

BACKGROUND: Numerous groups, such as the tobacco industry, have deliberately altered and misrepresented knowable facts and empirical evidence to promote an agenda, often for monetary benefit, with consequences for environmental and public health. Previous research has explored cases individually, but none have conducted an in-depth comparison between cases. The purpose of this study was to compile a comprehensive list of tactics used by disparate groups and provide a framework for identifying further instances of manufactured doubt. METHODS: We examined scholarly books, peer-reviewed articles, well-researched journalism pieces, and legal evidence related to five disparate industries and organizations selected for their destructive impacts on environmental and public health (tobacco, coal, and sugar industries, manufacturers of the pesticide Atrazine, and the Marshall Institute, an institute focused on climate change research, and other scientists from the era that associated with those in the Institute). These documents provided evidence for a list of tactics used to generate pro-industry spin and manufacture doubt about conferred harm. We then identified trends among sets of strategies that could explain their differential use or efficacy. RESULTS: We recognized 28 unique tactics used to manufacture doubt. Five of these tactics were used by all five organizations, suggesting that they are key features of manufactured doubt. The intended audience influences the strategy used to misinform, and logical fallacies contribute to their efficacy. CONCLUSIONS: This list of tactics can be used by others to build a case that an industry or group is deliberately manipulating information associated with their actions or products. Improved scientific and rhetorical literacy could be used to render them less effective, depending on the audience targeted, and ultimately allow for the protection of both environmental health and public health more generally.

The press club as indicator of science medialization: How Japanese research organizations adapt to domestic media conventions.

This study examined how and whether Japanese research organizations adapt their communications outputs and practices to the media's requirements in a media landscape that has frequently been described as "cartelized." A survey and subsequent in-depth interviews with communications and public relations departments at Japanese research organizations showed that universities and government-funded research institutions employ outputs expected by the media, such as issuing press releases and using fax machines for dissemination. The adoption of media-imposed requirements appears to meet the dual interests of Japanese research organizations and established media. The results suggest that press clubs, one manifestation of an information cartel, are an indicator of how research organizations orient to the media at the organizational level. The findings add a non-Western perspective to the current literature of science medialization.

Public relations in health and medicine: using publicity and other unpaid promotional methods to engage audiences.

BACKGROUND: Public relations-a marketing communications method involving the use of publicity and other unpaid promotional methods to deliver messages-historically has served as the communicative workhorse of the health services industry, representing the predominant pathway over many decades by which health and medical facilities conveyed stories to the public. While other components of the marketing communications mix, perhaps most notably that of advertising, have now captured a significant portion of interest, attention, and use by healthcare establishments, public relations remains a valuable communicative avenue when deployed properly. DISCUSSION: As an unpaid method of promotion, public relations is uniquely positioned among its counterparts in the marketing communications mix which require direct expenditures to reach audiences. Typically effected by preparing and submitting press releases to news media firms in hopes that they, in turn, will present given stories to their audiences, limitations are somewhat obvious as transmission control rests with external entities. But overcoming limitations is possible with prudent strategies. This article presents Willis-Knighton Health System's associated strategies, along with a range of public relations insights from decades of deployment experience. CONCLUSIONS: Prudently deployed and led by guiding strategies, public relations offers health and medical organizations opportunities to engage audiences in an efficient and highly credible manner. Courtesy of its unique properties, public relations capably can complement other marketing communications, operating synergistically to help healthcare institutions achieve their conveyance goals, fostering exchange and bolstering market share. Careful operationalization of this marketing communications avenue can help healthcare establishments realize their full communicative potential.