Summary of In-Class Presentation of First Artifact

I have chosen the code of ethics for public relations representatives/members of the PRSA as set by the Public Relations Society of America. This code of ethics is strongly encouraged for every representative, but is a mandatory moral standard for the members of PRSA. The PRSA code of ethics contains segments on advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness; these help to make up the ideology of PRSA that public relations professionals are ethical by way of a strict code of provisions and values.

I am personally very interested in ethics and the way that they relate to public relations practices. Ethics are a very large portion of any industry and when a representative is trying to promote their company in a positive, inform the public about the company’s work, and keep the public updated on any crises information it can be a thin line between what is ethical and acceptable. I find it interesting the way that the PRSA has gathered a list of essential and basic ideas about what is acceptable and what the field leaders have decided is appropriate.

The reason why I find this artifact significant is because the code really reflects the ideological stance of the PRSA and its administrators. I would like to figure out more of their stance on what constitutes ethical behavior and what morals are appropriate for an entire profession.

I am planning on using ideological criticism to analyze the PRSA code of ethics. The majority of it, in my opinion, is an ideological stance about what is suitable behavior and fitting responses to situations that arise in the profession. I think that looking at the ideology in comparison to the audience being targeted is interesting; for example, the intent of describing the ideology to PRSA members is different from describing it to potential members.


Once again, the PRSA Code of Ethics can be found at http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/.

PRSA for Pentadic

I once again chose the Code of Ethics for public relations professionals as set by the PRSA. I though that it would be interested how many different purposes would be right on that on page. The site is still :http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/CodeEnglish/.

The elements of the Code of Ethics are:
Agent: The Public Relations Society of America (and its administration/board that writes and updates the code)
Act: Inform the members and potential members of PRSA of the standards by which they will be held ethically.
Scene: The internet which would translate into mostly office spaces.
Purpose: To inform the members and potential members about the code of ethics that they will be/are bound by and the consequences of breaking those conditions.
Agency: PRSA uses a web site in order to distribute the pertinent information about the society and the individual rules and codes that are part of what the society is all about.

Ideological Critique of PRSA Ethics

For this assignment I will be analyzing the Public Relations Society of America's (PRSA) Code of Ethics. The full coding may be found on PRSA's web site: http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/CodeEnglish/.



Ethics, in general, are an important aspect of any business; the ethical ideology of a company can make, break, confirm or deny a sale or collaboration. The ethical stance that a company or group of individuals takes is vital to the overall identity of that particular organization. While the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is not a technical "company" it is a collaboration of public relations professionals with the common ground of wanting to further their field. The PRSA is a professional society that is meant to coordinate the specialized knowledge learned by all individuals. The code of ethics includes a short preamble that discusses the intentions of the code and also the consequences of violation. “Ethical practice is the most important obligation of a PRSA member” (PRSA Website). The PRSA code of ethics contains segments on advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness; these help to make up the ideology of PRSA that public relations professionals are ethical by way of a strict code of provisions and values.

The code of ethics includes the obvious of ethical provisions of behaving in a way that reflects well of the PRSA and the public relations field as a whole. Not only does the PRSA hold its member accountable for unethical behavior, it can collaborate with the authorities and decide whether a questionable member should remain in the society. The organization itself cannot punish a member further than expulsion from the society; it does, however, advocate the legal punishment of its member, and any public relations representative, that behaves unethically and unprofessionally. Another less perceptible aspect of the code of ethics is the desire to further the field of public relations and improve the reputation of the public relations representatives individually and the reputation of the PRSA as a whole. The code of ethics implies that each representative and member is accountable for their own actions and they are responsible for knowing the consequences of unethical behavior.

The Public Relations Society of America’s code of ethics is designed to integrate the values and morals of the society into its members’ lives. The ideology of PRSA is the stance of ethical behavior through certain provisions. The PRSA believes in its members being advocates to the community while being honest and demonstrating expertise while continuing to develop new skills and acquire novel knowledge. A member of PRSA must be loyal to the organization and also to the company that he/she is representing; since representing a company or organization is the individual’s choice and an independent decision it should not be a difficult decision for the representative to remain loyal. PRSA expects its members to maintain fairness with the organization they are representing and also with the society. The PRSA believes that each member should uphold the strict, moral behavior as qualified in the code of ethics that has been developed.

Possible Artifacts for Criticizing

One artifact that I could criticize using the ideological method of criticism is the book "Crystallizing Public Opinion" by Edward Bernays. A specific section of the book would be most easily assessed as it deals with the ethics related to Public Relations which is a highly debated subject within the academic world. Bernays presents his beliefs within the section which gives a perfect example of an ideology.

A second artifact that would be relevant for me to criticize would be the Public Relations Society of America's guidelines of ethical behavior (http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/). I think this would be an interesting artifact to analyze because it shows the generally accepted code of ethics that PR Representatives are expected to uphold and maintain as set out through the beliefs of the PRSA.

A final artifact that I would be interested in analyzing through ideological criticism would be the novel "A Color Purple" by Alice Walker. It does not directly have anything to do with my major and my future career, but the book is full of ideologies and references to them. Walker does a great job of displaying both sides of certain ideologies and it would be interesting to go through some of them and compare the basic principles of each.

Chapter 7: Ideological Criticism

1) What is an ideology?

An ideology is the combination of beliefs, values, and assumptions surrounding an artifact. This ideology would be strongly influenced by the person's or group's individual culture, as well was, the person's economic, political, and social interests.

2) What are the primary components of an ideology?

The primary components of an ideology include evaluative beliefs, or beliefs that have an opposing judgment.