ABSTRACT
T h e idea of balanced, two-way communication is an important concept in public relations theory because of the implications it has for public relations ethics. The concept nicely indicates the site of moral tension in public relations, the tension that exists at the boundary between client interests and public or audience in terests. Sullivan (1965) described this as a tension between partisan and mutual values. Similarly, Culbertson (1973) discussed the interplay among partisan and nonpartisan interests. Robinson (1966) also introduced questions of ethics in public relations in terms of a model in which client benefits need to be balanced against mutual benefits. Public relations practice is situated at precisely that point where competing interests collide. Indeed, public relations problems can be de fined in terms of the collision, or potential collision, of these interests. Serving client and public interests simultaneously is the seemingly impossible mission of the public relations practitioner.
