ABSTRACT
Almost every corporation, news outlet, and promotional agency has codes of ethics, mission statements, and vision and values. Sometimes these codes are rigorously followed and are part of the culture of the organization. Often, however, they are statements posted on boardroom walls that have little application in the day-to-day life of employees and other stakeholders. This chapter points out what’s wrong and what’s right with ethics codes for media persuaders. What’s wrong includes ethics statements that are loaded with contradictions, those written in abstract and fuzzy generalities, those that are really window dressing and not taken seriously, are out of date, and those that make little difference in the real world of the industry. However, codes of ethics can be meaningful in many ways. They can remind practitioners about the balance of loyalties and responsibilities to clients, their colleagues, publics, and themselves. Regular updates of codes can help practitioners deal with changing ethical challenges and mores. Most important, good ethical guidelines can remind us of what we value and what’s important in our working lives. Put simply, identifying what is and what should be important to us offers guides for action.
