ABSTRACT
The ethical practice of corporate communication and public relations is a given for many professional communicators. This has been a perennial concern for practitioners of the craft, from the roots of professional communication in the 4th century bc through the formative years of the modern practice of public relations in the 20th century ad, to the present. Despite a general desire to practice corporate communication ethically, many professional communicators have only a passing knowledge of ethics and the way ethical standards have evolved in business generally and in the professional practice of communication in particular. Many people associate the word “ethics” with some sense of morality, and often use the words “ethics” and “morality” interchangeably. And although there is a high degree of overlap between the words, they mean different things and should not be confused. Ethics concerns behavior—what people do—and the behavior at issue is often public.
