Ethical Vistas of the Founder of Public Relations and Ethics in the Field Today

Abstract

This paper deals with the continuity of ethical problems and dilemmas in the field of public relations from its beginnings until today, and it endeavours to arrive at a possible ethical framework for an approach to this profession. After a brief description of terminology and of the development of the public relations profession, followed by an account of the fundamental tenets of recent ethical theories in the field, the author gives a description of the work and the principle theses of two of the founders of this modern profession - Edward Louis Bernays and Ivy Ledbeter Lee. An evaluation of their approach to ethics is then made, as well as a comparison with more recent approaches to ethics in public relations, and finally conclusions are drawn. There is a continuity of doubt regarding two fundamentally different approaches to ethics in this profession from its beginnings until today and a consequent necessity for a uniform and clear ethical framework for decision-making.