Code of Ethics | Baltimore Public Relations Council

To always conduct our business in a professional manner with a firm commitment to honesty, accuracy and fairness.
To embrace accepted professional standards in striving towards the goals of better communications, understanding and cooperation among individuals, groups, and institutions.
To avoid all conflicts of interest. Even the perception of a conflict of interest, when one truly does not exist, should be avoided.
To conduct oneself when dealing with clients, employers, other practitioners and the general public in a dependable and fair manner so as to engender trust in the professional practice of public relations.
To protect the confidentiality of information of present and former clients and employers.
To act in the public interest, and not engage in any practice that lends to corrupt the integrity of channels of communication or the process of government.
To never guarantee results or other professional achievements beyond one’s control and to sever relationships that demand such guarantees.
To never intentionally wrongly impugn a fellow practitioner. Unless privileged, evidence of unethical, illegal, or unprofessional conduct should be made known to the Board of Directors in a timely fashion.
To present, upon request, all evidence and testimony, relating to alleged violations of the Code of Ethics to the BPRC Board of Directors for adjudication. Upon evaluation of the evidence, the Board may hold a special meeting to which al parties concerned will be invited to make presentations and responses to allegations. If a member is found in violation of the Code of Ethics by two-thirds of the Board, he/she may be expelled from the Council with loss of all membership rights and fees.

Ethics Codes of Other Professional Organizations

Other professional organizations also have ethics codes that may be of interest to members of the Baltimore Public Relations Council:

The Public Relations Society of America states that a primary obligation of its membership is the ethical practice of Public Relations. Its PRSA Member Code of Ethics is the way their members reaffirm a commitment to ethical professional activities and decisions. Their code was designed to be a useful guide for its members as they carry out their ethical responsibilities. The document was designed to anticipate and accommodate, by precedent, ethical challenges that may arise.

The Radio-Television News Directors Association, in meeting its responsibility to the profession of electronic journalism and wishing to foster the highest professional standards of electronic journalism, promote public understanding of and confidence in electronic journalism, and strengthen principles of journalistic freedom to gather and disseminate information, established a Code of Ethics and Professional Conduct at in 2000.

The Society of Professional Journalists has a Code of Ethics voluntarily embraced by its member writers, editors, and other news professionals. Their first code was borrowed from the American Society of Newspaper Editors in 1926. In 1973 the forerunner of SPJ, Sigma Delta Chi, wrote its own code, which was revised in 1984 and 1987. In 1996 the present version of the code was adopted by the SPJ National Convention, after months of study and debate among its members.