Ethics and Decision Making in Strategic Communications

Catalog description

This course provides a broad exploration of ethical topics in the practices of strategic communications, public relations and advertising. In particular, it investigates transparency, digital ethics, diversity, and mass-communication ethics as they apply to the development and application of communications strategy and content. Students will learn how ethical tenets are examined and incorporated into current theory and research within the fields of general ethical philosophy, public relations, corporate social responsibility, crisis communications, persuasion, and cultural-communication studies. By subsequently applying these principles to industry examples and professional codes of conduct, students will better understand the importance of ethical decision making in the field of strategic communications. Building on insights from the class, students will engage in online discussions and will apply topics learned in the class to identify and analyze contemporary ethical issues and problems affecting the strategic communications industry.