By Liz LaRose, APR, YPRSA Ethics Officer

Each year, September marks ethics month for PRSA membership. Like the return back to school, Ethics Month is a perfect time to focus attention practicing our craft ethically. We are reminded that it is of paramount importance to our profession, our clients, our employers and ourselves.

In honor of Ethics Month, PRSA hosted Tweet-ups, blogged about ethics on PRSAY and hosted a free webinar, “Ripped from the Headlines: Social Media Ethics.” And our own YPRSA Chapter simulcast the webinar and followed it up with a lively group discussion about ethics scenarios we face in our daily work.  Many gray areas came to light and practitioners helped each other work through some difficult scenarios, including paid/incented on-line reviews, fake social media posts and front groups, to name a few.

Through this discussion, we learned that ethics does not belong on the shelf for a yearly dusting off in September. It’s a daily practice that is honed through professional development, experience and support. PRSA and the YPRSA Chapter provide resources to help you stay abreast of the latest ethics trends, including:

• Code of Ethics
• PRSAY blogs
• Professional Standards Advisories
• Presentations, case studies and best practices

PRSA and YPRSA also encourage you to contact either of the resources below when you need assistance working through ethical questions and dilemmas

• YPRSA Ethics Officer, Liz LaRose at liz.larose@crotchedmountain.org
• PRSA Board of Ethics and Professional Standards at beps@prsa.org

We are here to help you make ethics a daily practice!