media update’s Adam Wakefield spoke to Modjadji Makoela, head of the public participation department for heritage site Freedom Park, and Rianette Leibowitz, chairperson of the PRISA accredited public relations professionals committee, on the topic of communications, media, and nation-building.

Ethics is key in any form of trustworthy communication

Leibowitz says ethics within the public relations and media landscape have been under the spotlight over the course of 2017. With public relations evolving at a fast pace, and the need to adapt, it must be considered how ethics and the expectations of the industry at large need to inform and guide this change.

Doing so means not compromising on the level of service and the very important role that public relations play.

“South Africans need to be able to communicate with one another without suspicion. The narratives that exist within the media, and those distributed by communicators, play a very important role in shaping the narratives that take root in the public mind,” Leibowitz says.

On Wednesday, 29 November, Freedom Park will be hosting a discussion on this very topic. Featuring analyst Ralph Mathekga, media veteran Patrick Conroy, journalist Khatu Mamalila, and social cohesion activist Yusef Abramjee, the discussion will address reconciliation, its importance in South Africa, and how the media and communicators can uphold ethics while still promoting social cohesion and nation building.

Leibowitz said there are a number of questions PR professionals and communicators in South Africa must ask themselves, including:
  • What is critical for communicators and PR professionals to remember when communicating to the general public, given the current political environment?;
  • What mistakes must they avoid?; and
  • And, what challenges does acting ethically are faced within this context?
These questions need answers, and Leibowitz trusts that the panel discussion will offer some insights into that.

“It is imperative that we talk to one another, and do so ethically,” she says.

The media and communicators can be a glue of social cohesion

The panel discussion, says Makoela, has been motivated by the need to “strike a balance between ethics, and the day-to-day challenges experienced by communication practitioners”. Those challenges are often derived from stories that relate to issues surrounding social cohesion, reconciliation, and nation-building.

“Freedom Park itself is a response to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC). The nation urged government to create a monument and a memorial to celebrate those who sacrificed for a free and democratic South Africa,” Makoela says.

“The deep wounds that the TRC revealed remain. Dialogues similar to this one on Wednesday helped to heal those wounds. South Africans must reach an understanding and compassion for one another. We need each other more than we realise.”

The media and communicators play a vital role in achieving that goal, so it is very important that they take their duty, and duty of care, seriously.

For more information, visit www.freedompark.co.za.

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Ethics is top of mind for professionals working in public relations, but how can manager ensure that their employees act ethically in their agency’s stead? Read more in our article, Four ways PR agencies can instil ethics into employees.