“The Ethics of PR”

Shannon Bowen is associate professor of public relations in SU’s Newhouse School. Her research interests include communication and media ethics, public relations ethics and theory, organizational communication, the strategic management of issues in the pharmaceutical industry, and the ethical decisions by media members surrounding representations of acts of terrorism. Bowen teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in public relations theory, public relations ethics and strategic issues management. She is primarily a Kantian scholar, applying deontological (duty-based) moral philosophy to the communication process in various contexts of media, public and corporate communication. For her work, she received the 2000-02 ICA Public Relations Division Outstanding Dissertation Award. Bowen is the author of numerous journal articles and book and textbook chapters, was editorial advisor to the Sage Encyclopedia of Public Relations, and was principal investigator on a grant sponsored by the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) Research Foundation to study communication ethics, which resulted in the publication “The Business of Truth: A Guide to Ethical Communication” (HP and ROI Communications, 2006). Bowen received a B.A. in journalism and sociology from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, an M.A. in journalism and mass communications from the University of South Carolina and a Ph.D. in communication and mass communication from the University of Maryland.The Institute for the Study of the Judiciary, Politics and the Media (IJPM) at Syracuse University has announced its Spring 2010 lecture series on “Law, Politics and the Media.”Today’s American judicial system operates in a complex environment of legal principle, political pressure and media coverage. The series provides an introduction to the court system and its environment as a single, integrated subject of study and features speakers from a variety of legal, political and media backgrounds, including practicing lawyers, published authors, leading scholars and court researchers. “Law, Politics and the Media” lectures are free and open to the public. They take place from 3:50–5:10 p.m. in Room 204 of the Syracuse University College of Law. Paid parking is available in SU pay lots.The lecture series is part of an interdisciplinary course on law, politics and the media cross-listed between the College of Law, the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. The course is taught by SU professors Keith Bybee (IJPM director) and Roy Gutterman (IJPM associate director), and funded through support from the John Ben Snow Foundation and the Carnegie Corp. of New York.