PR ethics: accuracy, disclosure, and editorial independence

PR work should meet a documented standard for accuracy, disclosure, consent, confidentiality, conflicts, corrections, and editorial independence. Apply that standard to pitches, interviews, press releases, reports, executive posts, customer stories, community work, internal updates, paid partnerships, and AI-assisted drafts.

The PRSA Code of Ethics is a voluntary professional code for PRSA members. It requires honesty and accuracy, prompt correction of erroneous communication, disclosure of sponsors and conflicts, protection of confidential information, and fair dealing with media and the public. Laws, contracts, regulations, and company policies can impose additional requirements. Route legal questions to qualified counsel.

Verify every material claim before use

Assign a fact owner and evidence source to claims about product performance, customers, finances, growth, security, privacy, employment, health, safety, regulation, market position, and research findings. Check both the literal statement and the reasonable implication created by the full message.

For commercial claims, the FTC's advertising substantiation policy requires advertisers to have a reasonable basis for objective express and implied claims before dissemination. The evidence required depends on the claim and its consequences. Other jurisdictions and regulated industries may apply different or additional standards.

Maintain a claim register:

Claim	Exact evidence	Source date and scope	Qualification	Fact owner	Approval and review date
Product reduces a defined task time by a stated amount	Named study or analysis with underlying data	Population, method, comparison period, and date	Conditions in which the result applies	Product or research lead	Named approver and expiration date
Named customer uses the product for a stated purpose	Contract, customer confirmation, and approved wording	Approved products, teams, region, and date	Limits on logo, quote, metrics, or launch timing	Account owner	Customer and company approval

Remove or narrow a claim when the evidence does not support the wording. "Industry-leading," "secure," "private," "first," and absolute statements such as "never" or "all" require defined evidence and scope.

Distinguish fact, estimate, forecast, and opinion

Label estimates and projections, state their assumptions, and avoid presenting modeled results as observed results. Attribute opinions to the person qualified to hold them. Describe company-funded research, sampling, exclusions, and methodology where readers can evaluate them.

Apply specialist review before releasing financial or forward-looking information, health or safety claims, legal conclusions, security or privacy details, employment information, personal data, regulated product claims, or material information about a public company. The SEC's Regulation FD guidance for social media shows why public companies need a controlled disclosure process across newer as well as traditional channels.

Disclose commercial relationships where people encounter them

Label sponsored content, paid spokespeople, influencer relationships, affiliate arrangements, gifts, and other material connections clearly. The FTC Endorsement Guides state that endorsements must be truthful and that connections affecting how people evaluate an endorsement should be disclosed. The FTC native advertising guide explains that necessary disclosures should be clear, prominent, and close to the content they qualify.

Do not report a paid placement, contributed article, company-owned post, wire posting, or incentivized review as independent earned coverage. Do not create fake grassroots activity, undisclosed front groups, fabricated customers, false accounts, or employees posing as independent users.

Preserve editorial independence

Journalists and editors decide whether to cover a subject, which sources to use, what questions to ask, and how to frame the published work. A PR practitioner may provide accurate information, offer relevant sources, negotiate access terms before an interview, and identify specific factual errors. The practitioner cannot ethically condition ordinary access on favorable coverage or represent independent editorial work as guaranteed approval.

The Reuters Journalistic Standards provide one newsroom's public example: accuracy takes precedence over speed, sourcing must be honest, and corrections should be prompt and transparent. Individual outlets set their own standards and may decline proposed ground rules.

Agree on "on the record," "background," or other interview terms before information is shared. Do not assume one outlet or journalist uses a term the same way as another. After publication, request corrections for concrete factual errors and provide evidence. Disagreement with tone, emphasis, or a supported conclusion is not a factual correction.

Protect consent, confidentiality, privacy, and ownership

Obtain the required permission before using a customer or partner name, logo, quote, result, screenshot, case detail, or personal story. Confirm who owns photographs, video, research, and other supplied material and which uses the license permits. The U.S. Copyright Office's photography guidance explains that the photographer is generally the initial copyright owner unless an applicable work-made-for-hire arrangement changes ownership.

Restrict embargoed, confidential, privileged, personal, and security-sensitive information to authorized people. Do not place sensitive material in a media list, shared AI system, vendor tool, or draft repository unless its use is approved under the relevant policy and agreement. If information was disclosed accidentally, notify the responsible legal, privacy, security, or executive owner immediately.

Make a named person accountable for AI-assisted work

AI can help classify research, explore questions, transcribe approved material, or draft language. A qualified person remains responsible for the output. Verify every fact, quote, citation, calculation, identity, and permission against an authoritative source. Do not use generated people, testimonials, sources, events, data, or images in a way that represents them as real.

Record where AI use affects provenance, confidentiality, rights, or a stakeholder's ability to evaluate the communication. Follow the organization's approved tools, data-handling rules, and disclosure requirements. The PRSA guidance on ethical AI use applies the profession's duties of accuracy, transparency, governance, and accountability to AI-assisted work.

Use an approval and correction workflow

Before publication:

The writer links every material claim to the claim register.
The fact owner confirms accuracy, scope, and currency.
Legal, privacy, security, finance, people, regulatory, or customer reviewers approve the areas they own.
The communication owner checks attribution, sponsorship disclosure, permissions, conflicts, and likely implied claims.
The accountable executive approves the release when company policy requires it.
The team archives the approved version, sources, permissions, and distribution record.

After publication, monitor for errors and stakeholder harm. Record the error, stop further distribution where possible, notify affected owners, correct the primary source, and propagate the correction to pitches, media kits, partner assets, social posts, and internal documents that repeated it. Tell recipients what changed when the original error could affect a decision.