IPRA Code of Athens – the first international code of public relations ethics: Its development and implementation since 1965

In 1965, the International Public Relations Association (IPRA) adopted the International Code of Ethics, which became known as the Code of Athens (IPRA 2001). The Code was authored by Lucien Matrat, a French public relations pioneer, and reflected a hopeful, post-World War 2 ethical framework with its strong linkage to the United Nation’s Universal Declaration of Human Rights of 1948 (IPRA, 1994). A code of ethics was an early strategic imperative of IPRA, established 10 years before, and was coupled with a Code of Conduct, known as the Code of Venice of 1961 (IPRA, 1961, 2009). Both codes were adopted by many national public relations associations and widely promoted. Amongst the recipients of presentation copies of the Code of Athens were Pope Paul VI and government leaders. The Code was simultaneously adopted by the Centre Européenne des Relations Publiques (CERP). Bowen (2007) says it was based on “general moral principles of ethical behavior, such as the focus on dignity, respect, and human rights” (p. 1). Using sources from the IPRA archive, which only became available in 2011, and an interview with the sole surviving IPRA founder, the paper explores the Code’s evolution and its subsequent implementation and modification. A feature of the debate within IPRA about the Code was whether it was a statement of moral standards or a statement of ideals to which members should aspire. Prominent IPRA members from Anglo-American countries considered that the Code, while laudable, was unenforceable and impractical. In 1968, the Code was amended and made less rigorous. In the late 1990s, IPRA members from Eastern Europe and the Middle East asked for a “simple English” version as the Code’s language, originally translated from French, was considered difficult to comprehend. There was a further revision in 2009. In 2011, IPRA consolidated the Codes of Venice, Athens and Brussels into a single, 18-point code (IPRA, 2011). IPRA’s archive (to 2002), however, does not show any disciplinary application of the Codes to its members and their conduct over 37 years from 1965. The paper also considers the historical issues of preparing and implementing deontological ethical statements for public relations (Bowen, 2007; Budd, 1991; Fitzpatrick and Bronstein, 2006; IPRA, 2007; Parsons, 2005; Seib and Fitzpatrick, 1995)

Imagining the Lives of Others: Empathy in Public Relations

This paper asks how we might theorise empathy in public relations (PR) in the light of a widespread ‘turn’ towards emotion in the academy, as well as in popular discourse. Two distinct notions of empathy are explored: ‘true’empathy as discussed in intercultural communication, is driven by a human concern for the other in order to understand experiences, feelings and situations that may be different from our own; whereas ‘instrumental’ empathy, reflecting a self orientation, is said to characterise much neoliberal market discourse in which corporations are urged to understand their customers better. Thus, while empathy may seem highly desirable as a means to enter into dialogue with an organisation’s publics, particularly during times of social upheaval and crisis, it is important to pay attention to empathy in public relations discourses including whose goals are served by empathetic engagement; and the type(s) of empathy called upon within a PR context. A literature review identified a socio-cultural definition of empathy as ‘imaginary effort’. A review of the public relations literature, however, found that while empathy is considered an important principle and personal attribute, notions of empathy, with a few exceptions, are under-explored. Nonfunctionalist, socio-cultural research which examines the meanings that practitioners associate with empathy is distinctly lacking; therefore in order to gain further insight into empathy, two sources of data were explored. The analysis of a popular online practitioner blog showed that other-centred empathic skill is discursively framed as instrumental in achieving clients’ business objectives. The analysis of three empathy statements drawn from 12 in-depth interviews with practitioners revealed complex empathic discourse in practitioner-client relationships. While the findings are limited to illustrative analyses only, this paper challenges researchers to develop conceptualisations and perspectives of empathy as imaginary effort in public relations

Professionalizing corporate professions: Professionalization as identity project

Professional bodies have traditionally played a core role in professionalization, setting the ideals for professional identity, knowledge and practice. However, the emergence of corporate professions has problematized the role of the professional body in contemporary professionalization. This article examines the role of the professional body and its ability to resonate with practitioners’ professional identity construction through empirical analysis of public relations. The article introduces the concept of professionalization as identity project as another means by which to understand attempts at social closure in emergent corporate professions. For professionalization as identity project to be fully realized, the research suggests the blending of traditional discourses of professionalism with emergent discourses of entrepreneurialism is required. Consequently, the study highlights that corporate professionalization as identity project reflects the contemporary tensions and contradictions between the lived reality and orthodox ideology of ‘being a professional’

Keyword Spotting Implementation to Mobil Phone (Symbian 60)

Keyword spotting is one of the many applications of automatic speech recognition. Its purpose is determining spots in given utterance in which some of the specified words were spoken. Keyword spotting has a great potential to enhance performance of new applications as well as the existing ones. An example could be a mobile phone voice control. Due to OS Symbian's coming to the market it is even possible for end user to implement a keyword spotting for a mobile phone on his or her own. The thesis describes theoretical prerequisites for keyword spotting and its implementation. Firstly the OS Symbian is presented with respect to the given task. Secondly each step of keyword spotting process is described. Finally the object design of keyword spotter is presented followed by implementation description. The thesis concludes with results review and notes on possible improvements

Rayonnement cosmique dans l'aviation − Y a t-il un siège pour la radioprotection ?

D'où provient le rayonnement cosmique ? À quelles expositions peut-il conduire pour les personnels navigants et les passagers des avions ? Au regard de ces expositions, quelles sont les actions de protection qui pourraient être recommandées ? Voici quelques-unes des questions qui ont été explorées par la Commission internationale de protection radiologique (CIPR). La CIPR vient de publier un rapport (Publication 132) qui constitue ses dernières recommandations sur le sujet