WHY SCAMMY FUNDRAISING PRACTICES SHOULD CONCERN BOTH SIDES
Mike Nellis, Campaigns & Elections, April 19, 2021
None of us got into this business to scam seniors out of their money. Most of us got into politics because we have deeply held values and principles about where we want this country to go and the kind of dignity people deserve. We need to remember that and take a good, hard look at how we’re raising money online.
FROM FUNDRAISING TO CAMPAIGN ADS: THE ETHICS CONSIDERATIONS FOR CONSULTANTS
Sean J. Miller, Campaigns & Elections, January 12, 2021
Last week’s deadly riot at the U.S. Capitol will reverberate in this country and within the campaign industry for years to come. To shed some light on the path forward, we’ve asked a large group of top practitioners from both parties what role consultants can play in making sure that path forward isn’t one that leads to increased political violence.
THE ETHICAL RESPONSIBILITY FOR CONSULTANTS IN THIS MOMENT
Susan Del Percio and Oren Shur, Campaigns & Elections, December 14, 2020
Consultants get paid to win the next election or pass the next bill. But we must never mistake the immediate goal for the greater stakes.
Each of us loves politics, has strong views about policy, and shares a love of our democracy. It’s up to us, and everyone like us, to ensure that love of democracy comes first.
VOTE BY MAIL IS GOOD FOR DEMOCRACY AND GOOD FOR CANDIDATES
Peter Loge, Campaigns & Elections, November 9, 2020
We all got into politics because we believed in both an idea and a political system that allows us to advocate for that idea. Those of us lucky enough to make a living as advocates – doing the work of democracy – have a special obligation to that democracy. Promoting [vote by mail] offers one of their rare chances to do what’s both best for our candidate and best for our democratic system at the same time.
A call to find a new rhetoric for a humble civil religion
Peter Loge, The Fulcrum, July 13 2020
Our politics has become, in popular parlance, tribal. The challenge is finding a rhetoric that binds us together…
One answer is a humble civil religion that recognizes we are moving from a flawed but optimistic place toward a more perfect union — and that we can only do so together.
Pete Buttigieg’s Ethical Rhetoric of Civil Religion
Peter Loge, Current Commentary, June 10 2020
Former Presidential candidate Pete Buttigieg roots much of his rhetoric in appeals to a prophetic vision of American civil religion. Such appeals are effective, ethical, and can be used by candidates across the political spectrum.
A CALL TO TEACH POLITICAL COMMUNICATION ETHICS
Peter Loge, Media Ethics, Spring 2020
THE ETHICS OF RUNNING FOR OFFICE IN A PANDEMIC
Peter Loge, The Hill, March 24, 2020
Every candidate will handle the ethics of campaigning in the coronavirus crisis differently. But every candidate should set ethical boundaries early and stick within those boundaries.
SPEECHWRITER! NEITHER A PROFESSIONAL WHORE NOR A PIPSQUEAK MORALIST BE.
David Murray, Writing Boots, January 14, 2020
Obviously, we can't serve as a consistent conscience for our clients if we don't have a strong conscience of our own. But neither are you and I authorities on what is in the public interest on every issue, even if we're pretty sure what we think of casinos.
THE LINK BETWEEN POOR DECISIONS ABOUT MONEY AND ETHICS
Peter Loge, Campaigns and Elections, October 7, 2019
You lose your ethical mooring the same way you go broke: Slowly at first, then all at once.
HOW WE TALK ABOUT WHAT HAPPENS NEXT MATTERS
Peter Loge, The Hill, October 6, 2019
Our democracy is an argument for itself. Our system is the result of a debate about a set of ideas about how to structure political debate. That we talk to each other, and how we talk to each other, is central to the American experiment.
CAN RUNNING AN ETHICAL CAMPAIGN HELP YOU WIN?
Sean Miller, Campaigns and Elections, September 6, 2019
You don’t have to look far in the campaign industry to find questionable strategic and business practices, but a practitioner-turned-academic is hoping to start an “ethical campaign movement.”
POLITICAL PROFESSIONALS HAVE DUTY TO UPHOLD OUR CONSTITUTIONAL REPUBLIC
Peter Loge, The Hill, November 30, 2017
“Those of us who work in politics have obligations to the political system. This system, our constitutional republic, is a bold experiment in governance that demands respect and needs nurturing to survive. Our system succeeds or fails based on how those of us in system behave, and we need to behave better.”
MORE COMPLICATED THAN HE THINKS
David Murray, Editor, Vital Speeches of the Day, September 20, 2017
“Whether you're a press secretary or a speechwriter, when you admit to lying to the public on behalf of your clients, "you lose the right to get huffy about your integrity," as Frum puts it.”
#1: THE ART AND ETHICS OF POLITICAL SPEECHWRITING, PART 1 - BOB LEHRMAN (PODCAST)
The Swagmen, May 14, 2017
“Bob Lehrman was Chief Speechwriter for Vice President Al Gore from 1993-95. An accomplished author and novelist, he was mentored by none other than Kurt Vonnegut. Bob's book, The Political Speechwriters Companion: A Guide for Speakers and Writers, is acclaimed by both the left and right of politics.
The Swagmen chat with Bob about life in the White House, Obama's best speeches, and how you can persuade audiences using time-honoured rhetorical techniques.”
#2: THE ART AND ETHICS OF POLITICAL SPEECHWRITING, PART 2 - DON WATSON (PODCAST)
The Swagmen, May 18, 2017
Don Watson was Prime Minister Paul Keating's speechwriter from 1992-1996. Don's work included the Unknown Soldier Speech, and the famous Redfern Park Address, the writing of which he described in his biography of the Keating era, Recollections of a Bleeding Heart. Don is also an award-winning author and an academic historian.
The Swagmen meet Don in Melbourne to discuss what's gone wrong with the use of language in Australian public life, why key differences exist between US and Australian political rhetoric, and the real reason why he and Keating haven't spoken in 15 years.
COMMUNICATION ETHICS: PRINCIPLE AND PRACTICE
Robert Beckett, Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 8, 2004
Communication ethics, this paper argues, is a discipline ready for application to communication management and is particularly relevant as we enter an “age of information”. With a moral foundation firmly set in the social and human sciences, communication ethics offers managers a means to face unpredictable futures with greater certainty and purpose. This paper outlines an approach in which all decision making and its communication are understood as having an ethical grounding. Such an application empowers managers to act with integrity across the spectrum of their varied communication roles: through management and internal communications, public affairs and marketing; in advertising, media and publishing, and in the use of information technology. Positioned independently from the professional bodies of communication, an interdisciplinary ethics offers practitioners skills and moral frameworks that can be shared across professions and used to compare and evaluate their practice. This paper concludes by presenting a model of communication ethics that individual managers can use to prescribe a more sensitive and dynamic human‐ethical environment.
TOWARD AND ETHICAL FRAMEWORK FOR POLITICAL MARKETING
Nicholas O'Shaughnessy, Psychology and Marketing, November 21, 2002
This article seeks to focus and organize the public and academic debate on the ethics of political marketing by soliciting answers in the application of ethical theory. Principal ethical theories of interest to marketing and the particular illumination they lend to political marketing are discussed. Often the answer they yield is ambivalent (not least because ethical propositions can only be argued, never resolved). It is concluded that, although utilitarians and others tip the balance in favor of political marketing practice, the strength of the contractarian critique means there is no closure in this debate. © 2002 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
COMMENTARY ‐ MACHIAVELLI, POLITICAL MARKETING AND REINVENTING GOVERNMENT
Phil Harris, European Journal of Marketing, Vol. 35, 2001
“Niccolò Machiavelli is used as a guide to some of the key issues facing modern government and applies his insights into the effective management and development of civic society. Political marketing, good governance, lobbying, ethics and effective communication with the consumer is developed.”
THE ETHICS OF POLITICAL COMMUNICATION
Manuel Parés i Maicas, European Journal of Communication, December 1995
“Ethics of journalism (communication) has become an important issue because of the paramount role of the mass media in social life and their frequent bias. A vital aspect in this field is the ethics of political communication. This article analyses from an ethical perspective the main elements of the political communication process, e.g. the communicators, the receivers, the function of the mass media, the purpose and the content of political language. Any ethical analysis must take into account the law of communication and the fact that communication is a fundamental human right. The article concludes that it is difficult to set up a positive link between politics and ethics, nor, by the same token, is it feasible to conceive of political communication as being presided over by ethics.”
THE ETHICS OF POLITICAL MARKETING PRACTICES, THE RHETORICAL PERSPECTIVE
Steve Banker, Journal of Business Ethics, Vol 11 No 11, Nov 1992
Negative “attack ads” used in political campaigns have been attacked as being unethical because they contribute to voter cynicism and apathy and as being manipulative. From a rhetorical perspective these advertisements serve a positive societal function by creating alternative rhetorical visions that can contribute to the marketplace of ideas.