The Project on Ethics in Political Communication officially launched six months ago this week. Since then, we’ve been busy and are picking up steam. Some highlights of our first six months include:
Five Questions
The Project has been asking political communication professionals, professors, pundits, students, and others the same Five Questions about ethics in political communication. This series can help students and teachers discuss ethics in political communication, and can help all of us understand what it means to be an ethical advocate.
“Tell the truth. Feel free to position the story in terms favorable to your side or in the best light, but in the end, you need to tell the truth.” - Frank Maisano, strategic communications consultant and former senior Republican Congressional staffer.
Everyone from the Washington Post’s Jennifer Rubin, to the executive director of the Professional Speechwriters Association, to a tech entrepreneur, and more have weighed in.
“Your parents probably raised you to be a good, decent and honest person who treats others the right way – working in politics is not an excuse to abandon those lessons; it places a higher burden on you to honor them.” - Oren Shur, Democratic communications consultant.
Do you want to weigh in? Do you know others who should? Email me at ploge@gwu.edu.
"There’s a huge difference between demanding the press do better and calling a cornerstone of our democracy somehow an opponent or enemy of that democracy." - Peter Loge on Sinclair
Press Attention
The media are starting to notice the Project. Over the past few months I’ve talked about the Project on WRNR radio and the SiriusXM POTUS channel, and I weighed in on presidential candidate attacks on the press on Sinclair TV stations.
Speaking
Students, professors, and professionals are increasingly inviting the Project to speak. I have led discussions about political communication ethics with Junior State of America students, CloseUp Foundation teachers, students at UConn, Yale and American University, and staff at a strategic communications consulting firm. In the coming months I am scheduled to speak at a national conference for communication professionals, at UMass Boston, Oregon State University, and elsewhere with more in the works.
Is there a group we should talk to? Let me know.
Over the next six months we will continue to reach out to press, speak to groups, and promote the study, teaching, and practice of ethics in political communication. The edited volume, Political Communication Ethics in Theory and Practice is on track for release from Rowman & Littlefield next spring, which will bring its own push.
You can help by sharing your ideas, using the Five Questions in classrooms, following the Project on Twitter and Facebook, inviting us to speak, and spreading the word.
Stay tuned, and stay in touch.
Peter Loge, director