This week on EthicalVoices, Amie Hoffner, Vice President of Corporate Communications at American Dairy Queen Corporation, shares why communicators need the same protections as attorney–client privilege — and how to stay ethical when the lines between PR, marketing, and media blur. She discusses:

· Why communicators should have the same legal protections as lawyers

· How to avoid "on background" disasters

· Why trusting your gut isn't enough

· How to counsel executives in media interviews

· Why crisis simulations should include an ethical dilemma

Dick Martin, the retired Chief Communication Officer for AT&T and Chairman of the Board of the PR Museum, discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:

1) How a single racist cartoon exposed deeper organizational issues and sparked meaningful change

2) Why telling the truth in PR isn't always easy

3) Why strong ethics requires more than good intentions

4) Why you should be careful about getting too clever

This week on Ethical Voices, Tammy Gordon, the (past) public information department manager for the Coachella Valley Mosquito and Vector Control District. [Editors note: I sat on this interview for way too long and she is now Director of Public Affairs at the Citrus Heights Water District], discusses a number of important ethical issues, including:

· How to navigate ethical conflict when your job challenges your personal values

· How to intervene when colleagues prioritize quick fixes over responsible practices

· How to address unethical behavior without triggering defensiveness

· Why silence in the face of misinformation is an ethical failure

This week on Ethical Voices, Carolyn Smith Casertano, MA, APR, Fellow PRSA, professor of practice in the Department of Communication at the University of Arizona, discusses a number of important ethics issues including;

1) How to effectively address management decisions that conflict with your values

2) What to do when a client tries to hire your staff

Fabiana Meléndez Ruiz, a strategic storyteller serving as the founder and CEO of Refuerzo Collaborative, discusses a number of important ethics issues including:

1) How to counsel effectively when your client has a culturally insensitive idea 2) How can you help organizations go beyond their biases 3) Unexpected ways PR pros fail ethically with the media 4) The most overlooked part of a PR person's job

Bill Swanger, APR, Fellow PRSA, the founder of William Swanger Communications, shares a number of important ethical issues, including:

1) Why it is important to ethically address financial mistakes and clarify misunderstandings

2) Ethically navigating paid and unpaid content

Tatevik Simonyan, the co-founder and director of communications and international relations at SPRING PR company in Armenia, discusses:

1) How to best counsel your client when they want to respond unethically to an unethical competitor

2) How to react calmly and ethically in highly emotional crises

3) Should PR create a global code of ethics for influencer marketing

4) What companies should know about PR in Armenia

Erin Kennedy, the ethics committee chair for the PRSA Central California Chapter, discusses:

1) What to do when your boss wants to disclose information before you should

2) How to better understand how those spreading misinformation think

Captain Barbara Bell, U.S. Navy (ret). Captain Bell was one of Annapolis's first female graduates and has a distinguished career as an aviator and naval flight test officer. Today, she teaches at the US Naval Academy and may discuss ethics even more than I do.

In this interview she discusses a number of important ethics issues, including:

1) The importance of the really small things

2) The ethics framework being taught to future Navy officers – and how everyone can apply it

3) How to understand and avoid biases

4) Never forget you are a role model

This week on Ethical Voices, Missy Hurley, the co-founder and CEO of B2 Communications, discusses a number of important ethics issues:

· What to do when advocacy groups change your words to spread misinformation

· How to deal with biased reporters

· When ethically to disclose you used AI