Two concepts that are particularly significant to the ethics of public communication are bias and conflict of interest.

Bias

Suri’s daughter hands her a picture and asks, “what do you think of my drawing?” “I love the colors!” Says Suri. “I think it’s the best drawing of a squirrel ever . . . but I might be biased.” Bias means a tendency toward or against someone or something. In this case, Suri is biased toward this picture because it was made by her daughter.

Although the word bias sometimes has a negative connotation, it is unavoidable in our everyday lives—we all have preferences and predispositions. Bias becomes an ethical problem when it prevents you from making a fair or reasoned choice about something, such as a hiring decision.

In this regard, implicit bias (also known as unconscious bias or implicit stereotype)^[1] is particularly important. As the name suggests, unconscious or implicit bias refers to stereotypes about people that remain hidden to the person who holds them. Unconscious biases can be extremely harmful in many circumstances, for instance, in healthcare^[2], law enforcement,^[3][4], education,^[5] human resources,^[6] and public communication.^[7]

One well-known model for confronting implicit bias is the FLEX model, created by the IBIS consulting group.

The more aware we become of our implicit biases, the more we are able to make decisions based on our conscious, intentional, and ethical principles.

In the public speaking context, the greatest concern about biases—implicit or explicit—is that they can lead to a biased presentation of a topic. A biased presentation presents facts and arguments in a way that favors one side of an argument over another. If one is speaking to inform the audience about a particular topic, a biased presentation, or “hidden agenda,” can be misleading and unethical.

If the purpose is to persuade, the question of bias is a bit trickier. After all, the point of a persuasive speech is to favor one side of an argument. Here, the ethical question is largely about how to handle evidence. If you intentionally distort the evidence, or leave out significant evidence that contradicts your point of view, the resulting argument may be unethically skewed. As a rule of thumb, consider the quote attributed to the politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan: “Everyone is entitled to their own opinions, but they are not entitled to their own facts.”^[10]

A conflict of interest (COI) is an ethical challenge that occurs when an individual or organization is involved in multiple interests that are at odds with one another. Typically, a conflict of interest (COI) arises when an individual finds himself or herself occupying two social roles simultaneously which generate opposing benefits or loyalties. Conflict of interest (COI) is especially problematic in situations involving someone in a position of trust—for instance a spokesperson, journalist, or politician—who has competing professional or personal interests. These competing interests make it hard to act on behalf of one interest without compromising the integrity of the other.

Any media organization has a COI when discussing anything that may impact its ability to communicate as it wants with its audience. Most media, when reporting a story that involves a parent company or a subsidiary, will explicitly report this fact as part of the story, in order to alert the audience that their reporting has the potential for bias due to the possibility of a conflict of interest.

There may be times where you may be asked to speak on behalf of a certain topic in which you have a professional interest or may benefit from financially. In those instances, the ethical speaker will either excuse him or herself from speaking. If unable to do so, he or she may simply disclose the nature of the COI so that everyone is on the same page.