Ethic in Public Speaking
Understanding Ethics
NCA Credo for Ethical Communication
National Communication Association Credo for Ethical Communication
Ethical communication enhances human worth and dignity by fostering truthfulness, fairness, responsibility, personal integrity, and respect for self and others. NCA Credo for Ethical Communication is designed to inspire discussions of ethics related to all aspects of human communication.
NCA Credo for Ethical Communication believes that unethical communication threatens the quality of all communication and consequently the well-being of individuals and the society in which we live.
Therefore, the following principles of ethical speaking have been introduced, and how it is impactful for public speaking.
1. We advocate truthfulness, accuracy, honesty, and reason as essential to the integrity of communication.
2. We endorse freedom of expression, diversity of perspective, and tolerance of dissent to achieve the informed and responsible decision making fundamental to a civil society.
3. We strive to understand and respect other communicators before evaluating and responding to their messages.
4. We promote access to communication resources and opportunities as necessary to fulfill human potential and contribute to the well-being of families, communities, and society.
5. We promote communication climates of caring and mutual understanding that respect the unique needs and characteristics of individual communicators.
6. We condemn communication that degrades individuals and humanity through distortion, intimidation, coercion, and violence, and through the expression of intolerance and hatred.
7. We are committed to the courageous expression of personal convictions in pursuit of fairness and justice.
8. We advocate sharing information, opinions, and feelings when facing significant choices while also respecting privacy and confidentiality.
9. We accept responsibility for the short- and long-term consequences of our own communication and expect the same of others.
Thus far we have gone through the basic need of ethics in public speaking, it is important to being an ethical speaker by putting the knowledge together into practice by thinking through possible ethical pitfalls prior to standing up and speaking out!