Ethical comms in a world on fire

The Guardian recently ran an article about fiber optic drones becoming one of the deadliest weapons in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. “Experts estimate that drones of all types now contribute to about 70% to 80% of military casualties on both sides,” begins one paragraph before concluding with the observation, “cheap remotely piloted vehicles are increasingly taking the place of artillery.”

Reading those words, it was hard not to recall the fawning media coverage about nature photographers using the same technology to capture “amazing drone’s-eye views of our world,” or event organizers using it to document parties in innovative, cost-effective ways.

Drones can indeed be used to showcase a hotel’s seaside pool, or to take photos of interesting birds midflight. But from the moment this technology was publicized, it was obvious that its most lucrative and research-intensive applications would be violent.

Yet many communications professionals—whether they worked in media newsrooms or marketing departments—chose to emphasize the fun, consumer-facing aspects of the product instead while ignoring its exceptionally clear potential for hurting people. 

It’s time for our industry to stop being so credulous.

Some products or services really are morally neutral. A spreadsheet software tool is sometimes just a spreadsheet software tool—its creators can’t be blamed if some people use it to track their retirement savings while others use it to track their financial crimes. Comms pros who promote such a tool’s adoption can do so with a clean conscience. 

But it’s not hard to imagine a less-innocent scenario, where the spreadsheet software tool is the creation of a company with links to the weapons industry or even less savory actors. Those links might be advertised publicly, or hidden behind a smokescreen of subsidiaries, shell companies, and legal semantics. 

Comms agencies that are good at their work tend to be curious and resourceful. We can’t pretend to be ignorant about the people and products we’re telling the public to trust. In all but the rarest cases, the agency knows what it wants to know. 

Business is never as pure or idealistic as we might want it to be. It does have ethical boundaries, though, and these are especially important at inflection points like the one we’re in now.

Oh, and one more thing…

Because the last word is rarely the end of the conversation.

• This cheerfully oblivious article from the founder of Business Insider about building a “native-AI newsroom” might be the worst thing we’ve ever read about the future of media.

• In contrast, Pitchfork’s article about the Katy Perry space journey is a masterclass of not staying in your publication’s content lane and producing something beautiful as a result.

• More and more are saying it: the AI slop videos about MAGA personalities currently flooding Facebook and other social media sites are turning politics into entertainment like never before.

Pebbles of the month

Much like penguins, we enjoy bringing you little gifts to show we care:

A new study in Scientific Reports found that most people consider their relationship with their dog to be more satisfying than their closest human friendships.

The Center for Global Development is hiring a full-time Communications Manager based in Washington DC, with a starting salary of $72,000-$83,000 plus benefits.   

The British royal family is providing a fine case study in how “transparency” without honesty might be the most off-putting comms strategy of all.

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