TARES: Ethical Message Development

Message development is central to each of the public relations models. As such, professionals need to incorporate ethical literacy into their messaging. While the ethical orientations described earlier provide guidance, the TARES test developed by Baker and Martinson and Gower offer specific guidance in message development:

These questions offer professionals a means to incorporate ethical literacy throughout the message creation and dissemination process. By considering TARES, professionals can better balance the priority of the organization and society to ensure that their public relations practice reaches the ethical maturity found in the two-way symmetrical public relations model.