"Communication is a power" says SCC conference panelist Chandran
The world has witnessed the effects of unethical communication practices in the last few years: fake news, alternate facts, mis- and disinformation that cause conflict, injury, even death.
Raaj Chandran believes there’s a better way.
An associate faculty member of Royal Roads University’s School of Communication and Culture (SCC), Chandran is also principal of his own communication consulting firm, Verafluenti Inc., and has two decades of communication, public relations, advertising and marketing experience in Canada, the U.S. and Singapore.
He will be part of a panel discussion titled "RE(story)ing our humanity: How are we going to be together in the times ahead?" at the SCC’s third annual Conference on Communication Ethics, on Feb. 22 and 23. The conference is virtual and free to attend.
“Communication is a power. You can use it for good or for negative purposes, and because it’s such a persuasive power, it requires responsible handling,” says Chandran, who earned a Master of Arts in Mass Communication (specializing in public relations) from University of Florida and Master of Business Administration (specializing in advertising) from Ohio State University.
“It’s very topical, this conference… especially given the chaos that the world has seen in the past several years with the rise of the era of ‘fake news.’ Where is the ethical handling of communication?”
And he notes unethical communication — from stretching the truth to outright lies — isn’t limited to political actors.
“In many corporations, unfortunately, financial aspirations tend to squash ethical considerations,” he says. “If it comes to a choice between making more money and doing the right thing, many corporations would choose making more money — because it’s often more expensive and difficult to do the right thing.”
Whoever is communicating unethically and in whatever sphere, that has to change as humanity faces myriad challenges, from global inequalities to pandemics to the destructive and deadly effects of climate change.
Chandran says one path to change is through inclusive communications. He says that means not tolerance, but acceptance, and requires greater awareness and recognition of the communication systems and wisdom of civilizations around the world, and a departure from relying exclusively on what comes out of Western academia.
For instance, he says there is much to learn from Indigenous peoples in North America and around the world, and notes their ways of being, knowing and communicating — even their science — are focused on the interconnectedness of all living things. Ethics are built into the core of such worldviews.
This approach affects his own practice.
“[We must] use communication to help people, the community and the planet. And that’s the vision of my little fledgling business — it’s to use our expertise to do something positive, it’s not just to make money at the expense of ethics.”
His advice: “You have professional ethics and you have personal ethics. How do you align the two? If anything, trust your personal ethics, which are after all the foundation of most professional codes of ethics.”
Ultimately, he asks that communication professionals ask themselves, “Are we using our power for the right thing?”
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