After leading an impressive career in advertising and communication Linda Thomas Brooks ‘85 (Journalism) has made it her mission to promote ethics in the public relations field.
Thomas Brooks currently serves as CEO of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), where she focuses on equipping almost 30,000 members with the knowledge and tools necessary to become effective communicators who can sort through the noise and disinformation in the current media landscape.
“I wake up thinking, ‘What is the landscape for media? How are we going to keep ourselves as a credible source of information to the broader society?’” said Thomas Brooks. “Now we focus a lot on helping our members sort out the issues around disinformation.”
Within PRSA, a committee of volunteers, known as the Board of Ethics and Professional Standards (BEPS), carefully reviews the current code of ethics and applies it to current issues within the industry and how members should apply the code.
Recently, BEPS released a robust white paper on the use of AI and how and when public relations professionals can ethically use AI tools.
“We made the PRSA code of ethics as it relates to the use of AI in communications practice available to anybody in the industry, not just to our members. A lot of people, including some non-members, are telling me that's been their go-to guide,” says Thomas Brooks.
Prior to PRSA, Thomas Brooks founded the Institute for Advertising Ethics, an independent body that promotes greater ethical practices in the advertising communications industry with trainings and certifications. The institute recently launched an environmental communications framework, guiding professionals on “greenwashing” in communication and how to prevent it.
“We've created curriculums around ethical standards for advertisers, and we just released a whole climate communications framework. All these things dovetail nicely into the whole ecosystem we're building as communications professionals,” said Thomas Brooks.
Thomas Brooks’ mindset regarding ethical and integrity practices for emerging communication technologies and topics grew after she worked with several PR and advertising agencies, which exposed her to emerging digital communication technologies.
One notable experience was with General Motors (GM), where she formerly served as an executive vice president and managing director from 1995 to 2005. During her time there, Thomas Brooks acquired technological expertise and led her team while also managing almost a billion dollars in annual media spending to support all of GM’s brands.
All of those brands were later consolidated into GM Mediaworks, expanding into non-automotive sectors like credit cards and insurance. At GM Mediaworks, their team developed a proprietary ad server for online advertising, a learning experience Thomas Brooks applied to subsequent roles in her career.
“It got me into the advertising technology world, which I found fascinating and occasionally frightening because it was stuff I didn't know. I didn't have that background, but I went to work for a technology company after that because that was fascinating to me,” said Thomas Brooks.
After working in several different managerial and executive communication roles, Thomas Brooks pivoted to the magazine industry, where she served as the president and CEO of The Association of Magazine Media. She credits her involvement in magazine media to her interest in producing professionally researched, written, edited, produced and curated content.
“At the time, I was a parent of young children. Would I want to think about how I’m helping my children or treating them based on a headline and one person’s perspective? Or do I want this very educated, researched, really well thought out piece?” said Thomas Brooks. That would be the reference point. We did that across a number of stories and a number of media brands.”
Maintaining integrity and ethical standards is at the forefront of Thomas Brooks’ work, which is evident throughout her career. She continues to embody these values by serving on the Dean’s Advisory Council for the College of Arts and Sciences, the Board of Advisors for the Buckeye Leadership Fellows Program at Ohio State and the School of Communication Advancement Board.
“I love the famous Woody Hayes quote, ‘You can never really pay Ohio State back, but you can pay it forward,’” said Thomas Brooks. “So, that's my opportunity to pay forward by helping to support those programs.”
Article by students Kobie Parrish and Jessica Barboza
