Communications education and training: ethics and professionalism [Guest Editorial]

Since antiquity, the difficulty of fulfilling multiple and sometimes conflicting moral obligations to different parties has been well recognized. By the 19th century, the emergence of engineering as a distinct profession was accompanied by a need to clarify the relationship between the self interest that practitioners of engineering have in advancing their careers and business interests, and their moral obligations to society, to their employers and/or clients, and to their profession.