Chapter 4 and Chapter 5

Key points Chapter 4

• Practitioners must be aware of the law and be proactive in creating and implementing strategies that adhere to ethical codes and law.
• Issues of negligence, defamation, liability, statutory obligations, must be considered. A practitioner should have a general understanding of the law umbrella.
• Practitioners should have a good working relationship with their legal advisers in order to create campaigns with minimal risk in the 'legal environment.'
• Practitioners must be aware of legal risks in the fields of; protecting reputations, protection creative ideas, practitioners' duty of care, legal risk management and technology and future legal directions.
• Reputations are exceedingly important for companies. Defamation results in tarnishing these reputations unlawfully. Defamation arises when semiotics and codes give rise to a negative portrayal of a company. To prove this it must be shown that a third party has viewed the material, they were identified in the publication and that it was defamatory.
• Defamation can arise unintentionally, for example if only one of a pair of researchers on a topic is credited and not the other. Ensuring up to date, accurate information is the best way to avoid this.
• Defenses against defamation include truth, fair comment and privilege.
• Trade Practices Act 1974: This document imposed onerous obligations on corporations and the people who communicate corporations messages. Practitioners should be aware of this document and ensure they do not practice in opposition to it.
• Public relations practitioners should make sure that they vet all press releases and promo material for breach of copyright. Practitioners should also be cautious when publishing online and abide by the Copyright Amendment (Digital Agenda) Act 2000.
• Contracts define the relationship between parties and are used in all facets of PR. When changing contracts practitioners should seek legal advice.
• Legal advisers are an essential component of public relations. They are required to make certain that no breaches of law are occurring and assist in ethical and legal practice.

Key Points Chapter 5

• The nature of contemporary business has prompted a new code to judge the profession of PR, ethics.
• Ethics have become an issue due to corporate practice and the varying levels of education, expertise and functions of people within PR which has led to inconsistency.
  
• Practitioners have a responsibility to practice ethically as their work has the ability to persuade or effect others.
• Ethics refers to the personal values that underpin the behaviour and moral choices made by an individual in response to a certain situation. It is about doing the right thing.
• Practitioners need to be concerned with their own personal ethics, as well as the company's ethics. Seib and Fitzpatrick (1995) talk about the 5 duties of public relations as being to oneself, client, employer, profession and society. These areas should be considered when faced with an ethical dilemna.
• The "Potter box" can be used to analyse ethical dilemnas, separating ethics into four categories; situation, values, principles, loyalties.
  
• We can define ethics as 'doing the right thing,' or more specifically, "an action or practice is right if it leads to the greatest possible balance of good consequences or to the least possible balance of bad consequences."
• Role of ethics in PR: important in practice. Empirical evidence shows ethical practice leads to greater managerial prospects. PR Practitioners, in terms of ethics, are often cast into the role of counsellor or advocate in order to achieve desirable goals.
• Practitioners also play the role of corporate monitor, meaning they must interpret and guide an organisation's goals in order to meet the expectations of the publics they serve. In this capacity they must show corporate conscience in making ethical decisions for corporations and their publics.
• Most ethical challenges in PR stem from social responsibility issues or relationship issues with a client or employer, news media, stakeholders or colleagues. Ethical dilemnas arise when practitioners are forced to make decisions in the fields of interpersonal relationships, corporate relationships and responsibilities and responsibility to stakeholders.
  
• The ethical frameworks practitioners should abide by are the PRIA (Public Relations Institute of Australia), the MEAA (Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance), PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) and the IABC (International Association of Business Communicators), all of which focus on ethical principles in communication and public relations.
• Codes of conducts are documents which outline the expectations of behaviour of employees and suppliers. They generally provide philosophical company statements and behavioural expectations.
• The pursuit of ethical practice is a step towards cementing PR as a profession. The modern climate requires practitioners to fill a number of decision making and managerial roles in which they must practice ethics for a wider public rather than mere self interest.