Week 6 Blog

This week’s readings explain two key aspects that are important in the practice of public relations, the legal environment and ethical practice. As each of these chapters is significant I will consider each of them separately.

Chapter 4- The Legal Environment

To ensure quality public relations outcomes, practitioners need to take a role in development strategies to minimise the legal risks associated with the functions and roles they perform. The chapter argues that public relation decisions must be made in the context of the legal environment, practitioners must take an active role in assessing and responding to legal risk. As a part of their day to day jobs practitioners must negotiate with lawyers on the strategies employed to minimise harm, otherwise public relation outcomes could be compromised.

I found the Mc Donald’s case study on page 77 was particularly interesting in that it demonstrated that in particular legal situations it may be better to negotiate a settlement or seek some alternative means of resolving conflict then to expose clients to public scrutiny, as in the Mc Donald’s case where both company’s were defamed. In this particular case it was evident that legal issues can affect both reputations and relationships.

Key litigation that should probably be noted is the tort of negligence, the tort of defamation, copyright laws the trades and practices acts, real property law, intellectual property law and copyright law.

Chapter 5 – Ethical Practices

Chapter 5 defines ethics as the personal values which underpins the behaviour and moral choices made by an individual in response to a specific situation. In public relations practice ethical behaviour relates both to the practitioner and to organisations. Practitioners therefore need to be concerned with their own personal and professional ethics as well as with the institutional ethics of the organisation for which they work.

I found it interesting that the text cited empirical evidence which shows that practitioners who base their decisions and recommendations to management on ethical principles are more likely to have a greater role in management and organisational activities.

In public relations most ethical challenges stem from social responsibility issues or from relationship issues with a client or employer, the news media, stakeholders or colleagues. They usually result from poor relationships, inadequate corporate standards and conflicting obligations in certain situations where the values of a client, employer and society may not be easily reconcilable with a practitioners own values.

Ethics are now becoming more important in public relations and organisational strategy. Organisations are adopting a broader more socially conscious view of their company’s responsibilities to employees, customers and the communities in which they operate.

Conclusion

After yet another theoretical reading it’s apparent that when developing campaigns and the like in public relations there is a variety of issues that need to be considered so that the role of the practitioner while being strategic as noted in week 5’s readings is still ethical and legally responsible.