Public Relations & Media Writing Chapter 3 Ethical & Legal Responsibility of PR and Media WriterPublic Relations & Media Writing Chapter 3 Ethical & Legal Responsibility of PR and Media Writer @everIntroduction + Jobs in Public Relations are relatively not high in statuj individual are clear exceptions to the indictment. + It is because: + they have a high developed sense of personal and professi drives them to meet the spirit of the law as well as its egplici + they believe that their highest professional obligation is and techniques that are socially responsible. + they uphold the idea that looking after the best interests of priority publics is the best interests of their organizations. + the organizations for which they work are managed by people who are proactive in outlook and behaviour. + Public relations professionals and the organizations that do not meet those standards often cause problems for themselves as well as others. + Example: Firestone/Bridgestone v Ford controversy and space-shuttle burned up on re-entry and spread over east Texas & parts of Louisiana in 2003. @everCore Values and Personal/Professional Behaviour + Human core values are based on his/her personalized belief system - it is influenced by family, friends, education and a faith that a person endorse. « Human personal core values are also applied in workplace. + In organization, professionals core values are develop in mission statement or even formal statement of values - the values are operationalized in the corporate culture that is often set by the organizational leadership - thus when looking for a place to work, an individual need to find an organization that fits within a person own value system. +The concept of values is another way of talking about ethics - it falls into two categories : comparative ethics and normative ethics. @everOrganization and Industry Standards Influence of Personal Standards + A person personal and professional ethical standards come from the core values. Therefore, it is upsetting if a person find that his/her own standard are in conflict with the organization. + To resolve the problem, a person must explore some option: + Try to educate those in the organization to a person's standard, + Refuse the task + Ask that he/she will be given another task + Take the assignment. Influence of Organization & Industry standards + Having high personal and professional standards shows that a person is trying to achieve high position in the organization + The perspective of an organization is infleunced by these factors:- + Perception + Organizational Cultures and Values + Automatic Responses @ervers& Influence of Laws and Regulations Influence of Public Relations Standards of Practice + Every professional field has its own code of ethics and standard of practi + Among the most important standard of practice in public relations are:- + Accuracy + Honesty, truth and fairness + False or misleading information including Public Relations field. Influence of Laws and Regulations + Everything that is written by public relations writer has the potential to spark litigation. + PR practitioners must be aware that they can be legally liable if they are involve client's of employee illegal activity. A PR practitioner/writer can be considered as co-conspirator with other organizational officials if he/she:- + participate in an illegal action such as birbing a government official or covering up information of vital interest to the public health and safety. + counsel and guide the policy behind the legal action + take a major personal part in the illegal action + help establish a ‘front group’ whereby the connection to the public relations firm or its clients is kept hi + Cooperate in any other way to further an illegal action + Some guideline to avoid law problem: + Negative laws + Contracts + Commercial free speech + Libel laws and privacy issues + Copyrights and other rights + Government regulators @erverple oT Legal Fropiem ‘A public relations counselor was quizzed in a California courtroom regarding his role in writing a misleading news release stating that all of the Oakland Raiders's games were sold out for the season. The lawsuit was between the football team and the Oakland Coliseum. + Tyson Foods was ordered by a federal court to stop promoting and publicizing the claim that its chicken didn't contain antibiotics believed to cause drug resistance in humans. The judge agreed with competitors that said the claim was misleading. + The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) fined a former employee of Ogilvy PR Worldwide $34, 000 for passing ‘material, nonpublic information’ to his father, who then used the information to purchase stock. The employee violated ‘insider trading’ rules. + An 81-year-old man sued the United Way of America for using his picture on campaign posters and brochures without his permission. @ever