Public Relations and the law 04 07 2013 Fundamental difference in legal vs PR advice Lawyers correctly advice clients on what they should must do within the letter of legal requirements to defend themselves in the court of law PR advisers counsel clients on not what they must do but what they should do to defend themselves in the court of public opinion Defamation Law termed by media Defamation the umbrella term used to describe libel a printed falsehood and slander oral falsehood For defamation to be proved a plaintiff must convince court that certain requirements have been met including The falsehood was communicated through print broadcast or other electronic means The person who is the subject of the falsehood was identified or easily identifiable The identified person has suffered injury in the form of monetary losses reputational loss or mental suffering In order for a public figure to prove defamation of character they must show that the media acted with actual malice in their reporting Actual malice in a public figure slander case means the statements have been published with the knowledge that they were false or with reckless disregard for whether the statements were false Insider Trading Nowhere in PR practice is an understanding of the law more important than in the are of securities law every public company has an obligation to deal frankly and immediately with any information that is considered material A material announcement is one that might cause investors to buy hold or sell a stock The Securities and Exchange Commission SEC came up with a general portrait of disclosure requirements for practitioners their main concern is that all investors have opportunity to learn about material information as promptly as possible SEC s mandate stems from the Securities Act of 1933 the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 cid 224 attempted to protect the public from abuses in the insurance and sale of securities Exchange act rule 10b 5 cid 224 SEC strictly prohibits the dissemination of false or misleading information to investors Also prohibits insider trading of securities on the basis of material information not disclosed to the public Disclosure Law In 2000 SEC adopted Regulation FD fair disclosure requires companies to widely disseminate any material announcement learned in private meetings between companies and analysts which are closed to media therefore investors who rely on media for financial info even if a material announcement slips out to an analyst company is required to issue a news release within 24 hours In 2002 Sarbanes Oxley Act sponsored by senator Paul Serbanes and Rep Michael Oxley came as a result of the large corporate financial scandals involving Enron Worldcom Global Crossing and Arthur Anderson Required all publicly traded companies to increase financial disclosure and submit an annual report of the effectiveness of their internal accounting controls to the SEC with criminal and civil penalties for noncompliance Copyright Law Different than Trademark law which refers to a word symbol or slogan that identifies a product or its sponsor aka Nike swoosh Under the Copyright Act of 1976 an original work of authorship has copyright protection from the moment the work is in the following fixed meaning that the work is sufficiently permanent to permit it to be perceived and communicated form Literary works musical works dramatic works pantomimes and choreographic works pictorial graphic sculptural works motion pictures sound recordings Courts have decided that for the purpose of criticism news reporting teaching scholarship or research use of copyrighted material is not an infringement but rather fair use Internet Law Censorship 1996 congress passed Communications Decency Act CDA introduced criminal penalties and fines for making indecent speeches available to a person under 18 1977 Supreme court declares CDA unconstitutional 1988 Congress passed the Child Online Protection Act COPA made it a federal crime to knowingly communicate for commercial purposes material considered harmful to minors 2002 2004 the high court again repelled legislation to censor child porn on the web ruling that it would be unconstitutional to criminalize protected free speech on the web 2008 American Civil Liberties Union continued to challenge COPA which led the charge to keep the internet free of censorship even if deemed harmful to minors Intellectual Property Cybersquatting Grabbing domain names in bad faith for the purpose of tormenting a rightful registrant Ex Kmart s site kmartsucks com Current trademark laws prohibits a compay from registering a name that s exactly duplicates a registered trademark E Fraud Pretending to be someone your not fake sites or emails Click fraud occurs when effort is initiated to register multiple clicks to drive specific listings in a higher search ranking algorithm Legislation PR best defined as managing the media process during the course of any legal dispute so as to affect the outcome impact on client s reputation 7 keys to litigation visibility learn the process develop a message strategy settle fast anticipate high profile variables keep the focus positive try settling again fight nicely Management 04 07 2013 PR today is much more a planned persuasive social managerial science than a damage control reaction to sudden flare ups Management Process Managers insist on results so the best PR programs can be measured in terms of achieving results in building key relationships on which the organization depends According to James Grunig and Todd Hunt PR managers perform what organizational theorists call a boundary role The function at the edge of an organization as a liaison between the organization and its external and internal publics in other words PR managers have one foot inside organization and one foot out Top managers must constantly ask what are we attempting to achieve and where are we going in that pursuit What is the nature of the environment in which we must operate Who are the key audiences we must convince in the process How will we get to where we want to be It s this procedural mind set directed at communicating key messages to realize desired objectives to priority publics that makes PR professional a key advisor to top management Reporting to top management According to research if the PR professional doesn t have knowledge of the organization s business the professional is much less effective as top management advisers PR should be
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