Week 6: Chapter 4 Blog

1. I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were...
- Practitioners need foundation knowledge on several bodies of law as there is no one over-arching body of law covering public relations.
- PR decisions must be made in context of the legal environment.
- It is often more beneficial for an organization to negotiate a settlement or seek some alternative means of resolving conflict than to expose clients to public scrutiny.
- The bodies of law that govern PR are diverse and complex.
- The key areas to be considered in the legal environment are:
· protecting reputations
· protecting creative ideas
· the practitioner’s duty of care
· legal risk management
· technology and future legal directions in a public relations context
- Reputations are integral to contemporary PR.
- “A reputation is generally something an organization has with strangers, but a relationship is generally something an organization has with its friends and associates.”
- Legal issues can affect reputations and relationships.
- The tort of defamation limits what a PR practitioner can publish, but it also allows practitioners and their clients to protect their reputations.
- A PR practitioner can defame someone unintentionally and without even knowing that person exists.
- At common law the defenses to defamation are truth, fair comment and privilege. These vary between the states and territories.
- The court will take three factors into account when determining whether there is a duty to publish to the world:
· the extent of the publication
· the proportion of readers who have a legitimate interest in receiving the communication
· whether the publication is for commercial gain
- A defamatory publication is costly in terms of reputations, time and money.
- The Trade Practices Act 1974 is set of laws that PR practitioners need to consider.
- Section 52 of the act and the equivalent state provisions impose onerous obligations on organizations and those people who communicate the organization’s message.
- There are many legal aspects related to the real and creative property in public relations.
- The main rules to follow are:
· Real property law
· Personal property law
· Intellectual property law
· Copyright Act 1968
- It is unlikely that a PR practitioner would take action against a media outlet for circulating their message, as this would be the primary intention of releasing the communication.
- Confidentiality agreements are important within an organization, they are crucial in keeping the ‘trade secret’ within the organization.
- Contract law is required in public relations to both define and maintain the relationships between all parties involved.
- Duty of care in public relations is when advice is given to a party and both the adviser and the receiver know that it is okay to trust that advice, in other words the PR practitioner is trustworthy to the client.

2. The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that …
This chapter made me aware of the intense legal environment which public relations are a part of. There are many legal situations that can arise and a public relations practitioner needs to be aware of the strategies to minimize harm to both the organization and the public. The PR practitioner needs to keep their knowledge up to date with the current laws governing their actions such a property laws, copyright laws, common law and contract law, as well as many others that influence their operations. One slip up concerning the laws of public relations could mean the end of a career and also the failure of a major organization. These mistakes can at least cost an organization its reputation or in a worse case the organization can be destroyed.