Ethics, Law, & Technology

An APR Study Presentation by:Joel A. Kline

Associate Professor of Business and Digital Communications

Lebanon Valley College

ETHICSI.

What is the relationship between law and ethics?

Is the law a litmus test for ethics?

Can something be ethical yet be illegal…ok, stop thinking of medicinal marijuana…can something be illegal yet ethical for a PR practitioner?

General Ethical Principles Act in the public interest.

Find the greater good for the majority of the people. Use honesty and integrity as your guide. Ensure accuracy and truth.

Do not disseminate false and misleading information. If you accidentally do, correct your error immediately with all

audiences. Deal fairly with the public.

Respect yourself, respect others. When you move to a new job, leave proprietary materials related

to your old job behind.

Specific Ethical Principles Accurately define what public relations strategies and tactics can

accomplish. Do not guarantee results for things beyond your control.

Maintain the integrity of communication channels. Ensure transparency with all audiences, from employees to publics. Maintain ethical relationships with government, regulatory agencies, media, colleagues and all audiences.

Safeguard confidences. Build trust through protection of confidential information. Secure the privacy of organization and individuals.

Do not damage the reputation of others. Be careful during agency pitches. Stick to the facts; avoid the gossip.

Avoid conflicts of interest. Disclose interests of yourself and others. Get consent to represent conflicting views or competitors; maintain the related knowledge in two different areas. Be ready to publicly identify your clients, sources of information, etc.

Ethical Decision Making Guide

1. Define issue/conflict2. Identify factors that influence3. Identify key values4. Identify parties affected5. Select principles6. Make a decision

Case StudyYou are the communications director for a school district. A school board member who has been an outstanding advocate for the district is up for re-election. He calls to ask you if you would help with his re-election campaign.

He says he values your communications expertise and needs help to defeat his opponent, who is very vocal about reducing administrative positions in the district. He considers them “fluff.” In fact, your job as communications director is at the top of his list and will likely be the first to go.

You know you can’t work on the campaign during the workday but agree to work from home on the incumbent’s campaign. You don’t plan on telling anyone else you are helping him because what you do on your own time is your business.

Why is Accreditation Important?

Public Relation Practitioners strive to be treated as professionals: Specialized education and body of

knowledge Recognized as essential service Autonomy and acceptance of personal

responsibility Codes of ethics and standards

LAWII.

Legal Aspects of PR

First Amendment

“Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.”

Dimension of the First Amendment Free Speech vs. Commercial Speech

Nike case Depends on court – Conservative Supreme Court

thinks Commercial Speech doesn’t exist Freedom of the Press NYT vs. Sullivan

Public Officials/Celebrities v. Private Persons Must prove negligence

Legal System Administrative Law (FCC Rulings) Common Law (based on precedent) Constitutional Law (government

relationships) Criminal Law Statutory Law (UCC) Plaintiff, defendant, and tort

Freedom of Information Act Act allows for full or partial disclosure on

information contained in U.S. Government documents

9 exemptions States also legislate Open Records laws

(how much does JoePa make???)

Examples of FOIA Exemptions …established by an Executive order to be

kept secret in the interest of national defense or foreign policy …

…related solely to the internal personnel rules and practices of an agency…

specifically exempted from disclosure by statute …

…trade secrets and commercial or financial information …

Libel and Slander

Statements or communication that diminish respect, goodwill, confidence, or esteem; or produce other adverse feelings about a person or institution.

Sometimes referred to as defamation of character

Slander is “spoken” Libel is written

Libel/Slander Conditions

1. Defame someone’s reputation2. Identify victim3. Be communicated4. Malice or negligence or 5. (prove injurious or damaging)

Libel/Slander Defense Truth Privilege Fair Comment

What is Privacy? Defined by Warren and Brandeis in Harvard

law Review (1890) “as the right to be let alone."

Privacy Act of 1974 recognizes this at the Supreme Court level.

Privacy and The Supreme Court

The privacy issue reached the Supreme Court through the issues of abortion and contraception.

Just a value-added tidbit that won’t be on the APR exam…that I’m aware of(!)

Prosser’s Categorization of Privacy

In 1960 William Prosser, a legal scholar categorized four legal rights of privacy. Subsequently, many states and court systems have adopted his classification:1. Intrusion2. Disclosure of Private Facts3. False Light4. Misappropriation

Examples Intrusion - Galella vs. Onassis 1982 Disclosure of private facts - 1975 case of

surfer Mike Virgil v. Time (Sports Illustrated) False Light – Two cases of the Gills Misappropriation - “Here’s Johnny” Portable

Toilets

Lawsuits to the Gills Same photo of John and Shelia Gill appeared

in 2 publications. Two different captions appeared under the photo (which was taken without consent)

Gill vs. Hearst (Harpers) 1953 (lost) Mentioned they were married…

Gill vs. Curtis (LHJ) 1952 (won) “Love at First Sight…”

Privacy Defenses Newsworthiness Consent (age is an issue here) Public Record

Copyright

YES Writing, music, dramatic, pictorial,

graphic, and sculpture

NOIdeas, methods of operations, and utility

objects (lamp)

Copyright is created at the moment creation – tangible expression. Publication (general or limited) is what separates a creator’s ability to restrict.

Common or Statutory ©? Two types of copyrights exist: common law

copyright and statutory copyright Common exists from conception. No filing

required. If the owner makes a General Publication, he/she loses the right to limit copyright. Limited Publication does not limit copyright.

Statutory requires filing with the LOC. 28 years from date and another 28 years. Heirs can inherit.

Copyright Fair UseAbility of a critic, scholar, news reporter, or PR

professional to quote briefly from copyrighted works while evaluating or commenting on them.

1. Purpose2. Nature3. Amount4. Effect upon the market or value of

copyrighted item

Trademark, Trade Name, Service MarkTrademark - words, names, or

symbols used by companies to identify themselves

Trade name – identifies producer

Service mark – text that identifies a product, company, or service.

General Electric

“We bring good things to life”

Financial PR Regulation Fair Disclosure (timing and

positioning of news)

Securities Trading (10-k, 10-Q reports)

Fraud (insider info)

Sarbanes Oxley

Sarbanes Oxley SOX or SARBOX Applies only to public companies Holds executives accountable by requiring

them to sign financial statements Enforced by the SEC Outlines criminal penalties for corporate fraud Has XI titles, most of which are not germane

to a financial PR practitioner (unless broken!)

Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA)

Nurse Nayirah - Babies were dumped out of incubators…and I love H&K… (not really a quote!)

FARA Requirements Engages in political activities Acts in a public relations capacity for a

foreign principal Solicits or dispenses any thing of value

within the United States for a foreign principal

Represents the interests of a foreign principal before any agency or official of the U.S. government.

More Legal Fun… Media Access Due process Sunshine Act Political Expression (corporate & union) Lobbying Grassroots Lobbying

Questions on Law & Ethics?

INFORMATION TECHNOLOGYIII.

Non-exhaustive list from Study Guide Address/URL Anonymous Web surfing Audiocast Blog: Bookmark Breadcrumb trail Cascading style sheet Channel Chat room Chiclet (sp.) Content management system Cookie Counter Cybersquatting Digitization FAQ File transfer protocol ( FTP) Item Internet

Narrowcast News feed Permission marketing Phishing Ping Podcast Podcasting Podcatcher Proxy server Punchcast Push technology Redirection RSS aggregator/RSSL/RSS feed Scraping Spam Spool Spyware Streaming media Syndication

IT on the Exam Only 2% of questions come from IT Some IT questions arise from the business

literacy area Previous exam had case studies –

terminology is more appropriate for new exam

Blogs Web logs – weblogs – blogs Chronological musings of people posted to

the web 2 relevant aspects for PR: should we start

one? Is the company receiving neg/pos publicity on a blog?

Daypop is one of the few solid directories (but by no means exhaustive)

Websites Webpages are essential Basic contact information Area tailored for media (or Online Newsroom) Clear Ownership of areas of the website

should be employed Content Management issues Richness vs. Reach

Content vs. PresentationCompanies of a reasonable size should

separate content from presentation. This can be achieved with a dynamic or database-driven website.

Database(contains links to

landlord PDFdocuments)

User Clicks onLandlord Forms

Web Page withprogramming searches

Database for forms

Web Page DisplayLinks to Forms

Dynamic Website Example from a Housing Authority Website

Other Website Issues Use logs and statistics to track where people go on

your site Have a disclaimer and privacy statement Review any external link periodically for validity Pay attention to usability…sometimes designers do

not Create consistency in message and distribution (all

docs are PDFs for example) Have formal structures and policies for incoming

information/contact us forms Know/Identify/Segment your audience

Email Find out whether a reporter likes email or not Permission marketing – do you know anyone

who “opts in” for email from strangers? Me either!

Email lists – different story. HersheyPark is one example. Achieve a balance.

Run a successful removal program

News Groups Technical name is Usenet. Long History on the internet. Generally, groups are categorized by a common

interest. Examples are rec., sci., alt., comp., Google Groups is best place to query. Google

bought déjà news which was a pioneer in displaying groups in browser.

Tile.net is a place to locate groups and lists Choose correct group & don’t post PR msgs.

List Servers Different than Groups Basically, a broadcast email system Useful for special events, practitioners, and

people in a common industry Can lurk on a list (or chat room) that might

say negative things about your company.

Section 508 compliance Section 508 requires that Federal agencies'

electronic and information technology is accessible to people with disabilities.

Not applicable to state Often a good standard for all companies (and

agencies)

Web 2.0 & Semantic Web Extensive amount of User Generated Content

(UGC) Permits combination (mash up) of different

sources of information Often contains extensive interactive

components (e.g. social networking, video, or applications)

Web 2.0 Technologies Social Networking Sites Blogs (Weblogs) Wikis Video Twitter Tagging Mashups

JKLINE@LVC.EDU ORJOEL@JOELKLINE.COM

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