Chapters 6 & 15

CHAPTER 6

Ethics

International codes- global rules

Societal codes- includes religious codes such as The Ten Commandments

Professional codes- PR does not have a central code of ethics like doctors do because there is no central licensing organization

Organizational codes- PR staff is often enlisted to help write these

Personal codes

Ethics Challenges

• Dilemmas
• Overwork
• Legal/ethical confusion- just because something is legal doesn’t mean it is ethical
• Cross-cultural ethics
• Short-term thinking
• Virtual organizations- created for short periods of time and very specific purposes

Corporate social responsibility- (CSR) corporations that do this are “a positive force for change to help improve the quality of people’s lives”, good corporate citizens, involves seven areas of high standards

1. Human rights, labor, and security
2. Enterprise and economic development
3. Business standards and corporate governance
4. Health promotion
5. Education and leadership development
6. Human disaster relief
7. Environment

Ethics audit- examining an organizations ethics and suggesting improvements

1. What is our organization’s ethics code?
2. How do we communicate that code to ourselves and others?
3. What do key publics-including employees-know about our ethics code?
4. What successes in ethics have we recently had, and why?
5. What setbacks in ethics have we recently had, and why?
6. What can we do to bolster strengths and reduce weaknesses in our ethics?

Potter Box- designed by Ralph Potter to help people analyze individual ethical crises, uses a six step process

1. Define the situation objectively
2. State the different values that you see involved in the situation and compare the merits of the differing values
3. Consider traditional ethics principles and approaches from relevant ethics codes
4. Identify all stakeholders
5. Select a course of action that embraces the most compelling values, principles, and loyalties
6. Evaluate the impact of your decision

CHAPTER 15

Political speech- expression associated with the normal conduct of a democracy

Commercial speech- expression intended to generate marketplace transactions

*know the laws regarding your area of business

Agencies that regulate speech

• Federal Trade Commission (FTC)
  • Consent order- voluntary compliance after a violation of law
  • Administrative law judge- hears testimony and reviews evidence
  • Cease and desist order- can be issued by an administrative law judge, can be appealed
  • Injunctions
  • Consumer redress
  • Civil penalties
• Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC)
  • After the stock market crash and Great Depression
  • Disclosure- foundation of regulations, companies that issue public stocks and bonds must disclose frankly, comprehensively, and immediately any important information that might influence investor’s decisions
  • Regulation FD (fair disclosure)- tightened loopholes in disclosure
  • Sarbanes-Oxley Act- CEOs and CFOs are personally accountable for the truthfulness of corporate financial statements
  • Form 10-K- specific information about finances, required to file
  • Annual report
    • Audited financial statements
    • Supplementary financial information
    • Management discussion and analysis of the company’s financial condition and any unusual events, transactions, or economic changes
    • Description of the company’s business
    • Identities of company directors and executive officers
    • Description of any significant litigation in which the company or its directors or officers are involved
  • Insider trading- prohibited
• Federal Communications Commission
  • Responsible for the orderly use of airwaves
  • Equal opportunity provision- whenever a legally qualified candidate for public office appears in a radio or television broadcast all other candidates for that office must be given the same opportunity
  • Personal attack rule- stations are required to provide free air time to persons who have been the subject of a broadcast character attack
• Food and Drug Administration

Libel

• Burden of proof
  1. Defamation- any communications that unfairly injures a person’s reputation and/or ability to maintain social contacts
  2. Publication- the communication of defamatory statements to a third party
  3. Identification- the requirement that a person or organization alleging libel has to be identified in such a way that a reasonable person could infer that the defamatory statements applied to the plaintiff
  4. Damage- there has to be evidence that the person or organization suffered injury or damage as a result of the defamation
  5. Fault- a plaintiff can demonstrate fault by proving that the defamatory statement is untrue

Actual malice- knowing falsehood or reckless disregard for the truth

Public official- a person elected to public office or anyone who has significant public responsibility and is engaged in policy making

Public figures- people who have widespread notoriety or have injected themselves in public controversy in an attempt to influence its outcome

Common law libel- lack of constitutional protection because these come from judicial decisions as opposed to legislative action

Privacy

Four Torts

1. Intrusion- improper and intentional invasion of a person’s physical seclusion or private affairs
2. False light- can be sued if you present someone in a false light
3. Publication of private facts
4. Appropriation- the commercial use of someone’s name, voice, likeness, or other defining characteristics without consent

Copyright- protects individual works from unauthorized use

Intellectual property- original works of authorship that are fixed in a tangible form of expression

Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA)- 1998 established new rules for downloading, sharing, and viewing copyrighted material on the internet

Litigation PR- the use of mass communication techniques to influence events surrounding legal cases

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