Week 5

WEEK 5!

I think the key points to remember from this week’s readings were that PR practitioners need to understand the legal environment in which they work and that ethical decisions can’t be made lightly and are sometimes very hard decisions to make.

The readings made me think more about PR theory/practice in that I considered all the crazy defamation cases I’ve heard about in the media, and thought of the PR staff behind them. I thought about not only defamation, but all other major court cases too. I hadn’t before considered the PR work behind the media surrounding major court battles.

“PR relies on good reputations, positive images and strong relationships”. I think this is a good quote from the reading, as these things must be considered before entering into any litigation. I thought it was interesting that because of globilisation, its important to remember that there are different defamation laws in different parts of the world and these must be thought about.

I thought the Potter box technique in relation to ethical matters was interesting, even though it does not produce the most ethical decision 100% of the time. I think the guidelines for ethical advocacy in chapter 5 were especially useful and practical. I also thought it was interesting to know different organization’s stance on ethics, including PRIA, MEAA, PRSA and IABC.