The Legal Environment & Ethical Practice - Week 5

The Legal Environment --- How public relations are a part of law is rather surprising when I came about to reading this chapter. As a public relations profession covers a wide number of roles that covers three main areas - communication, advisory/counselling and business/management. Not only that, PR practitioners needs to have a foundation knowledge on the legal environment as there is no body of law covering public relations. Hence, PR practitioners must understand how to protect trademarks, copy right, designs, patents and confidential information bounded by the intellectual property law.

I think the key points to remember for this part of the reading is to identify the different parts of the legal environment that Public Relations has to function. In fact, the reading made me think that the legal environment in Public Relations practice is so diverse is that it highlights the need of good legal advice but it needs to have a good prospective from the point of Public Relations. By doing so, PR practitioners would have a grasp at how to handle matters pertaining to the law.

Ethical Practice --- What is Ethics? Being ethical is not the same as doing "whatever society accepts." In any society, most people accept standards that are, in fact, ethical. But standards of behavior in society can deviate from what is ethical. An entire society can become ethically corrupt. It can also be known as a theory of system on a plane of intellectual thinking.

I think the key points to remember for this part of the reading is in public relations practice, ethical behaviour relates both to the practitioner and the organization. They need to be concerned with their own personal and professional ethics so as not to take it personally with the ethics of the organization in which they work under. The reading make me think that knowing the role of ethics in public relations is also important as it is important to organizational excellence on the one and to public relations on the other, they should be at the forefront - to counsel, to advocate, to monitor and infuse corporate conscience.

However, there can be ethical challenges for PR practitioners. Such include having to make choices which involve alternatives that are equally justified or even conflicting among interests or having consequences in a particular situation. Such dilemmas can occur on different levels: interpersonal; organizational; stakeholder.

In conclusion, ethics interacts with proper conduct. Personally and professionally.