reading for week6

Based on Chapters 4 and 5 of Public relations: theory and practice / edited by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi. Crows Nest, N.S.W. Allen & Unwin, 2004. 2nd ed.

I think the key points to remember from this week's reading are the many different legal boundaries and restrictions a public relations practitioner must face in order to remain lawful and ethical. Some of these main key points are listed below:

• As a Public relations practitioner you must look at the legal risks involved for both yourself /company/client and create strategies to minimise and harm made in terms of both commercial and professional risks.
• Public relations relies on good reputations, positive images and strong relationships and all of this must be factored into the cost of legal action

• before deciding to be involved (taking legal action/ disputing claims in court) Public relations practitioners must strongly consider three major factors:

1. what are the pr practitioners rights and responsibilities?
2. how do these rights and responsibilities translate into everyday work practices?
3. What are Pr implications of the legal dispute?

Defamation was also covered in this text.

• defamation aims to protect a persons reputation
• It limits what Public Relations practitioners can and can't publish
• It can be used to protect the reputations of a public relations practitioner as well as clients

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that it made me realise that every single action as public relations practitioner must be done very carefully to not brake any laws especially when trying to get the public on your clients side and make their business look good, you have to make sure the degree to which you try to make the opposition look bad is not defamatory.