Exam 2 Flashcards
Nature of Relationship between PR and Journalists
2 way street corporperation and interactive relationship; both want to get a story out to inform people
News Release Inverted Pyramid
Most important facts are at the beginning; starts with who what when where why; then 2nd, 3rd and 4th level facts;
Ways to deliever a news release
Emial is most used
- fax
- web posting
- direct mail
- Hand delievery
Ethics vs Law
Ethics tell us what we should do while the law tells us what we must do
Ethics
standards of conduct that indicate how one should behave based on moral duties and virtues
Ethics in Business
Confidence in business has plummeted; seen as unethical
Non-profits are viewed poorly too; are trying to fix it by being transparent with activities
Corporate Codes of Conduct (Def and 4 points)
Formal statements of values and business practices;
-increase public confidence
-stem the tide of regulation
-improve internal operations
-respond to transgressions
MUST HAVE ALIGNMENT OF CODES AND CARRYING THEM OUT; WALKING THE TALK
Professionalists
do what is professional or right everytime; no matter what
Careerists
do what suits your own career and development of your career. Base what is right not on rules but rather on the situation
Looking the Other way (PRSA)
IWhen the communications department looks the other way when unethical things go on; this results in unethical behaviors being intentionally ignored
Native Advertising and Sponsored Content
Is blurring the lines of what is news content and what is adversting content which in turn threatens consumers ability to develop opinons of their own; disguising advertising content
Ethical Use of Interns (PRSA)
Unpaid internships are used by companies to get free workers and for students to get valuiable work experience; students ethically are thinking does this give me actually experience and companies are thinking does this meet legal standards for unpaid intership; PRSA made 5 key issues that need to assed for unpaid intern: federal law, state legislative rules, student factors, institutional factors and pr internship envionment
Use of Video News Releases as PR tool
VNR’s are not showing source of their materials or who produced and paid for it. aslo say they are reporting live when they arent
Greenwashing
use of environmentally friendly endorsements that are inaccurate, exaggerated or completely unfounded
Pay for Play (PRSA)
when there is intent to hide an exchange of value between PR and a journalists. When a PR guy pays journalists to publish or broadcast their work;
Deceptive Online Practices and Misrepresentations of Organizations and Visuals
Use of blogs or viral marketing and anonymous internet postings that are misleading or deceptive
Invasion of Privacy (law) 4 areas of concern
Employee communication
photo releases
product publicity and advertising
Media inquireies about employees
Copy Right law is important knowledge
tells you what organizational materials should be copyrighted
also tells how to correctly utilize the copyrighted materials of others
Trademark Law
trademark is a word slogan or symbol that identifies a prodcuts origin; 3 basic guidelines
- trademarks are proper adjectives and should be capitialized and followed by a noun or phrase
- trademarks should not be pluralized or used in the possessive form
- trademarks are never verbs
Differences in PR and Law
PR: open and transparent; don’t let others interpret the facts without you (no comment is not an option); go public early
LAW: carefully measure disclosure, say nothing and say it slowly; need to know basis governs law
Areas of Legal Concern for PR practitioners (6)
- First amendment rights (privacy and copy right trump 1st amdenment)
- Defamation
- Securities Law and Insider Trading
- Copyright law, fair use and trademarks
- Transparency and censorship on the internet
- Disclosure Regs
Defamation
describes libel and slander
Libel is a printed falsehood
Slander is an oral falsehood
Ethics in Journalism
Responsibility
- freedom on the press
- fair play
- accuracy and objectivity
- ethics
- Pledge
Federal Trade Comission
has authority to determine that advertisements are not deceptive or misleadign
Securities and Exchange Comission and 3 areas specific to PR
monitors the financial affairs of publicly traded companies and protects the interests of stockholders;
- Full info must be given on anything dealing with the stock of company
- Timely disclosure-must do it wfast and when it happens
- Insider Trading, its illegal
Federal Communications Commission
Ensures that the public airwaves (media, radio, tv) are being used in the public interest. Also regulate the internet as well; SPECIFIC TO PR BECAUSE OF VIDEO NEWS RELEASES
Food and Drug Administration
oversees the advertising and promotion of prescription drugs and cosmetics; Deals with PR news releases on health care topics
Release must have: fair balance, clear limitations and include full prescribing information
WHy media relies on News releases
- reports and editors spend most of their time processing information not gathering or finding it
- no media enterprise has enough staff to cover every single event in the community
Obama’s Social Pulpit
- Laddering support through tiers of engagement-allowing for different levels of envolvment for people-gets more people involved
- Empowering Super Users-giving people who help the most tools to help influence others
- Going where the people are-social media and websites
- Making sure people can find your content-putting your stuff in related links to ads trying to trash you; also getting the webpage to come up on the first page with search engines
News Release Purpose
to get media outlets to convey favorable information about an organization
Unwritten Rules with Journalists
- give no special treatment to any media
- never disclose one reporter what another might be working on
- never break confidence
- make scheduled events accessible to all meida
In a news room who is the most important person to know
assignment editors
Writing in Pr
is crucial because pr people are professional communicators; WANT TO KEEP IT SIMPLE; editing is critical-use each word effectively; want to write the way you talk; write for the ear not eye
Disintermediation
producers can undermine the gatekeepers and directly talk and influence consumers because of the internet
