PRSA APR Flashcards
To prepare for Accreditation in Public Relations, APR.
Define Attitude?
An inclination, often unconscious, to behave in a given way as a result of a spectrum of
information, values, beliefs, experiences and persuasive messages. An attitude is a person’s evaluation of an object, situation or issue. Attitudes drive behavior. Once attitudes are influenced, new behaviors will follow.
Define Audience Segment?
The breakdown of an audience into demographic, psychographic or other dimensions in order to adapt strategies, tactics and messages to audience need or interest.
Define Baseline data?
Data collected before or at the beginning of a project or program. The data will be compared to data collected during and after program implementation in order to assess program effectiveness.
What is public relations?
“Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics.”
How does Public Relations Earn Public Understanding and Acceptance?
Public relations forms, builds and maintains relationships between your organization and publics by finding common interests. Failure usually stems from communication breakdowns.
What is social significance of the practice of public relations?
American business gave birth to public relations as it is practiced today. Growth and trends in business created the conditions for the public relations profession to develop.
Typical 12 Functions of Public Relations
Competencies: 1. Trusted counsel 2. Internal communications 3. Media relations - develop public trust and support 4. Community relations - establishes public trust and support 5. External communication to customers/stakeholders/investors etc., build public trust and support Public Relations Four-Step Process 6. Research and strategize 7. Plan 8. Implement, execute and evaluate 9. Evaluate Other: 10. Publicity and special events 11. Issues management 12. Crisis communication
Ethics:
General Principles Underlying Public Relations Practice
Act in the public interest, Find the greater good for the majority of the people.
Use honesty and integrity as your guide
Ensure accuracy and truth. Do not disseminate false or misleading information
If you accidentally do make an error, correct immediately with all audiences.
Deal fairly with all publics. Respect yourself and others. When you move to a new position, leave proprietary materials related to your old job behind.
More Specific Principles Defining How Public Relations is Practiced
Accurately define what public relations strategies and tactics can accomplish. Do not guarantee results for areas beyond your control.
Maintain integrity of communications channels. Ensure transparency with all audiences, from employees to external publics. Maintain ethical relationships with government, regulatory agencies, media, colleagues and all audiences.
Safeguard confidences. Build trust through protection of confidential information. Secure the privacy of organization and individuals.
Do not damage the reputation of others. Be careful during agency pitches. Stick to the facts and avoid gossip.
Avoid conflict of interest. Disclose interest of yourself and others. Get consent to represent conflicting views or competitors; maintain the related knowledge in two different areas.
Be ready to publicly identify your clients, sources of information etc.
Decision making process for ethical issues or conflict.
Define the specific ethical issue or conflict.
Identify internal and external factors that my influence the decision.
Identify key values.
Identify the audience who will be affected by the decision and define the public relations professional’s obligation to each.
Select ethical principles to guide your decision-making process.
Make your decision and justify it.
Copyright law
Two major goals of copyright laws are to protect the original creator of the work and to provide economic incentive for new knowledge.
Common law copyright
An author who creates a tangible expression of his or her ideas immediately acquires common law copyright of the work. This right continues until the author dedicates work to the protection. The dividing line between common law copyright and statutory copyright is publication.
General publication
overt act that indicates the intention to surrender one’s right to control one’s creative expression and allow the public to copy the material
Limited publication
such as delivery of a manuscript to a possible purchaser, does not cause the author to lose any common law rights
Statutory copyright
To obtain statutory copyright, an author must submit to the Library of Congress and display the copyright symbol on the material.
Ownership of copyright for photography and artwork
The contract between your organization and the non-employee who takes the photos or creates artwork determines who owns the copyright. The copyright owner determines use and the cost of use of the creative work. The organization owns an employees’ work done on behalf of the organization.
Defamation
Defamation is untruth that damages reputation. Written or pictorial defamation is known as libel. spoken or verbal defamation is known as slander and need to be spoken in a public setting. To qualify as defamation, the statement must be untrue. To be defamed or damaged, an exposed person or organization must prove three conditions were present: hatred, contempt, ridicule. Damage must also be present. To be actionable for libel, five elements must be present: defamation, identification, communications (publication/broadcast), fault (Malice or negligence), and damage (in absence of fault, provable damages or injury). Since a public figure puts himself or herself out before the public, actual malice must be proven by a public figure.
Fair comment
This privilege insulates a reporter or publication against defamation (libel or slander). Not a license to circulate derogatory information, the information must be related to community interest with the subject. Fair comment is recognized defense against a libel action, based on the argument that the statement was wither tru or privileged (taken from a public document). Be aware that although truth is the traditional defense against libel, truth is hard to prove. Fair comment, which involves privacy should not be confused with fair use, which involves copyright.
Foreign Agents Registration Act of 1938
Public relations practitioners working for any foreign principals must register under this act, whether they are directly lobbying US government officials or not. The Lobbying Disclosure Act of 1995 also relates to the above act in a broad context requiring anyone in public relations or related position representing a foreign government to register and label lobbying materials as political propaganda.
Intellectual Property
The legal term describes rights or entitlements that apply to the ownership and use of certain types of information, ideas or other concepts in an expressed form.
New York Times v. Sullivan
This ruled that actual malice must be proven by a public figure.
Right of Privacy
This law, important for public relations professionals to know, ensures an individual’s right to be left alone and can be violated if names, likeness and or information is used for commercial purposes. It differs from defamation and is a practical effort to protect the individual who does not relish the unexpected appearance of his or her picture, story or testimonial in the public media. The publication need only injure the feelings of the person, even thought it may not have any effect on his or her reputation. Many violations evolve from advertising, which is deemed worse than articles because of the potential for direct profit. Securing permission from the individual protects the public relations professional. While use of employee photos in employee publications isn’t specifically covered, it is a good idea to protect your employees’ rights of privacy by obtaining signed waivers.
Appropriation
Taking of some element of a person’s name or likeness for advertising or trade purposes without consent, such as using a celebrity’s photo without permission and a signed release.
Intrusion
Invading a person’s solitude such as taping without permission
Public disclosure of embarrassing private facts
Truth is not necessarily a defense here (medical information, sex-crime victim identity, name of juvenile offender, embarrassing poses). Reputation need not be harmed.
False light
Putting a person in a false position before the public, misleading the public to make a person appear other than he or she is (misrepresentation). Reputation need not be harmed.
Business literacy
Business literacy is the ability to use financial and business information as the basis for decisions that help an organization achieve success.
Regulation Fair Disclosure
Requires that all publicly traded companies disclose material information to all investors at the same time.
Sarbanes Oxley
Sarbanes Oxley legislation covers corporate auditing accountability, responsibility and transparency. Provisions within this law affect how information is disclosed and therefore intersects with the practice of public relations. Public companies are required to evaluate and disclose the effectiveness of their internal financial reporting controls, accelerated insider training reporting and blackout periods. Knowledge of what and when one’s company must disclose is critical to executing public relations responsibilities.
