Ethical & Legal Practices of Public Relations

Whether you hire an outside firm to do public relations for your small business, or do it all in-house, being effective in public relations requires making decisions that fall within appropriate ethical and legal boundaries. Ethical practices must consider the employer's self-interests, the public's self-interest, personal self interest, and the standards of the public relations profession. Public relations professionals must also meet legal standards, as there are ways they can be held legally accountable for their decisions and actions.

Invasion of Privacy

Public relations law is the application of other areas of law that pertain to particular practices, such as explaining business or institutional concerns to the public. An area of law that public relations staff in any business must be particularly sensitive to is the issue of privacy. This deals with employee communication, photo releases, product publicity, and advertising and media inquires about employees. The United States has several laws in place to monitor and protect employees in certain situations. For instance, state and federal laws generally protect the right of employees to "blow the whistle" if an organization is guilty of an illegal activity. Protections for such employees are limited, and the stipulations for whistle-blowers are intricate. Public relations professionals must research their legal protections, and keep up-to-date on changes, to ensure that they adhere to proper legal standards.

Copyright Law

Public relations involves a lot of creative work. PR professionals are only as valuable as the work they produce, and therefore must protect their creative ideas and work. Copyright means protection of a creative work from unauthorized use. It does not protect ideas, only the specific ways those ideas are expressed. Major public relations materials, such as brochures, annual reports and videotapes, must be protected to prevent unauthorized use by competitors. Press releases, documents that are only successful if they're redistributed by the media, are often directly copy and pasted by media organizations because the companies issuing the press releases authorize such publication. For companies distributing press releases, this works to their advantage because what's distributed to the media is written in their own words.

Professional Codes of Conduct

The most basic code in any public relations program is the duty to tell the truth. Many national organizations have been founded, such as the Public Relations Society of America, to develop a substantive code of ethics for people in the profession to abide by. Ethics aren't just important for major corporations, but are also crucial for any small business involved in PR activities. How accountable and credible you are, and are perceived to be, determines your success in the industry. Abiding by professional codes of conduct helps improve the public's trust in the PR profession and consequently helps your business's public relations efforts. In addition to formal codes of ethics established by associations, companies themselves publish codes of conduct that set standards for ethical behavior. These range from broad general codes to more specialized codes of conduct for areas like financial relations, production of video news releases, and interaction with bloggers and social media networks.

Ethical Dealings with News Media

It's important for a small business to engage in ethical dealings with news media when trying to promote and improve the reputation of the firm. This doesn't mean that your business is required to divulge every detail, piece of proprietary information, or organizational plan, but it is important to provide the media with enough information so they can release the most correct and truthful version of any story or plan. Certain interactions with the media should remain off limits because they are considered unethical in the United States. For example, while it might seem like a good idea to send a journalist a complimentary product or service from your business to thank that person for positive news coverage, this is not considered ethical behavior by the Public Relations Society of America. It's the responsibility of your business's public relations team to ensure they're exercising ethical practices when dealing with the media.


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  • Public Relations Strategies and Tactics: Public Relations and the Law

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About the Author

Joanna Hatt works as a junior copywriter in the creative marketing services department at a national newspaper. She has significant communications experience, producing work in both creative and business-oriented styles. She is proficient at developing promotional materials, social media marketing, B2B writing and public relations content. Hatt holds a bachelor's degree in history and gender studies.