Public Relations and Corporate Communications

Laws and Ethics of PR

Reputation Critical business imperative

Defining ‘reputation’› Abraham Lincoln› Charles Fombrun (reputation scholar, Stern

School of Business, NYU)- “ sum of the images various constituencies have of an organisation”.

› John Doorley and Fred Garcia (PR profesionals) – Reputation=Sum of images=(performance and behaviour)+Comunication

Reputation, continued…

From Wikipedia:› Of a social entity (a person, a social group, an

organization) is an opinion about that entity, typically a result of social evaluation on a set of criteria. It is important in business, education, online communities, and many other fields.

› Reputation may be considered as a component of identity as defined by others.

› Reputation is known to be a ubiquitous, spontaneous, and highly efficient mechanism of social control in natural societies

What does reputation mean for business?

Market cap› The value of a business being more than

the value of its assets› Better employees› Gaining more business and goodwill› Better press visibility› Reputation is an asset

Reputation measurement

Fortune Magazine’s annual ‘ Most respected companies of America’

The Economic Times and Businessworld in India

Harris-Fombrun Reputation quotient:› Evaluation reputation among multiple

audience› Across 20 attributes referred to as

‘dimensions of reputation’

Case study-BP Oil Spill

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QiF-X-Ez9Bs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-OVNd6Fa9fg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_AwD_7yNzKo

Defamation

Defamation is a legal wrong emerging from an act of injuring a person’s reputation and sullying their character without lawful justification or excuse.

LIBEL (printed word/image)and SLANDER (spoken defamation)

Public disclosure of private facts ( not of public concern and offensive to reasonable person)

Defemation-legal implication

In some countries defamation is a civil wrong (cause of an action) while in some it is criminal-in India it is both› Claim damages › Seek criminal punishment (Indian Penal

Code (section 499 creates a criminal offence of defamation.)

Protection against 499

Stating a true fact against a person for public good

Expressing an opinion in good faith about an act of a public servant

Even making imputations on the character of another provided it’s in good faith and for the public good.

The Indian Constitution protects freedom of speech as a facet of fundamental rights under Article 19, subject to reasonable restrictions, including decency and defamation.

Case 1

Tata Sons Ltd has filed a criminal defamation complaint against news magazine 'Outlook' for publishing articles which had claimed that the group received "undue pecuniary advantage" from former disinvestment minister Arun Shourie during divestment of state-owned VSNL in 2002.

In a criminal complaint filed before the court of additional chief metropolitan magistrate, Mumbai, Tata Sons has claimed that an article published by 'Outlook' in its March 28, 2011 edition and another in the April 4, 2011 edition made "false and defamatory statements and harmed the reputation of the Tata business name

Case 2

Delhi court today took cognisance of the criminal defamation complaint filed by BJP MP Smriti Irani against Congress MP Sanjay Nirupam for allegedly using derogatory and indecent language against her during a debate on a private news channel.

"The case is listed for order on taking cognisance of the offences alleged in the complaint. In view of the law laid down... the cognisance of the offence under section 499 (defamation)

Copyright

Copyright is a right given by the law to the creators of literary, dramatic, musical and artistic works and producers of cinematograph films and sound recordings. In fact, it is a bundle of rights including, inter alia, rights of reproduction, communication to the public, adaptation and translation of the work. There could be slight variations in the composition of the rights depending on the work (Wikipedia)

Copyright

The Copyright Act, 1957(Act No. 14 of 1957) › Governs the laws & applicable rules related to the subject of copyrights

in India. › Copyright Law in the country was governed by the Copyright Act of

1914, was essentially the extension of the British Copyright Act, 1911 to India, and borrowed extensively from the new Copyright Act of the United Kingdom of 1956. All copyright related laws are governed by the Copyright Act, 1957.

The Copyright Act today is compliant with most international conventions and treaties in the field of copyrights. › India is a member of the Berne Convention of 1886 (as modified at Paris

in 1971) › The Universal Copyright Convention of 1951 and › The Agreement on Trade Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights

(TRIPS) Agreement of 1995. › Though India is not a member of the Rome Convention of 1961, WIPO

Copyrights Treaty (WCT) and the WIPO Performances and Phonograms Treaty (WPPT),the Copyright Act is compliant with it

Invasion of Privacy: PRSI Code of Ethics

Bibliography Rethinking reputation: Fraser P. Seitel and John Doorley Reputation Management: John Doorley and Helio Fred Reputation management: Fraser P. Seitel This is how you pitch: Ed Aitron and Warren Ellis The handbook of Communication and Corporate

Reputation: Craig E. Carroll Fame and Fortune: How successful companies build

reputations: Charles J Fombrun and Cees Van Riel

Digital communication

Website Facebook Twitter Linkedin