Media Relations and New Media Technology (2011/10)

Lecture 9Media law: ethics, privacy, and social

responsibility

Developed and Presented by

Roy Ying, Msc., B.Comm.

Note: Pictures used in this power point file is for academic Purpose only

DA010 - Professional Diploma in Public Relations - COMM6024EP

Table of Content• Relevant laws

• PR Code of Ethics (example from PRSA)

• Building media relations in an open, honest and fair manner

• Protecting the privacy of your personal data, sources of news, client’s information, and sensitive information.

• Developing a CSR strategy as part of the company’s overall media plan

Laws related to media relations

• Freedom of press and publication are enshrined in Article 27 of the Basic Lawand are also protected by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights(ICCPR) under Article 39 of the Basic Law.

• There is no law called "media law" in Hong Kong. Instead, the media are governed by statutory laws.

The relevant statutes…• Registration of Local Newspapers Ordinance (Cap. 268), provides

for the registration of local newspapers and news agencies and the licensing of newspaper distributors.

• Books Registration Ordinance (Cap. 142) (Cap. 106), provides for the registration and preservation of copies of books first printed, produced or published in Hong Kong.

• Telecommunications Ordinance (Cap. 106), makes better provision for the licensing and control of telecommunications, telecommunications services and telecommunications apparatus and equipment.

• Control of Obscene and Indecent Articles Ordinance (Cap. 390)controls and classifies articles which consist of or contain material that is obscene or indecent. Obscene Articles Tribunals are established to determine whether an article is obscene or indecent.

• Broadcasting Authority Ordinance (Cap. 391), provides for the establishment and functions of a Broadcasting Authority.

• Broadcasting Ordinance (Cap. 562), licenses companies to provide broadcasting services and regulate the provision of broadcastingservices by licensees

What about surveillance?

PRSA Code of Ethics

The Code Principles advise professionals to:

• Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and truthful information.

• Foster informed decision making through open communication.

• Protect confidential and private information.

• Promote healthy and fair competition among professionals.

• Avoid conflicts of interest.

• Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession.

PRSA Code of Ethics

Tactical strategies ask that PR professionals should:• Be honest and accurate in all communications.• Reveal sponsors for represented causes and interests.• Act in the best interest of clients or employers.• Disclose financial interests in a client’s organization.• Safeguard the confidences and privacy rights of clients and

employees.• Follow ethical hiring practices to respect free and open competition.• Avoid conflicts between personal and professional interests.• Decline representation of clients requiring actions contrary to the

Code.• Accurately define what public relations activities can accomplish.• Report all ethical violations to the appropriate authority.

GIS is the same as the PR department of major corporations

Editorial sovereignty

Protecting your source

• Be judicious about promising confidentiality:

– If your source demands confidentiality and your reporting requires the source, make sure you intend to maintain confidentiality if you agree. If you later decide you wish to reveal your source's identity, your source may be able to sue you if you break your promise.

Protecting your source

• Keep secrets secret

– Once you have obtained information from a confidential source, keep the source's identity secret. It might be tempting to talk about a juicy piece of information you have discovered with your relatives, friends, or co-workers. As a practical matter, the more people who know the information, the more likely it is to be revealed. Moreover, if you reveal some information about your source's identity, you may be precluded from protecting the information in the future.

Protecting your source

• Consider where you publish your work

– Where you publish your work can have an impact on your ability to protect your sources and newsgathering information. For instance, in some countrie you can only invoke the privilege to protect your sources if you publish in traditional print or broadcast media. In other countries, you need only publish through an entity that regularly distributes news.

7 practical tips to keep sources

1. Don’t send confidential mail

• You only need to open an email account (Gmail or Yahoo, for example) and give (orally) the username and password to the intended recipient. You then save the message as a draft without sending it. The recipient will only have to log into the same account and read the draft message.

• This prevents the mail being relayed through several servers and being copied or intercepted as it goes.

2. When sending an e-mail is unavoidable...

• Sending a mail without protecting it is like sending a postcard without an envelope. To counteract someone's curiosity (i.e. a hostile government), you can encrypt the message. Outlook offers this option.

• Even safer than an email are instant messages, which are even less likely to be monitored.

Encrypt message in Outlook

3. Protect your computer

• Before securing your operating system, you must be sure of its reliability and that of the software hosted on it. Free software or the Linux operating system, for example, come from different programmers, which makes the software more trustworthy.

• You can also use different workspaces according to the sensitivity of the files. Having different storage, multiple operating systems, or even using multiple computers can prevent data leakage

4. Make your files untraceable

• You must know how to get rid of unwanted or confidential files. A simple click on "Empty Trash" is not enough. Overwriting the file several times on the space it occupies with random data is the best way to make it disappear.

You can also encrypt your data, making them incomprehensible to one who has no password. Sotfwares like TrueCrypt on Windows, and FileVault on Mac OS X are quite effective.

5. Be wary of your mobile phone

• Telephone surveillance is the most obvious and fashionable way to keep an eye on journalists.

• Journalists should take simple precautions, such as making calls from a pay phone.

• You can also buy a smart phone sim card in a mobile shop and use it temporarily for high-risk calls.

• Using internet-telephony software is another solution. This is not a perfect solution, however, because authorities indicate that they are able to listen in on Skype conversations.

6. Avoid leaving evidence at your desk.

• Renting a good safe, or placing confidential data with someone you trust, is a more cautious approach

• Don’t rely on your lockable cabinet, or office door. Janitors, secretaries, and office assistants can easily get access to documents sitting on your desk without looking suspicious.

7. Paper - a safe choice.

• When a journalist’s mobile phone gets stolen, all his sources or messages could be exposed. A computer can be remotely monitored. A simple e-mail containing a Trojan program could contaminate the computer with a spyware

• Writing sensitive data or telephone numbers on paper and keeping it in a safe place protects you from all of these risks. And doing so reinforces the anonymity of your informants and sources.

• It is important to note your contacts on paper and, if necessary, rename, in a coded form, those who wish to remain anonymous.

It’s worth defending

• It’s a fundamental principle in journalism

What is a CSR Policy?What is a CSR Policy?

A CSR Policy Defines:

• how an organisation does business

• its responsibilities to those with whom it deals

• how it manages those responsibilities

Class:• Is CSR a

PR strategy?

Class:• Is CSR a

PR strategy?

What should a CSR Policy What should a CSR Policy

cover?cover?

As with an insurance policy a CSR policy

should cover all aspects of the business:

• Sales

• Products / services

• Marketing

• HR

• Financial responsibility and reporting

• Resource management

Why have a CSR Policy?Why have a CSR Policy?

It’s more than a legal requirement. A properly

thought through CSR policy will benefit the

business. It:

• demonstrates a constructive corporate assessment of how the organisation does business

• establishes corporate values

• defines its responsibilities to those with whom it deals

• highlights the rights of those it employs

• establishes corporate commitment to society (community, environment etc)

Who are the Target Audiences?Who are the Target Audiences?

• Analysts

• Business Partners

• Customers

• Employees

• Opinion Formers

• Regulators

• Shareholders

• Society in general (local, regional and global)

Target Audiences: AnalystsTarget Audiences: Analysts

For quoted companies the CSR policy:

• Provides corporate vision and values

• Addresses medium to longer term issues

• Enhances brand value

• It’s not all about share price.

Target Audiences: Business Target Audiences: Business

PartnersPartners

Do they want to do business with you?

• Generates business confidence

• Demonstrates efficient management

• Differentiates you from competitors

• It’s not all about price.

Target Audiences: CustomersTarget Audiences: Customers

“We are all Greens now”

• Increasing consumer environmental and ethical awareness

• Child labour

• A $ a day

• Green consumerism

• Fair Trade

• Ethical investment

Target Audiences: EmployeesTarget Audiences: Employees

Do I want to work for you?

• Employees want to feel pride in the organisation they work for.

• “I work for this really fantastic global company that is slashing its way through the Amazonian rain forest, using child labour at 50 cents a day and making a massive contribution to global warming”

• It’s not just about salaries and healthcare

Target Audiences: Opinion Target Audiences: Opinion

FormersFormers

Press and politicians have the ability to

make or break reputations. Their opinions and comment influence

• consumers

• regulators

Target Audiences: RegulatorsTarget Audiences: Regulators

If markets do not conform to the highest

standards regulators can impose

• rules

• regulations

• restrictions

• Often to higher more demanding standards and with the risk of “unintended consequences”

Target Audiences: ShareholdersTarget Audiences: Shareholders

The growth in ethical funds and increased

awareness of CSR issues is increasingly

determining investment decisions by

individual and corporate investors.

Target Audiences: SocietyTarget Audiences: Society

• Increasingly companies and major organisations are seen as corporate citizens.

• Practicing what you preach impacts on public perception and brand values.

• Are you a good corporate citizen?

So how do you communicate So how do you communicate

CSR?CSR?

• Communicating a CSR policy will in part depend on the size, business sector and resources of the organisation.

• What works for one will not work for all.

• Audiences will inevitably vary for organisations in the private, public or third sectors.

Communications ToolsCommunications Tools

• Annual reports

• Corporate brochures

• Sales and marketing materials

• Advertising

• Point of sale materials

• Briefings

Communications ToolsCommunications Tools

• Direct mail

• Staff training

• Corporate identity

• Web sites

• Media activities

• Public Affairs activities

• It is really a PR tool and when communicated well, can add value to the organization

• It is really a PR tool and when communicated well, can add value to the organization

Example - activities

Example - newsletter

Example - website

Corporate identity

• What do you think of these brands?

Reporting CSR:

CSR projects may be administered and communicate achievements via:

• A dedicated CSR section or department

• The HR department

• Business development section

• Public Relations department

• Directly via CEO and / or Board of Directors

Reporting Formats:The ‘Triple Bottom Line’

This means expanding the traditional reporting framework to take into account performance in terms of:

• Social (People)

• Environmental (Planet), as well as

• Financial (Profit)

Reporting Formats:The ‘Triple Bottom Line’

• Concept developed by John Elkington in 1994

• Expects organisations to be responsible to ‘stakeholders’ interests rather than ‘shareholders’ profit

• Related concepts:– Full-cost accounting

– Social entrepreneurialism

– Social and natural capital

Conclusion

• CSR is not how you give away money to the community, but rather how your make money from the community