Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Sport Public Relations C H A P T E R 15 Legal and Ethical Dimensions of Sport Public Relations Chapter 15

Objectives Identify existing legal issues in sport public relations and their effects on teams, leagues, and organizations Anticipate emerging legal issues, particularly in relation to the development of digital media content (continued)

Objectives (continued) Understand the importance of legal analysis in sport public relations Evaluate ethical dilemmas present in sport public relations Recognize the need for ethical decision making in sport public relations

Two Major Topics Law Ethics Not all legally sound decisions are ethical. Not all ethical decisions are necessarily legal.

Legal Dimensions: Social Media A new and potentially perilous frontier Facebook photos Unfiltered tweets (continued)

Legal Dimensions: Social Media (continued) League or managerial responses Rules limiting social media use Software to monitor social media sites Recommendations that athletes keep their content private

Legal Dimensions: FERPA Federal Education Rights and Privacy Act FERPA is a federal law that protects the privacy of student education records. Significant impact for scholastic and collegiate athletic administrators Critics claim some administrators use FERPA as a shield

Legal Dimensions: HIPAA Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act HIPAA protects the privacy of an individual’s health information and governs the way certain health care providers collect, maintain, use, and disclose protected health information. Affects reporting related to injuries Application in sport has been uneven

Legal Dimensions: GINA Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act GINA protects individuals, including athletes, from a variety of genetics-related issues. Prohibits sport organizations from mandating genetic tests for athletes No prohibition of athletes securing tests on their own

Legal Dimensions: Governmental Protections The Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) provides that any person has the right to request access to federal agency records or information. Federal law Issue at the heart of NCAA v Associated Press et al. (continued)

Legal Dimensions: Governmental Protections (continued) Open meeting and records laws require that state and local government organizations make public their meetings and decision- making processes.

Legal Dimensions: SLAPP and Anti-SLAPP SLAPP, strategic lawsuits against public participation, could be used by sport organizations to silence critics. Anti-SLAPP statutes could allow critics to organize more effectively without fear of having to defend themselves in court.

Legal Issues: Intellectual Property Copyright protection extends to original works of authorship fixed in any tangible medium of expression, now known or later developed . . . (17 U.S. Code & 1029 (a)). Trademark law focuses on the protection of marks, words, names, symbols, designs, and combinations thereof.

Legal Issues: Right of Publicity Right of publicity protects a person from having the commercial value of his or her identity appropriated by someone else without consent.

Legal Issues: Libel and Slander Defamation law posits that to establish the tort of defamation a plaintiff needs to prove a false and defamatory statement of fact; published or communicated message to a third party; fault, at least negligence, of the publisher or communicator; or harm leading to damages. (continued)

Legal Issues: Libel and Slander (continued) Libel: written false defamation Slander: spoken false defamation

Ethical Dimensions: Codes of Ethics Codes of ethics act as guidelines for professional behavior among workers in the field Example: CoSIDA Code of Ethics Professionalism is an expectation in any setting

Ethical Issues Fairness in coverage: balancing consumer demand for information about most popular sports with equity considerations Difference in international settings Cultural sensitivities (e.g., rivalry matches) Customs and local traditions Entitlements and freedoms