Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Public Relations Theocharis Katranis Lecture 4 Lecturer 1

Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Lecture 4 2 Today’s Lecture 1. Learn the major laws that affect public relations 2. Understand the complex relationship between the First Amendment and public relations 3. Learn keys to dealing with litigation, while still preserving a positive image 4. Understand the types of public relations research. 5. Understand the methods of research 6. Learn how to evaluate research 7. Recognize the potential and opportunities posed by the Internet in research

Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Lecture 4 3 Today’s Lecture With few words, today we will examine the relationship between the law and public relations, i.e how important a law can be in public relations practice.

Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Lecture 4 4 Major Laws affecting public relations 1. First Amendment 2.Defamation Law 3. Insider Trading 4. Disclosure Law 5. Ethics Law 6. Copyright Law 7. Internet Law 8. Litigation

Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Lecture 4 5 First Amendment This is… One person’s definition on a negative issue may be someone else’s a positive way of expression.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 6 Defamation Law Defamation is the term used to describe a libel – a printed falsehood (lie) and slander – an Oral falsehood 1. The falsehood was communicated through print, broadcast or other electronic means. 2. The person who is the subject of the falsehood was identified or easily identifiable. 3. The identified person has suffered injury - in the form of monentary losses, reputation loss or mental suffering

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 7 Insider Trading Simply speaking …… Every public relations professional should know the laws that govern his or her organization and industry. Examples - A practitioner in a hospital should have an understanding of managed care and its ramifications - A practitioner at a non-profit organization should understand the laws that govern donors and recipients. - A practitioner at a college ought to understand the laws that govern privacy of student and faculty records.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 8 Disclosure Law Companies should not hide information from their associates especially from their investors. Disclosure law implies that the companies should provide their business environment with true and accurate information. That is…

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 9 Ethics Law Ethics… To do the right thing! Unfortunately, due to the many cases of lobbying worldwide, less in the private and more in Government sector, people lost its trust to these sectors. Ethics law is to identify lobbying cases and to apply the law with all the consequences for those who brake the law. So public relations practitioners should know this law very well.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 10 Copyright Law Copyright law provides basic, automatic protection for writers, whether a manuscript is registered with the copyright office or even published.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 11 Copyright Law An “Original work of authorship” has copyright protection from the moment the work is in the following fixed form: 1. Literary works 2. Musical works 3. Dramatic works 4. Pantomimes and choreographic works 5. Pictorial, graphic or sculptural works 6. Motions pictures 7. Sound Recordings

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 12 Copyright Law gives the owner of the copyright the exclusive right to reproduce and authorize others to reproduce the work, prepare derivative works based on the copyright material and perform and/or display the work publicly. Copyright Law Copyright Law is different from trademark law, which refers to a word, symbol, or slogan used alone or in combination, that identifies a product or its sponsor.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture On Censorship – Free speech? / by whom Internet Law - On Intellectual Property – copy and sell music CDs. - On Cybersquatting – Grabbing domain names in bad faith - On E-fraud – i.e. “Clicks” fraud to rank higher in search engines / Letters from Nigeria

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 14 Litigation It is the management of the media process during the course of any legal dispute so as to affect the outcome or its impact on the client’s overall reputation.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 15 Research What is a research? Research is the systematic collection and interpretation of information to increase understanding of an issue.

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture Applied Research 2. Theoretical Research (Why people communicate / how public opinion is formed / how a public is created) Types of Public Relations Research (To answer specific practical questions) 3. Secondary Research (Existing information i.e. libraries, Reports from Market research companies, books, magazines, newspapers, Government Statistical dept., Industry trade journals, Online-Google etc)

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 17 Methods of Public Relations Research 1. Surveys 2. Communication Audits

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 18 Methods of Public Relations Research 1. Surveys – Consist of 4 Elements 1.1 Sample of Selected group 1.2 Questionnaire 1.3 Interview 1.4 Analysis of Results

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 19 Communication Audits are used frequently by corporations, schools, hospitals and other organizations, to determine whether a communications group and the products it produces are realizing objectives and also how the institution is perceived by its core constituents. Methods of Public Relations Research 2. Communication Audits

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 20 Evaluation The following should be considered when evaluating a public relations program 2. Securing management commitment 1. Setting measurable program objectives 3. Determining the best way to gather data 4. Reporting back to management 5. Selecting the most appropriate outcomes

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 21 Research and the Web 1. Unique Visitors Web Analytics measure… 2. Returning Visitors 3. Cost per click through 4. Total time spent on a site 5. Downloads 6. Costs per contact 7. Links from other sites 8. Google Page Rank 9. Content popularity 10. Sales

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 22 Best questions to be answered when evaluating a website 2. What pages are people looking at? 1. How much traffic is coming to the site? 3. How often do they go beyond the homepage? 4. What is it they find most useful and interesting? 5. What parts never get looked at? Research and the Web 6. Where do visitors come from? 7. Is the site functioning as expected-for advertisers, sales leads, requests and so on?

Public RelationsTheocharis Katranis,MBA, Stirling Lecture 4 23 A research in the Web is very important because it is… 2. Easy to search large amount of data 1. Fast 3. Cheap 4. Able to do comparisons with data quickly 5. Store information very quickly Research and the Web 6. Compare data from international sources 7. Get info in text, audios, video 9. What else??? 8. Identify business opportunities fast

Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Lecture Learned the major laws that affect public relations 2. Understood the complex relationship between the First Amendment and public relations 3. Learned keys to dealing with litigation, while still preserving a positive image 4. Discussed the types of public relations research. 5. Elaborated the methods of research 6. Analyzed the ways on how to evaluate a research 7. Recognized the potential and opportunities posed by the Internet in research Summary – Lecture 4

Public RelationsTheocharis KatranisMBA, Stirling Chapters 7 & 8 Lecture 4 23 END of Lecture 4 Thank you for your attention