MKT 310

PRINCIPLE
OF PUBLIC
RELATION
MISS FATIN NURAISYAH
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
Define what ethics is all about and the role of
public relations in this aspect.

Explain the meaning of social responsibility
and the advantages and disadvantages of social
responsibility

Briefly explain the laws affecting public
relations.
ETHICS
Definition of Ethics Brown (1986) define ethics
as a conduct consistent with a set of values that
establishes the criteria by which conduct will be
judged.
In simple terms, ethics are often defined as just
doing what is right.
Ethics are culture-bound and therefore creates
some difficulties for global public relations
practice.
DEMAND FOR PR PRACTITIONER
TO BE ETHICAL
According to Seithel (1994) PR practitioner must
be scrupulous honest and trustworthy.
PR must act all times in the public interest and
also represent the best interest of an individual
organization.
Ryan and Martisan (1998)- PR practitioner
helped by acting as a corporate conscience who
constantly argued for actions and policies that
are responsive to social needs.
Companies who are responsive to social needswill
automatically find themselves having a
goodcorporate image.
CONCERN FOR ETHICS AND
CODES OF CONDUCT
There are two main reason why ethics and code of
conduct is so important to the job of a PR practitioner.
1. THE IMPERATIVE TRUST
to protect those who entrust their well
being to the professional.
2. PROFESSIONAL PRIVILEDGE
Protecting the profession itself;
professional privilege, status and
collegiality. PR practitioner must commit
themselves to uphold the profession by honoring
its obligation and values.
CODE OF PROFESSIONAL
CONDUCT
To protect both clients and their own privilege
positions in the society, professions established
codes of ethics and standard of practice.
i.e. in America, a code of ethics was established
since 1950 by the Public relations Society of
America.
In Malaysia, The Institute of Public Relation In
Malaysia (IPRM) has its own code of ethics to
govern the practice of PR in Malaysia.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Organization in democratic societies exist with
the consent of their publics. Therefore it is
important for them to be socially responsible
Just as with ethics, efforts to be socially
responsible are closely tied with values, which
are anything but universal
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
Certain actions to show that a company is socially
responsible are:
1. Producing sound products or reliable services that do
not threaten the environment and contributing
positively
to the social, political and economic health of the
society.
2. Compensating employees fairly and treating them
justly, regardless of the cultural environment you are
operating.
3. Never offering overpriced or potentially dangerous
junk in the guise of a high-quality product.
4. Restoring and protecting anything your organization
might damage or threaten during business operation
ADVANTAGES OF SOCIALLY
RESPONSIBLE PUBLIC RELATIONS
1. PR improves professional practice by codifying and
enforcing ethical conduct and standards of
performance.
2. PR improves the conduct of organizations by stressing
the need for public approval.
3. PR serves the public interest by making all points of
view articulate in the public forum.
4. PR serves our segmented, scattered society by using
communication and mediation to replace
misinformation with information, discord with rapport.
5. PR fulfills its social responsibility to promote human
welfare by helping social systems adapt to changing
needs and environments.
DISADVANTAGES OF SOCIALLY
RESPONSIBLE PUBLIC RELATIONS
1. PR gains advantages for and promotes
special interest, sometimes at the cost of
the public well being.
2. PR clutters already choked channels of
communication with the debris of
pseudoevents and phony phrases that
confused rather than clarify.
3. PR corrodes our channels of
communication with cynicism and
credibility gap
LAWS GOVERNING PUBLIC RELATIONS IN
MALAYSIA
PR practitioners are governed in two ways:-

1. Code of Professional Conduct
Enforced by Institute of Public Relations Malaysia
(IPRM).
For any wrongdoings, a PR practitioner can be :-
- Reprimanded
- Fined
- Deregistered.
2. Law of the Country
A PR practitioner can be sued or imprisoned for any offence
committed under the law of the country such as Printing
Presses and Publication Act 1984,Sedition Act 1948,
Defamation Act 1957, Copyright Act 1987, and Internal
Security Act 1960, revised 1972.
PRINTING PRESSES AND PUBLICATION
ACT 1984
Regulate the use of printing presses and printing,
importation, production, reproduction, publishing
and distribution of publications.
No person is allowed to keep or use a printing
press unless he or she has been granted license
by ministry of home affairs.
COPYRIGHT ACT 1987
Protect right to intellectual property i.e.
inventions (patents), industrial designs, artistic
works such as novels, musical works, artistic
works
Provide the copyright owner the exclusive rights
to reproduce, distribute, and use original works
of expression fixed in tangible medium.
Act covers written, musical, dramatic, pictorial,
graphic and sculptural work.
The aim is to prevent the use of someones work
without due acknowledgement (plagiarism)
SEDITION ACT 1948
States that any act, speech, words or publication are
seditious
if they have seditious tendency
Seditious tendency include :-
1. Bring hatred or contempt or to excite
dissatisfaction against any ruler or government.
2. Excite subjects to seek alteration other than by
lawful means.
3. Bring hatred or contempt to the administration of
justice in the country.
4. Raise discontent or dissatisfaction among the
subject.
5. Promote ill-will and hostility between races
and classes
6. Question the provision of the constitution.
DEFAMATION ACT 1957
A defamatory statement is a statement which
disparages a person in his office, profession,
calling, trade or business.
It is a false statement which injures a persons
reputation by exposing him to hatred, contempt
or ridicule.
Defamation occur in two forms :-
1. Libel published in written statement
2. Slander spoken statements
CRITERIA FOR A STATEMENTS TO BE
CONSIDERED LEGALLY LIBELOUS
1. Hurt someones reputation; be defamatory.

2. Identify the victim by name or by some other way
obvious to others.

3. Be communicated, published or broadcast to an
audience other than the victim.

4. Contain an element of fault, proof of falsehood
being disseminated with either malice or negligence.

5. Or in the absence of the fourth condition, cause
provable damages or injury.
INTERNAL SECURITY ACT
Provide the internal security of Malaysia,
preventive detention, the prevention of
subversion, the suppression of organized
violence against person or property in
specified areas of Malaysia.
The act gives Minister of Home Affairs the
power to detain any person with the view to
prevent him from acting in a manner
prejudicial to the security of Malaysia.
OFFICIAL SECRET ACT 1972
Seek to prevent any official government information
from being received or released from prior
authorization.
The term official means relating to any public
service
which include;-
1. Any public service mentioned under article 132 of
the
federal constitution.
2. Any local authority
3. Any statutory body.
4. Any person, authority or body declared by the
minister to be so
5. In time of war, any government department of an
ally.
OFFICIAL SECRET ACT 1972
OSA covers :-
All person
- citizens, non-citizens or officials in the
public service of whom information is
trusted in confidence
Government contractors past or present
Former government employees
Directors of companies and corporations
Every member of a group or firm dealing with the
government.