Legal and Ethical Restraints on Public Relations

Law and ethics can be formidable topics for many practitioners and students of public relations and related fields. At the same time, they need to be aware of how the law affects how they do their job and be cognizant that their actions may have ethical and legal ramifications for themselves, their employers, and their clients. Ethical and Legal Restraints on Public Relations complements traditional texts used in the study of public relations and mass communication law. The ethics portion of the book addresses classical approaches to ethics, business ethics, theories of public relations ethics, and ethics codes. It also provides practical guidelines for working through ethical dilemmas. The remainder of the module is devoted to law: First Amendment theory and its relevance for public relations speech; corporate and commercial speech; specific areas of the law, such as government regulations, torts, and intellectual property. Gower, a former practicing attorney and PR professional, includes meaningful cases and examples to illustrate specific legal concepts and the reasoning behind each one. She prepares readers for the real world by giving them knowledge that will be integral throughout every phase of their career. Chapters include summaries and discussion questions.