- Email: [email protected]
Legal and Ethical Restraints on Public Relations
370
Book reviews / Public Relations Review 29 (2003) 369–373
make up their own minds about its believability. And if the message turned out to be false, the failure in credibility would destroy the message. Where Cunningham’s book emphasizes the philosophical and epistemological, Pratkanis and Aronson’s book is far more practical, as their subtitle would indicate. It abounds in real cases and is a lively read. Their book emphasizes the propaganda of advertising. They use the term public relations sparingly and deal with it only tangentially, but basically they regard it as one of the “everyday uses and abuses of persuasion.” They cite the growth of PR firms as proof that we live in an “age of propaganda.” Their contribution to our field, however, is in their discussion of credibility, “real and manufactured,” to which they devote one of their seven sections. Credibility, of course, is essential to persuasion, and most of the examples they cite of present-day manufactured credibility are not advertising examples but public relations. In fact, the manufacture of credibility is the essential raison d’etre of the public relations profession. Therefore, the effort to make the message into objective news, to get third-party endorsement, to maintain transparency, to avoid lies, and, one might add, to engage in dialogue and two-way communication as much as possible. Seen from this point of view, dialogue and symmetry are not altruistic but rather yet an added method of manufacturing credibility. This point needs much more acknowledgment, in the classroom and the profession. These two books can take us a step further in that understanding. Ray Eldon Hiebert, (Editor) Public Relations Review, 38091 Beach Road Box 180, Colton’s Point, MD 20626-0180, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi: 10.1016/S0363-8111(03)00036-5
Legal and Ethical Restraints on Public Relations K.K. Gower; Prospect Heights, IL, Waveland Press, 2003, 119 pp., $12.95 Gower’s concise, five-chapter text covers a lot of important ground for public relations practitioners, including copyright, fair use, and a lengthy discussion of defamation. Strong points of the text also include its use of noteworthy legal cases as examples, its inclusion of “discussion questions” at the end of each chapter, and its diminutive size, only 101-pages of text plus notes, which enable it to be used as part of almost any public relations course. Each chapter has noteworthy features. Chapter 1, “Doing the Right Thing,” begins with a discussion of the ethical and moral constraints on public relations. It covers classical ethical theories—Aristotle’s “Golden Mean,” Bentham’s Utilitarianism, the deontology of Kant, situational ethics, Rawls’ notion of “distributive Justice,” and “Enlightened Self-interest.” Later in the chapter, Communitarianism, Dialogue, Sullivan’s “Partisan” and “Mutual Values” approaches to ethics, and “Ethical Advocacy” are discussed. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of codes of ethics, criticisms of ethical codes, and an “Application” section that applies several of the ethical theories discussed to a hypothetical case.
Book reviews / Public Relations Review 29 (2003) 369–373
371
One of the strengths of the text is the use of realistic case studies to illustrate points. Throughout Chapter 1, the case of the “Dalkon Shield” intrauterine birth control devise of the 1970s is used to illustrate the difference between many of the ethical theories discussed. Chapter 2, “Defining Public Relations Speech,” and Chapter 3, “Regulating Public relations Speech,” are solid chapters and deal with the First Amendment, freedom of expression, the boundaries of corporate speech, lobbying, the FTC, the FDA, the SEC, corporate disclosure, and corporate promotional activities. Chapter 4 is Gower’s strongest chapter and deals with professional reputation, defamation, invasion of privacy, and personal injury. The discussions of defamation and libel are comprehensive, interesting, and well supported with examples and actual legal cases. Gower’s discussion of invasion of privacy is also interesting and useful for public relations practitioners and educators. Gower’s final chapter, Chapter 5, focuses on protection of creative property. Her table summarizing copyright, trademark, and patent is a very helpful heuristic (p. 100). Gower’s text also has some weaknesses. Nineteen pages is far too few to cover in any substantive way the many important issues raised in Chapter 1 or to deal with a realistic application of ethical theories. The ethical discussions in Chapter 1 are terse, and do not sufficiently illustrate the subtleties of the ethical theories discussed. The larger issue that plagues Gower’s text is the lack of reliance on seminal texts. At least a few fundamental sources for each theory should be included in the footnotes for both teachers/scholars unfamiliar with ethical theory, and for students interested in research projects. Suggested texts for Gower to include in future editions of her text include Etzioni’s (1993) The spirit of community: The reinvention of American society (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster) for communitarianism, and Buber’s classic dialogic text I and thou, (W. Kaufmann trans., New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970) for the dialogue discussion. More citations to public relations articles and books dealing with each area are also needed. The hypothetical discussions of the Dalkon shield and how the ethical theories of communitarianism and dialogue might be applied are inadequate. The Dalkon shield killed women. No ethical public relations practitioner would suggest that soliciting “feedback” from a public is sufficient to make informed life or death decisions. Indeed, “feedback” as it is applied here (as an asymmetrical communication tool) is not even a dialogic principle; “conversation” with individuals and publics is a dialogic approach. Additional drawbacks of the text include a failure to deal with multiple types of public relations speech. Chapter 2 in particular takes an especially corporate view of the profession and fails to deal with the communication activities of professional associations, government and educational institutions, charitable and religious organizations, and nonprofit and activist organizations. Several points are also unclear in Chapter 5. For example, as Gower explains: “Although, as indicated earlier, registration of the copyright is no longer required under U.S. law, registration of the work with the Copyright Office is required before a plaintiff can sue for copyright infringement” (pp. 94–95). If registration is not required for copyright protection but an individual cannot sue to protect his/her rights without registration, then a priori registration is required for protection. Which is it? On this point and others Gower needs to be clearer.
372
Book reviews / Public Relations Review 29 (2003) 369–373
On balance, Gower’s text is useful as a supplement for an introduction to public relations course, as part of an advanced public relations course, or for a teacher new to the legal issues in public relations. Future editions of the text, however, need to clarify some points and provide readers who are unfamiliar with the issues raised with citations to more seminal or germane sources. Michael L. Kent, (Graduate Advisor) Communication Studies, Montclair State University 050 Life Hall, Upper Montclair, NJ, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi: 10.1016/S0363-8111(03)00037-7
The Heart of Change: Real-life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen; Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, 190 pp., $20 This clever title belongs to a book whose authors tell us that emotion is an overlooked business tool, one to be utilized if organizations whose executives want change are ever going to make it happen. Rational, objective analyses of business challenges get people thinking, they say, but creating a sense of urgency about the challenges—getting ‘em in the gut—is what gets people moving. Kotter is the author of the business bestseller Leading Change. On the new volume he is joined by Dan S. Cohen, a principal with Deloitte Consulting. Together they propound a seeing-feeling-changing pattern they say speeds up the change process and accelerates acceptance by those who will have to implement change and adapt to its consequences. Kotter and Cohen solicited and received permission to use case studies from organizations around the world. These are short summaries of problems; tales of how resistance to solutions grew and became problems in and of themselves; and descriptions of the ways executives dissipated the resistance and cultivated cooperation. Each of these interesting case studies carries the byline of the executive involved, but regrettably, no information about the organizations for which they work (although a Google search would likely reveal that) and only a little about the type of businesses in which they are engaged. These aren’t big drawbacks, but I missed having the information that would have provided context. Kotter and Cohen’s emphasis is on illustrating techniques that will destroy complacency and replace it with forward motion. Their suggestions are highly dependent on communication strategies that make a powerful case for change and which help to maintain the appetite for change. In their chapter, “Communicate for Buy-In,” they explain that those strategies must go far beyond circulating spreadsheets that prove why change is important or having the CEO give a numbers-laden speech about how great the re-invented corporation could be. “Good communication is not just data transfer,” they say. “You need to show people something that addresses their anxieties, that accepts their anger, that is credible in a very gut-level sense, and that evokes faith in the vision.” It’s the public affairs/corporate communication/public relations departments that can make an enormous contribution to the success of change because of their global view of the organi-
Book reviews / Public Relations Review 29 (2003) 369–373
make up their own minds about its believability. And if the message turned out to be false, the failure in credibility would destroy the message. Where Cunningham’s book emphasizes the philosophical and epistemological, Pratkanis and Aronson’s book is far more practical, as their subtitle would indicate. It abounds in real cases and is a lively read. Their book emphasizes the propaganda of advertising. They use the term public relations sparingly and deal with it only tangentially, but basically they regard it as one of the “everyday uses and abuses of persuasion.” They cite the growth of PR firms as proof that we live in an “age of propaganda.” Their contribution to our field, however, is in their discussion of credibility, “real and manufactured,” to which they devote one of their seven sections. Credibility, of course, is essential to persuasion, and most of the examples they cite of present-day manufactured credibility are not advertising examples but public relations. In fact, the manufacture of credibility is the essential raison d’etre of the public relations profession. Therefore, the effort to make the message into objective news, to get third-party endorsement, to maintain transparency, to avoid lies, and, one might add, to engage in dialogue and two-way communication as much as possible. Seen from this point of view, dialogue and symmetry are not altruistic but rather yet an added method of manufacturing credibility. This point needs much more acknowledgment, in the classroom and the profession. These two books can take us a step further in that understanding. Ray Eldon Hiebert, (Editor) Public Relations Review, 38091 Beach Road Box 180, Colton’s Point, MD 20626-0180, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi: 10.1016/S0363-8111(03)00036-5
Legal and Ethical Restraints on Public Relations K.K. Gower; Prospect Heights, IL, Waveland Press, 2003, 119 pp., $12.95 Gower’s concise, five-chapter text covers a lot of important ground for public relations practitioners, including copyright, fair use, and a lengthy discussion of defamation. Strong points of the text also include its use of noteworthy legal cases as examples, its inclusion of “discussion questions” at the end of each chapter, and its diminutive size, only 101-pages of text plus notes, which enable it to be used as part of almost any public relations course. Each chapter has noteworthy features. Chapter 1, “Doing the Right Thing,” begins with a discussion of the ethical and moral constraints on public relations. It covers classical ethical theories—Aristotle’s “Golden Mean,” Bentham’s Utilitarianism, the deontology of Kant, situational ethics, Rawls’ notion of “distributive Justice,” and “Enlightened Self-interest.” Later in the chapter, Communitarianism, Dialogue, Sullivan’s “Partisan” and “Mutual Values” approaches to ethics, and “Ethical Advocacy” are discussed. Finally, the chapter concludes with a discussion of codes of ethics, criticisms of ethical codes, and an “Application” section that applies several of the ethical theories discussed to a hypothetical case.
Book reviews / Public Relations Review 29 (2003) 369–373
371
One of the strengths of the text is the use of realistic case studies to illustrate points. Throughout Chapter 1, the case of the “Dalkon Shield” intrauterine birth control devise of the 1970s is used to illustrate the difference between many of the ethical theories discussed. Chapter 2, “Defining Public Relations Speech,” and Chapter 3, “Regulating Public relations Speech,” are solid chapters and deal with the First Amendment, freedom of expression, the boundaries of corporate speech, lobbying, the FTC, the FDA, the SEC, corporate disclosure, and corporate promotional activities. Chapter 4 is Gower’s strongest chapter and deals with professional reputation, defamation, invasion of privacy, and personal injury. The discussions of defamation and libel are comprehensive, interesting, and well supported with examples and actual legal cases. Gower’s discussion of invasion of privacy is also interesting and useful for public relations practitioners and educators. Gower’s final chapter, Chapter 5, focuses on protection of creative property. Her table summarizing copyright, trademark, and patent is a very helpful heuristic (p. 100). Gower’s text also has some weaknesses. Nineteen pages is far too few to cover in any substantive way the many important issues raised in Chapter 1 or to deal with a realistic application of ethical theories. The ethical discussions in Chapter 1 are terse, and do not sufficiently illustrate the subtleties of the ethical theories discussed. The larger issue that plagues Gower’s text is the lack of reliance on seminal texts. At least a few fundamental sources for each theory should be included in the footnotes for both teachers/scholars unfamiliar with ethical theory, and for students interested in research projects. Suggested texts for Gower to include in future editions of her text include Etzioni’s (1993) The spirit of community: The reinvention of American society (New York, NY: Simon and Schuster) for communitarianism, and Buber’s classic dialogic text I and thou, (W. Kaufmann trans., New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1970) for the dialogue discussion. More citations to public relations articles and books dealing with each area are also needed. The hypothetical discussions of the Dalkon shield and how the ethical theories of communitarianism and dialogue might be applied are inadequate. The Dalkon shield killed women. No ethical public relations practitioner would suggest that soliciting “feedback” from a public is sufficient to make informed life or death decisions. Indeed, “feedback” as it is applied here (as an asymmetrical communication tool) is not even a dialogic principle; “conversation” with individuals and publics is a dialogic approach. Additional drawbacks of the text include a failure to deal with multiple types of public relations speech. Chapter 2 in particular takes an especially corporate view of the profession and fails to deal with the communication activities of professional associations, government and educational institutions, charitable and religious organizations, and nonprofit and activist organizations. Several points are also unclear in Chapter 5. For example, as Gower explains: “Although, as indicated earlier, registration of the copyright is no longer required under U.S. law, registration of the work with the Copyright Office is required before a plaintiff can sue for copyright infringement” (pp. 94–95). If registration is not required for copyright protection but an individual cannot sue to protect his/her rights without registration, then a priori registration is required for protection. Which is it? On this point and others Gower needs to be clearer.
372
Book reviews / Public Relations Review 29 (2003) 369–373
On balance, Gower’s text is useful as a supplement for an introduction to public relations course, as part of an advanced public relations course, or for a teacher new to the legal issues in public relations. Future editions of the text, however, need to clarify some points and provide readers who are unfamiliar with the issues raised with citations to more seminal or germane sources. Michael L. Kent, (Graduate Advisor) Communication Studies, Montclair State University 050 Life Hall, Upper Montclair, NJ, USA E-mail address: [email protected] doi: 10.1016/S0363-8111(03)00037-7
The Heart of Change: Real-life Stories of How People Change Their Organizations John P. Kotter and Dan S. Cohen; Boston, Harvard Business School Press, 2002, 190 pp., $20 This clever title belongs to a book whose authors tell us that emotion is an overlooked business tool, one to be utilized if organizations whose executives want change are ever going to make it happen. Rational, objective analyses of business challenges get people thinking, they say, but creating a sense of urgency about the challenges—getting ‘em in the gut—is what gets people moving. Kotter is the author of the business bestseller Leading Change. On the new volume he is joined by Dan S. Cohen, a principal with Deloitte Consulting. Together they propound a seeing-feeling-changing pattern they say speeds up the change process and accelerates acceptance by those who will have to implement change and adapt to its consequences. Kotter and Cohen solicited and received permission to use case studies from organizations around the world. These are short summaries of problems; tales of how resistance to solutions grew and became problems in and of themselves; and descriptions of the ways executives dissipated the resistance and cultivated cooperation. Each of these interesting case studies carries the byline of the executive involved, but regrettably, no information about the organizations for which they work (although a Google search would likely reveal that) and only a little about the type of businesses in which they are engaged. These aren’t big drawbacks, but I missed having the information that would have provided context. Kotter and Cohen’s emphasis is on illustrating techniques that will destroy complacency and replace it with forward motion. Their suggestions are highly dependent on communication strategies that make a powerful case for change and which help to maintain the appetite for change. In their chapter, “Communicate for Buy-In,” they explain that those strategies must go far beyond circulating spreadsheets that prove why change is important or having the CEO give a numbers-laden speech about how great the re-invented corporation could be. “Good communication is not just data transfer,” they say. “You need to show people something that addresses their anxieties, that accepts their anger, that is credible in a very gut-level sense, and that evokes faith in the vision.” It’s the public affairs/corporate communication/public relations departments that can make an enormous contribution to the success of change because of their global view of the organi-