This chapter introduces legal and ethical frameworks for the practice of public relations. Law is defined as "the rules of conduct established and enforced by authority in a society."¹Ethics is "the criteria for determining what is right and wrong."²

Organizations carry out public relations in a legal environment that protects the free speech rights of individuals and organizations and puts limits on how communication activities are conducted. Public relations practitioners must know communication laws in order to counsel top managers on how to avoid illegal communication with such stakeholder groups as employees, labor unions, government officials, and activists.

Although communication activities are legal to carry out, they may be unethical. For example, under oath in a court of law, one must "tell the truth" defined by legal guidelines. But there are many "truths" in the court of public opinion. Critics accuse public relations people of "spinning" the truth. Public relations professionals are advocates for organizational points of view, but they also are held accountable for communications that are in the public interest. This chapter considers ethics from the standpoint of standards of social conduct, individual ethics, business ethics, standards of a developing profession, and codes of ethics.

¹Thomas A. Schwartz, "The Law in Modern Society," in Communication and the Law, ed. W. Wat Hopkins (Northport, AL: Vision Press, 2001), p. 1.

²Dean Williams, "Un-Spun." Communication World, April/May 2002, p. 26.