Communications Law and Public Relations: The right to Protection!

Consent Release. Slander. Libel. Disclaimers….   These were some of the legal terms and definitions which were frequently brought up for discussion and taught in a recent Principles of PR class at Mohawk College.  Why might you ask? Well the answer lies in Communications Law!

From a simplified context, Communications Law revolves around daily business practices, their subsequent legality, ramifications and implications.  It is here where someone working within the Public Relations sector needs to acknowledge the law from an educated standpoint.  Familiarising the basics of Communications Law allows for: 1) avoidance of serious legal errors and 2) the ability to know when legal counsel is needed from internal or external resources.

Within the class there was an emphasis on one major issue concerning Communications Law and Public Relations. The issue discussed was privacy, in which it was taught that privacy is the most common issue Public Relations practitioners’ encounter.  I found this to be interesting because I assumed that within the Public Relations industry, dealing with privacy was minimal at most. I was very wrong….

From the Canadian legal perspective, personal information where an individual can be identified varies immensely, and is the main reasoning for the existence of such laws. This list of identifiable personal information includes but is not limited to: Age, Income, Employee files, Medical Records, Name, Ethnic Origin, etc. However, personal information does not include the name, title, business address or telephone number of an employee of an organization. Therefore, this information is free to be accessed by anyone. 

The Office of the Canadian Privacy Commissioner outlines privacy and legality laws in more depth on their website, www.priv.gc.ca  providing information for individuals on topics such as Privacy Rights, Identity Theft, as well as Public and Private sector issues affecting corporations.  Further initiatives taking place in Canada revolving around privacy and privacy laws can be seen in PIPEDA. The Personal Information Protection and Electronic Documents act or (PIPEDA) for short, was created in 2004 by the federal government to standardize collection of personal information in corporations and businesses whilst outlining exactly  how private sectors collect use and disclose personal information.

 From a Public Relations perspective, I cannot help but think that privacy laws as discussed are seemingly becoming more and more prevalent in today’s society. The evolution of communication and subsequent technologies has come a long way.  There are now faster, efficient ways to get ones word across a dynamic realm of space and in a shorter time span than ever before!  With this comes the threat of privacy breech, and the prolongation of potential unethical behaviour, incidents of libel—printed false hood—, or even slander that can end ones career in the PR industry. In reflection and preparation for a career in Public Relations/Communications I will always consider the principles of corporate sensitivity, responsibility and delicate choice of words when prepping for communications objectives, releases etc. In my opinion it’s safer to be ‘perfect’ when it comes to the public, policy and personal privacy—it’s your right!