PR must sleep with the law

PR practitioners must jump in bed with the law. We are living in a litigation era that PR
practice must embrace. Anyone can sue or be sued.PR operates on two legal frameworks:
courts of law and the court of public opinion.PR practitioners must be able to handle both
frameworks.
Court of public opinion is the one with no clear standards on tactics. Court of public opinion
is ruled by the media and opinion leaders. Everyone can have a say on what you say or what
an organisation is doing. This is evident during crises especially when you are a target of
pressure groups. It is hard to win in courts of public opinion because people use emotions to
debate not logic.
The other legal framework is the rule of law that plays out in a real court room. It is the
reason messages and actions of PR practitioners must be well thought out. Any reckless
message released by a PR personal can spark a legal battle. It is against this background that
those who study journalism make the best PR practitioners. Most Ugandan institutions teach
media law as a course unit for journalism.
Ignorance is no defence. You must strive to learn the basic legal communication aspects of
libel, defamation, contempt of court, false news, and copyright.PR practitioners are paid to
speak and sometimes to keep quiet. They say silence is golden. PR is the only profession that
allows you not to answer when you do not feel like. If there is an ongoing court case, it
becomes illegal to discuss it. This is contempt of court. Contempt of court is simply
disrespect to court and it attracts punishment within the law. There are many responses that
PR can use during times when they are tempted by media for a response. My favourite ones
are : I can not comment on matters before court, Am not at liberty to comment on that
now , we are investigating that issue , I can not confirm or deny your allegations
I know everyone has said PR can fake sincere apologies. This must be done with caution.
Avoid being too apologetic during scandals. It may be interpreted as taking full responsibility.
Legal teams can prove a case of negligence and compensation against an organisation by
your quick admission.
There was a local telecom billboard advert that led to a conflict with a church. It was
referring to some church bells. It had to go down. PR practitioners must develop in-house
communication guidelines for their organisations .All messages from all departments must
have a sign off from the PR department .My media law background helped me work well in
highly regulated sectors of healthcare and insurance. These sectors require cautious
communications. By the time you release a message, you must mean what you say, and there
is no sorry.
Every PR practitioner in Uganda must at least have knowledge on the Press and Journalism
act, Penal code act, and Access to information act. I would encourage a practitioner to read
past court cases on defamation, libel, false news, copyright infringement, negligence, access
to information and contempt of court. A PR personal should not be a mill to process an

organisation's statement to the public as gospel truth. They must have the wisdom to assess
communication messages for legal implications. A workmate can land you into legal trouble
unknowingly. Recently, there was an organisation that run a newspaper job advert requesting
for particular races to apply which sparked a public legal debate. Politically appointed
spokespersons must steer away from making "attack dog responses in the media." Trading
insults can create grounds for defamation and libel law suits. Reckless communication can
cost you a career and cause business disruptions. You are the verbal armoury of the
organisation but it pays to treat verbal diarrhoea .Verbal diarrhoea in this case means a
message not legally binding.PR practitioners must have a choice ethically on what they
communicate.
As a communicator, you are expected to obtain a signed consent for third party voices,
images and videos you want to use .This must apply to even staff members even if you are
not paying. Work with legal experts to draft simple contracts for people to surrender their
copyrights. Most Uganda media houses today require you to sign an indemnity agreement
before public notice adverts run. This is common with adverts concerning dismissed
employees.
Acting like you have a personal reputation to protect may help you develop a legal conscious
work attitude. Every PR practitioner should make it a habit to read the specific act in the
Constitution that relates to operations of a brand they represent. Legal specialists must be part
of the company crisis management teams. There is need to respond quickly to media requests
with legal compliance. I have heard spokespeople say 'we arrested a thief at our workplace.
This is wrong even if you have evidence. We follow the British legal system that believes
no one is guilty until proven guilty. You can always use simple words like suspected and
alleged to be legally compliant.

Disclaimer. This article is not meant to make you eat your shoes. It is purely for educational
purposes .Seek legal advice from experts.
Ivan N Baliboola
PR and Organisational diagnosis specialist
nbaliboola@gmail.com
nbaliboola.wordpress.com/