PRSA APR EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS

PRSA APR EXAM PRACTICE QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS You are responsible for an internal employee newsletter. A freelance photographer provides several photos you intend to use in the next issue. Your supervisor quickly reviews and approves the newsletter before leaving for an extended vacation. You are nearing your deadline and in final preparation of the files, you notice fine print copyright information by the photographer in the corner of the images. Which one of the following is the best course of action? A) This is work for hire so you can follow the directive of your supervisor and proceed with publication of the newsletter. B) Contact the freelance photographer directly to get verbal approval for publication. C) Coordinate with your legal counsel to review the contract terms before taking further action. D) Include the copyright information from the photographer in the photo caption and proceed with publication of the newsletter. - CORRECT ANSWER-C) Coordinate with your legal counsel to review the contract terms before proceeding with publication. (EPR 10th, pgs 157-158 and PR: S&T 10th, pgs 302-303) You are the public relations manager at a automotive manufacturer, reporting to the company president. Your company is about to announce an expansion, which will be a major economic boost for the community, at a press conference. Your boss would like to share some additional details about the acquisition "off the record" with several community partners following the press conference at a VIP event, which some media may attend. What counsel would you offer your boss? 1. We trust our partners and this will improve our community relations 2. It is acceptable to share these details if we inform the audience that what we share is off the record 3. It is acceptable to share these details if reporters do not attend the event 4. You should never share things off the record unless you really want it t get out - CORRECT ANSWER-4. You should never share things off the record unless you really want it t get out (EPR p.231) Which of the following two statements are correct in order for you to use these photos in ads? A. The company hired and paid the photographer for the professional event photos and owns them for future use. B. These photos can only be used if the photographer has provided written permission to reproduce the event photos beyond the original purpose of an internal newsletter. C.The employees and family members photographed must have a signed consent release to have their photos used in an ad for the company. D. Company employees are not required to sign releases, but their family members would need to have signed releases to be used in the ads - CORRECT ANSWER-B. These photos can only be used if the photographer has provided written permission to reproduce the event photos beyond the original purpose of an internal newsletter. C.The employees and family members photographed must have a signed consent release to have their photos used in an ad for the company. Reference: Public Relations Strategies and Tactics (10th ed): Page 298: Photo Releases and Page 302: Photography and Artwork. As the internal communications officer of a large corporation, You've discovered numerous unofficial newsletters being published and emailed to 3,000 employees without your knowledge. On further investigation you discover in each newsletter a national ad appeared with the copyright symbol listed, but with digital modifications made to each ad changing the color and size. What three significant copyright laws were violated here? A. Downloading materials from the Internet, Fair Use, and Statutory Copyright B. Product Publicity, Photography & Artwork, Copyright Act D. Common law copyright, Fair Use Doctrine, and Infringement E. Trademark Infringement, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and Copyright Infringement. - CORRECT ANSWER-E. Trademark, Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), and Copyright Law. (APR Study Guide, pgs. 105-107) You assign your intern the job of finding a royalty free image to illustrate a blog. She brings back a great photo - it's from BING images. What law do you talk to her about? A) Copyright B) Plagiarism C) Slavish copyright D) Defamation - libel - CORRECT ANSWER-A. the image on Bing may be copyrighted, you need to show her how to check. Plagiarism is when you pass off someone's else's work as your own or without attribution; Slavish copyright is when you copy word for word, and defamation-libel is when you disseminate a public falsehood about a person or organization. Jonah Lehrer, the 31 year old wunderkind author of Imagine, was recently fired from the New Yorker. He was caught for several violations - made up quotes including one attributed to Bob Dylan. A Dylan scholar hounded him for the source and Jonah had to confess he made it up. The publisher of W hired a journalism professor to review his work for authenticity. The professor discovered Lehrer paraphrased without attribution and some of his conclusions were found to be from the work of another scientist. Which of the above are violations of copyright? A) Making up quotes B) Paraphrasing without attribution C) Copying another scientist's work for his own book - CORRECT ANSWER-Correct answer: C. a is unethical, b is plagiarism. Your new employee forgot to get an intern to sign a release form for her photo for the annual report. He also secretly recorded a phone conversation with a client that he was afraid would turn confrontational. As you debate whether to keep this employee in your agency, you have him write an essay on which of the following torts? Choose 2. A) Public disclosure B) False Light C) Intrusion D) Appropriation - CORRECT ANSWER-Correct answer - C & D. Secretly recording a conversation is a violation of intrusion and using a person's image or name without their permission is Appropriation. a is embarrassing facts or pictures that come out in public and B is when a truthful statement is out of context and puts a person or organization in a misleading context. Your public relations department wants to share a magazine article from another nonprofit organization with your members. For which of the following scenarios would you need to obtain permission from the copyright owner to share the article? (Choose 3.) A) If you email the article to the members of your organization B) If you send the members of your organization a link to the article on the other organization's website C) If you distribute the article to the members of your organization at its annual meeting D) If you reprint the article in your organization's newsletter - CORRECT ANSWER-A, C, D [From Cutlip & Center's Effective Public Relations, 11th ed., p. 140] While looking for material for the next round of commercials, a campaign staffer hands you a transcript containing unflattering information about the opponent and illicit affairs he's had with several women other than his wife. The staffer said that this information was overheard by a former staffer of the opponent while at a local bar. Which would be the most ethical choice in this situation for handing the information you were given? 1. You can use the information because there is no reasonable expectation of privacy at a bar. 2. You can not use the information since the former staffer did not give express permission to use what he said. 3. The information is fair game since it was gathered during the bar's normal business hours. 4. You can not use the information since you aren't sure if the source had a confidentiality agreement while as an employee of the opponent. - CORRECT ANSWER-Answer: 4 Reasoning: Similar to "tortuous interference" liability claim by tobacco industry v. CBS for using information based on a source who was party to a standard confidentiality agreement as an employee of the tobacco industry. Source: AP Stylebook 2012, Briefing on Media Law, p. 333. As the public relations director for your company one of the functions of your office is to take photos at official company events. For this particular event your company hires a photographer outside of the company to take photos. One of the employees emails you and asks for copies of a few of the photos. What is the best response to provide to the employee? A. I will provide you the photos after I provide them for legal review. B. The organization owns an employee's work done on behalf of the organization. C. The photographs can be found on the company's website and you can select the photos you would like to use. D. The photos that the company owns the copyrights that will be placed on the company's website once they are approved by the legal office. - CORRECT ANSWERCorrect Answer D Reference: APR Study Guide Edition 5, page. 106 You are the manager of a public relations department for a nonprofit organization. Your department director has asked you to help with selecting a summer intern. She says she would prefer that the intern will not be paid and receive college credit for the internship instead. You are unsure about the terms of this agreement. Specifically, you are concerned about whether it is ethical to offer the internship as an unpaid position. What is your next step in deciding how you will advise the department director? A) Identify the key values that you need to consider in making your decision. B) Identify ethical principles to guide you in making your decision. C) Identify who will be affected by your decision. D) Identify the economic, legal, and social factors that may influence your decision. - CORRECT ANSWER-Answer: D (APR Study Guide, page 21. After you have defined the specific ethical issue or conflict, the next step is to identify internal and external factors that may influence the decision.) You are the communications director at a youth serving nonprofit. The president of the organization asks you to start taking photographs of the youth members during the programs and posting them through social media to highlight the good work the organization is doing. It seems like a great idea, so you: A) Start clicking away with your camera and begin creating a social media campaign utilizing the pictures. B) Go ask the program staff for permission to take photographs of the children to post. C) Review perimeters of taking and using photos of youth under 18 with your legal team. D) Begin creating a media release form to give to the youth members to sign off on. - CORRECT ANSWER-C Coordinate with legal team for counsel on taking photographs of youth members and retaining the proper permissions for use. Remember First Amendment protections and that minors cannot give legal consent. (EPR 10th, pgs 162-163) You are the Public information Officer at a Federal Agency. While attending a Business Networking meeting, you receive a request for the medical records of your employees from an insurance agent so that he might provide some quotes on group coverages. You: A. provide copies of the medical records B. Provide the medical records but redact personal indicators such as name, date of birth and address