Judging public relations: An analysis of an Israeli court judgement on a defamatory and negative campaign

•A unique court judgement based on a PR campaign plan.•Judge rules: “Defamation and negative campaign unacceptable”.•Unethical campaign plans might become evidence for malice.•Unethical practices invite court intervention.•Court intervention puts democratic and PR freedoms at risk.

This article analyzes a recent court ruling in Israel and argues that it has major implications for the public relations community internationally. To date, the public relations literature on legal judgments has focused on cases where media channels were sued for defamation. The article uses a 2012 Israeli court decision that may be unique in ruling out defamatory intentions in a public relations plan that was part of a lawsuit. The defendant in this case was not the media but rather a company that hired a public relations firm to, according to the judgement, conduct a defamatory campaign against a competitor. Although this is just one case in one country, the article also considers some of the wider implications for the profession and for democracy.