Heather_Yaxley

April 17, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Should you avoid ’sinking the boat’ or ‘missing the boat’? The New Yorker on advertising spent. Does it also apply to public relations?

Some of you, I am sure, have read The Wisdom of Crowds, a 2004 book by James Surowiecki, financial editor of The New Yorker. It is a very inspiring book and, although hardly citing public relations, it is for us what one might call a ‘professional book’, in the sense that it clearly illustrates how by listening carefully to a specific public, an organizational decision whose consequences relate to that public and/or vice versa will...

April 9, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Is separating social and mainstream media in education a good idea? Let’s discuss..

Social media are increasingly considered by the public relations community (scholars, educators, professionals) as a ‘separate thing’, different from mainstream. Is this really so? And, even if it is… do you think it is advisable for us, mostly educators, to nurture this ‘separation’?

April 1, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Why Public Relations should celebrate the G20 meeting

As PR professionals we should celebrate the G20 meeting this week in London as an opportunity to demonstrate what public relations is all about. Essentially, this “informal forum” seeks to promote “open and constructive discussion between industrial and emerging-market countries on key issues related to global economic stability”. This would seem to reflect an approach to building relationships and two-way symmetric communications. At the core of G20, we have 20 global leaders holding one-to-one meetings,...

April 1, 2009 Seasoned Posts

The Crisis. What else? Jean Pierre Beaudoin: social networks rather than storing oil and sugar.

Is public opinion, like the mythic Penelope, undoing in the night of the crisis what it reluctantly had accepted to weave in the light of growth? Has public opinion thus unmasked the cupidity of the princes who were waiting for the woven fabric to become the new masters? Where is Ulysses? And will he return in time to restore order on the public arena? One of the merits of great texts is their ability to...

March 29, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Opinion Fatigue or Productive Serendipity? Where do you sit in the Babel Web?

If, like me, your head is spinning with the constant conversation, your ears vibrating with the latest buzz and your hands weary from punching keys on the latest digital toys, then perhaps you would do me the kindness of joining me – perhaps under the shade of a virtual tree – for a bit of thinking about where we’ve got to. I’ve been pondering quite a bit these last few weeks, particularly as Twitter has...

March 22, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Public Diplomacy with Teheran and direct involvement with the American taxpayer.

Are we finally seeing, moment by moment, a public relations approach unfold…or is it only a disastrous and desperate exercise in spin? You will remember that years ago (not as many as we would hope…) the skies of Baghdad poured tons and tons of bombs. Later on, when the fighting went house to house, those same skies poured leaflets encouraging Iraquis to support allied forces. Subsequently, local newspapers were flooded by articles, expensively prepared by...

March 9, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Are We Losing Our Cathedrals of Knowledge to Web-based Information?

Many thanks to Judy Gombita for recently sharing the blogpost “Librophiliac Love Letter: A Compendium of Beautiful Libraries“. As I was perusing the photos, it struck me that these libraries make a profound statement about how we value books, knowledge and learning. These rooms are temples and cathedrals. As information has multiplied in recent decades and access to it opened up, we are losing that sacred aspect to knowledge, and the architecture is disappearing with it. I...

March 1, 2009 Seasoned Posts

King III Report on Governance for South Africa available for Comment

The long-awaited Draft King III Report and its Principles have been made public by the Institute of Directors in Southern Africa (IOD). Of particular interest to Public Relations/ Corporate Communication is Chapter 8: ‘Managing Stakeholder Relationships’.

February 27, 2009 Seasoned Posts

150-year-old newspaper blogs its own demise

The Rocky Mountain News (Denver CO, USA) will appear for the last time today, just short of its 150th birthday. And the staff has been chronicling the closure in real time through social media. One of the paper’s official blogs discusses it. Staff members have been posting their feelings, pictures, etc. on Facebook. There is something extremely ironic and poetic about this, especially given the brutality of the announcement. Although rumours have been swirling for...

February 24, 2009 Seasoned Posts

Integrating Public Relations and Public Diplomacy: a workshop in Rome for 25 diplomats by FERPI, the Italian professional association

In agreement with the Diplomatic Institute of the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, FERPI -the Italian Federation of Public Relations- is holding in the English language, on March 3,4,5,and 6 in Rome a four session workshop on Public Diplomacy for 25 mid career Italian diplomats according to this program. Tutors of the course will be Toni Muzi Falconi and Fabio Ventoruzzo, both representing Ferpi. Four guest lecturers have agreed to participate: Dejan Vercic, Mindi Kasiga,...