global discussion. local perspectives.
Just when you think an issue is sorted, done, dusted and settled – up it comes again. The issue on my mind today is gender and its impact on public relations. I have attended three different events in roughly as many weeks and at each one, the issue of ‘feminisation of the public relations profession’ has taken centre stage.
In these last two weeks -as I am sure each of you- I have been struggling to make some sense out of what is happening in the world, in order to advise clients, friends, colleagues, as well as my shareholders…. on how to interpret current events and act positively. I have come up with this ‘story’:
Sample quote from Kristin Johnson’s grad study of authoritative senior professionals from (worldwide) major international organizations and institutions: “I think that PR has always been about relationships, but it has changed fundamentally in that relationships have almost become the primary responsibility of a PR practitioner—and it’s not just with the Wall Street Journal or New York Times—it’s relationships with everyone who has a significant influence on the reputation of your company. I think it’s great...
Would a more ‘institutionalized’ PR function have performed a more useful function of warning and advising financial institutions over the last few years? I suspect not – because the process of institutionalization would have removed detachment from the PR function. This comment from Richard Bailey in a recent criticism of the Euprera Congress theme on its website, and even more so if you look at another post by Richard on the same issue on his...
PR Conversations often seems to advocate the two-way symmetric “normative” approach to public relations, but it is important to recognise the limitations of this “ideal” as championed by Grunig and his followers and at the very least, engage with alternative, critical or radical perspectives.
I am grateful to the many scholars, professionals and students who have generously contributed to the ongoing debate on institutionalizing public relations, at the wake of the upcoming Euprera Congress (final program is first class and on the way to publication…), and would like to encourage further thoughts and elaboration on a conceptualization which, at this point, appears to me even more necessary than before we began our debate. I open here a new post...
Judy Turk and Linda Scanlan are back with the third edition of The Evolution of Public Relations: Case Studies from Countries in Transition. The book, published free online by the Institute for Public Relations, was made possible by generous project funding from Philips and Schering-Plough.
The Canadian Film Centre (CFC) launches Canada's most creative ideas and voices in film, television and new media to the world. From April 2008 to March 2009 the CFC—Canada’s largest advanced-training institution for media professionals—celebrates 20 years of bringing inspiring storytellers to the world.
From the very beginning, and well before the debate on institutionalization began on this blog, I recall that David Rossi -director of public relations at MPS (Monte dei Paschi di Siena), a leading Italian banking institution- while deciding if his organization would sponsor the Euprera Congress in partnership with his peers Gianluca Comin from Enel, Europe’s second electricity company and Carlo Fornaro from Telecom Italia– said to me
In January 2009, King Report III will appear in South Africa, having been written by a committee of 90 members. One of them is Estelle de Beer from the University of Pretoria. If you are wondering what a PR academic is doing on this Committee, it might just be because Estelle is doing her doctoral thesis on Corporate Governance, Sustainability and Strategy.