global discussion. local perspectives.
The US Bureau of Labour Statistics has just released new and very interesting data on public relations practice in the US economy here and here. The most startling element of this new report is the substantial difference from the 2007 one in the description of the function.
May I attract your careful attention to a new site just developed by the German Public Relations Association in cooperation with the University of Leipzig? This is the link. Take a good look and comment. It is an amazing breakthrough for professional associations, for professionals and scholars alike and it certainly would benefit from your input.
I will attempt to summarise, and supply links to the original documents wherever feasible, of what is possibly the most interesting case of a US Federal Court debating an organization’s public relations activities since the Nike/Kasky story… remember?
An EuroAtlantic summit of senior social media and public relations academics and practitioners will take place, as already indicated in this and other blogs (www.euroblog2008.org) , in Bruxelles from March 13 to 15. The still preliminary, but almost definite, (I am a member of the organizing committee) seems to me rather juicy, as it combines the theoretical thinking of academics and scholars with the practice-oriented approach of senior practitioners from both sides of the Atlantic.
I’ve been perplexed for a long time about the interface between public relations and ethics. Most PR associations espouse codes of ethics, although they seem devillishly hard to police, leading some people to ask what the point is. After long reflection, I’ve come to the conclusion that it is almost impossible for an international PR association to adopt a code that goes beyond vague platitudes. Applying ethics within an international context is extremely difficult because...
I’ve just spent a very pleasant half an hour messing around with Johnny Depp. To be precise, I’ve been playing with the mash-up on the Sweeney Todd site which allows me to cut my own trailer for the film. If I got bored, I could trawl the blog, throw a Facebook party or – had I been in time – join one of the many Sweeney communities clustered around the ‘mother site’. As an example...
With apologies to Leslie Feist, but the talented singer/songwriter is a compatriot, after all, and the fast-approaching PD events I’m about to detail are all Canadian in origin and (I think) “suitable for” public relations practitioners. Particularly the ones who appreciate the importance of big-picture understanding and strategic planning.
Portugal is a different country in what concerns corporate practices. At least that’s what some studies about the level of salaries earned by top managers say. And now, for the first time to my knowledge, a ranking shows that a PR Director in Portugal can earn slightly more than a Marketing & Commercial Director and significantly more than a pure Marketing Director. But what does this mean?
A public relators’ personal relationship network has always been considered an essential (when not the most essential) part of her/his professional assets. And this by clients/employers, colleagues/competitors and other relevant stakeholders such as business and other opinion leaders. This ‘untold truth’ has always embarrassed scholars and educators, as well as practitioners, because its most immediate implication is that the ‘people I know’ (and here I refer to the Al Pacino film many of you will...
In case you missed it, 2007 was a big year for the statisticians – and, in many ways, something of a lost opportunity for us when it comes to making public relations count. I’m not normally a big fan of ‘numbering’ people, but I do believe that ‘public relations’ really needs a universal number of its own. Why? Because then the national and global impact of our profession could be quickly and neatly measured and...