Public Relations- Week 12

Working in Public Relations

Introduction

This week instead of having a normal lecture on a topic for PR, the university had a guest speaker to come and talk about the experiences he has had while working in PR. From this talk and also in my tutorial I gained much more knowledge about what the occupation includes. I learnt about the benefits, disadvantages and what its like working for the public and private sectors.

Benefits

• Public relations specialists create and maintain a favorable public image for the organization they represent.
• They design media releases to shape public perception of the organization and to increase awareness of its work and goals.
• Public relations specialists usually work in offices and attend community activities.
• The job is more of a lifestyle than a 9-5 job.
• Pays well as a senior public relations position
• Employment of public relations specialists is projected to grow as fast as the average for all occupations.
• You can choose after you have had experience to work for the private or public sectors.
• Travel
• Can be very rewarding
• Variety in your work, as you may be working for many firms at once

Disadvantages

• Long workdays are common, as is overtime.
• It can be very demanding, especially in a crisis.
• You have to be really committed and passionate.
• PR practitioners should expect strong competition for jobs at advertising and public relations firms and organizations with large media exposure.
• Can include a lot of pressure (tight deadlines) and responsibility
• You can become torn between client and the media

Working for Public Sector

The public sector is involved with public affairs. PR practitioners inform constitutes about governments and cooperate with government. They also provide citizen support of Politian’s and programs. In the public sector, PR practitioners usually receive less pay than PR practitioners working in the private sector. Their job usually includes working with internal communications, media relation’s governmental liaison, going to events (event management), working out issues, online engagements and campaign management. Personally, after hearing the guest speaker, I think I would prefer to work in the private sector, as it is much more free, versatile and pays much better.

Working for Private Sector

The private sector refers to businesses or commercial activities not owned or controlled by government. These organizations are for profit and therefore they reward shareholders. PR practitioners who work in the private sector work with the media, lobbying, shareholder, working with CEO liaison, do a lot of public speaking and work on reputation management. The private sector pays much better and is usually very versatile as you can work for many private companies as long as they are not a conflict of interest. I would like to work in the private sector if I was to become a PR consultant.

Conclusion

Overall, I leant a lot about what it means to be a PR practitioner and how the different sectors are similar and different. It has helped me clarify what I would be interested in doing. My dream job in PR would be to manage the PR of a fashion magazine or a fashion store. I also learned about the disadvantages of doing PR and I have decided that it would be a great job to have when you are young, but not so great when you are older and have a family, as the job involves long hours, lots of travel and a way of living.

Blog Review

This week I reviewed Lee Towton’s Blog on Campaigns, strategies and tactics.

I think that she has covered all the different strategies thoroughly and has set all of her tables out very well in her blog. It was easy to follow and I learnt more about this topic from reading it. She also wrote about her tutorial that week and explained what people in her classes have been discussing about campaigns. This was interesting to read as we are in different classes.

Below is the link to her blog

http://leetowton.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/public-relations-blog-week-12/comment-page-1/#comment-4

Public Relations Week 11

Campaigns, Tactics, Strategies

Campaigns Explained

Campaigns:

• Are activities in anything
• Address a particular issue
• Are planned and proactive
• Are framed
• Are problem solvers
• Create awareness and understanding
• Reinforce, change, modify people views

Campaign designs– the challenge of this is to inspire and to change

There are many ways of planning a campaign that man different PR experts have used. The following are different ways of planning and creating a campaign.

Wilcox, Cameron, Ault & Agree (2003)

• Situation
• Objectives
• Audience
• Strategy
• Tactics
• Calendar/timeline
• Budget
• Evaluation

Smith RD (2005-2009)

• Analyze the situation’
• Analyze the organizations
• Analyze the publics
• Strategies- goals and objectives, develop strategies
• Tactics- communication tactics
• Implementing strategies
• Evaluation

Gregory (2005)

• Analysis
• Objectives
• Publics
• Messages
• Strategy
• Tactics
• Timescales
• Resrouces
• Evaluation

Smith P (1997)

SOSTAC

Situation analysis

Objectives

Strategy

Tactics

Action

Control

James & Robson (2012)

• Research
• Analysis
• Goal setting
• Setting objectives
• Identifying publics/audiences
• Developing strategies
• Devising and implementing tactics
• Monitoring
• Evaluation

Campaign Methods

PIE

Planning

Implementing

Evaluation 

RACE

Research

Action

Communication

Evaluation

 

Planning a PR Campaign

Inputs (planning)

• Situation analysis
• Strategies
• Objectives

Outputs (Implementing)

• Tactics
• Action

Outcomes (Evaluation)

• Control

Campaign Analysis

• What is the context?
• Issues analysis SWOT- strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, threats
• Analysis of the publics/stakeholders
• PEST analysis- political, economical, social and technological
• Tactics- advertising, media relations
• Stakeholder reactions
• Results

Conclusion

There are many different ways in which a PR practitioner can follow when creating a campaign. The ways described in the blog post are many varying, but similar techniques and strategies that PR practitioners can follow to create a successful campaign. Personally, I like the more simple ways of doing things; I would probably use the RACE method when creating a campaign, as it is simple to follow but also broad enough that you can be thorough when needed and quick when necessary. I learnt that there are many ways which PR practitioners can create a successful campaign and that there is a lot of analysis included in this process.

Blog Review

Cayleigh James

This week I reviewed Caylaigh Jame’s blog that was on the topic of campaigns.

Cayleigh showed her understanding of the different strategies that PR practitioners can use to create a campaign by describing strategies such as RACE, SWOT and SMART. I have only looked at two of these strategies in my blog, so this helped me greatly in finding more information on this topic. She also described what she had learnt in her tutorials and in her readings, which was also insightful. She showed some examples of campaigns, which I thought was very smart of her to do as it showed she understood what a campaign was and what it involved. Overall, Cayleigh’s blog was very informative, interesting and easy to follow.

Below is the link to her blog

http://cayleighjames.wordpress.com/2014/06/01/camapigns/comment-page-1/#comment-8

Public Relations Week 10

The Importance of Research in PR

Why PR needs Research

The process of asking questions and finding answers that produce useful information relevant to the project at hand. Without research and analysis practitioners can only guess or make assumptions about the problem, issue or opportunity and about the situation.

Research helps to:

• Identify/ define issues
• How people feel about the decisions
• Understand the motivations that drive publics and effect behavioral/attitude changes
• Shapes communication plan

Research Process

The research process is said to be about ‘before, during and after’. Meaning that the researchers of an organization need to monitor and research the following

• Inputs- the planning stage of research process. Is about objectives, tactics and the message received
• Outputs- implementation phase of the researched plan
• Outcomes- evaluation of success of research plan

Types of Research

There are many types of research, there is Primary and Secondary and qualitative and quantitative research

Secondary

• Internet searches for previous research
• Electronic files or corporate hard drive
• Reviewing previous media clipping for the converge of issue
• Talking

Primary

• Field research such as data collection with experts
• Formal research such as research through a specific method
• Qualitative and quantitative research
• Mixed methods approach using bother qualitative and quantitate

Qualitative Research

Qualitative research is research that explores ‘why’ of a topic or question. It is usually very unstructured and is difficult to repeat. It is an analysis of results that is more subjective. Usually qualitative data is done from a small, non-representative sample.

Quantitative Research

Quantitative research is research that explore the how many of a sample. It is used with a structure technique and uses large representative samples. It is easily replicated and an objective analysis of the results. Quantitative dada is always used with numbers.

Evaluative Research

Formative Research

Formative research can include benchmark research. It is the process of collecting information about a situation before a campaign is launched.

Summative Research

Tracking research– the progressive monitoring of awareness and reactions to campaign adjustments if necessary.

Post-campaign research– accesses the impact and a measure against the objectives such as what has the campaign changed since it’s launched.

Media content analysis– measures media output by assessing the number of reported stories and the content.

Designing surveys

Surveys must quantify data. Surveys should have the number and type of questions as measuring instruments. Surveys use sampling which answers the questions of who, how many and how. Surveys also must have non-probability; meaning friends or family of the surveyor must not take them.

Conduction of Focus Groups

Focus groups focus on the attitudes and motivations of the groups selected. Most focus groups are between 6-12 people and explore and provide feedback on experiences.

Online Research and Evaluation

There are many ways in which you can research online activities and evaluate them. Some examples are

• Google antics
• Facebook statistics
• Blog sites statistics
• Twitter counter
• Klout- individual statistics based on all social network profiles
• Google alert.

Conclusion

There are many different ways in which PR practitioners and businesses can research for campaigns. There are different theories, which can be simple or complex to follow. Personally, I like the more simple ways of researching, using surveys and quantitative data. I think this way is better as it is easier to draw conclusions from simple numerative figures, rather than making conclusions from complex qualitative data. Research provides a deeper understanding for a PR practitioner that can be beneficial when creating campaigns about certain issues.

Blog Review

Amy Barham

This week I reviewed Amy’s Blog that was on the topic of research in PR.

I think her blog was really great to read because it is well set out and easy to follow. She also described what research help PR practitioners to do, what types of research there are and also explored qualitative and quantitative research. She also included a little bit one what she learnt from her tutorial that week which was insightful. Overall, I think Amy’s blog has been well though out and a helpful resource for his topic.

Below is the link to her blog

http://amybarham.wordpress.com/2014/05/25/research-in-pr/

Public Relations Week 9

Online Communities

‘At the heart of the internet is a sense of ‘community’’- Seitel 2001, pg. 405

The Challenges

There are many challenges for communities to reach online communities. Some of the challenges that online communities face are

• Dispersal- this means that communities find it difficult to reach communities online due to the fact that the people are ‘scattered’ all over the world and from all difference places and backgrounds.
• Anonymous- this means that people online can be anonymous or don’t don’t to reveal their identity, giving people to chance to say whatever they want online without a consequence of ruining their name. This has resulted in ‘trolling’ or people who just go on the internet to abuse and make others upset.
• Measuring effectiveness- online it is difficult to measure and evaluate effectiveness of a website. This requires different measuring tools and online tools.
• Online community activism- many people voice their views and opinions online about certain groups.

The Power of Online Communities to Effect Change

Atavism online has become a medium for people to create immediate awareness and mobilize change by thousands, as the web is so accessible now.

Relationship Building

‘Public relations practitioners who can offer journalists stories in digital formats suited to several media will thrive in the world of convergence’- Guth and Marsh 2009, pg. 108.

There are now many opportunities for relationship building through media convergence. Journalists and PR practitioners can now work together to assist each other in media coverage. This combines tele-communications such as wireless, computer technologies and media. It also offers participating culture and provides collective intelligence.

Publics are also now not only receivers or consumers of information but also are producer’s information, using online mediums such as facebook or twitter. This also strengthens the democratic role by

• Contributing to decision making
• Citizen journalism
• Demand for transparency for organization

Online corporate newsrooms

Online coroperate newsrooms provide information in an easy to access manner. They include the following features:

• Latest media releases
• Published articles about your organization
• A searchable archive
• Management biographies
• A photo/video library covering people, products and facilities
• Facts and RSS feeds
• Contact details for spokespeople and PR staff
• Links to social media accounts

Social Media Newsroom

Bloggers, opinion leaders, broader publics and jounalists use social media newsrooms. Social media newsrooms use the following features:

• Press releases/social media releases
• Archive, search function
• Audio visual
• Headlines and links to external reports
• Social media content produced by the company
• Basic organizational collateral
• Calendar of events
• Links to company-owned or company-related websites
• Communication staff contacts
• Social book marking services 

Conclusion

There are many different ways in which PR practitioners can use the internet and online communities to engage with their publics and the world. PR practitioners can also use the internet to assist journalists further in their reporting and can use online resources, such as social media newsrooms and corporate newsrooms for their businesses/clients to keep online communities informed and up to date. PR practitioners also need to realize the power that online communities have to affect change- the internet and online communities have the freedom to post whatever they want to about whoever or whatever they like. This makes online services such as facebook or twitter, a resource for businesses that can be highly negative or highly beneficial.

Blog Review

Harrison’s Blog

This week I reviewed Harrison’s blog on media newsrooms.

I like how he included an introduction that was easy to read and give insight into the topic. He also included positives and negatives about online communities today and explored the argument of weather it is a positive or a negative for online communities to be so involved and have such a voice in the media. He also went into depth about our tutorial which was useful to read, and wrote a bit about the assignment which is due. Overall, his blog post was helpful to read and showed some perspectives of the media and online communities in clear understanding.

Below is the link to his blog

http://harrisonprtheory.wordpress.com/2014/05/18/media-convergene-new-media-newsrooms/comment-page-1/#comment-1

Public Relations Week 8

Media Management

Controlled Media is material that is produced by an organization and has full editorial control over content and had full editorial control over content

Some examples:

• Annual reports
• Brochures
• Posters
• Newsletters
• Paid for advertising
• Public announcements

Uncontrolled Media is material that is produced by an organization but has NO editorial control over the content used

Some examples:

• A news/media release
• Micro-blogging/re-tweets on twitter

Media and PR

Journalists and PR practitioners have a love/hate relationship as they must work together but have different roles. Below is a summary of my understanding of the different roles that PR practitioners and journalists have in the media.

Journalists perceive themselves as:

• Truth-seekers
• Reporting on and responding to issues
• Reporting on society
• This makes journalists more accountable for what they write

Journalists perceive PR practitioners as:

• Biased
• Protecting the organization they work for reputation
• Promoters of interests

PR practitioners perceive themselves as:

• Gatekeepers who guard or withhold information
• Obstruct news gathering process for journalists

Media needs PR

Having 24/7 news reporting puts a lot of pressure on journalists who produce investigative news, especially as news is in such high demand and is needed quickly. This puts PR practitioners in a good position to work with the media and with journalists. 19% or even a higher percentage of newspaper articles and 62% of news stories are now from PR agencies, showing how the media does rely on PR for news. 84% of journalists visit media release pages more then any other page also displaying how jounalists do use PR practitioner’s information. PR practitioners also facilitate interviews for journalists which helps them to be more accurate and find out more for their stories.

PR needs Media

PR needs media to help communicate with publics. Media outlets provide a credible, third party endorsement for PR practitioners. It is also free publicity and allows PR practitioners to shape the news agenda, which helps to shape public opinion.

Media and PR Relationship

In order to create a media and PR relationship there are a few things that PR practitioners must consider.

• Understanding timelines and the accuracy of information in a non-obstructive manner
• Support journalists and their work and respect their windows of free time and when they would be most busy
• Requesting and having discussions with journalists before deadlines to create relationship and mutual understandings
• Update websites and social media with accurate and timely information and fixed with what is discussed. (67% of journalists source news now from Facebook and 63% from Twitter
• Provide well-briefed and available speakers

Effective Media Relations

For effective media relations, PR practitioners should firstly find out who writes about the issues in their sector. PR practitioners must also understand news values and what the journalists’ agendas are and their way of writing such as their tone. It is also important for PR practitioners to understand the demographic of the area and tailor their communications accordingly. It is also important for PR practitioners to have up-to-date media lists and realize the way in which the media uses different strategies. PR practitioners must match the content of the news with the media outlets and always meet deadlines. In doing all of these things, PR professionals will find relating to the media easier and more effective.

Media Releases

Media releases must have punchy and eye catching headlines with the most important news first. PR practitioners must make all media releases relevant and localized. It should also include attributed quotes from local and then national spokespeople. PR people but always emphasize their contact details to the media so that they are contactable.

Social Media Releases

Social media releases are the same structure as a normal media release BUT…

PR practitioners must make sure that their social media release is as shareable as possible for the maximum publicity, and must have as much content as possible. It’s also required to include the following

• Hyperlinks
• Photo gallery
• Social commenting function
• Social media share buttons

Conclusion

From this week’s lecture and readings, I learnt a substantial amount about how PR practitioners work together with the media and what differentiates journalism from PR. I learnt how PR practitioners should deal wit the media and how the media and PR rely on each other to make news.

Public Relations Week 7

Media Agenda

Media Defined– a carriage vessel or conduct through which information is transferred. Media can influence our decisions.

Traditional Media

My understanding of traditional media is basically any media that was used before the Internet. This includes print such as newspapers, film, radio broadcasting, telephones, video home systems and video games.

New Media/ Digital Media

New media is anything used in collaboration internet or updated versions of some of the traditional media such as the web, email, mobile phones, CD/DVDs, i-pads and tablets, social networking and blogs or audio/visual sharing sites. These days we are not only consumers but presumes, as we not only consume information but produce information as well though new media.

Who owns the media?

In Australia about 70% of the media is owned by News Corp and about Fair Fax owns 21%. When you think about these numbers, this means that about 70% of any news you see in Australia has been influenced by News Corp’s agendas and ideas on the issue reported and 21% by Fair Fax’s. This shows the great deal of power that these organizations have to influence our perceptions on stories and news in the media.

Audience as Passive

Some theorists have explained the audience of the media as being passive. Some have even explain the medias influence on audiences as the audiences being ‘injected’ with ‘poison’ of the media and believe whatever they are subjected to. For example if they see something and like it, they will buy it. In using television as an example, we can see how audiences can be passive to media, as television shapes our reality through reinforcing issues.

The Cultivation Theory– The cultivation theory suggests that television constructs a reality that audiences use to interpret the world and therefore they are passive and submissive to whatever they are subjected to in their television watching.

The Mainstreaming Effect– The idea that heavy TV consumption can result in opinions that reflect whatever they are exposed to in their television watching, making these idea expressed on television the ‘norm’.

Audience as Active

Definition: ‘focuses on not what the media does t the audience but rather what the audience does with the media’

When an audience is active in the media, the audience will use and select what they need to know/see in order to satisfy their needs and wants. For example only looking up news and current affairs in subjects that matter most to them via the Internet. Skipping whatever does apply to themselves and their lives. However, the audience may interpret the meaning from the media in many different ways.

Audience Reception Theory

The theory is a culturalist perspective and about encoding an decoding. About how people decode/ read different messages from the media that have been embedded/ encoded in media texts. This theory is mainly based on psychographic and demographics in society and shows how communication has multiple meanings. Shows how different media has different meanings and communication based on the context and culture of the audience/s.

Media Agenda Setting Theory

The media agenda setting theory links between what politics thought were important issues and those reported by the media. The theory utilizes tactics to present issues in such a a way as to shape what the audience thinks about.

Framing

Framing is selecting information which frames/shapes our response to an issue. For example the ideas on smoking- the audience is lead to always believe that it will kills you and you must quit straight away if you want a happy, healthy life but in some cases it hasn’t killed people and people have remained healthy.

News Value

Some elements that make a news story valuable are:

• Truth- facts
• Timelines- relevance to another story/topic
• Proximity- news which audience can relate to
• Conflict- elections and conflicting ideas which cause interest
• Eminence and prominence- celebrities and powerful people
• Consequence and impact- bad news
• Human (or animal) interest- emotional
• The unusual- strange happenings which intrigue people
• Gets the focus of the medium- visual elements to the story

Conclusion

From this week’s lecture and readings, I have a far better understanding of what media agenda is and the ways in which the media can influence their audiences through using different kinds of media and through different techniques, such as framing, media agenda setting theory and audience reception theory. I also learned what makes a news story valuable and interesting to the audience.

Public Relations- Week 6

Persuasion and Ethics 

Persuasion as PR

My understanding of persuasive PR is that it is getting people to do what you want. Most people will either use power (force) or patronage (the act of endorsing or supporting an issue) to make people to do what they want them to. Persuasion uses communication rather than force to achieve it’s goals and therefore the use of patronage is important in PR persuasion. PR persuasion also is used to provoke thought, protect society and promote attitudinal and behavioral changes.

Persuasion as Propaganda

Sometimes PR persuasion has been used in a negative and unethical way. Propaganda is information, idea or rumors that are deliberately spread widely to help or harm a person, group, movement, institution, nation or other organizations such as these. Propaganda is also the fabrication or diffusion of messages that distort the truth and facts. It induces misinformation for the purpose of advancing government interests and undermines the restriction of any message, which proves the information to be otherwise. Properganda has been used many times throughout history. The most commonly known government propaganda to have been used was the propaganda used in NAZI Germany, which was conducted by Joseph Goebbels.

Ways to Persuade

Source Credibility– a trust worthy person who people will believe because of WHO they are

Call to Action– using fear, encouragement or facts to evoke people to DO something

Persuasive Appeals– provoking a response from people

Audience Factors– the audience may impact on the influence as they audience may conform to the ideas expresed

Timing and Context– may be the right time for the topics and ideas to arise

Participation and Commitment– the audience may have a connection with the issue, making them commit. Long-term commitment is the most valuable.

Reciprocity– returning a favor, for example giving people free samples to make the try the product for themselves as a ‘favor’

Scarcity– making people buy quickly as there is not much left of a product, making the call to action urgent. For example advertisements that state that the products are only ‘while stocks last’

Ethics and PR

My understanding of ethics in PR is that PR is guided by ethics and that ethics act as a boundary for PR. Ethics principles and codes in PR should always be used and should be used proactively. There are three kinds of ethics, which all people practicing PR should be aware of. They are the industry code of ethics, the organization’s codes and ethics and your personal sense of ethics.

Criticism of Ethical codes

PR ethics can be problematic sometimes the ethics clash and can create a dilemma. For example, if you work for a AFL football club and a player gets some negative PR for doing drugs, you are faced with a problem of always being open and honest with the public and protecting the club and client from negative back-lash and their confidentiality. Some experts also criticize the ethical codes of PR because they feel they are too broad and therefore it is so easy to get it wrong.

Ethical Theories

There are a few ways in which people look at ethics. People base their ethical decision making on a wide range of ideas. Below are a few ways that people operate their ethical practices in PR.

Deontology- act on that maxim which you will become universal rule.

Consequentialism- seeking the greatest happiness

Distribute justice- justice emerges when negotiating without social different

Virtue- moral virtue is a middle state determined by wisdom

Social Responsibility- focus on benefit to society

Ethical test (TARES)

Below is the TARES test, which is a easy way to analyze PR ethics and persuasion.

Truthfulness– of the message

Authenticity– of the persuader

Respect– of the persuader

Equity– of the persuasive appeal

Social Responsibility– for the common good

Conclusion

PR practitioners need to be aware of the many techniques used in PR to persuade their audiences and must take into consideration many different factors such as the timing and the audience for their campaigns and PR developments. PR practitioner also must be aware of the difference between persuasion and propaganda in PR. It is hard to find a ‘right’ way to use PR ethically as there are so many options on how to operate. There are always criticisms on all the options for how to handle PR, weather it be using the consequentialism theory and operating on getting the result that will make the individual happy or the social responsibility theory which focus’s on what will be best for society. The ethical test called TARE I believe is a good way to analyze PR and weather it is ethical.

Public Relations Week 5

Community Relations

What are the different definitions of communities?

Definition 1– Geography and demography

• People who live in the same place or area.

Definition 2– Psychographic

• Sharing or having certain attitudes or interests in common

Definition 3– Virtual or online

• People interacting over the internet such as chat-rooms, email or socal networks.

Traditional Community Publics

Community Groups– Political, buinness, service, social, religious, cultural, special interest

Opinion Leaders– Officials, banker/executives, union leaders, educators, ethnic leaders, neighborhood leaders.

Media– Mass media or specialized media

What is Community Relations?

It is engaging stakeholders and communities in decision making process and responding to issues of concern among the community.

Organizations and Communities

Resource Dependency Theory– Resources from community for the organization.

Includes:

Economic community- Employees and consumer demands

Social License- Acceptance from community to operate, support from organizations leaders.

Social Capital- power and influence on the community and professional networks for organization

Communities and PR

Social Exchange Theory- Mutually beneficial relationship between community and PR resulting in the exchange of goodwill.

Includes:

Tangible commodities- employment, public services, consumer products

Intangible commodities-

• Appearance and well maintained environment
• Participation- involvement in affairs
• Stability
• Pride
• Involvement in decision making process

Corporate Social Responsibility

About: community expectations being met

Good CSR programs are:

• Ethical
• Environmentally friendly
• Gender sensitive,
• Socially and ecologically sensitive
• Diverse
• Staff involved
• Have strength in reputation

Community Engagement Strategy

Awareness Raising Strategy

• Letterbox drop
• Newspaper advertisements
• Posters
• Talk-back radio

 Dialogue Strategy

• Online
• Community events
• Community meetings
• Workshops
• Citizen’s jury

Steps for Community Engagement

1 Identify Publics

• Who needs more focus?
• Who is most impacted?
• Communities involved?

2 Identify Opinion Leaders

• Who would be beneficial and who would be a threat externally and internally?

3 Identify Strategies

• Find objective and key strategy
• Target communication to external and internal community

Public Relations Week 4

The Power of Language

Language is Power and finding the right spin but underdtanding the language and how it affects public opinion. Can be seen as more powerful than armed forces and but must be done the right way as words can be harmful.

Rhetorical-words and symbols (semiotics) to persuade, convince and achieve.

Rhetorical Power/Source Credibility/Two-step-flow– People who are rich or famous or have much influence on public opinion have rhetorical power and can easily persuade public opinion. People believe them because they may seem like an expert or they value their opinion.

Major Communications Foundations

Research

• Know the audience message and plan it well
• Understand Grunig
• Understand media framing
• Understand media theories

Media

Using media is a powerful responsibly and therefore everything must be accurate. However the media can ‘twist’ things out of reality into a ‘perceived reality’. They can turn things into ‘infotainment’ instead of factual news. For example- why is obesity a crisis?

Framing Devices

• history/tradition
• conflict
• power
• winning/loosing
• fault/blaming
• money as a measure
• fear/shock
• celebrities
• emotion

Words- words can sometimes become associated with other things that are not accuate or always true. For example when you think of geeks you think of ‘smart’ and when you think of refugee you think of ‘illegal’.

Agenda Setting– what is dominant in the news or under discussion can be part of setting up agendas for something else. For example when an election is coming up there would be more discussion about politics than there usually is on the news.

Public Relations Weeks 1, 2, 3

What is Public Relations?

PR is defined as ‘the development and management of ethical strategies using communication to build relationships with stake holders. PR can play an important role in liaising between organization and stakeholders to the organizations, such as and the city council and government, the media or employee. For an organization to succeed PR must use strategies such as communications and systems to achieve its specific goals for that organization.

Sison’s Ladder

This is a guideline that many PR practitioner use. It includes systems theory, communications theory, PR theory and rhetorical and critical theory.

System’s Theory

A system is a set of interacting units that endure overtime. The System’s Theory is how the organization is structured using the following:

Cybernetics- ‘primarily deals with how systems adjust to feedback received. Public relations practitioners apply cybernetics which they provide and respond to feedback between their organizations and their publics.’

Requisite variety-requisite variety suggests that organizations will be better prepared to deal with change if they have employees with different view points.

Boundary Spanning- public relations practitioners ‘are the go-betweens, explaining the organization to its stakeholders and interpreting the environment to the organization’.

Below is a diagram which shows a basic management system.

Communications Theory

The Communications Theory is the theory on how people communicate. It  is about the information transmission that has multiple steps. It is also about agenda setting and framing. The diagram below shoes the steps that are undertaken for the communication.

Public Relations Theory

The Public Relations Theory is the framework for Public Relations and communications. Grunig and Hunts Theory has 4 models which are shown in the picture below.

Rhetorical & Critical Perspectives

The Rhetorical and Critical Perspectives of Sison’s ladder are about the cultural and critical theories.

Critical- a movement within sociology and cultural studies that criticizes the way citizens are influenced to think by their surrounding capitalist culture…. This theory suggests that big business and big government overwhelm the news media and dominate their means of communication and cultural expression.

Rhetorical-the process of persuading people to hold certain views. It can be applied to any theory of how to discourse is used to influence thought.

Who Are Publics and Stakeholders?

Publics are ‘a group who have a common interest or value in a particular situation’ and Stakeholders are ‘a person or public that has a stake or an interest in an organization, or an issue that involves it’.

Publics

There are various types of publics and many ways of describing them. These descriptions are:

Primary Publics- most affected by organizations success

Secondary Publics- minimally affected by an organization

Internal and External Publics- internal operate within the organization and external operate outside the organization.

Some examples of publics are:

Employees- these are the most important publics as they are the ones that make the organization run and succeed.

Media- acts like a ‘gatekeeper’ to the public, informing them when need be.

Investors- people who invest their money into the organization and are concerned by how well it is doing.

Stakeholders

There are various types of stakeholders and there are ways of describing their position against an organization if there is an issue. These descriptions are:

Latent stakeholders- not yet aware of issue

Aware stakeholders- recognize issue but do not act on it

Active stakeholders- aware of issue and act on it

Conclusion

Over the last few weeks I have started to get a much better understanding of Public Relations. I have learnt about the roles of PR practitioners and how they practice PR. I have learned about the Sison’s theory in detail, and the many people and groups who are affected by organizations such as publics and stakeholders. I also learned about how PR is not like marketing, as it can cover organizations, which are not for profit, as marketing is mainly buying and selling.  I look forward to learning about PR in the weeks to come!