Skills and Professionalism in PR. How relevant is PR education?

PR education is important because it offers great opportunities and provides insight for people who are interested in building a career in PR. It is also crucial to the industry's attempt to attain a professional status. Cutlip et al (2006) point out five main benefits that PR education offers. These are,

1. the underlining "theories, the origin principles and professional practice of Public Relations
2. The Laws and ethics governing the profession
3. PR research, Measurement and Performance evaluation
   
4. PR Planning and Management
   
5. PR writing and Production" (p.126-127)

As with any other profession, standard formal education is important to the acquisition of the skills and knowledge needed to work in PR. To me, PR education also holds the key to effective regulation of the industry. However I think that all higher educational institution offering PR courses should agree on one standard curriculum to be used throughout the schools. This can drawn by the CIPR UK in collaboration with (Public Relations Educators Forum)PREF.

PR education can also facilitate quick career advancement on the field for graduates . I agree with Jacquie L' Etang (2002) assertion that "developments in academia are increasingly significant to PR practice given the number of graduates and their fast progression into positions of influence in the occupation" in her article Public relations education in Britain: A review at the outset of the mellieum and thought for a different research agenda, published in Journal of Communication Management, Vol. 7, No 1 p. 51.

As rightly argued by a renowned PR person to students at Ball state university, "Public relations will never reach the status of a profession as long as people can get into the field and prosper without having completed a fairly rigorous course of study in the of study in the field".

The debate by my classmates on the motion PR education is irrelevant, success in PR is determined by contacts and building relationships' was very interesting. Several arguments were made for and against the motion.

• Some arguments for the motion included:

1. Any good speaker with contacts and good interpersonal skills can work in PR.
2. Graduates from different discipline with good analytical thinking can work in PR.
3. Nearly 80% of PR practitioners in UK currently have no PR education but learnt on the job.

• Arguments against the motion included:

1. PR qualification is currently essential to securing a job in PR.
2. It is also important for career progression in the PR field.
3. PR education provides people with the skills and knowledge needed to work effectively in the PR field.

To me a balance of PR education and good contacts and relationship building is the way for.

Today was our last day in class as a group. I can't believe we've come to the end of the course so soon. I will miss both my lecturers and classmates dearly. It was nice meeting them all and learning from each other, as our class was higly multi-cultural and diverse in nature. We had people from all the five continents, from Africa, (Ghana, South Africa, Kenya, Tanzania and Nigeria) to Asian, (Vietnam, India, Kazakhstan and China) to Europe ( Greece, UK, Russia, Croatia and France), to USA through to Australia. I wish everyone success and happiness wherever they may be. I hope we will all stay in touch.

Personally, I think the "MA Public Communication and Public Relations" course at the University of Westminster, London, is exhaustive, highly practical and well taught by the course tutors who have extensive practical and rich academic background in PR. I will recommend it to anyone who wants to pursue a career in Public Relations.

PR and new media

Yesterday's lecture was on the role of new media in PR. The course tutor did a good job by explaining the impact new media can have on PR when balanced with traditional media. Some of the points raised in her lecture were re-echoed and elaborated further by my new media colleagues during their presentation which made it easy for me to understand. I did not offer new media as an optional module but if I had a second chance, I would now.

Personally I think there are currently heated debates, in academic and practitioner circles on the impact of new media on PR. Some of the exciting questions being asked are: What new opportunities do new media present to PR people? How is new media impacting on traditional media now and speculations on the impact new media will have on traditional media in the future? I am however curious about the whole new media concept but highly thrilled by the benefits new media can offer when integrated well into traditional media. Thus I am going to share my views on the role of new media in PR.

Though it seems challenging, I have decided to use podcasting to express my views since the discussion is on new media. The podcast will also provide an opportunity for people to listen to me as well as give them a break from reading.

Many thanks to my new media class mates, especially Candace and Ameesha, for taking time out of their busy schedule to send me and the other classmates the step by step process to making a podcast. Please relax and enjoy this podcast.

Click here for my new media podcast

Discussion on Dissertation

Today's lecture focused on choosing a suitable and realistic dissertation topic. It highlighted the fact that the topic should be relevant to PR and public communication field. It reminded me of the fact that the topic should neither be too broad nor too narrow.

I enjoyed the classroom exercise where we were put into groups to decide on possible dissertation topics for next year's students. I was placed in the CSR group because I am planning on writing my dissertation in CSR. After careful consideration, we came up with a topic which the class later reviewed and said will be too broad to research on with the limited resources and time available for this qualitative research.

Our main question was

'Are the CSR initiatives as claimed by UK multinational companies (MNCs) actually being carried out in China'?

The sub-questions were:

1. Do the MNCs have the same standards for all their operative environments?
2. How do they compare to green initiatives by local companies.

Our sub-questions were also criticised because the class thought they were broad and could be main questions.

There were also grave concerns for the appropriateness of our main question to the PR field which gave me food for thought. To me it was a wake up call for me to fine tune my topic. I realised that in view of the limited time, resources and the 15000 words which we are suppose to write our seemed too broad and impractical. There was also the question of how related the topic is to PR and public communication field: Will it add up any new insights to the field?

Personally, the exercise was helpful and timely. It prompted me to reflect deeply on my current topic which is

"The practice of Corporate Social Responsibility(CSR) by multinational companies in Ghana: A case study of two mining companies".

The aim of my research is to give an objective view of CSR practice and how it is communicated to local stakeholders (employees, their families and the local communities) by these companies. However, I am in doubt if a case study will enable me give an unbiased and representative snapshot in my research as much as possible. In view of this I am contemplating changing my dissertation topic to

"How major multinational mining companies in Ghana communicate their CSR strategies to their local stakeholders"

I believe this new research question will enable me interview some local stakeholders such as community members and employees in addition to the multinational mining companies communication officers to find out how these mining companies communicate their CSR initiatives to them and the effectiveness of the communication processes. I will also find out if the initiatives are being smoothly implemented and the communication challenges and barriers they face in the process, if any. I believe collecting other stakeholders point of view will make the exploratory research more objective.

Now I think, I am gradually coming into terms with the concept of writing an MA dissertation. After today's lecture and the reflections that followed, I believe I am better prepared and well informed to undertake the dissertation journey which will be: An exploratory journey into how major multinational mining companies in Ghana, communicated their CSR strategies in a multi-ethnic and cultural plurality(different languages) of the Ghanaian local communities.

Although the task seems quite daunting I think I have the key and insight to conduct an interesting and successful research. Thanks to Pam, Michaela and Susan for their painstaking explanations. All I need now is guidance from my supervisor in order not to stray from my chosen topic.

CSR, Is it the way forward for responsible business?

This weeks class was very important to me because my dissertation topic is on CSR. Through out the semester, I have been looking forward to this particular presentation. The guest speaker for the CSR lecture was Adam Garfunkel. Adam is a CSR consultant, who specialises in advising, planning and writing CSR initiatives for different companies including Adidas, Body shop, Land Securitas and many more. His presentation was very useful and highly informative for me because it gave a practical insight into CSR practice by various businesses from a CSR practitioners perspective.

Although I am familiar with the basic conceptual frame work of CSR, which is achieving the triple bottom-line (economic, social and environmental sustainability) by companies, I still enjoyed the presentation. I particularly liked the bit on the different approach and level of importance various companies attach to their CSR. For example by using M&S 'Plan A' campaign he was able to explain how a company can integrate its CSR initiatives into its core business activities. I must admit that listening to Adam's presentation has further enriched my knowledge on the different perspective of CSR practice by various companies. He was very engaging and answered questions well.

For instance, I asked him a question on 'What do you think about CSR practice by multinational mining companies in Africa'? I wanted to find out his views; for example if he thought it was 'green washing' or it was long term sustainable initiatives. His answer was, it depends on the individual companies.

However he admitted that highly reputable ones may have CSR strategies in place. Nevertheless the question still remains, how best are these initiatives being communicated and implemented to mitigate the negative impacts and maximise the positive benefits. My research aims at giving a snapshot into this issue in Ghana.

Having read extensively on CSR, I am aware of the fact that several drivers have contributed to the heighten talk on CSR in contemporary times. These include pressure from governments, investors, Non-Governmental Organisations (NGOs), watch dogs, the business case for being a socially responsible company ( that is it can help attract and retain employees, investor, suppliers and customers), the scrutiny of media, concern for the depletion of the environment and many more. Times have changed and businesses do impact on their operative surroundings.

I reckon it is time for businesses to give something back to the society as well as engage in environmentally sustainable practices to preserve the world for future generations. By so doing businesses will help mitigate their negative effects on the society whilst maximising the positive impacts . This can impact positively on their corporate reputation and their bottom line and earn them the 'enlightened self-interest' effect associated with CSR.

I believe the concept of CSR has a huge potential to make businesses behave more ethical and engage in sustainable economic, social and environmental practice. Nonetheless, it is currently done purely on voluntary basis. The reality is that companies have evolved and presently do have adverse effect on their operative environments to which they must be made accountable. CSR therefore should be legally binding so that companies through their CSR initiatives can give something back to society. This will reduce their negative impacts on society whilst creating wealth for their shareholders.

In my opinion, this can best be achieved by having in place a universally acceptable and enforceable definition of CSR. In addition there should be a standard of measuring and awarding responsible business merits to businesses who take their CSR initiatives serious. This will make it possible for responsible businesses in the society to be named and praised. By so doing other companies will be challenged to be more ethical and enjoy the benefits that comes with it.

Presently, many businesses especially in the developed countries have realised the important of being perceived as socially responsible by stakeholders and the general public. This has made them to devote significant material and human resource to their CSR initiatives such as M&S £ 100million 'Plan A' campaign aimed at reducing their carbon foot print.

Such companies are very proud of their CSR initiatives and have resulted to publishing their annual CSR report on their websites along side their annual business report. This is left visible for visitors to their websites to see and form their own opinions about them, which undoubtedly will be positive. Examples of such businesses are BT, BAA, M&S, Tesco, Body Shop etc. I am not sure if same can be said about CSR practice by both local and multinational companies in Africa.

Being a Ghanaian, I would like to use examples from my country. Most multinational gold mining companies in Ghana have negative impact on their operative environments. For example several reports published by international charities, such as ActionAid, suggest that river bodies within these communities are being polluted by these mining companies. However they are perceived as not being committed to mitigating their negative impacts on neighbouring communities. They may argue that it is the work of the government to improve communities which sounds logical. But all the same these companies make huge profits as proclaimed in their annual report and can give something back to society.

As these multinational companies originate from developed countries, such as Canada, USA and UK, where the concept of CSR is well established one would expect them to have CSR initiatives in place which aims at minimising their negative impacts on the communities and the environment. The CSR strategies may also be expected to be tailored to the peculiar needs of the local communities and communicate effectively to them.

However what is really happening?


Most of these multinational companies do not want to talk about their negative impacts on society. They are seen as not being transparent and give excuses when advocates such as NGOs ( Action Aid) and community leaders call on them to be socially responsible.

A good example was the pollution of water bodies by cyanide from the operational activities of Anglo Gold Ashanti Ghana Ltd in Obuasi, Ghana to which company executives denied. In a BBC documentary, aired on BBC 1 in April 2006, the company's PRO denied the allegation and branded it as a smear campaign against the company. However an investigation by Action Aid later proved it was true. How can such companies be made to face their social responsibilities and engage in sustainable environmental practices? May be through the legal enforcement of CSR.

Diversity in PR - how representative is PR

I found this interesting video clip, made by Rich Visions Marketing and PR limited, on You Tube which I thought I should share with you as it gives useful statistics on how diverse the UK populations is.

Diversity in the PR industry is highly important as it allows PR strategies to be tailored towards all the different groups in the society making it very representative. I know this issue is central to the UK PR industry because in addition to it being perceived as a predominantly female and white profession, it is also seen as less representative of the multi-ethnic and diverse nature of the country. For instance, as observed by Kate Nicholas, Associate Director of Communications at World Vision and formerly associate publisher/editor-in-chief of PRWeek, "95.6% of consultancy staff say they are white and in my ten years at PRWeek I only remember meeting one disabled PR professional,"

Wednesday the 5th of March's class was on 'diversity in the PR industry', with specific reference to the UK industry. Having read about the issue from PR books, I wanted to learn more about it. Thus I was enthused about the idea of a guest speaker who specialises in diversity PR coming to give a presentation. Personally I thought it was best to hear an insiders perspectives diversity PR practice. She happened to be Zena Martin, from Acknowledge Communications in London. Her presentation focused on diversity PR practice in UK: How to organise successful PR campaigns for minority groups. She succeeded in using her rich experience from diversity PR practice in the US to draw some parallels between diversity PR practice in the US and UK. It seems whilst the practice may be common and entrenched in the US it isn't accorded the same level of significance in the UK. This is however in contrast with the multi-cultural and several minority groups in UK.

I was inspired to hear from Zena that the absence of such diversity communications consultancy in the UK which prompted her to specialise in that area, when she arrived from her the US. This seems to have provided her with the unique opportunity to work for clients who needed to talk the different diverse groups in UK some of which were identified earlier on. I found her to be an inspirational speaker who is very knowledgeable in her field of specialisation. The presentation centred on how to create and implement successful communication and PR campaigns for the different minority groups in UK. It included how to identify such groups and how to organise successful PR campaigns for them, taking into consideration their peculiar needs, culture, sensitiveness and many more.

From the lecture I gathered that some of the minority groups in UK society included the gay and lesbian communities, the disabled people, ethnic minorities such as Africans, Caribbeans, Asians etc. It was very useful to me to hear that huge efforts have to be put into planning and creating PR campaigns for the diverse groups in order not come up with a disastrous and unsuccessful PR campaign. This is because the slightest mistake can generate bad publicity for the client or business in question which can impact negatively on its bottom-line if people boycott its products and services.



The presentation was followed with a class exercise which was quite interesting. My group was asked to "develop a PR campaign to attract men into the PR industry". It was not easy coming up with a campaign within that short period of time. Later on, I read Grunig et al (2006), who had some great ideas on how to diversify the PR industry. I find it very interesting and worthy of notice by PR practitioners. They mention that one key prerequisite important to conducting "multicultural public relations and manage diversity within public relations is self-awareness of one's own identity, including heritage, culture, gender, race, ethnicity, sexual orientation, and socioeconomic factors". (p. 392)

Further to this, they also establish three main dimensions for increasing the "potential for diversity in public relations practice". These are "improving the experiences of minority practitioners, using public relations to promote organisational commitment to diversity, and facilitating the development of multicultural competencies in public relations" (p.392).




After reading the chapter on diversity in the PR industry from Grunig et al, I asked myself the same question again, how can more men be attracted into the PR industry? Then I realised that a new campaign entitled "PR the new career choice for men" can be organised to target male students in colleges and sixth form aged between (16-20) years. This can help attract them at the early stages, when deciding on their future careers, to the PR profession. A similar campaign can also be organised in schools to attract pupils from ethnic minority background to the PR field.

My extensive reading on this issue has shown that it does not affect only the UK PR industry. Other countries where PR practice is well advanced, such as US, also face similar problems. For example a recent diversity survey by Hill and Knowlton in the USA showed that the lack of diversity in the US PR industry is still an on going issue. They acknowledged that although businesses and consultancies are earmarking more resources to improve their "multicultural staff base to represent modern American societies, still the situation needs to improve. You can read the full article at http://www.prweekus.com/The-diversity-riddle/article/99887/




Diversity in all professions is important, but diversifying the PR industry is highly important for effective communication within a society. Therefore the UK PR industry should put more effort into its diversification programme to attract more minority groups into the profession. Along with this, more PR consultancies should be encourage to specialise in diversity PR to make the industry become more representative of the UK society. Being an ethnic minority (black African) myself I am concerned about the barriers and difficulties that I may face in my search for my first PR job. However I am determined to breakthrough and I hope to gist you when it happens.

Feminisation of PR and its consequences- why so many women?

The PR industry in UK has for sometime been regarded as a female profession because of the huge number of female practitioners in the field and in PR training institutions. For example in my PR class, out of about 27 students only 3 are males. No wonder a famous PR author describes PR as a 'pink profession'. When asked in class for reasons for PR being predominantly women's profession the constant themes which came out were women are natural communicators and men do not see it as too challenging for them. Although these points may be debatable they also signify the need to attract more men to the profession to make it more balance and representative of the society and to protect the profession's reputation. This I believe can be achieved by running educational campaigns to target male students in colleges who are still thinking about their career path.

I was shocked to learn that in spite of their dominance in the PR just a handful of women can be found in managerial positions. It is because of this reason that Wednesday the 27th of February's class was quite special to me. I was selected to participate in the debate on the motion "women will always work in the PR industry but will not run it". The motion sounded interesting to me thus I read extensively on it.

I found Tench and Yeomans (2006) very informative and helpful during my research. They identify that although 70% of UK PR practitioners are currently women, research has "found gender inequalities in salaries, salary expectations, hiring perceptions and representation at management level" (p.171). Female practitioners are found mostly in the technician role such as press officers and account executives which prevent them from being actively involved in the decision making process of the organisation.

Several factors can be said to have contributed to women predominantly performing technical roles notwithstanding their dominance in the industry, whilst the men who form about 30% mostly hold management positions. In broad terms this includes the structure of society where women are seen as the 'weaker sex ' and men the 'stronger sex'. Thus women are expected to play subordinate roles to men. This is evident from how society in general perceive women and the adjectives associated with women.

Forinstance when asked in class to give masculine and feminine adjectives, the class came up with words like: Strong, determined, perseverance, not very emotional for men where as feeble, weak, emotional, susceptible to pressure were originated for women. Narrowing it down to PR, women could be seen as performing stereotyped roles such as communication technicians due to reasons which includes:

• The internal structure of an organisation not supporting women taking leadership roles.
• The issue of women going for career breaks either to give birth or raise a young family

However I believe the situation might improve in the near future if our dominance in the field is anything to go by and also through the constant pressure by women groups for equality and fairness for women at the work place.

Reading Week/ Dissertation Class

The reading week was used in attending dissertation class which has been very helpful in choosing my topic and fine-tuning it. I have decided to write on :

"The practice of CSR by multinational companies in Ghana: A case study of two mining companies"

It has also enriched my knowledge base a great deal in terms of how to write a good dissertation. I am now aware of the style , the research method to use (qualitative research such as open ended questionnaires, face to face interviews, telephone interviews, case study, content analysis, etc), how to critically analyse the data collected (by grouping them into the different themes which runs through the data), the language to use for this academic writing ( tentative) and how to make a conclusion from the data analysed.

I also read a couple of books on CSR from PR and Business authors to get a firm grasp of the concept in general and how it fits into the PR discipline. some of the material I read would be looked at closely under my CSR post.

Stakeholder, Audience and Publics theories

This weeks lecture presented by Michaela contained detailed information on the different theories on the above topic. Who are an organisation's stakeholders, audience or 'publics' and why is it important to study stakeholder, audience and 'publics' theories in PR? Stakeholders, audience and 'publics' can be defined as all the different groups of people who are affected by an organisation's activities. These people carry the the reputation of an organisation and an organisation depends on them to create and maintain their good reputation. In my opinion, PRO's need to know an organisations stakeholders in order to plan and create effective campaigns and communication strategies for all the different group for business growth. A typical structure of an organisation's stakeholders may include the groups shown on the diagram below.

I particularly liked Grunig and Hunt's situational theory which was discussed in class because it was easy to understand. I learnt it can be used to look at groups and what they think about an organisation at a particular time. They identify four 'publics' namely the non public, latent public, aware public and active public which an organisation may need to address or target for a particular campaign because they may be affected by this particular issue under discussion. (Grunig and Hunt 1984).

In my opinion, the use of Tesco trying to get planning permission for its new store as an example to explain the theory was practical and made it easy to follow. In this example I realised, the non public would be the people who have not heard of Tesco and does not care about it whilst the latent and aware publics are those who know of Tesco but have not made up their mind whether to support them or not. I learnt that in this situation, Tesco has to engage with both the latent and the aware publics as winning their support would be vital to getting the permission. The active audience on the other hand will be those who support Tesco in their bid for the new planning permission.

Broom and Dozier (1990) model was also quite interesting to follow. They identify nine ways to segment stakeholders.These are demographic, pyschographic, geographic, organisational membership, covert power, role in decision making, influencers, opinion formers and decision makers.

What I found most intriguing is that despite the fact that all theories can be used in combination, some theories are more appropriate for particular campaigns.

I later read Cutlip et al (2006) and I agree with their argument that "useful definitions describe program publics... on the basis who they are, where they live, what relevant organizations do they belong to, what they do that is relevant to the situation, and so forth" (p.321)

I also think Hallahan (2000) proposed five types of publics based on knowledge and involvement is brilliant. This is because the theory takes into account the inactive audience who seem to have been sidelined in Grunig's situational theory as they can still be important constituents for an organisation". He groups them us

• aware publics (high knowledge - low involvement)
• active publics (high knowledge - high involvement)
• aroused publics (low knowledge - high involvement)
• inactive publics (low knowledge - low involvement
• non-publics (no knowledge - no involvement)" (Tench and Yeomans 2006 p.153)

You can read more on it in his article, Hallahan, K., (2000). 'Inactive publics: The forgotten publics in public relations'. Public Relations Review 26(4): 499-515.

Public Relations and Ethics. Can PR ever be ethical?

Wednesday the 6th of February's lecture was on PR and ethics. I found the class very useful as I am highly interested in effective regulation of the PR industry which partly borders on ethics. We were introduced to some theories on PR ethics which included the Kantian and the Bantham theories and we did some practical exercise on some given scenarios.

I liked the classroom exercise because it gave me a practical insight into the ethical dilemma that awaits me as a budding PR practitioner. We were put into small groups to make ethical decisions on different practical scenarios and give the basis for whatever decision we settle for. This resulted in a heated debate which to me depicts the difficulty and relativism involved in making ethical decisions. What I realised was that, some people made their decisions based on moral values and stakeholder interest. Whilst others based their decision on business interest. For e.g. when we asked to show by hand how many of us were will work on a PR campaign for a Tobacco company, some of my classmates declined to work on that account if their consultancy won the account because, to them, tobacco was a killer drug and their morals were against it, where as myself and others will be willing to work on the account because of the huge amount of money involved in the project.

In this case the first group took their decision on moral grounds whilst the latter looked at the business interest. On the whole, I found the exercises very thought provoking and challenging. Some instances could be very sensitive for example the scenario where a director used the racist comment "nigger in the woodpile" and the class was asked if he should be fired for such comment. The class was divided on this issue. whilst one group favoured his dismissal, others thought he could be cautioned. This also clearly highlights the difficulty associated with ethical decision making in PR.

Personally, it was very useful as it gave me a practical insight into some ethical issues within the PR industry. Now I feel I am better equipped and well prepared to make good and ethical decisions based on my personal value systems, business interest, stakeholder interest, legal implications and many more. I think the bottom line for ethical decision making in the course of my work will be determined by the particular situation I found myself in at a time.

I also learnt that in some situations there could be conflict between personal moral values and business interest. What I found fascinating is the fact that some businesses, especially PR consultancies, can be flexible in such situations and give their staff the option to choose not to work on such projects. This sounds interesting and I look forward to enjoying that experience when I begin to work in PR.

The lecture has enriched my knowledge because I am now aware of the fact that, PR people draw on different moral and value systems to make ethical decisions. I also know that legal and cultural relativism play an important part in ethical decision making.

Personally, I think a balance between moral values and business interest seems to be the best way forward for good decision and ethical PR practice.

The question now is, can PR people ever be free from the ethical dilemmas they face each day, as they undertake their duties? After careful thinking, I believe the answer can be said to be 'No' because our job as PR people centres on building good reputation for our clients whilst taking into consideration 'public interest'. However, it is my conviction that our ability to make sound and good decisions in all given situation is what matters.

The Film on Media Management by the allied forces at the beginning of the Iraqi war

I was privileged this week to watch a BBC documentary film which shed light on how the allied forces used the media to spread the message that the war in Iraqi was worth supporting and watching.

Their main objectives can be said to have been:

• to gain public support for the war and
• manage possible objection to the war

The strategies used to achieve these objectives were

• to provide reasons for the war
• to keep control of the message
  

The allied forces adopted several tactics under their strategies. Prominent among these tactics was the used of embedded journalist.

• 700 journalist were embedded into the military to provide front line images and information. The challenge here may be that because the journalist were clothed and protected by the military it might have been difficulty for them to unbiased in their reportage.
• They also used reality TV through the collection and creation of profiles of soldiers on the front line.
• They also used new technology which allowed immediate real time pictures to be release to TV networks back home and around the world (breaking news).
• There was therefore active representation of what happened in the battlefield. They shot photos of people surrendering, purposeful to show they were winning the war. Troops were also shown playing football with locals to show they are warming up to them. There were also several cameras as images from the battlefield were deemed important to win support.

On the whole the allied forced can be said to have managed and control the media effectively at the start and in the course of the Iraqi war, which is in its fifth year running.

Is there a distinction between Propaganda and PR?

Many people argue that PR is a direct offspring of propaganda whilst other cannot see any distinction between PR and propaganda.

My argument is that the history of PR may have links with propaganda because Edward Bernays, whom many people refer to as the father of PR, is believed to have adopted the positive use of propaganda ( which was its ability to control the masses in times of war) for social use, yet the two are quite distinct models of communication. Unlike propaganda (manipulation), PR ideally should aim at building a mutually beneficial relationship between an organisation and its stakeholders or 'publics'.

This distinction is clearly identified by Grunig and Hunt (1984) in their theory on the four models of communication. They argue that where as "press agentry" (propaganda) is a one way communication which does not allow feedback thus being manipulative, PR ideally should be a two way symmetrical communication which allows for dialogue between an organisation and its 'publics'. However propaganda seems to still exist in politics and government communications where people are manipulated by not given the chance to speak back.

For instance I think the private Jessica script (a film made by Pentagon for Hollywood), which we watched in class was purely a propaganda material made by the US army to win public support for the Iraqi war. Although they insist the war is not about propaganda but about truth I saw in the film the deliberate attempt by the army to cover up the truth.

The story was about private Jessica a US military person serving who served on the front line in Iraqi. Jessica's convoy was bombed which led to the death of nine 0f her colleagues and she being seriously injured. The US military special forces branch staged a rescue mission for her by alleging she was not being properly cared for in an Iraqi hospital.- "saving private Jessica". The operation was successful and the team was praised by Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of Defence at that time.

However, I realised there were two contradictory stories on the same situation. According to the Iraqi doctors interviewed in the film, they gave Jessica the best treatment like any other patient would receive whilst the US military opposed this assertion. In the documentary that followed the film, the Defence Ministry declined to give the full video of the story but gave out the five minutes edited version when asked for it whiles the American doctor said he had forgotten the whole story.

In conclusion it is fairly evident that the military tried to withhold vital information and controlled the message to paint a good picture about their mission in Iraqi. To me this was propaganda at its very best.

Crisis Management theories and practice.

Crisis management is very important to PR people. Wednesday, the 23rd of January's lecture on Crisis Management was very interesting and insightful. We started by defining crisis and then moved on to the different types of crisis organisations could face. Lastly we looked at how best to manage crisis as an organisation.

What I enjoyed most was the practical exercise on crisis management. The exercise was about 30 kids from a recognised school being struck by a mystery illness and how best the institutions involved should communicate with stakeholders to keep the situation under control . It put me on the spot and I had to think fast and carefully about what I will do in such a situation.

I learnt that in times of crisis, I as, the Communications Director of an organisation, has to stay in control. The organisation has to take responsibility immediately for what has happened and most importantly empathise with the affected people. This depicts the organisation as being caring and helps to retain the trust and confidence of their stakeholders.

The communication team has to act promptly to reassure stakeholders that all is being done to revert the situation to normal. I also realised that depending on the nature of the crisis, the organisation can either issue a press release or organise a press conference to inform stakeholders. You don't have to organise a press conference if there is not enough information to answer questions from attending journalist. The best thing in this situation will be to write a press release.

I also agree to the fact that, there is absolutely no need to speculate and cause panic in a crisis situation but rather the exact information should be communicated to stakeholders and the media. Whilst the organisation co-operate with other bodies involved, if any, to launch an investigation into the cause of the crisis.

Although crisis has the potential to open new opportunities for companies, it can have negative effects if handled poorly. In my attempt to find out more on crisis management, I read Dowling (2001) which gave me valuable insights on the topic. He observes that the Chinese use the words danger and opportunity to describe crisis and whilst crisis may generate opportunities it can have serious negative impacts if not controlled. Further to this he identifies three factors which contribute to the impact a crisis can have on an organisation. These are:

• Their current corporate reputation, is it negative or positive.
• "The magnitude and type of crisis."
• "The amount and tone of media publicity" (p.253-276)

It is highly informative and I would advise any PR person who is interested in crisis communications to have a look at it. (Dowling, G., (2001).Creating Corporate Reputations: Identity, Image and Performance, New York, Oxford University Press.)

The introductory lecture for Public communication and PR issues

The 2nd semester began in earnest on the 16th of January and almost all my classmates were present for the first lecture. It was nice to see them back from the Christmas holidays, looking fit, healthy and quite refreshed. They seemed to be in high spirit and well prepared for the semester ahead. Today's class was used to welcome us back to the university and also to introduce us to this semester's core courses, which are Public Communication and Public Relations issues and our individual dissertations.

I learnt about the timetable for the dissertation classes and what is expected of me through out the rest of the course. Hopefully, it should be a busy and challenging semester, but I look forward to giving it my best shot.

We also looked briefly at last semester's assignments on consumer PR campaign pitch documents and the critical reports through an interactive discussion led by the course leader, Pam Williams.

Personally, I found the discussion very useful and informative because it has broaden my knowledge of how to critically assess a PR campaign pitch document and any document for that matter. I learnt that professional presentation of a pitch document is very important. In addition setting SMART i.e. Specific, Measurable, Achievable Realistic and Timely objectives were very important in determining how successful or not a PR campaign will be. The objectives will be used in the evaluation of the campaign.

I have also realised that the qualitative and quantitative research inputs I put into planning a PR campaign will be crucial to success of the campaign. This is so because it will me in the problem identification and the specific target audience I need to address. I now understand how best to write a campaign pitch document and a critical report which will be very helpful when I begin my career in PR.