Publications
PR in Europe
Europe is evolving as a more integrated entity, and so is the practice of public relations throughout the continent. Yet, the countries remain distinctive in media usage, internal communications and other aspects of public relations practice. This overview by Institute Trustee Sandra Macleod, CEO of Echo Research, was delivered at the 2005 International Public Relations Research Conference.
Global Stakeholder Relationship Governance
This paper positions effective governance of stakeholder relationships as the new global frontier of the public relations and communication profession. This paper is dedicated to the art and science of stakeholder relationships governance from an organizational, systemic and relational perspective. The author contends that however complex it may be in today’s environment, the process of communication is probably the most relevant of the available tools to enable stakeholder relationships. The paper identifies and integrates societal perspectives with the value and network society models of organizations, and the argument is made that in the absence of a global- and relationship-based perspective, ...
Communication Symmetry Elaborated: Lessons from the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission
This paper provides a case study of the South African Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC), a six-year national initiative intended to shed light on human rights abuses and bridge the deep divides caused by decades of Apartheid, as an example of symmetrical public relations. Although many scholars, professionals, media and the general public view the role of public relations as persuasion, of convincing someone what to think, believe, or do, many observers have been proposing and exploring a relationship-based, “symmetrical” type of public relations for more than 20 years. The paper argues that the work of the TRC was an ...
From Back Seat to Dashboard: The Global Navigation of International Corporate Communications
This essay seeks to illustrate the complexity in which international corporate communications occurs and how important is it for globally-engaged corporate communicators to be knowledgeable about target countries, target institutions, target contents and target actors (and why public relations professionals must ensure that employees or service providers have the necessary knowledge). With the right information at hand, PR professionals are in a position to create a kind of international corporate communications compass with regard to four contexts: 1) the norms or general characteristics of political, economic and media systems; 2) the structures or models on which companies are organized; 3) ...
An Empirical Contribution to the Global Navigation of International Corporate Communications
This paper examines different dimensions of the media environments in which corporate communications occurs in five European countries. The author suggests that media relations as practiced by public relations professionals requires an understanding of media systems including the economic and political systems in which media operate. The author concludes that the differences or “cultural gaps” between the selected countries are significantly more prominent than the similarities, leaving little potential for a homogenized model for “European” journalism. The country from which information comes will invariably possess different values than the country that into which the information is sent. The author proposes ...
Knowledge Management and The Personal Influence Model
The personal influence model of public relations, developed principally by public relations scholar Krishnamurthy Sriramesh, acknowledges that the success of public relations is greatly influenced by personal networks. With this model, practitioners try to establish personal relationships – friendships, if possible – with key individuals in the media, government, or political and activist groups (Grunig, 1995, 18). This paper provides background on knowledge management and examines the role that the personal influence model could play in organizations by the adoption of knowledge management practices, which would involve instituting a mechanism to ...
International Index of Bribery for News Coverage 2003
Bribery of the news media in too many countries robs citizens of credible information they need to make personal and collective decisions. This comprehensive research for the first time gives us an index that ranks 66 of the world’s nations for the likelihood that print journalists will seek or accept cash for news coverage from government officials, businesses, or other news sources. The index was developed to provide a useful quantitative measure by which countries can track their progress over time and compared to other nations. Whether a country ranks high or low, many ...
Bribery for News Coverage: Research in Poland
This paper starts with an overview of the development of Polish media and public relations that established a ground for current practice. The paper then reports the results of a study conducted among the Polish communication leaders on credibility and media bribery practices of Polish media. The total of 287 communication leaders (99 journalists, 90 marketing specialists, and 98 PR practitioners) were asked to provide their opinions and perceptions on the number of issues related to media bribery. The results of the study showed that the Polish communication leaders, especially PR practitioners, often ...
Global, International, Comparative and Regional Public Relations Knowledge from 1990 to 2005
The purpose of this study is to identify and content analyze the stream of trade and academic publications on international public relations or related materials published by selected U.S. and U.K. academic journals, the Institute for Public Relations’ online publications and international association publications (i.e., IABC-IPRA) from 1990 to 2005. Because of the constant expansion of the body of knowledge all over the world, this report is part of a long-term documentation project that will be updated over time to capture trends and advancements. Future research would include the body of knowledge ...
An Exploratory Study of Global Media Relations Practices 2008
A large majority of journalists and public relations practitioners around the world say it is not professional for media to accept payments from news sources in return for coverage. Nevertheless, more than one in three practitioners and one in five journalists say it is generally considered okay in their countries for national media to accept such payments. Only 60 percent say that paid-for material is always or often identified as advertising in national daily newspapers. These findings come from a survey conducted by Dr. Katerina Tsetsura, University of Oklahoma. The research was done in ...
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