Rewinding the ‘wag the dog’ syndrome from integrated reporting to integrated thinking….

Since its inception, PR Conversations has played a relevant role among the more aware global public relations community in presenting arguments for the value of adopting integrated reporting from forward-looking organizations to inform their stakeholder publics and setting, with their active participation, involvement and engagement platforms through an ongoing, continued 24/7/365 dialogue. A patient, curious and interested PR Conversations reader, by digitizing the terms ‘integrated reporting’ into this website’s search engine, will find 22 posts...

An honest role for PR in integrated reporting vs. sustainability propaganda

By Mojca Drevenšek What is the role and importance of public relations professionals in fostering integrated reporting (IR) practices in corporations and other organizations? This was the theme of my 2012 Bledcom paper, highly influenced by an earlier conference paper by Benita Steyn and Estelle de Beer, “The Strategic Role of Public Relations in the Process of Integrated Reporting” (republished on PR Conversations). In this guest post I outline my paper’s most important concepts. Defining...

Integrated reporting and strategic public relations

Guest post by Benita Steyn In November 2011, Benita Steyn and Estelle de Beer from South Africa delivered a paper, The Strategic Role of Public Relations in the Process of Integrated Reporting at the Corporate Governance and Strategic Communication Congress in Milan, Italy. We welcome back contributor alumna, Benita Steyn, who kindly agreed to provide an abridged version of this paper for PR Conversations. Backgrounder: Integrated reporting and strategic public relations The collapse of the...

A one-two push to the Stockholm Accords: Integrated reporting and brand monetary evaluation

By Toni Muzi Falconi Stockholm Accords definitions As defined by the Stockholm Accords, the PR leader of a communicative organization plays two fundamental and strategic roles: 1.  A “political” role in supporting and providing the organization’s leadership with the necessary, timely and relevant information, which allows it to effectively govern value networks, as well as an intelligent, constant and conscious effort to understand and interpret the relevant dynamics of society at large. A “contextual” role,...

Double-dipping exposes reputation risk in blurred boundaries of PR and journalism

When it comes to reputation, there is little distinction between a real conflict and a perceived one Op-Ed by Daniel Tisch, APR, FCPRS As media scandals go, it was a big one for Canada: The revelation that for the past two years one of the nation’s better-known TV news anchors was a part owner of a small public relations firm. Even more unnerving was that the anchor—and, on occasion, other journalists affiliated with the TV...

Buzzwords: Much sound and fury, but signifying little

A two-nation blended cocktail chat dissecting buzzwords in the current vernacular By Toni Muzi Falconi and Helen Slater Our global professional community has tried to change its public relations nomenclature at least since the fifties of the last century, under the notion that a name change can help. As Shakespeare’s Juliet Capulet says of Romeo Montagu, “Tis but thy name that is my enemy … be some other name! What’s in a name? That which...

Holmes Truths: Repositioning PR or getting back to where we once belonged?

Industry analyst Paul Holmes offers advice to our thriving but misunderstood profession By Daniel Tisch, APR, FCPRS There’s a paradox in public relations today: It is a time of unprecedented demand for our skills in modern organizations, but also unprecedented angst about how to position an often-misunderstood profession in a changing marketplace. This was the backdrop at a recent Canadian Council of PR Firms event in Toronto, where the leaders of Canada’s major public relations...

Stakeholder Expectations Roundtable: A tale of two books

Where does public relations fit into the organization? How should we update our practices to meet the needs of today and tomorrow? What are our responsibilities to the organizations we serve—and how can we communicate with, and address concerns of, stakeholders? By Bob Geller The above questions were some of the topics covered in a session I attended in New York in late February 2014, the Director Roundtable on Stakeholder Expectations and the 21st Century...

The Melbourne Mandate: A professional beacon for PR

By Jean Valin, APR, FCPRS and Daniel Tisch, APR, FCPRS The last few years have witnessed a variety of successful global efforts to build consensus amongst public relations professionals and academics on the profession’s role and value to organizations, as well as to society. The most recent process, the Melbourne Mandate, was co-created by some 1,000 people from 30 countries over the course of a year, and then unanimously adopted in November 2012 by more...

Critique or criticism – thoughts on PR academic conferences

This Summer, academics have travelled across Europe chasing the conference season. For Toni Muzi Falconi, the journey started with the Bledcom 20th anniversary symposium in Slovenia, followed by a political PR post-conference after the ICA conference in London, and then the International History of PR conference in Bournemouth (IHPRC). I caught up with Toni in Bournemouth – where we were both presenting – for his thoughts on the ‘season’. As well as IHPRC, I’m participating in the...