global discussion. local perspectives.
Responding to the use of PR to challenge inequalities in society, Bournemouth University, has run a series of seminars looking at ‘dissent PR’ and ‘protest PR’. My own contribution was to take a look at the role of women as activists and agitators over the past century. Here I share some musings from that work for your comments. In studying the history of public relations, female experiences have largely been missing, with the accounts of...
There’s an old adage that decisions by committee really aren’t that effective, particularly as the eventual outputs and outcomes tend to be second rate. Plus no one is truly accountable or assumes an authoritative role and voice. This tends to be an internal problem, perhaps reflective of a corporate culture lacking in vision and leadership. Something similar that’s perplexed me for awhile is this nascent concept about recruiting “friends” to assist in online corporate—or, more...
This is possibly the shortest ever post at PR Conversations. Normally we like to stimulate a conversation with a lengthy and considered post. We develop a line of thought and encourage debate and development of our ideas. But sometimes, it is better to write short – to express something in a few choice words, present a succinct phrase or two, or suggest a thought in a concise manner. I’m not talking about disposable discussion or...
You don’t have to dig too far to find criticisms of public relations as involving lying and other less than ethical practices. The normal response from the industry is denial, citation of codes of conduct and finger pointing at isolated ‘others’. But is lying really an absolute ‘do or don’t do’ matter? In reality, doesn’t everyone tell lies to some extent on a regular basis? So as professional communicators, doesn’t that mean PR practitioners trade...
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...
Guest post by Jean Valin, APR, FCPRS Who has seen the future of PR? Updated 6/22/2012 For PR Conversations readers, here is an update on this GA project which was generously supported by Enel–the Italian energy company. The study was customized to suit their needs. We conducted in-depth interviews with the heads of communication from Allianz (based in Munich), Philips (based in Amsterdam), Enel (ITaly), Novo Nordisk (Copenhagen and Petrobras (Rio de Janeiro). We also...
Book review by Toni Muzi Falconi Disclosure: Paolo D’Anselmi is an old friend of mine. I am grateful to the current leaders of PR Conversations for allowing me to introduce to its many visitors and readers Paolo’s most recent book—his first in the English language—which reveals a number of unique arguments adding much “food for thought” for every public relations and/or corporate social responsibility (CSR) professional. The book is called, Values and Stakeholders in an...
Not surprisingly there’s been a great deal of discussion of ethics in relation to the News Corp phone-hacking scandal. Although journalism and corporate governance are facing the real ethical questions, public relations has been brought into the mix by many commentators. Indeed, the Vancouver Sun attributes any ethical lapses in journalism to the practice of PR, whilst the UK’s Guardian newspaper drags out the lazy PR disaster label. We’ve also seen the usual implications that...
Here's an idea for the public relations and communications management profession to hang its hat on - and to show leadership. Let us be the driving force to set up a Genuine Progress Index (GPI) for the world.
Marc Whitaker’s breathtaking chorus opening -fully embedded in the Forum’s context and contents; Sven Hamrefor’s intellectually challenging description of value networks; Mervin King’s key note on organizational governance and stakeholder relationships; FERPI’s six faced presentation of the Accords implementation process taking off in Italy in September; Anne Gregory and Ronel Rensburg’s engaging and courageous session on public relations’ value to organizational governance and management, and Karl Schwab’s lucid description of the coming phases of societal discontinuity and of the World Economic Forum’s vision of togetherness through a global multistakeholder platform, will remain in my mind as the more striking achievements of the Stockholm Forum.