Engaging (and grilling) the social side of James Grunig

NOTE: Originally published on October 15, 2008. Toni Muzi Falconi writes:  Regular readers of this blog are aware of my long-term, personal relationship with the Grunigs, yet I confess surprise when I read Jim Grunig’s first comment on this earlier blog post. As one might expect, the whole PR Conversations’ co-bloggers group—from Canada to New Zealand, South Africa to Portugal, Italy to England and Austria—agreed that it would be very interesting for all the readers...

Six social media and digital communications trends for 2015

One of the most enjoyable hybrid academic-practitioner experiences I have had this year has been as course leader of the PR Academy Digital Communications Certificate course. The reason is that we have been able to incorporate a lot of contemporary thinking around ways of learning as well as the emerging field of digital communications and social media. This includes blended approaches to online and offline learning (with Stuart Bruce leading a face-to-face session, alongside my...

The communication process more important than outcomes on PR Conversations

Process is more important than outcome When the outcome drives the process we will only ever go to where we’ve already been. If process drives outcome we may not know where we’re going, but we will know we want to be there. –Point #3 from (internationally renowned designer) Bruce Mau’s Incomplete Manifesto for Growth Currently I’m transitioning from thinking-mode process to writing for my June Bytes from the PR Sphere column (which covers the intersection...

Grunig PR Masterclass: Insight into diversity and excellence

This post offers a video recording of a recent lecture given by Larissa and James Grunig at New York University – courtesy of Toni Muzi Falconi, who kindly introduces the video below. In addition, Heather Yaxley provides a brief overview of the highlights of the lecture. We extend our thanks to James, Larissa and Toni for offering the video to PR Conversations.   Introduction by Toni Muzi Falconi A few years ago, PR Conversations published...

Nurturing Knowledge – a job for PR

‘Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge’ – Wikipedia’s blackout protest statement is a reminder of the value and reliance placed on repositories of online information.  How many of us turn to Google, Wikipedia, digital dictionaries, social media or online news sources routinely when we want to know something?  The English-speaking student population is apparently distraught that its primary place for ‘cut and paste’ assignments is offline for a day.  The Digital Natives haven’t been so...

Public relations and the public interest: a matter of opinion

Recently the phrase “public interest” started an offline debate between two PR Conversations stalwarts, Toni Muzi Falconi and Heather Yaxley. This blog exists to encourage discourse about public relations and its role from a variety of perspectives, although normally, conversations are stimulated by a post, and then move into the comments section or onto Twitter. This time, we start with a private conversation, and invite you to expand the discussion further with your own comments....

Barcelona 1 – Evaluation 0?

This month saw another cross-border event, with the agreement and publication of the "Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles" at the 2nd European Summit on Measurement. Five global bodies and 200 delegates from 33 countries all voted overwhelmingly to adopt a set of basic principles.

"Intel inside&"? Reinventing our profession … before extinction?

In a nutshell: the world gets more complicated, communication as a dialogue function is increasingly demanding, all stakeholders claim a legitimate interest in a corporate and “pull” what they need, while the communication professional reminds me of the young Dutch boy trying to halt the water bursting through the dam by putting his little fingers in the cracks.