Public Relations

Building customer relations through public relations on airlines websites: A study of airlines companies based in India

2012-01-07T22:29:00.000+05:30

This paper was presented by me at the InternationalConference on Diversity & Plurality in Media - Reflections of Society, 27^th and 28^thDecember 2011 Organized by Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Journalismand Communication, Bhopal.

Title ofthe paper: Building customer relations through public relations onairlines websites: A study of airlines companies based in India.

Abstract

Ithas been observed that the Internet has become an important tool of communication,which facilitates business-to-consumer and business-to-business electroniccommerce. It is essential to create loyal customers toincrease your business. James Grunig has emphasized that the two-waysymmetrical model of organizational public relations depends on an honest andopen two-way communication. It comprises of a give-and-take is usuallyreciprocal, rather than a one-way persuasion. This he adds, should be thedriving force, for all public relations practices. The Internet brings Grunig’s two-way symmetrical model and Habermas’(1962) ideas of open, transparent and responsive ideal speech into its domain. Esrock and Leichty (1999) stressed that corporate websites allowcompanies to engage in multi-stakeholder dialogue. Cooley andothers emphasise the strength of the Internet’s interactive capabilities totransform public relations practice by enabling symmetric relations withpublics. Kent and Taylor have alsohighlighted the importance of this concept in their five criteria for adialogic web site. Thus websites of organisations can play an integral role inbuilding relationships with their audiences.

The researcher intends to study: -

What are the various information and interactive feature on the airline websites?
What are the various types of services offered to enhance dialogic processes?

This studywould examine the interactive and information and service features on thehomepages of airlines companies in India thus checking for presence of publicrelations elements on their sites. The research will use the method of quantitativecontent analysis. This study should give an idea of the various techniques thatairlines companies adopt to attract audiences to their websites, and if thishelps in building relationships with these audiences. This study is expected beuseful to teachers, researchers, the current and future public relationspractitioners.

Keywords: public relations, airlines, gatekeeping, internet, website, promotion

Is the Internet really free?

2011-12-07T23:58:00.003+05:30

Internet is a public sphere where one can speak out without intervention. At least that is what various platforms on the Internet are being used as. But as public relations practitioners and students we have to understand that "gatekeeping" may not always come from the press.

Let us understand the term public sphere. "By the 'public sphere' we mean first of all the realm of our social life in which something approaching public opinion can be formed... Citizens behave as a public body when they confer in an unrestricted fashion - that is, with the guarantee of freedom of assembly and association and the freedom to express and publish their opinions - about matters of general interest... The expression 'public opinion' refers to the tasks of criticism and control which a public body of citizens informally practices... vis-a-vis a ruling class." (Habermas, 1964 quoted in Pusey, 1987: 89)

Habermas' ideal type of the public sphere is described as an ideal speech situation. Robert Alexy states rules for the ideal speech discourse based upon Habermas' work, of which the following below is the third one:-

3.1 Every subject capable of speech and action may take part in discourses
3.2 (a) Everyone may challenge any assertion
3.2 (b) Everyone may introduce any assertion into the discourse
3.2 (c) Everyone may express his/her attitudes, wishes and needs
3.3 No speaker may be prevented, by internal or external coercion, from exercising his/her rights under 3.1 and 3.2
(Diskursethik, 1983: 99, quoted from openpolitics.com)

But is the media really free to use as one would want it? History has something different to say. The radio, invented by Marconi in 1895, is an apt example. Had it not been for the Sound Broadcasting Act of 1972 in Britain, anyone would be broadcasting a signal. The spectrum was soon licensed to commercial bodies such as the BBC, and any breach by any other entity was considered a criminal offense. But then these spectrums are not infinite and so restriction on radio and TV must have been seen coming. If we look at the other medium such as print it is not possible for each of us to start a newspaper or a magazine where one freely expresses one's opinion.

Such restrictions naturally leave the only option to be used - the Internet.

One cannot forget to mention Uses and Gratification theory when discussing the use of a medium. This theory states why people use a particular media rather than content. There have been plenty of studies on why people choose Internet over other mediums when given a choice.

But again,

"...The claim that the Internet can lead to a greater democratization of society is founded on tenets of unlimited access to information and equal participation in cultural discourse. But will this inundation of texts and voices lead to anarchic, rather than democratic, forms of communication?..." (2002, search google.groups for 'Internet Habermas public sphere')

Does the Internet encourage "Herd Behaviour" or the "Bandwagon Effect"?

What do you think?

Bibilography and References:-

"A Social Cognitive Explanation of Internet Uses and Gratifications: Toward a New Theory of Media Attendance", LaRose, Robert PhD, Department of Telecommunication, Michigan State University.

Calhoum, Craig ed. (1992) Habermas and the Public Sphere, Cambridge (US): MIT Press

Web References:-

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10.1089/cpb.2007.0056

http://jakeg.co.uk/essays/habermas

http://nms.sagepub.com/content/4/1/9.abstract
http://www.aber.ac.uk/media/Documents/short/usegrat.html

Role of Photos in Boosting Public Relations Activities

2011-11-14T16:13:00.001+05:30

I had recently conducted a study on how public relations practitioners use photos to enhance their public relations activities.I received quite interesting responses, on the use and this term evolved from their replies "PR photos" The respondents have given elaborate replies where ever necessary.
This paper "Role of Photos in boosting public relations activities" was presented at the National Seminar, November 11-13, 2011 Media, Literature and Language jointly organized by Department of Communication and Journalism, University of Mumbai & Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Communication & Journalism, Bhopal.

The abstract is as below:-

Abstract

Public Relations practitioners use photos other than written material about the client/organisation to be given to journalists for publication. This exploratory study seeks to find the use of photos in increasing public relations and its publication intricacies in the media; it will also examine the parameters of selecting photos, before they are sent off for publication over the Internet. The study used questionnaire-survey method and the respondents were PR practitioners from various capacities in PR agencies and companies in India.

Keywords: Public Relations, Photos, photographs, image, Ronald Barthes’ theory of the photographic message, Daniel Boorstein, Agenda Building.

Building confidence in online shopping: My shopping experience in the U.S.A

2011-10-06T09:19:00.002+05:30

It has been now almost 3 weeks since I have come to Seattle in the U.S.A, I observed an interesting way they shop here.If it is groceries they have fantastic malls here, well organized, where people are seen shopping for their daily needs.They have Indian malls too which cater to Indian spices,grains and vegetables etc.Though of course the Indian malls do not hold the same grandeur as the ones that are local to the place.By grandeur I mean, organization, branding to food items, category-wise and the clutter is missing.

But when it comes to shopping for clothes, electronic goods, books, medicines and many such items. the people shop here online.If you check out their online shopping malls and marts you will realize it has been so well marketed that you would want to shop online.The goods bought online are delivered to your home by the UPS or FedEx service.So when I wanted to check for a laptop bag or coat or a skirt or any accessories I was told Google it!

Even if you want to go shopping offline, the culture here is to first check the product online, in case you need to see categories or varieties.The shops therefore are not crowded, More people are buying things online (well that is my hypothesis).

What caught my attention, is that in India we are so suspicious of online shopping, we want to touch and feel the product before buying it, so we all run to the shops to buy, wasting time traveling and crowding shops, but here the reassurance of online shopping is amazing, which shows a lot of hard work must have been done on the part of marketing and public relations departments.

Is this just a cultural thing or a trend that can be changed in India?

Use of Photos to Build Client Image in Public Relations

2011-09-29T05:26:00.000+05:30

I m doing a research to know the use of photos to build client image in public relations.This research is a borne out of curiosity of photos as means of visual communication, to check how much importance they hold when promoting your organisation or client's work.

Please fill in the following questionnaire to share your views:-

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/N6L26XM

Do come back on this space to know more...as I learn and share.

Thank you!

National Seminar on Media, Literature and Language

2011-08-25T18:57:00.001+05:30

Department of Communication & Journalism, University of Mumbai and Makhanlal Chaturvedi National University of Communication & Journalism are organizing a national level seminar on Media, Literature and Language on November 11^th -13^th, 2011 at the University of Mumbai, Kalina Campus.

Is news writing literature? Is it literature in a hurry? Is it the responsibility of the media to upgrade language? Can media shoulder this responsibility? What is the interface between media, literature and language? These are the questions that the seminar will aim to address.

Proposed Themes

Ø Cinema, Literature and Language

Ø New media, Literature and Language

Ø Globalised media and Language

Ø Media and the emerging diasporic cultures

Ø Multiculturism, Literature and Language in Media

Submission of abstracts and full papers

Send the abstract and full papers to Prof. Meenakshi Upadhyay on the following email address: dcjconferences@gmail.com

All abstracts are peer reviewed by an expert committee in the respective fields. Only abstracts accepted for presentation will be notified for submitting the final and full papers.

Abstract Submission	September 15, 2011
Abstract acceptance notification	September 18, 2011
Paper Submission	October 10, 2011
Paper acceptance	October 15, 2011

Abstracts Submissions should include the following:

Title of abstract (maximum 150 words);

Names and titles of presenter and co-authors

Contact details of authors to include: Full name with preferred title, designation, affiliation, address and email address

Registration Fee

	Fee
Delegates (Outstation) Boarding and Lodging	Rs. 3000/-
Delegates (Local)	Rs. 1000/-
Students (Outstation) Boarding and Lodging	Rs. 1500/-
Students (Local)	Rs. 500/-

Demand Drafts for registration to be made in the name of ‘The Finance and Accounts Officer, University of Mumbai’.
Please send the draft on the following address:

Department of Communication and Journalism,

2nd Floor, Health Centre Building,

Vidyanagari Campus, Kalina,

Mumbai 400 098.

Receipts of those registered will be given at the time of the conference.

Please note:-

Accommodation is on a sharing basis
The accommodation will be provided between 10^th evening to 13^th afternoon
Accommodation is on a first come first serve basis. Seats limited.

For any query on registration of the programme contact:

Ms. Archana Ramesh

Alumnus

Email id: archana.ramesh11@gmail.com

Conference Secretary
Ms. Meenakshi Upadhyay
Assistant Professor
DCJ, UoM
Contact: 022-26526068

Email id: dcjconferences@gmail.com

Media Analysis and Evaluation

2011-08-05T21:55:00.000+05:30

In a 1966 lecture at the Kaufman Art Gallery in New York City, McLuhan said, “The medium is the massage, not the message. It really works us over; it really takes hold and massages the population in a savage way.”

Media evaluation and analysis is the first key step of PR measurement. It involves thorough research of media coverage given to your client and its impact on the publics thorough various methods.

In India, we do the study of media coverages by looking at the clip count of media found about your client, recording of your client news on broadcasting and searching for mentions of your client on the internet.The second part, i.e. studying the impact of the these coverages on the publics is an area which is not touched upon yet.I have been told by many that it is an expensive proposition.

So what about evaluating media coverage, lets for example take the print media.The ideal media coverage study would consist of the following parameters:- tone of the articles, bylines, headlines, length date of the appearance of articles, placement, graphs, photographs, financial figures and other art work.If need be if one has to get into the detail of analyzing an article in depth on how the content was written one can check for thematic analysis of the news report and recurrence, repetition and timeliness.

AVE (Advertising Value Equivalent) and tone are the two parameters which are constantly only checked when analysing reports or mention of client names, it has been seen.

According to the Barcelona Principles for PR measurement http://www.instituteforpr.org/2010/06/the-barcelona-declaration-of-research-principles/ says two very important things among many others:-

Media measurment requires quantity and quality and that AVE are not the value of public relations.

So we undertsand that if media coverage is studied for all the above in detail one would know how the media is writing and percieving us.The beginners in the profession of public relations can get a cue about studying coverage of media from the above.

The idea is that if our works which results out of so much of hard work of pitching the media, if measured will result in understanding the value of our public relations work Was this really what you wanted the media to write? After all in case somebody is reading it, they better be reading what 'you' wanted them to read.

What do you think?

You need Public Relations

2011-07-23T20:08:00.001+05:30

We have observed that public relations agencies help in media relations activity for an organisation.Many are also seen managing events for a company or a celebrity.Some are crisis management experts and yet others are financial public relations consultants.The many functions of public relations can be observed here.

I have heard of my friends being hired for managing the public relations function in companies, which was otherwise initially only concentrating on the marketing or advertising function. So which is that defining moment which buffers the move for an organisation to hire a public relations firm or shape up their own public relations department?

What are those reasons which inspire or motivate this move? If you are a public relations consultant when would you advise a company that they need public relations?

What would you advise?

The Rise in Regional Public Relations

2011-06-30T13:08:00.005+05:30

I had recently presented a paper at AMIC 2011: Taking Stock of Media and Communication Studies, (http://www.amic.org.sg/) an international conference held at Hyderabad, between June 24th-27th on the following topic.The Rise in Regional Public Relations: A study of the public relations scenario with rapidly growing regional journalism in India.

Abstract

Public Relations in India advanced only in the 1980s and 1990s when businesses felt the need to compete and address their audiences. Public relations agencies started growing in this environment the late 1980s.These agencies would work in association with the in-house public relations departments in companies which is still the norm even today. Some even mushroomed into larger firms with associations internationally.During the same time advertising agencies also added public relations divisions in their businesses.Since then public relations agencies in India have only grown and have been known to conduct media relations with the print and the broadcasting media personnel. With the regional press showing rapid growth in terms of readership and circulation, and at the same time the English language press in India showing a decline, it has been observed that investors are keen on investing in the regional language publication houses.With a rapidly growing neo-literate population, most of it in the vernacular medium, the number of people who would be reading vernacular language newspapers will only rise. Robin Jeffery states that vernacular medium newspaper readers not only become better informed, but also tend to actively participate in the political and democratic process. The researcher intended to study:-

Ø R1. Will the rise in regional journalism lead to rise in regional public relations?

Ø R2. What kind of communication skills and personality traits will have to be acquired by future practitioners keen on joining regional public relations?

Synopsis of Conclusion: Regional Public Relations in India is growing so mastery over regional language, reading, writing and speaking it fluently.Adaptation to culture of each region including rituals, habits, lifestyle or anything symbiotic of a culture of a place will be crucial.The above points are most important when dealing with regional audience and regional media.Regional public relations and global public relations are similar as both have to adjust to regional differences before executing a programme.

It has become necessary for a PR practitioner working for an agency or company to know as many languages as possible, as one doesn't know when there would be a requirement to communicate with external audiences. One should not be dependent only on a person specifically knowing the language and culture of a region.A combination of knowledge of the subject of public relations and proficiency in regional languages can become an important tool in the hands of a PR practitioner practicing regional public relations in India.

Do we know our publics?

2011-06-06T19:07:00.002+05:30

Public Relations practitioners are constantly looking for different media to publish their press releases, articles, interviews, features, analysis etc.It is done so that as much as coverage is obtained.It is also done hoping that as many people to whom the news is related to are reading or watching it.

But what are these different types of publics to whom our news concerns? Does it matter to all in a similar manner or are there 'situational' publics?

James Grunig proposed the 'Situational Theory' (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). He explained that publics can be identified and classified according to how much they are aware of a problem and to what extent they could do something about it. The theory studies the formation of publics and how organisations should keep a watch and segment them accordingly so that communication is done to that specificity.The theory identifies the following four categories:

Non-public: No problem is identified or exists
Latent public: Problem exists, but public does not see it
Aware public: Group identifies that a problem exists
Active public: Group is aware of the problem and co-ordinates to take an action

If we notice the different kinds of campaigns that have happened in our country, whether it was the Jessica lal case, fight for the Bhopal gas victims, the latest anti-corruption campaigns etc, you will see that there will always be some who will sit up and notice and act upon it.It all depends on how much it affects them and what they feel they can do about it.The rest of us will only discuss it casually over tea or on social media sites etc.

Knowledge of our publics is necessary so that behavioral change can be expected, to change people from being latent to aware to active publics as explained above. So what motivates us to react uniformly on an issue? Is some other motivation needed? Or can we act uniformly on an issue?

Do let me know your views.

The Magic called Social Media!

2011-03-24T00:14:00.001+05:30

There is enough material written on the social media.So I will not add some more gyan but I have decided to share my experience of being on social media as a consumer or simply an internet user.

I recently bought a blackberry and was still struggling to use this device when I encountered some issue regarding some function.I was looking for help when I decided to write to @BlackBerryHelp on twitter.I was anticipating that the reply may come in some few days when to my pleasant surprise their solution was sent through direct message in some few hours! Quite prompt considering that I must have been some zillionth customer who must have asked for help.Mind you I have asked more questions after that at different times and the timeliness of their reply has always been the same.Prompt.

Another incident I encountered was with @TeasAtGirnar, I was having tea at The Tea Centre at Chruchgate, Mumbai and I happen to tweet this, within minutes I get a mention and I find Girnar Tea tweeting me and asking me the tea I was sipping and my favorite flavor. They also sent me a tweet encouraging me to visit their e-store.Perfect consumer engagement without irritating the consumer off with some personal selling talk! and to think of it I could have chosen not to reply.

The above were examples of companies approaching and helping their consumers.

I have also experienced the beauty of social media when a complete stranger replied to my tweets on a simple inquiry.I was travelling on the highway from Santa Cruz when I saw ahead a massive traffic jam.I tweeted the same wondering the reason for the jam, within seconds I get a reply from some stranger that there was some vehicle problem and so the jam!

Even now and then I receive mentions on topics I tweet about or re-tweet where some person has shared some more knowledge or a page on the same issue.

This kind of interaction only says that given an opportunity you can get in touch with the consumers and the target audience without being pushy and give that space to the consumer to take a call on whether they want to interact with you or not.

Consumers are watching your interaction with them, whether you are solving their problems, offering tips, or inviting their contribution on a topic etc.They observe you and decide a lot about you whether you are worth being given a second look or not!

If it is not promotion or public relations from a company or an individual; it is simply a good human helping on the digital space,but magic of the social media still remains.

The Times of Strategizing

2011-01-23T13:02:00.004+05:30

The recent Niira Radia case brings to attention the evolving role of public relations in India.Till now known only as media relations or more as a publicist function, lobbying has changed the face the face of this profession.Strategizing has now been pronounced as an important element of lobbying which in turn is a very important function of public relations.

Lobbying (also Lobby) is the intention of influencing decisions made by legislators and officials in the government by individuals, other legislators, constituents, or advocacy groups. A lobbyist is a person who tries to influence legislation on behalf of a special interest or a member of a lobby.(source: Wikipedia)

So as we see it is now become necessary for a public relations practitioner to become 'worldly wise' .You are no longer handling just the media coverages of your client you will now place your client strategically in the eyes of their stakeholders.So what does this mean?

Lets look at the word strategy.Strategy, a word of military origin, refers to a plan of action designed to achieve a particular goal.(source: Wikipedia)

Johnson and Scholes (Exploring Corporate Strategy) define strategy as follows:

"Strategy is the direction and scope of an organisation over the long-term: which achieves advantage for the organisation through its configuration of resources within a challenging environment, to meet the needs of markets and to fulfil stakeholder expectations".

In other words, strategy is about:

* Where is the business trying to get to in the long-term (direction)

* Which markets should a business compete in and what kind of activities are involved in such markets? (markets; scope)

* How can the business perform better than the competition in those markets? (advantage)?

* What resources (skills, assets, finance, relationships, technical competence, facilities) are required in order to be able to compete? (resources)?

* What external, environmental factors affect the businesses' ability to compete? (environment)?

* What are the values and expectations of those who have power in and around the business? (stakeholders) (source:http://tutor2u.net)

If this is going to be the new role of public relations then what will be the orientation necessary for one to think strategically?

Knowledge of public relations, politics, economics, finance, management studies,organisational behaviour, pschology etc could be some few subjects to begin with.So to be 'worldly-wise' these will help and yes ofcourse keeping your eyes and ears open to information.Being boundary spanners as we public relations academicians would like to call it.

To change the way public relations is looked at today in India, the practitioners need to update themselves with changing times.We still have a very long way to go.

The Rise in the Use of New Media as a tool of communication in Public Relations

2010-11-21T20:38:00.000+05:30

A study of public relations agencies and organisations
with public relations departments based in Mumbai

This paper was presented at the

National Seminar, November 18, 19, 2010

Journalism in India: From Mission to Profession - 1947 to 2010

Organised by
Department of Communication and Journalism
University of Mumbai

By
Meenakshi Upadhyay
Lecturer, Department of Communication and Journalism,
University of Mumbai

It discusses the use of New media as another alternative tool used by PR practitioners by various companies and PR agencies.

Disconnect between academics and the PR industry in India

2010-10-21T14:50:00.001+05:30

Firstly I would like to take this opportunity to thank some few of you for all the help you have always given to me and my students in research conducted by us.

But it has been my experience that majorly the PR industry is not as helpful as it appears when it comes to contributing to academics. I have been teaching Public Relations for more than 5 years now and I have observed that they do not readily co-operate in research related queries from students.Sometimes we academicians also face the same problem.Barring a few professionals who help others keep postponing to even give an appointment. The students have shared with me their experience the problems they have faced when trying to conduct surveys in Public Relations.They are often told to contact later and emails are usually left un-answered.It has also been seen that you have to have a friend or a relative working in the institution to get an appointment with the required personnel.

The students feel disheartened because they are keen to learn and such a lukewarm response leaves them with a bad impression of the place where they will be starting their professional careers.I can understand that certain students do not have very good communication skills so they may get rejected out right for the fact that they cannot even speak properly, though care is also taken from our end to train them as far as possible in interviewing skills. But can the industry be a little patient with these budding professionals of the future?

In foreign countries the researches done by academics are funded by the industry and the results are used by the industry in furthering their prospects, so here can we atleast answer queries so that our profession is understood better? We are also growing in our understanding of the profession and a little help in the form of answers goes a long way in helping both of us.We must understand research is a very important element in helping a profession grow otherwise companies would not have R&D departments.

My question to all PR industry professionals is why do you shy away from questions? Is it so difficult to spare atleast five minutes to answer queries which might even help you back in return? I wonder if this post will be read or simply ignored as questions are.

The Ever Evolving Social Media Bubble

2010-08-13T22:11:00.005+05:30

Public Relations are today an important component of any campaign.Whether it was Microsoft launching its Xbox video game player or Windows Xp. Lakme the well known fashion and cosmetics brand has heavily depended on PR for making its presence felt amongst their target audience.Even in crisis Johnson & Johnson relied a lot on Public Relations to emerge from their Tylenol crisis.

What if social media was there and also used when the above events had come into being, how would it have helped the companies in their campaigns? Well for that, one has to understand this channel. Social media is like that bubble in water that keeps bursting and evolving into more new bubbles.It is not stagnant for a long time in one form.

If we observe in other countries where social media is heavily used in marketing campaigns, social networking sites like twitter are not really playing a role in promoting brands, look at this article Marketing: Study Says Most Brands Still Irrelevant on Twitter - Advertising Age - Digital

Another issue with social networking sites is the fact that it changes fast.Something new emerges the moment you had just got used to the previous (read old) one.A site which everyone wants to be on today such as Facebook can might as well be a passing fad! People initially were on Orkut. The same have now shifted base to Facebook. Tomorrow there might be another 'networking' site.Read more on this on Can Social Media Be Trusted? These articles come from a world where social networking sites are intesively used by marketeers and people.what is the Indian scene?

We are still learning the tricks of these new channels.In our country celebrities hog twitter more than the common man.Facebook is more of a stress buster and a place where you can openly vent out your feelings about issues.Promotions are still to a large extent ignored, even if some of your friends send you 'invitations' to join 'events' right? Though we do hear of social media being used by consumers as grievance platforms. Blogs are still read but comments are sent on your personal ids and not as comments on the blog, though the follower list may rise.You are told on phone or in person that your blog was well written but not on your blog.Image sites are still used for uploading personal photos as we still use the good old cd or email to send official photos.We are still learning the use of these new channels and still don't really trust it.So if countries where these media has been used for campaign purposes and it is thought that have a long way to go, imagine how far we are!

So at this stage how much of social media should be recommended to clients? After a small research conducted in a total of more than 100 companies and PR agencies put together I found that this media is highly recommended to clients to promote themselves.More than 50% of respondents use online press release sites to publish their press releases.

The reasons cited for using social media were ease of use, reach was very good, it was obviously a cheaper mode, and audio-video could be used most effectively on these channels (here YouTube).

Though there was one answer which was quite an opposite to what the agencies and the corporate communication departments of the companies thought on.Only 23% of PR practitioners in agencies thought that giving out information via internet channels will reduce dependence on the print and broadcasting media whereas 49% of the respondents in the corporate communications thought differently!

The audience will be take some more time before they adapt themselves to new media is what more than 15% of the respondents feel when they say it will take more than 10 years, this appears quite true considering what other countries are going through.

One thing all of them agree which is a whopping more than 57% ; the fact that social media/new media training is essential to PR practitioners in both agencies and corporates.

The data above only confirms the fact that we need to give some more time to this new medium to catch up both in the minds of audiences as well as to practitioners using this tool for promotion before we either discard or totally adapt to it.

Public Relations Is Truth Well Told!

2010-07-14T22:04:00.006+05:30

I read the title somewhere and immediately liked it.Isnt that true? Can an organisation reveal everything to the publics (media) because being transparent is important as said in many definitions of Public Relations?

Rawlins (2008) advocated “transparency through every aspect of corporate communications” (p. 2) that embraces open, authentic communication of organizational successes and failures; facilitates ongoing discussion; and relinquishes a seemingly incessant institutional drive to maintain the image of perfection.

But how important it is in being totally transparent? I m not saying we should go all out in giving information but say that, that will be appropriate for the organsiation in that particular situation.The paper Is Full Transparency Always the Best Approach?exaclty argues the same point, says that infact it is ethically correct for both the organisation and its stakeholders.

Lets say there is a crisis in an organisation will you give all details of the crisis that ocurred or will you be careful only in revealing those facts that are necessary? Or will you simply ignore the situation and pretend as if it never existed? How will you handle a journalist who is screaming into your ears demanding explainations or the community who is upset as it is direclty affected by the crisis?

As a public realtions practitioner will you be transparent or transluscent?

Are creating controversies on TV becoming yet another frequenlty used tool of Public Relations?

2010-07-08T23:15:00.001+05:30

Controversy is defined as a disagreement or argument about something important.This element of difference of opinion creates an interest in the issue or the people concerened in it interesting.(Berneys, 1955) defined the function of public relations as using information, persuasion and adjustment to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution.

So if one of the roles is using all kinds of information to simply gather support and influence the publics then creating news to 'create' controversy cannot be ruled out.If this brings attention to the object of interest!

Are public relations practitioners taking advantage of controversies or 'creating' controversies is debatable. (This subject is analysed keeping in mind the medium of televison) But whatever the case the client gets all the publicity.How interested are the viewers in really analysing the news? Do they really have the time or interest to find out the real issue.Guess not as researchers have pointed out.Berneys (1923) and Dahl (1963) argue that public is guided not only by thought but by emotion and sentiments; this is in case of television as there is more drama, emotions and sentiments portrayed. He also says that people are occupied with families, hobbies and social commitments that they have less time left to inform themselves with issues, so only issues which affect their daliy decsions catches attention.Others simply pass by.So why not show something in these serials and news capsules that which the viewer really needs?

So is it that controversies merely then become short term attention seekers and later the audience forgets about them? Can we then say that controversies may catch attention for a short time but if it is not directly affecting a viewer in any manner he will surely forget it?

This article 'A good controversy leads to good news' says Neeraj Sanan, Vice President, Marketing, Star News surely made me think that should public relations use this tool to catch attention of the viewers in this case televsion serials and news or should the focus be shifted to more content based programmes and news capsules which will anyways draw the attention of the viewer.

How much are controveries needed to 'sell ' programmes and news capsules? This is taking us to a very important area why dont we frequenlty ask the viewers what do they really to like to watch on TV? A need of the hour is an audience survey...are we ready for it?

What is are your views?

Role of Agenda Building in Public Relations

2010-06-20T20:28:00.007+05:30

The term Agenda Building as explained by Cobb & Elder, 1971, 1972,1983,Cobb, Ross & Ross, 1976) is that it examines public participation in such a way that various kinds of publics in a population become aware and participate in political conflicts.(Cobb et al., 1976, pg 126) further add that it is a process by which voice of many in the population can catch attention of the public officials. This may be done to accomplish some serious policy change.

The term agenda can be explained as “ a general set of political controversies that will be views as falling within the range of political concerns meriting concerns of the polity.” (Cobb & Elder, 1971, pg 905).There are two types of agenda clearly specified: public and formal. The public agenda consists of “a) subjects of widespread attention and awareness b) perceived of requiring action and c) appropriate concern of some governmental unit.”

The formal agenda refers to the set of issues that decision makers have already formally considered for serious consideration. So any issue that is raised from a governmental body will be a part of the formal agenda.

Johnson et al., 1996 give an interesting insight where budding public relations professionals can take a cue from. They say “it is a collective and reciprocal process where the press, public and public officials influence one another and are at the same time influenced by one another.” They came up with a four-stage model for agenda building "1) real-world conditions starts off the agenda building process; 2) news media increases coverage of the issue; 3) the public picks up signs from real-world conditions and media coverage; and finally 4) the opinion leader reacts upon public concern". Take all examples that we have seen in the recent past such as the emergence of the swine flu, bird flu etc. If you look at these issues they have all had a similar pattern. The way they started and were later on ‘treated’ by all the parties concerned .It explains how any issue that which is of public concern is usually handled. Here we have to keep in mind that events though begin with being news events may turn out to be pseudo news events as explained in my earlier blogs.

Would you like to contribute to the above?

References:-

Handbook of public relations

By Robert Lawrence Heath, Gabriel M. Vasquez

Public relations theory II

By Carl H. Botan, Vincent Hazleton

Research paper “International Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting: Exploring the Influence of Public Relations Counsel on News Media and Public Perceptions of Foreign Nations” A Manuscript submitted to the Public Relations Division for the annual International

Communication Association conference in New York, NY, to be held on May 26-30, 2005

What Makes News?: A Public Relations Perspective

2010-05-30T00:21:00.006+05:30

We in our department are in this good habit of discussing and probing on issues which bother us in our profession of journalism and public relations. One such issue which came up again in the discussion was the one on Pseudo Events.Is the definition of Pseudo Events as described by Daniel Boorstein as that which "exists for the sole purpose of the media publicity and serves little to no other function in real life. Without the media, nothing meaningful actually occurs at the event, so pseudo-events are considered “real” only after they are viewed through news, advertisement, television or other types of media." hold true to defining all news emerging from press conferences as pseudo events as press conferences are called as pseudo events?

Mr.Sanjay Ranade, Reader at our department had opined that Daniel Boorstein has defined this concept from a historian's point of view.All news cannot be pseudo events, as all news cannot be 'created' for the media.There will always be news which needs to be given to the media as there is no other way the media could get the news.So this brought us to yet another hypothesis that "all press conferences are not pseudo events." Supporting this view is W. Lance Bennett who categorizes news like this:

1)Fully Controlled (released news, pseudo-event)

2)Partially Controlled (press conference, etc.)

3) Uncontrolled (ex. Watergate, Daniel Ellsberg, Iraq prisoner abuse photos)

If you notice Bennett does not classify all news as pseudo events.Nor does he say that all press conferences are pseudo events, and he puts it under the category of being partially controlled.

So If you connect this with agenda building in public relations I will say that agenda building of public relations stems from this very thought that only when information is scarce will journalists turn to public relations for information as they are confirmed sources of official information about the company. As rightly put by Carl Botan and Vincent Hazleton in their Book Public Relations Theory II "The greater the information scarcity the better the chances that sources that control the information can influence the media agenda." So this may not always be 'created' information but genuine information to be given for dissemination. The entire process of agenda building if you closely watch is a a very dynamic process of making news.The news here may not be always 'created' here even though it is being made.

More on Agenda building in the next note...

Let me know your thoughts.

Post Postivism and Research approach in Public Relations

2010-05-14T16:41:00.002+05:30

This topic got me thinking when somebody said that research does not always work.There is a theoretical approach to the whole thinking process of choosing the right way to do research.

Generally research is confused with being statistical and every answer asked in a research question can only exist if proven scientifically based on a certain perspective."Positivism is an epistemological perspective and philosophy of science which holds that the only authentic knowledge is that which is based on sense experience and positive verification." source: Wikipedia

Post-Positivism begs to differ."In philosophy and models of scientific inquiry, post-positivism (also called postempiricism) is a metatheoretical stance following positivism. Post-positivists believe that human knowledge is based not on unchallengeable, rock-solid foundations, but rather upon human conjectures."source: Wikipedia

When we look up both the definitions we understand that Post positivism approach if applied to research in areas like Marketing, Public Relations and Advertising will probably give more space to understand people and their issues than simply looking at them as statistical samples.

Solutions in such cases in research can be obtained far better than other otherwise, other than simply discarding research as a subject that does not deliver.

Also read more on this on http://www.socialresearchmethods.net/ and material written on the same by Zina O'leary.

Pseudo events and Truth Events

2010-04-08T13:37:00.007+05:30

We have our department group online where discussions regarding our subjects are often done.Recently a discussion started on what are pseudo events and those events which are not pseudo events, what should they be termed? We all know that pseudo events are those events that are created with the exclusive intention of getting media coverage, or rather that events are staged in such a way that lends itself to media coverage; this is as explained by Boorstin (1961).

So what are the events which are not pseudo events? An explanation on the same is given by Alain Badiou. He calls them truth events.He says "Truth is first of all something new. What transmits, what repeats, we shall call knowledge. Distinguishing truth from knowledge is essential… For the process of truth to begin, something must happen. Knowledge as such only gives us repetition, it is concerned only with what already is. For truth to affirm its newness, there must be a supplement. This supplement is committed to chance—it is unpredictable, incalculable, it is beyond what it is. I call it an event. A truth appears in its newness because an eventful supplement interrupts repetition. Examples: The appearance, with Aeschylus, of theatrical tragedy. The eruption, with Galileo, of mathematical physics. An amorous encounter which changes a whole life. Or the French revolution of 1792. An event is linked to the notion of the undecidable. Take the sentence 'This event belongs to the situation.' If you can, using the rules of established knowledge, decide that this sentence is true or false, the event will not be an event. It will be calculable within the situation. Nothing permits us to say 'Here begins the truth.' A wager will have to be made."

"What the Truth-Event renders visible is the one excessive element which is a part of the situation being submitted to the Truth-Process, but not counted within the positive structure of Being. By rendering this excessive element visible (whatever it may be), the preceding positive ontological order must radically change. And it is this formal relation between the Event and the Truth of the situation it articulates/renders visible, which allows us to distinguish between a genuine Event and its mere semblance. To elaborate by example, Zizek explains: “Nazism was a pseudo-Event and the October Revolution was an authentic Event, because only the latter related to the very foundations of the Situation of capitalist order, effectively undermining those foundations, in contrast to Nazism, which staged a pseudo-Event precisely in order to save the capitalist order.” This is as explained by Slavoj Zizek.

This could be an insight to all public relations practitioners, students and teachers.Any further insight?

Sources:
Alain Badiou, “On The Truth-Process”, Open Lecture at the European Graduate School, August 2002.
Slavoj Zizek, The Ticklish Subject, Verso, London and New York, 1999, p. 138.

The voice of the internet: Are Indian Environmental NGOs exploiting their websites as a Public Relations tool?

2010-03-15T21:39:00.007+05:30

I had recently conducted a study of websites of environmental NGOs based in India to see how they are being used as a Public Relations tool.

This paper was presented at the:-

XXXIII Indian Social Science Congress, March 10-14, 2010 at Hyderabad.

Abstract

The media generally determine which issues will be discussed by people, by placing those issues in a specific manner, the process being called agenda setting. On the contrary media becomes the audience when agenda building is done by public relations. Here public relations practitioners provide editors with newsworthy materials or ideas through many media, one of them being the internet. The websites of organisations become conduits of information to communicate these ideas, thoughts and objectives of these organisations. This study examines websites belonging to environmental non-profit organisations based in India and seeks to find out if this medium, which is a public relations tool, is being aptly used by these non-governmental organisations. The method to analyse the study would be quantitative content analysis.

Synopsis of the conclusion:-

It was found that the public relations practitioner of the NGOs has to use the website more effectively to the benefit of the organisation and spell out its agenda clearly.

The gender debate in public relations

2010-03-14T13:06:00.004+05:30

A discussion on one of the subjects in public relations, was thrown open on a PR forum I m attached to, that "Despite the abundance of women in the PR profession why dont we see them in positions higher up?"As an academician I can give a preview on some researched data from all over the world as put forth by Larissa Grunig, Mary Ann Fergusan, Linda Childers Hon, Elizabeth L. Toth,K.Sriramesh in their work on this subject.

They have commented using the work of many other researchers in this subject. Lauzen (1990a)explains that there many variables such as gender of the practitioner, years of experience, practitioner competencies, and role that would be a deciding factor for non-public relations professional to manage the public relations function.She terms it "professional encroachment". Lauzen who based her studies on Broom's findings proposes that though women may want to advance in management positions, they may encounter roadblocks by organisations who fill these positions with others who seem more suitable for these posts. Thus they hit the very notorious glass ceiling!

Levine (1990) says that though men may have higher levels of aggressiveness that does not make them more suitable for management and leadership positions. Male traits are more congruent with high-level posts because most organizations have been and continue to be ruled by men ( "A Double Edge,"1990).

Further research shows that both women and men desire to reach top positions in public relations ( Creedon, 1989; DeRosa & Wilcox, 1989) but biological differences like differences in levels of aggressiveness sometimes are coupled with differential socialization for women and men can become impediments. It has been found that women display lower levels of job involvement, or the degree to which one's work is considered an important part of one's life ( Lodahl & Kejner, 1965; Reitz & Jewell, 1979; Ruh, White, & Wood, 1975).

Another point here is risk taking. Some women may avoid jeopardizing their security (Slovik, 1966). The precursor to this risk avoidance is an "ambivalence many women feel regarding their careers" ( Cline et al., 1986, pp. 1-7). Some women do not view themselves as primary wage earners but see work as a "temporary haven before marriage" ( Simpson & Simpson, 1969, pp. 196-197). They thus stay clear of the inherently risky task-oriented rewards of "challenge" and "responsibility". This does not go without being crticised. For example, Ryan (quoted in Lukovitz, 1989) argued: "Contending that women aspire to be technicians is horrendously akin to blaming the victim. All the women I know perceive themselves as far transcending the roles they are obliged to occupy" (p. 20 ). For her, women's lower status in public relations is not of their own doing. Instead, women's subjugation is a result of the "corporate, male-dominated world that continues not to pay or promote women as it does men" (p. 20 ).

Broom and Dozier ( 1986) provided evidence, however, that women face more difficulty advancing from the technician role than men with similar years of experience. A technician is somebody who --writes, edits, designs visual messages, and works with the media. Emphasis is on communication and journalistic skills whereas an expert prescriber is viewed by top management of the client or organization for which she or he works as an authority on public relations problems and their solutions. Such a practitioner defines and researches problems, develops programs, and takes major responsibility for implementation.

It is a strange irony. The tendencies of some women are stereotyped as attributes of all women. This, in turn, results in many women being sent the role expectations of technicians. Their routine tasks reinforce any such propensities of low involvement. This is reinforced further by the clearly perceived lower status and pay of technicians.

Another obstacle faced by women has to do with greater difficulty in creating a persona, or public image, that is congruent with that of high power positions ( Conrad, 1985). Because this persona was defined by men and continues to be enacted for the most part by men, it reflects male values -- values that often differ from women's. And, if others in the organization perceive women to be lacking in the traditional characteristics that suggest power, then they are. On this point, Kasten ( 1986) noted: "Power is a funny thing -- it's primarily a matter of perception. If you have power but I don't think so, then you don't really have it. If you don't really have power but I think you do, then you do" (p. 132 ). As Moore ( 1986) reported, women perceive a more progressive climate in organizations that already employ a reasonable number of women.

Women's lack of organizational power also may have its roots from the fact; shortage of support from home and society in general. Family concerns may hinder some women because women continue to do more than their share of home maintenance activities in addition to pursuing careers ( Heins, Smock, Jacobs, & Stein, 1976; Hochschild, 1989). And, as Kahn-Hut, Daniels, and Coward ( 1982) pointed out, "Professional ideologies depict work as 'a calling' that requires round-the-clock devotion to work. This devotion is a primary allegiance that conflicts with the cultural mandate of women's primary responsibility to family" (p. 38 ).

Sriramesh (1992) said that initially women worked in the service sector such as the travel and tourism because of the glamour stereotype. Infact in books written then by male practitioners, the PRO is referred to as the PR man! But now things have changed and more women are entering this profession many are slowly moving to management positions.

We have come a long way from the data that is cited here, but the glass ceiling still exists for women even today.So what according to you has not changed?

Building Trust through Social Media Communication

2010-03-10T00:05:00.012+05:30

It has been quite a challenge preparing for social media communication for my public relations lectures with my students.The reason being that these are some channels the students are already using it as they perceive, learn from others using it and experiment with it as they go along.So essentially there is no formal training in the use of the same.But there is a science behind why we use social media the way we do and how we can better the use.The trust that we form so easily on a basis of texts being transmitted is something to be understood so that use of social media will improve.

Greg Ferenstein in his post on mashable.com, the site on social media on the web elaborately explains the science behind building trust in social media communication.He takes the studies by Professor Judy Olson into account on how people perceive, her findings based on a pillar of psychological research, she says that people often pass judgement with or without any good information.When we make a mistake the blame is on everything but ourselves, but when somebody else goes wrong the person is to be blamed.

The above lead to an important finding that responsiveness is the key for digital communication.On the digital arena, there is only text available to establish credibility as body language and voice intonation are absent.Speed is also an important factor.The faster you reply to a text message the better it is as it might be considered unhelpful on your part if you don't do so, and some other adjectives might be added to your personality! So in the words of the author "Psychologically speaking, responsiveness makes it easier for others to attribute our misdeeds to the situation, rather than our personality".The details can always be plugged in later but immediate response is always appreciated.

Another vital point made here is that no communication is better than video, audio and then chat, in that order.Simply exemplifies the fact that face to face conversation is the best! Thus the hierarchy will always remain as will always be humans...so to say.Thus where it is possible use video instead of text or audio where video is not possible and text where both are not possible.As when we converse face to face we read a person in totality.

Like all forms of communication this is also a form of communication which will improve if looked at scientifically and not only as a medium to have fun on. Social media is growing as a tool for professional and promotional communication and things may soon change.With mobile phones with the internet on our fingertips in days ahead, we better master the art of this medium as it is growing much faster than we realise.

More on the way....till then happy digital communication!

The Fear Factor

2010-02-19T18:10:00.003+05:30

Aristotle defined pathos as arguments that are based on emotions-on arousing feelings such as fear, guilt, anger, humour or compassion.Public Relations practitioners can use these appeals to induce buying a product, support a cause or take important decisions pertaining to health.

Lately we saw public service announcements like the one on creating awareness on cervical cancer and the latest one on the TB-HIV connection, on television. They are using the appeal of fear, especially the one on HIV-TB. It persuades to get oneself checked for HIV in case suffering from TB.

It is said that fear is a vital appeal to evoke the desired response, here getting yourself tested for any abnormality in health at a local government health centre.

Health promotion campaigns are typically designed to elicit fear, yet the use of fear is often ineffective in achieving the desired behavior change says R F Soames of Job Psychology Department, University of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia.In the abstract of his paper 'Effective and ineffective use of fear in health promotion campaigns' he adds "Campaigns which attempt to use fear as part of a punishment procedure are unlikely to succeed. Consistent with established principles of learning, fear is most likely to be effective if the campaign allows for the desired behavior to be reinforced by a reduction in the level of fear. This entails five requirements: 1) fear onset should occur before the desired behavior is offered; 2) the event upon which the fear is based should appear to be likely; 3) a specific desired behavior should be offered as part of the campaign; 4) the level of fear elicited should only be such that the desired behavior offered is sufficient to substantially reduce the fear; 5) fear offset should occur as a reinforcer for the desired behavior, confirming its effectiveness. Under some circumstances it may be difficult to ensure that these requirements are met. In general, a positive reinforcement approach may prove to be more effective than the use of fear."

Information, knowledge and Fear can be three ways to structure campaigns.In our country fear works best when it comes to doing health campaigns.The results are that people straight run to the nearest health centre for tests. What is your opinion?

The Time Of Multiple Media

2010-02-15T15:33:00.003+05:30

Henry Jenkins, Professor of Communication, Journalism, and Cinematic Arts at the University of Southern California says something very interesting.He says that both the old and the new media are there to stay.In his words "students clearly need both and more importantly, they need to understand the relationship between the two. They need to understand the different structures through which traditional encyclopedias and Wikipedia produce and evaluate information, for example. They need to be able to read charts, maps, and graphs, but also to be able to produce and interpret information through simulations. They need to be able to express themselves orally, with pens and paper, and with video cameras and digital editing equipment."

So this debate whether new media will kill the old media takes a different dimension.It is true media evolves and new mediums are formed but the older media doesn't die. For e.g. newspapers change the way they are packaged to suit the new trends in emerging new media but may not be dying.

For public relations students this is a learning that the number of media through which they communicate is increasing and they will have to manage yet another set of emerging media.

I m currently researching whether this dependence on the old media decrease with the rising new media? Will the rate at which media relations is conducted in India take a backseat considering the fact we are now having alternative medium such as the the internet? Of course all this keeping in mind infrastructural development in our country.

what do you think?

Public Relations and Corporate Websites: A Study of the top 30 Bombay Stock Exchange Companies

2010-01-23T19:39:00.002+05:30

I recently did a study on the top 30 BSE companies listed to find out how public relations is being practiced on their websites.The paper was presented to

Emerging Trends in Media :

The Rise of Digital Culture and its impact on Information Society

Organised by the Centre for Electronic Media, Pondicherry University,

Puducherry 605014, India (Jan 21-22, 2010)

Abstract

James Grunig has explained that the two-way symmetrical model of organizational public relations which depends on an honest and open two-way communication and a give-and-take is usually reciprocal, rather than a one-way persuasion, which should be the driving force, for all public relations practices. Cooley and others highlight the strength of the internet’s interactive capabilities to transform public relations practice by enabling symmetric relations with publics. Kent and Taylor highlighted the importance of this concept in their five criteria for a dialogic web site. This study examines these parameters and their applicability in the top BSE 30 Indian corporation websites. The personal influence model of public relations is one where public relations practitioners try to establish personal relationships, friendships, if possible with key individuals in the media, government or political and activist groups. This model is essentially an asymmetrical model and it holds true for the way public relations is practiced in India as further explained by Krishnamurthy Sriramesh. This paper argues that the websites of Indian corporations do not follow a similar trend for practicing public relations through the web but are slowly shifting to the two-way symmetrical model which is being reflected in the way they communicate through their websites.

What is USP in Public Relations?

2010-01-10T22:58:00.012+05:30

I must say my students keep me on my toes, and it is one of them again who has prompted me to write about this subject of USP or Unique Selling Proposition.

The term "USP" originated in the 1950s and was initially referred to in advertising, namely what the advertising proposition to the customer should be: "When you buy this, you'll receive a specified benefit." The proposition must be unique, something that competitors don't offer or promote, and so intriguing that it encourages individuals to act. But now this word "USP" has been modified and one can find its use in areas other than advertising.

How Do You Find Your USP?

There are three important questions that will help you get the answers:-

1. What benefit is unique to what you offer?

2. Who is the target market that is most interested in this benefit?

3. What USP is already used by major competitors for this target market?

source: http://www.evancarmichael.com

I guess the above questions help one dig more deeper into the study of any project to be undertaken and can help us find more on the issues to be promoted for.E.g. this could be applied to an NGO, a political party or even an invidual who you plan to prepare a media, or non-media plan for.

So for example if your client is an NGO, you will have to find out how your NGO stands out amongst the many NGOs who are crusading for similar issues.The most important part is ofcourse your target publics, this has to be amply clear in your mind before you write a plan or chalk out a budget for the communication plan.

Last but not the least the competitors, one must never forget them, you need to be constantly reading about what other organisations in your field are doing, as you never work in isolation.

Once this is clear you can use the innumerable tools of public relations to create a communication plan which will implement the objectives keeping in mind the USP.Oh yes lets not ever forget the social media tools on our web.

Public Relations and Pseudo Events

2009-12-13T22:21:00.008+05:30

Daniel Boorstin came up with the term called pseudo events. The historian Daniel J. Boorstin came up with the term "pseudo-event" in his work "The Image", first published in 1961. A pseudo-event, Boorstin wrote, is "not spontaneous ... but planned, planted, or incited"--an event whose "occurrence is arranged for the convenience of the reporting or reproducing media," and whose "relation to the underlying reality of the situation is ambiguous." source : questia.com

In an example which illustrates what Boorstin meant :

"The owners of a hotel, in an illustration offered by Edward L. Bernays in his pioneer Crystallizing Public Opinion[1923], consult a public relations counsel. They ask how to increase their hotel's prestige and so improve their business.

"In less sophisticated times, the answer might have been to hire a new chef, to improve the plumbing, to paint the rooms, or to install a new crystal chandelier in the lobby.

"The public relations counsel's technique is more indirect. He proposes that the management stage a celebration of the hotel's thirtieth anniversary. A committee is formed, including a prominent banker, a leading society matron, a well-known lawyer, an influential preacher, and aneventis planned [say a banquet] to call attention to the distinguished service the hotel has been rendering the community. The celebration is held, photographs are taken, the occasion is widely reported, and the object is accomplished."

To this Boorstin explains as he thinks it is a pseudo event. He says,

"Now this occasion is a pseudo-event, and will illustrate all the essential features of pseudo-events.

"This celebration, we can see at the outset, is somewhat -- but not entirely -- misleading. Presumably the public relations counsel would not have been able to form his committee of prominent citizens if the hotel had not actually been rendering service to the community. On the other hand, if the hotel's services had been all that important, instigation by public relations counsel might not have been necessary.

"Once the celebration has been held, the celebration itself becomes evidence that the hotel really is a distinguished institution. The occasion actually gives the hotel the prestige to which it is pretending.

"It is obvious, too, that the value of such a celebration to the owners depends on its being photographed and reported in newspapers, magazines, newsreels, on radio, and over television. It is the report that gives the event its force in the minds of potential customers."

source: http://www.nku.edu/~turney/prclass/readings/events.html

Press conferences are a common example of pseudo-events.Pseudo-events are staged to attract media attention.The media is informed well in time so they can prepare for reporting on it. "Spontaneous (or “genuine”) events are never, or hardly ever, influenced by the mass media." It is important to note here that though such events may not be influenced by media they could have news value and be vital for the media to report .

source:http://www.blackwellreference.com/public/tocnode?id=g9781405131995_chunk_g978140513199518_ss36-1

Are we so media dependant that pseudo events seem to be the only way to get attention? what about non-media activities? Can these be added a little more as part of strategic communication, both by corporations and NGOs alike, so that public relations is looked at a little differently? what do you think?

The Personal Influence Model of Public Relations

2009-10-27T21:21:00.012+05:30

Every country has its own style of practicing public relations.We practice public relations in India using the personal influence model of public relations (Grunig et al., 1995, Huang, 2000, Jo and Kim, 2004, Park, 2002, Rhee, 2002, Sriramesh,1992).

Researchers found that in this model public relations practitioners try to establish personal relationships, friendships, if posiible with key individuals in the media, government or political and activist groups.These relationships with key people were known as contacts from whom favours could be taken.There are other countries like ours where this model is also applicable and they are Greece, and Taiwan.

Sriramesh (1991) idientified a technique which led to the further development of the personal influence model, it was called hospitality relations.The main idea behind hospitality relations was to build a strong bond with journalists or other individuals which could later help in important decision making situations.Huang (1990) also termed personal influence model of public relations as carrot public relations.

In many countries the practice of this model can be considered unethical.This is essentially an asymmetrical model and its asymmetrical practice can be successful in in meeting the goals of an institution, especially in a society that is bound by rigid cultures and authoritarian political systems.Thus an important point that emerges here is that effect of a country or society's culture influences the way they work.

In Media relations, which is a vital function of public relations, practitioners use contacts to get journalists to write stories about the institutions represented by them.According to (Sriramesh, 1991 , p. 191), a public relations practitioner working in India said that 60% of the reason a news release gets published is because it has its roots in personal influence and only 40% has news value.

Media relations practiced according to the personal influence model, resembles the press agentry model as proposed by Grunig. A point to be noted here is that the press agentry model usually uses set of methods such as staged events, puffery, or photo opportunities to grab attention, whereas the personal influence model focuses on personal relationships with journalists.

Read more on this in (Models of Public Relations in an International Setting by James E. Grunig and Larissa A. Grunig, K. Sriramesh,Yi-Hui Huan,Anastasia Lyra)

Why study theory in public relations?

2009-10-02T18:48:00.017+05:30

Is studying theory important in public relations? I say it is as crucial as a doctor or an engineer studying theories in their courses.Studying public relations theories help in constructing a base to "think" as public relations professionals later.Your first job could be to either to be part of a public relations agency as an executive or maybe even a part of a team to start a corporate communications department in an organisation which doesnt have one! How and where do you begin? There are times when theories are being applied without having the knowledge that it is being applied.Let there be awareness that it is being applied and the point where it is facing its limitations.

To know the nuances of this profession one needs to know theories that help one understand the reasons why an organsiation needs public relations in the first place.As rightly put by noted public relations theorist James E. Grunig in his article "Teaching Public Relations Theory" he explains why one needs to understand theories at various stages in the process of public relations.They are the ones as mentioned below:-

Why Organizations Need Public Relations?
Strategic Management of Public Relations
Public Relations Roles
Models of Public Relations
The Stakeholder Stage
Publics stage
The Issues stage
The Program stage

There are theories at each stage that has been mentioned above as they serve as guides to novices as well as professionals working in this field.As Grunig aptly says "If I can get students to understand theory, I believe firmly, I will have done my part to move public relations from a craft to a profession." His works can be read on sites such as www.questia.com,www.prsa.org, to name a few.

Systems Theory and Public Relations

2009-09-21T17:06:00.012+05:30

I guess its been long since i have blogged here, but there was no subject bugging me enough to write.I was preparing to take a lecture with my post graduate students on the subject of systems theory when i bumped into this very interesting paper by Broom on this subject (link at the end).

Public relations that we have understood so far acts as a very important buffer between an organisation and its publics, which is correctly explained by the concept of systems theory by Miller (1978).He explained that no organization has a simple, measurable goal but can be evaluated on the bases of systems characteristics such as growth, equilibrium, or decline.

Yuchtman and Seashore (1967) futher addded that organisations could be evaluated by their ability to get crucial inputs and process them in such a way that they were able to maintain their stability within the market environment.

Thus here comes the link betwen systems theory and public relations.Public relations is that part of the system or or organisation that helps in gathering, assimilating, interpretating and disseminating intelligence about the organisation as explained by Broom (1986).

Public Relations departments or Corporate Communication departments are not isolated entities but a subsystem or boundray spanners of an organisation.They can be barometers in predicting any change in the environment in which the organisation works.Here the importance of public relations as a managment function (discussed in previous postings) is also exemplified.

To read more on this concept go to this link:-
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICDocs/data/ericdocs2sql/content_storage_01/0000019b/80/2f/7d/80.pdf

Public Relations or Publicity?

2009-08-06T19:19:00.016+05:30

The word 'public' in public relations has been defined by Hallahan (1999) as a group of people who relate to an organisation and show different intensities of activity or passivity and who may or may not interact with others with respect to their relationship.Infact Grunig and Hunt(1984) and Center and Broom (2000) say that members of a public have something in common,they are affected by the same issue or problem and behave similarly towards a problem. Marianne Kugler (2004) explains that public relations is about relations and relations is about forming networks which can be created, used or reinforced in many ways.

Public Relations when it was in its roots, was actually understood to be publicity.As (Cutlip, 1994, p. 11) also said that public relations initially was publicity ( Wilcox, 1992, p. 41) where he notes what an early practitioner had to say: "I was in the publicity business. I was a press agent. Very simply, my job was to get the client's name in the paper". (So understandibly why they were considered synonyms!)

It was only much later that Edward Bernays and others found out that public relations was about maintaining a balance of interests of an organisation and its publics.Now we know without any doubts that publicity is a communication function and it also means placing any kind of information in a news medium but public relations is a management function, as also explained by Newsom, Turk and Krukeberg in their book The Realities of Public Relations.

If we look at public relations in India, we are still in many ways practicing being press agents in the PR profession. Arent we?

The Public Relations we see today...

2009-07-19T20:08:00.010+05:30

The Public Relations scenario we see today is a result of many changes in the economic conditions in the country in the 1970s and later in the 1990's.In 1970s the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi endorsed public relations as a vital function in management.This gave a major boost to this profession and changed it's status to a better one than before.As we all know the 1990s brought about some important changes in the economic policies in India.Our closed socialist thinking was forced to come in contact with the forces of liberalisation and globalisation.India was soon to become a mecca for multinationals coming and doing business here as never before and soon Indian businesses also moving abroad for greener pastures.

Public Relations as a profession became very crucial to companies as they started regarding it as a key managment function.The negative image of a PRO being 'fixers' reduced but still had its traces, especially in the public sector.The public relations manager became part of strategic decision makings of a company.The job of public relations officers moved to becoming image makers than mere guest relations officers.Though ofcourse there was not much formal education in public relations in the 1990s still the importance of a PR professional having command on his/her communication skills and writing skills became a top priority.Many PR agencies sprung up which were keen on offering public relations services to companies.

The change in the economic scenario and acceptance of this profession in the social and political and business scenario helped this profession grow as we see today.The media too started taking the public relations practitioners a little more seriously.When it comes to communicating crisis or any other important company announcement, the media knows they can approach a PR professional attached to the company.

Though ofcourse even today we see that advertising is given a little more importance than public relations when it comes to making budgets avaliable for each of these functions by companies, but slowly this scenario will change as more and more public relations professionals enter this profession with adequate training and formal education, which is now avaliable. They will make their clients realise the importance of this profession and its slow yet promising positive effect on images of not only companies but governments, politicians and celebrities.The last 10 years have seen reform in the education sector with respect to this profession and there is growth in diplomas, undergraduate degrees and post-graduate degree programs in India which offers formal education to candidates keen on pursuing this profession.

We are at a very nascent stage when it comes to doing public relations in India.We have to go a long way combining professional expertise and a sound academic background which will help us offer public relations services better.

What do you think?

The Growth of Public Relations in India

2009-07-05T18:32:00.003+05:30

The growth of public relations in India can actually be seen at different stages.During the first World War (1914-1918), British government in India set up a Central Publicity Board. This was the first organised PR/Information set-up of the Government of India. It was later called the Central Bureau of Information, which later changed to the Bureau of Public Information, and functioned as a link between the Government and the Press.The government had started realising that a set up was needed to know what the media thought and wrote about them. Soon after Independence (1947), the government of India set up a full-fledged Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

A systematic and organised practise of public relations began with the Indian railways much before we attained independance.The Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) Railways as it was known then, for example, carried on a campaign in England in the 20s to attract tourists to India.The importance of public relations was known to the British and they made well use of it.

It was not only the government but slowly the private sector in India also woke up to the need of public relations. Tata’s set up their Public Relations Department in Mumbai in 1943.There were other companies too such as Dunlop,Unilever and others which did many public outreach activities.Infact the Tatas also came with a course on public relations in 1958.All this explaining the rising value of this profession.

But majorly the profession has seen traces of the public sector on it as it grew.There is a strong reason behind this.When India gained her independance in 1947, the pro-socialist leaders then had a vision of a economically and socially strong India. One of the means was setting up of Public Sector Undertakings(PSUs) in various sectors, among many other things.Most of the early Public Relations practitioners started off their careers in these companies belonging to sectors such as oil, gas, steel, transportation, banking and insurance.

You may want to know why public relations in a PSU was considered important to begin with.The reason is that a PSU is accountable to the people as they are funded by tax payers. The goverment holds majority shares in the undertaking and its profits are used for various development projects for the nation.As these units were accountable to the people, a public relations department in the company was a must who could communicate on behalf of the company with the media and its audiences.

It was a total different picture when it came to the private sector.They were under no pressure to be accountable to the publics as no competition troubled them and the protectionist era in which India post independance, kept them much to themselves.Profit was considered a dirty word and thus revealing it was out of question.As also they faced no competition there was no need to build any rapport with publics. This was India post independance and much the same in the 60's to almost the 70's.

If you were a public relations officer in that time these were your job responsibilties (without any professional training). You were mainly a 'fixer' who could achieve any objectives beneficial for the company through wining and dining.You were moslty a retired bureaucrat or an old family retainer managing company communications. You would be in charge of guest relations and of course publicity through press releases.Many ex-journalists were also the public relations officers of that time. A trend seen even today.Hospitality relations (which is how the personal influence model of public relations is used and will be discussed later) and producing house journals was also part of your other responsibilities.Public relations activities were not based on research or were part of any strategic decision.

In the 1980s, there were small time firms offereing PR services to companies.Advertising agnecies started offering public relations activities free as part of their advertising services to their clients.Some of the well-known pioneering PR agencies of that time were those who had independent operations or had entered into affiliations with international public relations agencies such as Hill & Knowlton (Indian Public Affairs Network, New Delhi) and Burson-Marstellar Roger Pereira Communications Private Limited (Mumbai).

Initially in the 1970s and much later in the 1990s a much awaited change took place ,which gave a major boost to the profession of PR. (to be continued...)

"It is about reputation"

2009-06-17T23:07:00.004+05:30

Public Relations as a concept is as old as civilisation. According to Edward Berneys who is the nephew of Sigman Freud, and considered one of the founders of PR as a profession or when public relations consultantancy emerged, had something very interesting to say about the evolution of this profession.He said there are three essential elements that make up this job: informing people,persuading people and bringing people together.

Public Relations is an image building tool which is widely used by companies, corporations and individuals alike.It is considered as a managment function which tries to establish mutually benefical relationships between its organisation and its publics.

As the Institute of Public Relations rightly puts it "it is about reputation".The result of what you do; what you say and what others say about you. How true! In a nutshell these few lines tell us the core of what this profession is all about.

Before we get into the history of PR we must understand that just like any other profession this one too has been affected by several factors such as political, social, cultural and economical, which eventually shaped it.

Throughout history, spread across the world we see this profession shaping up, changing and adapting itself with the changing trends across the world.

Pimlott (1955) and others said that the trend of public relations originated in the U.S. The origin of public relations as a profession was in the media & publicists who specialized in promoting circuses, theatrical performances, and other public spectacles (We must thank the journalists for the evolution of this profession!).
The First World War also helped stimulate the development of public relations as a profession. Ivy Ledbetter Lee, a former Wall street journal reporter, Edward Bernays and Carl Byoir were some of the well-known PR consultants at that time. Other countries have only replicated the public relations as practiced in the US. In Europe, public relations as a profession got a boost post world war II. Institute of Public Relations (IPR)and the Public Relations Society of America, PRSA were premier institues started in the late 40s for the advancement of public relations professionals and the profession itself.

Thus, Public Relations as a profession developed around the world due to many factors. In India too Public Relations saw its own origin. Public relations in India is 2000 years old. It has evolved since the days of Emperor Asoka, around 320 B.C. where he used rock tablets as a tool to communicate with the public. Modern public relations was born during the struggle for freedom, in the reign of the British where a number of newspapers at that time were virtually their mouthpieces. The history of Public Relations is as vast as it is fascinating. The story continues...

The Journey Begins...

2009-06-16T20:30:00.000+05:30

A lot has been written about Public Relations.There are many websites and blogs which endlessly write about the goodness of this profession and there are sites which warn you against its unecessary charms.My blog modestly attempts to bring forth the theories of this profession which makes this profesion the way it is.

Infact what Culbertson, Jeffers, Stone, and Terrell (1993) said has encouraged me to begin writing this blog on the importance of theories in the PR profession.They said that it is because marketing experts depend on theoretical concepts, they have seen much success in being able to target market segments and in positioning products or organizations. Many PR practioners on the other hand though appreciate theory for academic reasons but see little use for it outside the classroom. But the authors sound hopeful when they conclude that seeing the success of marketing people, the PR fraternity will change their minds and adopt theoretical approaches.

I firmly believe in the fact, that to know something in its present you must know its past.History plays a very important role in defining its origin and the theories develop and shape it.

This blog will dig deeper into this profession and construct it bit by bit to see how it is in India and around the world.

Hope you will enjoy this enthralling journey with me and revel in it the way i do...