Journalists’ assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences: Exploring the situation in Spain

The aim of this article is to offer journalists’ assessment of their relationships with public relations professionals in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia (Spain). We analyzed quantitative interviews (questionnaires) and in-depth interviews conducted with 68 Catalan journalists regarding their relationship with public relations practitioners and investigated their assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences. An explanatory view is offered.     

Maximizing public relations with the organization–public relationship scale: Measuring a public's perception of an art museum

This study employed the organization–public relationship scale to measure member perceptions of an art museum. Analysis shows member perceptions of the museum–public relationship differentiated members likely to continue their membership from those likely to discontinue their membership with the museum. This study confirms the appropriateness of using the organization–public relationship scale with museums.     

PR in the ER: Managing internal organization–public relationships in a hospital emergency department

Focusing on a university-affiliated emergency department, this case study investigates the antecedents and outcomes of internal organization–public relationships as well as the cultivation strategies used to manage internal organization–public relationships (OPRs). The case study includes interviews with members of the emergency department's (ED) dominant coalition and focus groups with ED staff, as well as field observations in the ED itself. Findings illustrate that structural and policy antecedents acted as barriers to relationship maintenance, that a reliance on asymmetrical cultivation strategies culminated in poor internal OPRs, and that these poor relationships fostered negative attitudes, non-compliant behavior, and an arguably toxic organizational culture. Also, there was some evidence of symmetrical cultivation strategies (e.g., positivity and networking) fostering positive OPR perceptions among some employees. This case study can be used to guide best practices in internal public relations and answers the call for more research on public relations and health communication. Moreover, the current study suggests avenues for extending the relationship management perspective by considering organizational culture as a possible outcome of internal relationships.     

The effects of organizational Twitter interactivity on organization–public relationships

Social media sites such as Twitter provide organizations with the ability to interact directly with publics. Previous research has suggested that web-based relationship building is dependent on the level of organizational interactivity with web technology, or how the organization uses the technology to engage with its publics. This study tested if levels of organizational Twitter interactivity affected the quality of organization–public relationships. Findings suggest that an organization's level of Twitter interactivity influences relationship quality.     

Power-sharing and political public relations: Government-press relationships in Northern Ireland's developing democratic institutions

Northern Ireland's democratic governance is consociational (i.e. power-sharing is mandatory) and therefore substantially different from the majoritarian electoral system which characterizes most Western democratic societies. Consociationalism has been advocated as a form of democracy which can reconcile post-conflict societies fragmented along ethnic, religious or linguistic lines. Political public relations within mandatory coalitions have received little attention from scholars to date. Drawing on data from elite interviews with Government Information Officers (GIOs), Ministerial Special Advisers (SpAds) and journalists in Northern Ireland, this paper analyses their perspectives on political public relations in Northern Ireland's evolving democratic institutions. Our findings suggest Northern Ireland's public sphere is characterized not just by the usual contest between government communicators and journalists over political stories, but also by competition across government departments and within departments between GIOs and SpAds. Our research investigates the role of public relations in Northern Ireland's developing democratic institutions and more generally identifies important issues surrounding government communication in post-conflict power-sharing democracies.     

Clientelism and guanxi: Southern European and Chinese public relations in comparative perspective

This paper compares and analyzes the practice of public relations between Southern European countries (Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain) and China. The author argues Western countries are not a monolithic entity and there are a number of similarities, mainly focused on the importance of personal relationships, that shape the public relations field in Europe and Asia. A review of the concepts of guanxi and clientelism, both based on the asymmetrical character of relationships based on the abdication by the client of any potential autonomous access to the use of resources and to the setting up of public goods and services, revealed the importance of personal relationships and the emphasis of government relationships at the expense of other publics. Despite the consideration of the Anglo-Saxon symmetrical public relations model as a normative ideal among professionals, persuasive models are prevalent in the public relations practice in these societies.     

Constructing positive public relations in China: Integrating public relations dimensions,dialogic theory of public relations and the Chinese philosophical thinking of Yin and Yang

After thirty years of development in mainland China, public relations is suffering from a stigma because of its negative connotations, misconception and paradoxical perception among the general public, and development constraints. To overcome this stigmatization, a positive public relations theory that posits the positive functions of public relations in contemporary China is proposed by integrating the three public relations dimensions (i.e., communication, organization-public relationships, and ecological networks), the dialogic theory of public relations and the Chinese philosophical thinking of Yin and Yang. To achieve this, the paper first explains the cause of stigmatization in public relations. Second, it introduces the three dimensions of public relations as a profession and discipline. It then articulates how the dialogic theory of public relations and the Yin Yang philosophy contribute to the development of positive public relations. Lastly, it proposes the Taiji model of public relations and the underpinnings of positive public relations. It is important to note that positive public relations serves as a complement to, rather than a substitute for, existing theories of public relations.     

An analysis of other countries’ international public relations in the U.S.

The purpose of this study was to examine the various aspects of international public relations by other countries in the U.S. Based on the Foreign Agency Registration Act (FARA) report in 2002, this study analyzed client, activity types, purpose of activity, and key U.S. partners for activity. This study found that (1) business organizations and central governments were major clients of international public relations in the U.S., (2) meeting with governmental officials and congressional leaders was the primary type of activity followed by information dissemination, and (3) economic purpose led by trade promotion was the primary motive for these activities.     

International public relations’ influence on media coverage and public perceptions of foreign countries

The purpose of this study is to examine the influence of international public relations on a target country's news coverage and public perceptions toward other countries. This study proposed a public relations influence model of national image formation and tested its relationships based on 27 countries’ public relations effort targeting the U.S. news coverage and publics. This study found that (1) public relations of other countries in the U.S. had a direct impact on how significantly the U.S. public perceived those countries; (2) the more prominently and favorably foreign countries were covered by the U.S. news media, the more significantly and favorably the U.S. public perceived and felt toward those countries.     

Government public relations during Herbert Hoover's presidency

While historians generally credit President Franklin Roosevelt with the establishment of robust public information activities in the federal government, this case study reviews those activities during the administration of Roosevelt's predecessor, Herbert Hoover. During Hoover's term, agency PR was conducted extensively and openly enough to trigger media and partisan attacks. This suggests that public relations emerged gradually in federal departments and agencies during the 20th century, well before FDR's inauguration in 1933, and was already a natural element of the emerging profession of public administration.     

Organization–public relationships: An exploration of the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group

This study explored the organization–public relationship (OPR) within the context of the Sundre Petroleum Operators Group (SPOG) and the local community in Sundre, Alberta, Canada. A qualitative orientation was adopted because of the case study's focus on the individual experience of the relationship and the interest was to explore how the relationship was perceived by the people involved. Key relational elements such as trust, transparency, dialogue, control mutuality, commitment and satisfaction were examined in relation to the importance for relationship building and maintenance. In-depth interviews were conducted with both SPOG industry and community members (N = 18). The results indicated that after a crisis transparency was critical for rebuilding trust which was the foundation for the development of the industry–community relationship. Other relational elements were also considered important for maintaining healthy OPRs, but were considered secondary in relation to trust.     

Online organization–public relationships: An experience-centered approach

This paper advocates an experience-centered approach to public relations websites. A conceptual framework of the public relations website experience is proposed. The framework is grounded in communication and reader-response theory, and integrates organization–public relationship research as well as website usability findings. A new research protocol, website experience analysis, is derived from the conceptual framework. Applications of website experience analysis in public relations scholarship and practice are discussed.     

A reappraisal of Delphi 2.0 for public relations research

This paper introduces, analyzes, and explains the Delphi method of research, particularly as it applies to the public relations industry. The Delphi technique became known some 50 years ago when the RAND Corporation used it for forecasting. Since then, scholars and forecasters have used it periodically for qualitative explorations into complex issues or domains. The overall purpose of the Delphi is to facilitate formal discussion among selected experts in a given domain around a particular topic; it is particularly useful when those experts cannot easily gather in one place. The method encourages the sharing of diverging worldviews over a few “rounds” or iterations in the hope that the views may converge into some direction around the given topic. For this reason, the Delphi has often been used in situations or environments that tend to be somewhat ambiguous and where interviews and surveys are neither timely nor appropriate.     

Soccer, civil religion, and public relations: Devotional–promotional communication and Barcelona Football Club

The aim of this article is to provide a public relations perspective on the civil religion phenomenon through a study of Barcelona Football Club (BFC) as an institution and its public relations efforts. We believe that BFC can be seen as a form of civil religion that uses a devotional–promotional communication model which sets forth, upholds and reinforces relations with “faithful supporters”. The paper links to three main contributions: the work of [Salvador, J. (2004). Futbol, metàfora d’una guerra freda: Un estudi antropològic del Barça. Barcelona: Proa.] on anthropological approach to BFC, [Giner, S. (2003). Carisma y razón. Madrid: Alianza] on civil religion and its communicative dimension, and [Tilson, D. J. (2006). Devotional–promotional communicationa and Santiago: A thousand-year public relations campaign for Saint James and Spain. In J. L’Etang & M. Pieczka (Eds.), Public relations: Critical debates and contemporary practice (pp. 167–184). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum.] on devotional–promotional communication. Thus, this article advances a public relations approach to civil religion.     

University teachers’ perceptions and evaluations of ethics instruction in the public relations curriculum

This study examined the present state of teaching ethics in university public relations departments in the U.S. and abroad. The results of this online survey indicated that PR teachers (N = 249) perceived ethics instruction in PR education to be essential, and they believed in a close tie between general morality and professional ethics. However, the results also showed that the higher the participants’ academic rank, the less favorable attitude they held toward the value of ethics education to students.     

African-American students’ perceptions of public relations education and practice: Implications for minority recruitment

In-depth interviews were conducted with African-American public relations students to explore their perceptions of public relations and the role race may play in their career success. The motivations for pursuing public relations and perceptions of the field are not different than those of other groups of students found in previous studies. However, the findings provide insights that are helpful in recruiting African-American students, and also in retaining them in the major. Central themes that emerged from the data are that it is important to have African-American role models, and that students’ view race as a fact of life that can be both a barrier and an asset.     

The never changing story: Eight decades of the government public relations department of Thailand

The Government Public Relations Department (GPRD) of Thailand has existed in various forms since the country’s governing system changed from an absolute monarchy to a constitutional one in 1932. This study reflects on how the GPRD’s practices have been affected by the country’s governing and political environments over time. It has periodized the eighty-four-years of development of the GPRD into sequential phases based on a continuum approach. The GPRD’s roles and duties are detailed based on four periods: Beginning Period, Growth Period, Full Expansion Period, and Weak Period. The GPRD was firstly positioned to be the primary government tool for introducing the concept of democracy to the Thai populace and disseminating information about government policies, activities and propagandistic campaigns. Through Thailand’s periods of political instability, World War II, the Cold War and rise of communism in Indochina, globalization, and the current digital age, the GPRD has expanded in its role within the government as the center of communication for a wide variety of governmental organizations. However, even as it has expanded and undergone re-organization, it has been criticized for being a government mouthpiece rather that a reliable source of factual information. Working under the direct oversight of the various governments led by the military, as well as both appointed and elected politicians, the GPRD has struggled to maintain a balanced public relations role at the juncture of Thai politics and public interest.     

Views of PRISA-members on South African public relations: An exploration

An exploratory study conducted in South Africa shows that members of the Public Relations Institute for Southern Africa (PRISA) experience the same frustration with the role of PR in the organisation, the bad name of PR, and its educational curriculum that are experienced in other countries. The article asks whether changing the name of PR to something else is sufficient to solve these problems, and argues that more than a cosmetic name change is required. PR should re-examine its role in the organisation, it should re-assert itself as a strategic partner to other business functions, and it should revisit its educational offering.     

A case study of Congressional hostility to agency public relations: The Federal Reserve and Senator Heflin, 1922

This is an historical case study of one US Senator's effort to reduce the public information activities of a federal agency. In 1922, Senator Thomas Heflin, an opponent of the policies of the Federal Reserve Bank, took especial umbrage at the Bank's use of public relations to reply to his own attacks on it. This is an example of a politician trying to muzzle government public relations regardless of fairness or reciprocity.