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.     

Engaging communities: Ostrom's economic commons,social capital and public relations

This article discusses the research of economics Nobelist Elinor Ostrom. It argues her analysis of long term community co-operation contains important insights for public relations, especially in the area of community engagement. Informed by Ostrom's focus on common pool resource management, the article highlights the importance of organisations adopting an attitude of mutuality to the external stakeholder environment. It also associates public relations practice with the promotion of a social commons. It then examines Ostrom's insights on the role that face-to-face communication plays in the generation of social capital and the norms of behaviour that promote co-operation. The article ends with a discussion of the implications of these findings for the practice of public relations in organisations and suggests areas for further research.     

Transparency laws and interactive public relations: An analysis of Latin American government Web sites

A content analysis of 50 Latin American government Web sites was conducted to assess whether new transparency laws in the hemisphere impacted the interactivity, usability, technological expertise, and national symbolism manifest on the sites. Web sites were found to be generally usable but limited in interactivity. There was no difference in Web site interactivity between countries with transparency laws and those without them, but countries with laws used more visual symbols aimed at national branding. The article offers a model of Web site features for public relations practitioners interested in increasing the sophistication, usability, and interactivity of their sites in order to improve relationship building with stakeholders.     

Organizing community: Activist public relations as place-making

This conceptual essay develops a renewed concept of community in public relations scholarship and practice—one re-centering activism and physical place. To do so, it delves into the writing and advocacy of two trailblazing women who dedicated their lives and work to empowering and protecting their communities: Grace Lee Boggs and Jane Jacobs. By connecting their approaches with existing public relations scholarship around community, activism, and place, the authors present a set of place-making communicative approaches for community activist practice in addition to theoretical development around what Boggs (2000) refers to as “place-based civic activism” (p. 19)—the work of finding and harnessing a shared neighborhood identity to connect and empower local residents as citizens. Seeing community and activism through this lens points toward the complex, living, and evolving ecology of communities (Jacobs, 1961, 2000), and positions public relations and activist communication as crucial tools for place-making.     

Experience of female public relations practitioners in Bahrain

The research addressed the gap in the literature about the experience of public relations practitioners in the non-Western society of Bahrain. The research aims to contribute to public relations scholarship by using a qualitative approach to study the experience of Bahraini women working in public relations. It used open interviews with Bahraini PR practitioners who offered rich insights on their “experiences” as women working in PR in Bahrain. The interviewees talked about various types of challenges when working in public relations such as cultural marginalization, relationship with colleagues, social domination, and marginalization of PR function. The research suggests combined liberal and radical feminist strategies to improve the role of Bahraini women in public relations. It recommends social and organizational reforms, in addition to empowering women to utilize their personality traits, communication behaviors and management styles.     

Moral development in public relations: Measuring duty to society in strategic communication

This exploratory study employed an online version of the Defining Issues Test (DIT) [Rest, J. R. (1979). Development in judging moral issues. Minneapolis, MN: University of Minnesota Press] to gather data on the ethical decision-making process patterns of 113, U.S.-based public relations practitioners. The DIT is an instrument based on Kohlberg's [Kohlberg, L. (1969) State and sequence: The cognitive-developmental approach to socialization. In: E. Goslin, (Ed.) Handbook of socialization: Theory and research. Chicago: Rand McNally] moral development theory, a proven measure of ethical reasoning across dozens of professions. Results show that levels of moral development in public relations significantly differ based on job segment. While corporate and agency practitioners reasoned about their ethics in a statistically similar fashion, these two groups differed substantially from their academic-based counterparts.     

Guerrilla communication,visual consumption,and consumer public relations

Guerrilla communication has grown into an increasingly prominent strategy adopted by large corporations such as American Express, BP Amoco, Chrysler, Hershey Foods, and Pepsi. In its attention-grabbing instantiations, guerrilla communication points to the convergence of advertising, marketing, and public relations in consumer communication practices. This essay also considers guerrilla communication's place in the circuit of culture.     

Cognitive communication competence within public relations practitioners: Examining gender differences between technicians and managers

This study examines gender differences within public relations practitioners. Of specific interest was the role that cognitive communication competence played within public relations managers and public relations technicians. Public relations practitioners completed a questionnaire that included the Duran and Spitzberg's [Duran, R. L., & Spitzberg, B. H. (1995). Toward the development and validation of a measure of cognitive communication competence. Communication Quarterly, 43(3), 259–275] Cognitive Communication Competence Scale. Participants self-identified whether they were a technician or a manager. Results showed that male public relations managers had significantly higher cognitive communication competence than male public relations technicians. However, the hypothesis that female public relations managers would have higher cognitive communication competence than female public relations technicians was not supported. Also, this study found no significant gender differences with levels of cognitive communication competence. However, female technicians have significantly higher cognitive communication competence than male technicians.     

Assessing initial anticipatory public relations socialization of early mass communication entrants

Differing from previous research of PR majors, this study of students in introduction to mass communication courses focused on how one is socialized into public relations before he or she arrives for the first day on the job. The 236 students surveyed most frequently associated public relations with advocacy roles, working with people and advertising. Experience on high school newspapers and yearbooks were both positively related to a student's public relations technician self-efficacy.     

Effects of government public relations on international news coverage

Using content analysis of an international newspaper and a government publication, this study examines the influence of newsworthiness and public relations efforts on international news coverage, one of the key sources for understanding other countries. Grounded in gatekeeping theory, this study hypothesizes strong relations between three variables (newsworthiness, public relations involvement, and international news coverage) in the context of several South Korean news stories.     

The President's listening post: Nixon's failed experiment in government public relations

At the beginning of his first term, President Nixon engaged in an experiment to institutionalize and regularize a new channel for citizens to convey their views and ideas to the White House. He called it a President's Listening Post. The first one opened in Philadelphia to much hoopla and hopes in October 1969. Quickly, however, it became clear that the mechanism was not working as hoped. Trying to avoid political embarrassment, it was quietly shut down in early 1971. This article recounts the largely unknown experiment by the Nixon White House in presidential public relations.     

Institutionalizing public relations: A case study of Chinese government crisis communication on the 2008 Sichuan earthquake

Research is needed on the “institutionalization” of public relations as a strategic-management function. How and why public relations ought to be institutionalized certainly remains highly debatable. This study, thus, engages the current debate on the necessity and advantages of the institutionalization of public relation by taking on Chinese government crisis communication in the 2008 Sichuan earthquake as a test case.This study employs both qualitative and quantitative methods, consisting largely of online and textual research, convenient and confidential telephone interviews, content analysis of government communication materials, and intercept surveys in Beijing (China's capital city) and Chengdu (the provincial capital of the Sichuan Province where the earthquake hits).The study finds that the institutionalization of government public relations in China has visible results, especially, in the areas of crisis communication and management, as well as stakeholder-relationship building. Within the Chinese context, it suggests, “institutionalization” of the government public relations tends to render legitimacy to public relations practice and empower the practitioners by according PR practice a strategic function toward the achievement of public-institution effectiveness. Although a preliminary analysis, this study supports the argument on the necessity and advantages for PR practice becoming institutionalized.     

Third-person effect in the context of public relations and corporate communication

Inaccurate perceptions of audience can cause public relations practitioners to overreact or underreact to a situation, which brings about unintended consequences. We draw on the third-person effect research to identify examples and outline the conditions when the overestimation or underestimation of media effects can motivate key players to engage in restrictive, corrective, promotional, and resistance behaviors. Then, we recommend approaches that can help public relations practitioners better reflect and manage corporate communication. In short, the approaches involve: (a) determining the nature of the presumed effect from the audience perspective and going beyond the categorical positive/negative message, (b) assessing the level of the presumed effect and considering also the possibility of the first- as well as the second-person effect, and (c) assessing the influence of the perceived effect on behaviors that have the potential to directly as well as indirectly affect the company.     

Comparing professional identities, attitudes, and views in public communication: A study of Chilean journalists and public relations practitioners

Public relations (PR) practitioners’ and journalists’ professional views and attitudes toward each other have been a subject of academic inquiry during the past decades; however, much of this research has focused on Europe and North America. In other regions of the world, for example in Latin America, historical developments and social understandings have led to slightly different conceptualizations of PR and journalism. Using Chile as a case study, this paper reports the results of an examination of Chilean journalists’ and PR practitioners’ professional conceptions. While both groups tend to have somewhat similar views of media relations and see themselves as part of the same profession, there are also important differences which are most likely based on professional socialization processes rather than educational backgrounds or sociodemographic and work related variables. Implications for contextually grounded approaches to the study of PR and journalism are highlighted.     

How public relations works: Theoretical roots and public relations perspectives

Public relations is often studied from a managerial, instrumental perspective or a psychological, behavioral perspective. To understand the role of public relations in building trust or mistrust and to develop – or destroy – a license to operate, it needs also to be studied as a social phenomenon.     

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.     

Tracking public relations history in 1960s’ Turkey: The prevalence and reflections of development discourse

This study is based on a historical research, which focuses on the institutionalization of public relations in Turkey during the 1960s, and interprets this process in the frame of planned development discourse. Primary written sources collected from archive research and oral narratives generated from fourteen semi-structured interviews conducted with the pioneers in Turkey are analyzed through categorization and thematization. Findings of the historical research indicated that similar themes and orientations guided public relations practices in public and private sector in this period. Accordingly public relations education provided necessary intellectual background and human resources.     

Structure of the public relations/communication department: Key findings from a global study

This paper reports on some of the core findings from a program of research focused on examining the structure of public relations/communication departments. It draws on a recent major global study that was sponsored by the former Research Foundation of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC). Analyzing the results from interviews with 26 Chief Communication Officers (CCOs) located in each of the five continents and from a survey sample of some 278 CCOs based in organizations headquartered across the globe, the study found quite notable variations in the type of departmental structures. No one dominant structural model emerged. In effect, each organization appeared to adopt a structural design to suit their individual circumstances, although there were nevertheless some reasonably common component functional elements within each department. CCOs identified those variables that they believed most influenced the design of the public relations department structure. While recognizing department structure is situation dependent, the evidence suggests that CCOs create hybrid structures unique to the circumstances. What was perhaps most surprising was that department structure did not appear to be strongly influenced by department size, other than in terms of the vertical structural design. In short, there do not appear to be any common formulas or prescribed solutions for how organizations should or do orchestrate the design of the public relations department structure, rather CCOs appear to be able to exercise a degree of latitude in determining what works best for them.