Mandating dialogue? International perspectives on differences between theory and practice

This paper replicates an Australian study (Lane, 2018) into how public relations practitioners understand dialogue in practice. The original study found practitioners believed they were carrying out dialogue legally required by government, but what they were doing was no more than two-way communication. It also found practitioners’ operating environments meant they could never actually undertake dialogue, even if mandated to do so. These empirically-based insights revealed the existence of gaps between theory and practice in dialogue in public relations. The study was repeated in Austria to determine if these findings were consistent internationally, and to consider what this might mean for the place of dialogue in public relations. Examples of so-called mandated ‘dialogue’ provided by Austrian public relations practitioners in semi-structured interviews were analyzed using Kent and Taylor’s (2002) five principles of dialogue. This analysis showed that despite the Austrian practitioners’ familiarity with the work of Habermas on dialogue, the mandated communication they carried out was not dialogue. The Austrian experience also showed that the nature of the underlying context of mandated communication—the need to achieve agreement between parties in varying levels of conflict; and conducting communication within boundaries of time and non-negotiable pre-existing decisions—meant dialogue could never occur. Comparing the two studies demonstrated high levels of similarity between the countries’ results, which we hope can provide the starting point for the development of a longitudinal and international perspective. This paper concludes that the place of dialogue in the theory and practice of public relations is dependent on the education of practitioners in its implementation; and a re-thinking of the role of the aspirational in situations where it can never be attained.     

Dialogue,strategic communication,and ethical public relations: Lessons from Martin Buber’s political activism

Dialogue and persuasive strategic communication are often perceived by public relations scholars as two distinct approaches to the practice. After revisiting and reassessing debates surrounding the two approaches, this article introduces accounts of the use of dialogue and strategic communication in the political life of Martin Buber, whose philosophy has inspired PR scholarship on dialogue. It traces Buber’s writings and activities as communicator in the service of the early Zionist movement and, in his later life, as campaigner against the establishment of the State of Israel, and as promoter of dialogue between Zionists and Arab Palestinians. Based on archival research the article uncovers Buber’s political and PR work to provide insights into his philosophy in the context of his political and life experiences. Inspired by Buber’s work the article argues that dialogue and strategic communication both have the potential to be deployed ethically, and for prosocial causes, or to be deployed in a self-serving and unethical way. In this, it supports other scholars’ argument that public relations should reconcile with the fact that both are legitimate tools and it further argues that both might be used either ethically or unethically. It concludes that ethical PR practice depends less on the form of communication, and more on transparency, honesty, openness, and respect in the way dialogue or strategic communication are conducted.     

跨文化语境中的伊斯兰影响研究

本文以但丁的《神曲》为载体,以先知登宵故事在欧洲的传播为线索,研究伊斯兰文化如何在跨文化的语境中进行传播,以及此种传播如何扩大了伊斯兰文化的世界影响力并使得中世纪的欧洲文化带有显著的混合文化的特点。     

Dialectical dialogue: the struggle for speech, repressive silence, and the shift to multiplicity

In the present essay I intend to explore 'dialectical dialogue' in three distinct moments: the battle for recognition, the ethics of giving recognition, and the multiplicity of conversation. The essay begins with Hegel's figures of Master and Slave portraying the struggle of speech for recognition. This struggle culminates in a duel for mastery, which implies the repression and silencing of the other's speech. Ethical dialogue comes as a response to repressive silence, calling the other into egalitarian exchange. Ethical dialogue as such, however, remains within the dialectical framework of agonistic relations. To shift from dialectics to multiplicity, the essay turns from the politics of recognition to the poetics of conversation, to polyphony and to passage. I will follow the three moments both separately, through particular dialogic instances and theoretical perspectives, and as they develop, respond to, and shift from one to the other. Together they will portray an idea of the 'social' as a critical dialogic stance with its inherent dialectical betweenness and potential opening and expanding multiplicity.     

Introducing the Strata Approach to Dialogue Analysis (SADA): the case of political NGOs in Israel

ABSTRACT

While research on dialogue has been flourishing over the past few decades, critics contend that this scholarship often misses the core philosophical idea of dialogue, focusing instead on the absence or presence of dialogic principles in various organizational settings. This study has both empirical and methodological objectives: a) to solve a built-in lacuna in on-going dialogue research that frequently addresses important aspects of PR and dialogue in a blended manner, thereby undercutting the ability to develop in-depth critical research and examine the issues of dialogue more comprehensively; b) to provide an empirical contribution to understanding dialogue within the context of political NGOs’ public relations in Israel’s divided society. We suggest a layered approach as a methodological solution to this void by introducing a Strata Approach to Dialogue Analysis (SADA). Israel’s divided society, comprising various opposing groups, serves as a case study to demonstrate the advantages of SADA over current analyzes of dialogue. By revealing the differences between dialogic potential (features), actual dialogue (process), and the perception of dialogue (orientation), SADA enables the development of in-depth, critical research, i.e. examining the issue of dialogue more accurately and comprehensively.     

Online authority communication during an epidemic: A Finnish example

Social media are creating new challenges for authority communications during crises, such as a pandemic. This study examined Finnish citizens’ opinions about authorities as crisis managers during the swine flu epidemic of 2009-2010 and examined the success of authority intervention to online discussion forums. Through a content analysis carried out at the discussion forums, the study showed that though authorities are highly trusted in general in Finland, this trust is not extended to the online environment. Online, civilians did not trust authorities and the protective actions taken. Moreover, the authorities’ intervention to the discussion forums aimed at correcting false information and shaping opinions seemed to fail, as the intervention was carried out too late and with too little resources. The paper calls for more proactive authority communication that would establish a dialogue with citizens before a crisis to ensure credibility during difficult times.     

现代性的对话维度与独白维度--对布伯现代性理论的阐释

布伯引进一种以主体间性理论为支撑的现代性理论,区分现代性的"我-它"关系维度与"我-你"关系维度、现代性的行动层级与观念层级、现代性的对话维度与独白维度.以此反观西方现代性的问题在于第一,"我-它"关系维度的过度发展,遮蔽了"我-你"对话关系的维度;第二,现代性的独白维度占据上风,遮蔽了现代性的对话维度的可能性发展;第三,人们只在观念层级上讨论现代性,忽视了现代性的行动层级.     

后现代视域下的对话型语文阅读教学

后现代课程理论流派众多,其中以美国课程专家多尔为代表的后现代课程观对我国教育界影响最大。后现代课程观具有建构性、对话性和非线性的基本特点,以此审视当前我国语文对话阅读教学,可以发现对话性阅读呈现出内容的丰富性和不确定性、对话主体的民主性和平等性、对话意义的建构性和生成性以及对话过程的交互性和反思性等后现代特征。后现代主义主张对话型语文阅读应使用隐喻、描叙的思维方式,建立平等对话和理解结合的师生关系,创设良好的教学自组织过程,在批判性的阅读中注重反思和回归。     

文化交往中的公理问题

任何一个文化理念的产生,都必然有一个背后的文化支撑,体现了一种集体性思考,并在历史的积淀中,以稳固的具有本文化特质的思维方式,形成了一种“文化三段论”。作为其公理基础的是本文化历史形成的价值判断。但如果把这种具有本文化特征的价值判断张扬为“终极公理”,会导致文化短视与狭隘的自负,影响正常的文化沟通。因此,有必要在文化交往过程中消除这种“终极公理”,而消除它的关键在于如何选择合理可行的途径。     

Engaging publics in the mobile era: A study of Chinese charitable foundations’ use of WeChat

WeChat, the most widely used social mobile application nowadays in China, marks the advent of a mobile communication age that has reshaped Chinese people’s lifestyles. Understanding Chinese nonprofits’ communication performance on WeChat is a nascent field of study that calls for public relations scholars’ attention and investigation. By observing the most transparent Chinese charitable foundations, this study conducted a quantitative content analysis to examine their use of WeChat for dialogic communication with publics. Particularly, this study examined the dialogic features employed on the official WeChat accounts of these foundations as well as the public engagement functions fulfilled by their WeChat posts. The findings indicate that the dialogic potential of WeChat has not been fully utilized by the Chinese foundations. The official accounts have been relatively successful in fulfilling the provision of useful information toward interested publics, but most of them still have not created a dialogic loop with their audience. The WeChat posts primarily act as information sources but also perform the salient function of calling upon actions. In addition, certain communication strategies were identified in the posts to attract audience attention and to promote organizational activities, such as the incorporation of multimedia content and popular online events.