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Scientology's public relations function is based on research and writing by L. Ron Hubbard, who studied public relations and drafted documents directing Church communication strategies. Hubbard annotated the textbook Effective Public Relations , which was reprinted for Church practitioners. Textual analysis shows Hubbard was particularly interested in redefining key concepts, emphasizing interpersonal communication strategies, and selectively adopting media relations strategies. The findings suggest that he used the annotations to appropriate the text and position himself as a communications expert. Evidence suggests Church communication practitioners continue to follow Hubbard's recommendations. • L. Ron Hubbard, founder of the Church of Scientology, built the religion as PR became a more formalized discipline. • Hubbard appropriated PR texts to establish himself as an expert in the field and invalidate non-Scientology resources. • Textual analysis of Effective Public Relations suggests Hubbard used PR organically and based on his personal preferences. • Hubbard's biases and personal preferences can be tied to documented experiences he had while building the religion. • The Church views Hubbard's writings as scripture so his ideas about PR best practices are still used by Church practitioners. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the 1990s, the concept of emotional intelligence has garnered growing popular and scholarly attention in the past several decades. Emotional intelligence is generally defined as one's ability to recognize one's own emotions, regulate them, recognize others' emotions, and manage social relationships and is proposed to yield various desirable outcomes for organizations. This study provides a critical and comprehensive review of empirical studies on the role of emotional intelligence in various domains of public relations practice. Findings reveal that existing research has focused mostly on emotional intelligence as a competency vital to effective leadership and employee communication in organizations. Considerable research has also examined emotional intelligence as a necessity for effective crisis management and communication. This study calls for investigating the role of emotional intelligence in different areas of public relations such as media relations and community relations, for improved measurement and methodological pluralism in future research, for EI-based training for future public relations leaders, and for an EI model of professionalism in public relations education. • Toward an Emotional Intelligence Approach to Public Relations. • This is arguably the first comprehensive conceptual and empirical review of the research. • Literature in emotional intelligence and public relations practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article proposes combining public relations and development communication insights so that organizations, particularly in the public sector, can engage and empower rural communities to adopt and exploit infrastructure developments for mutual benefit. Applying appreciative inquiry to explore the communication process involved in the development of micro-hydro power plants in Kulon Progo Regency, Indonesia, this article offers a view from those who are regarded as the target of communication, as the opposed to those take an organizational standpoint. The study proposes a new development project communication model which seeks to initiate, secure and sustain positive community outcomes and meet the project initiators' requirements. This is achieved through collaboration and the gradual relinquishment of power and decision-making from the latter to the former. The model emphasizes the importance of the processes of communication as well as outcomes, and considers rural communities as having agency, rather than as objects of or for development. By embracing community assets such as local knowledge and contextual wisdom and the characteristics of collective communities in non-Western countries such as togetherness, reciprocity, a strong sense of shared destiny, locality, and fraternity, the model offers a community centric approach which encourages progressive community empowerment and ownership. The evidence points to the impacts for both communities and governments being more beneficial and sustainable than current communication practices. • Public sector organizations in developing countries tend to use organization centric communication in development projects. • To be more effective in achieving development goals they need to embrace collaboration with the public. • Blending public sector deliberative decision-making with participatory development communication encourages orientation to the public. • A new development project communication model proposes progressive community empowerment and ownership. • The model should help government achieve their goals more effectively and efficiently while meeting community aspirations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to explore the relationships among video games, fans, and public relations from a theoretical perspective. Using Tilson and Chao’s (2002 ) devotional–promotional model of communication and the concept of civil religion to examine this relationship, this article continues to build on the idea the public relations practices of religious communication has many practical implications in the secular world. By examining video game fans through the lens of the civil religion and the devotional–promotional model, this paper explores the implications of commodification of civil religion and builds on an earlier exploration by Xifra (2008) and the idea that “faithful supporters” can be the most valuable audience and that they can be cultivated by public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores feminism and public relations through the diverse perspectives of three public relations scholars seeking to understand what a critical-feminist research agenda might offer. It acknowledges that feminist public relations scholarship – at least until recently – is underdeveloped. Drawing on bell hooks’ (1989) notion of talking back, this paper offers a conversation to explore tensions and debates around a feminist agenda for public relations. The discussion is structured around three broad themes: provocations, transgressions and resistance, and points to how feminist intelligences and modalities, in challenging gendered hegemonies, may open public relations scholarship and practices to new understandings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The aim of this paper is to analyze two of the least known periods of Italian director RobertoRossellini’s career – the fascist trilogy and his educational project for TV – as a paradigm of visual-spatialintelligence, and show their contribution to the construction of a theory of film discourse in publicrelations. Regarding the fascist period, what stands out is the unique, anti-propaganda staging, a far cryfrom the fascist cinema of the age, and more characteristic of documentary cinema. By contrast, thefilms that form part of his educational project make them public relations techniques in the termsunderstood by filmmakers from the British documentary movement and PR practitioners like JohnGrierson. In those films, in order to achieve his purposes, Rossellini created a zoom lens device namedPancinor that can be considered a mechanism of visual-spatial intelligence as well as a public relationsaudiovisual technique. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study seeks to upgrade the concept of humble inquiry into humble intelligence (HI) to address a particular set of seemingly intractable challenges known as wicked problems. It locates the concept of wicked problems in the academic literature to underpin its argument that, because of their ubiquity within organizations and across communities, wicked problems have implications for the practice of PR. It suggests that many of PR’s functional challenges within organizations can be characterised as “wicked,” while the discipline’s strategic interests suggest PR has a wider role to play in helping society address other “wicked” dilemmas. Despite these issues and opportunities the article identifies how PR has yet to recognize, let alone engage systematically with the challenges conceptualized as wicked problems. To confront them, the article sets out Schein’s notion of humble inquiry and upgrades it to humble intelligence, loosely defined as a cluster of multiple and interacting capabilities that, in concert, forge a form of collective intelligence amongst a wide range of stakeholders. In this coalition, HI can harness the dispersed knowledge that exists in communities and organizations to go beyond traditional, hierarchical, and, often, isolated forms of expertise. This reorientation engages wicked problems productively by deploying multiple perspectives, extending networks, and building the social capital required for collaboration. The article concludes that as well as gaining traction on seemingly intractable challenges, HI both complements and adds value to dialogic theories of PR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The fields of business and management with which public relations interacts and in which it is often located are rife with concepts, models and theories on leadership, performance, and effectiveness. Recently, these have turned attention to alleged multiple forms of intelligence, such as Howard Gardner’s claims for eight types of intelligence, which have been expanded by others to as many as 150. Gardner also proposed that humans have five minds and claimed that application of these diverse intelligences and minds can enhance human interactions and relationships. This article critically reviews the potential of these concepts and theories to reconfigure PR, identifying some useful insights, but also raising fundamental theoretical questions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers an approach to public relations from the perspective of intelligence collection and analysis. In a context of a superabundance of publicly available information on the general environment for organizations and their stakeholders, the article highlights the need for producing intelligence in order to facilitate the formulation of strategic communication and enhance relationship management activities. The literature on issues management and competitive intelligence is explored in order to analyze the relationships between their anticipatory practices and their points of convergence. The article proposes using the concepts of Intelligence-led PR and PR Intelligence for capturing and expressing two different but complementary dimensions of the relationship. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the relevance of Howard Gardner’s concept of “Five minds for the future” to the field of public relations, both for practitioners and educators. It extends Gardner’s concept by adding a futures dimension to generate what I term “futures intelligence” that I argue is now necessary for the sustainability of the public relations field itself as well as of its clients. Futures intelligence is forward thinking, strategic, positive and empathetic. With its emphasis on future possibilities, futures intelligence not only provides practical ability to use the tools by which practitioners can plan and adapt for the long term but does this by taking into account societies’ collective needs rather than those of self-serving individuals. The paper illustrates a process of building futures intelligence with a description of innovative teaching to post graduate public relations students at a university in New Zealand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Call for Papers (CFP) for the Barcelona International PR Conference and for this special issue claimed that many in public relations “acknowledge the present as a time of rapid change, turbulence, and even transformation.” Then, citing Howard Gardner’s work on multiple intelligences ( Gardner, 1983 ) and minds for the future ( Gardner, 2008 ), the CFP asked for contributions exploring “what configurations of knowledge might best prepare the field to meet these challenges.” In responding to the call, the articles that follow range across different disciplines, cover different times and spaces, and include collisions as well as collaborations. In the process they confirm, even in intelligence controversies, the constitutive nature of communication and they put forward ideas with implications for practice as well as theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Crisis communication research has generally focused on how to respond to public’s reaction after a crisis is known to various stakeholders. Stealing thunder is a proactive crisis communication strategy by which an organization releases crisis information before media gets a hold of the crisis. This study investigated the effects of stealing thunder and moderating effect of organization’s persuasive intent and consumers’ attachment on stealing thunder. Stealing thunder was effective when participants were not explicitly aware of the persuasive intent in the crisis message. When participants were aware of persuasive intent, stealing thunder effects disappeared. Brand attachment also moderated the effects of stealing thunder. Participants with high brand attachment evaluated stealing thunder information more positively compared to those with low brand attachment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Influencing mass media discourse is considered an essential part of the work carried out by think tanks. This research focuses on the influence Spanish think tanks have exercised in shaping the ubiquitous and all-pervading concept of “economic crisis” in the press of reference during 2013 and 2014. The results show that very few such entities have had even a minimally significant impact in this area, while also demonstrating that very diverse communicative strategies exist that can result in maximizing the amount of media attention gained. Consequently, despite being regarded as intelligence actors, Spanish think tanks do not seem to be so. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through thematic analysis of user-generated comments to posts on Chick-fil-A’s Facebook page, this article explores the postmodern concept of dissensus ( Lyotard, 1988 ) as an area for development in activist and social media research. This article examines which dissenting perspectives emerged, how dissensus was expressed, and the implications of this for practitioners and scholars. Several areas for embracing dissensus suggest how social media may impact public relations practice and theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The plight and struggles of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) refugees and asylum seekers from around the globe often go unheard. Currently, at least 75 countries have specific regulations persecuting LGBTIs. Without protection, these global citizens are forced to seek asylum in other countries. This paper investigates how LGBTI asylum-specific NGOs (Organization for Refuge, Asylum & Migration and International Gay & Lesbian Human Rights Commission) are using Facebook and Twitter to build organizational–public relationships. Research provided here builds upon previous research in organizational communication and NGOs by supporting the use of social media messages as functions of information, community and action. The current study provides a more nuanced examination of those functions and establishes an affective classification within the information function to help foster social change by LGBTI asylum-specific NGOs. Furthermore, it demonstrates that the conventional public relations measures of cognitive learning, affective responses and resulting behaviors are manifested within these online functions as well. The current study also helps further the concept of queer social capital. The social media messages linked more to LGBTI-specific entities around the world than non-LGBTI organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Regretted apologies create a unique rhetorical situation, possibly leading to an apology for an apology. This essay draws on the work of Benoit’s (1995) image repair typology to survey attempts to repair image when the offense is an earlier attempt at image repair. Two case studies are offered—one in politics and one in entertainment—to assess image repair efforts after regretted apologies. Implications for image repair analyses are offered, as well as suggestions for further work to add nuance to image repair theory. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article features uncertainty as one of the dominant challenges facing society and, therefore, contemporary public relations. In looking for ways to better adapt and promote public relations to the service of fully functioning society, it revisits controversies around the notion of multiple intelligences (MIs), including emotional intelligence. It examines the stakes and status involved in claiming “ownership” of IQ or of promoting another “form” of intelligence(s). In addition, the article foregrounds the formative role played by promotional communication, especially in framing ideas and telling stories, to gain traction in academic communities and to gain acceptance among wider publics. Finally, it suggests that public relations is a disciple of strategic intelligence that could learn by adapting to, or adopting from, the growing range of subjects aspiring to be the next big intelligence. We suggest that such an adaptation has benefits: it might to better access knowledge with contemporary and future relevance rather than slowly consolidating a more insular Public Relations Body of Knowledge based on past results; it can improve the field's impact and reputation by engaging public relations with cross-disciplinary controversies; and it can follow Gardner's (2008) forward-looking view of the need for any discipline, or cluster of good intelligences, to be oriented to serving a global community. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study explicates online political activism (OPA); provides a short, reliable, and valid index for measuring OPA; and examines correlates that predict such active publics. A national probability sample of adult American Internet users was surveyed using random digit dialing. The study found OPA is more frequent among older, wealthier, and more liberal respondents. OPA increases with Internet self-efficacy and search engine usage. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Traditionally, nations have viewed other nations as their primary competitors in public diplomacy (PD). In a quest to increase their effectiveness, states are applying relationship management and pursuing a more relational PD approach with publics. However, present understanding of relationships may be one-sided, focusing primarily on the state's relationship-building activities and overlooking the public's agency in defining relations. This paper uses relationalism as an analytical lens to construct a 4-quadrant model of public diplomacy based on the relational dynamics between a state and publics. The model reveals a parallel evolution of communication technology and public diplomacy initiatives that move from assumptions of no relations with publics, to favorable relations, to adversarial relations. A case study from Turkey is used to illustrate how diverse groups can use social media to form unlikely alliances to become a fluid, adversarial public capable of ‘going for the jugular’ and challenging state legitimacy. Aggressive separation tactics by the state to counter adversarial publics can inadvertently create a ‘relational paradox’ that leaves the two parties more politically divided and yet more relationally intertwined. The study implications stress the need for states to monitor their relational dynamic with publics as a precursor for developing reflective strategies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Studies on relations and networks in both public diplomacy and public relations have been focusing on the project implementation. Largely ignored is the foundational stage of resource gathering before implementation that also involves relationship management. This paper applies the social network analysis to examine the 100,000 Strong partnership network for study abroad in China that facilitates the transaction of necessary resources to support US public diplomacy implementation. The findings of the research suggest that the 100,000 Strong Foundation, as the network builder, has successfully established channels to mobilize resources through opportunity recognition, information arbitrage, and innovativeness creation. Other network actors also obtained various levels of power from the network structure, which may ultimately contribute to public diplomacy. This study offers a new theoretical and methodological framework to study relations and networks in public diplomacy and public relations, while informing some practical insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article represents a call to repeal the Gillett Amendment. The 1913 Gillett Amendment is often treated as a quirky fact of history relegated to the Introduction to Public Relations course. This article argues that the contemporary practice of public relations built on ethics, professionalism, theory, and research no longer resembles the conditions that precipitated the Gillett Amendment. We encourage professionals, scholars, and public relations associations to work together to repeal the Amendment and recognize government public relations as a legitimate communication practice necessary for a civil society. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article seeks to expand the public relations body of knowledge on two levels: firstly, it presents findings from empirical studies on PR practitioners’ attitudes to ethical and unethical practices on social media. Secondly, it compares practitioners’ attitudes to specific ethical issues in social media in two different socio-cultural environments—New Zealand and Israel. Its major goal is to identify practitioners’ current attitudes toward ethics in societies that are ranked differently on international lists comparing levels of democracy in different countries. The findings from online surveys conducted in both countries imply that PR ethics is linked to the culture and social environment in which practitioners function. The article identifies practical ethical challenges in public relations practitioners’ use of social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores how a Twitter public relations campaign was hijacked by audiences through an investigation of the #AskJameis campaign employed by Florida State University (FSU). A thematic analysis of 1214 tweets revealed that the hashtag was hijacked through audience members mocking and criticizing both FSU and Jameis Winston. The results suggest that PR professionals must account for the anticipated “pulse” of the audience before launching campaigns on social media. Underestimating the capabilities of the active social media audience can further exacerbate crisis situations, suggesting that at times, not using social media is a more effective public relations practice. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article explores early adolescents’ media channel use to better understand early adolescents as a public relations public. The article offers the results of a national panel survey of early adolescents in sixth to eighth grades ( N = 354) who have social media accounts. Our analysis shows that adolescents say that they spend more time with television than they do with social media. In addition, adolescents are more likely to observe what other people post on social media than they are to engage in posting information themselves. Data also indicate that even though parents may place limits on adolescents’ social media use, these limits may drive use of other forms of media and limits are not associated with less social media use compared with adolescents whose parents do not place as many limits on their social media use. Ethical and practical implications for public relations practitioners are offered. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study analyzes academic journal articles in order to depict the features of Chinese crisis communication in Mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan. The findings revealed the following features of crisis communication in Chinese societies: collectivistic culture, nationalism, rationalism, face-giving/saving, striving for the “golden mean,” the preference for passive communicative strategies, and the avoidance of extreme strategies. Nevertheless, the differences in political systems—the ubiquitous intervention by authoritarian government on the Mainland, the mistrust of government in post-handover Hong Kong, and the relatively mature democratic polity in Taiwan all lead to unique crisis communication practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines the litigation ramifications of apologies given during a crisis. Examining federal and state laws on the evidentiary issues affecting apology, this study shows that in 38 jurisdictions apologies are not admitted into evidence at trial if the apology contains certain characteristics. From this analysis practical suggestions are given to PR practitioners on how to craft legally protected apologies during a crisis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study examines instructional messages and constraints of health literacy in communicating messages of self-protection in a crisis. Specifically, the identifiable public relations strategies of the FDA, CDC, and other prominent spokespersons were assessed and a content analysis of television coverage during the first week of the 2010 Salmonella egg recall was performed to determine the ability of the accountable agencies and organizations to communicate messages of self-protection through the media. This study contends that practitioners must take health literacy into consideration when developing messages that must first pass through media gatekeepers. Implications are provided for improving media relations in a crisis that increases health risks and expanding the scope of crisis communication research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper employs the collective case studies approach in an examination of four award-winning public relations campaigns conducted across a variety of social media platforms in order to determine the best practices of, and near term trends, in the effective use of social media for public relations. In their examination of these campaigns the authors discern the following trends in best practices: social media campaigns employ digital storytelling techniques that are both immersive and emotive, and that promote various forms of content sharing; these stories involve members of the target audience in at least one form of open-ended offline engagement that involves sharing behaviors; the content is optimized for mobile displays and controls; and, finally, the content is timely. The authors conclude that, although marketers think of social media in terms of brand awareness and reputation management, the effective use of social media in Public Relations campaigns can generate conversion, facilitate brand positioning, and maintain continued brand sustenance. The authors conclude that the effective use of social media is disrupting the PR campaign cycle: the role of campaign events to generate publicity in service to a PR campaign may, in the future, be displaced by social media campaign tactics which belong to an entirely different ecosystem where the act of sharing social media content generates publicity in lieu of a campaign event. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay explores corporate social responsibility (CSR) communication through social media. Today, corporations across the world enact CSR campaigns and use social media as one tool to tell their story of social responsibility. Yet, social media's strength as a relationship-building tool is not being realized as CSR activities are often communicated unidirectionally. This essay suggests alternative ways of thinking about social media in CSR. The essay offers a framework for using social media that goes beyond the one-way, monological, Homo Economicus based practices that characterize current social media use in CSR. The perspective proposed, Homo Dialogicus, focuses on interactive communication practices , that will help organizations move forward in building ethical organization–public relationships via social media. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Using a quantitative content analysis, this study focused on how depression has been portrayed and communicated on Pinterest. Key findings include: Depression-focused pins elicited high response levels for repins, likes, and comments, and more than half of the pins expressed perception of depression as a severe disorder. Various coping mechanisms were present in the pins, with the dysfunctional coping strategy most prevalent. Implications for practitioners on how to utilize visual media platforms to effectively engage at-risk publics on health issues were discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One of the most important roles for public relations professionals is building relationships. The fundamental assumption behind the normative relationship-building role of public relations is that relationships among organizations and publics are mutually beneficial. However, some network theories (e.g., structural holes theory) prescribe that maintaining many organizational relationships is inefficient, instead suggesting that organizations should occupy a powerful network position by separating and controlling the flow of information between others. Under such theories, power comes in the form of tertius gaudens (the third who benefits at the expense of others). In this article we argue that such an approach to power in public relations is manipulative and unethical, and offer an alternative approach via the concept of tertius iungens (the third who joins others), which endorses connecting organizations and emphasizes the collective good. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study investigates perceptions of public relations leadership in two emerging markets—Latvia and Russia—via an online survey of a diverse pool of public relations practitioners. This effort is guided by Meng and Berger’s (2013) model of excellent public relations leadership. Additionally, this study moves a step further by seeking to understand how national sociopolitical contexts shape leadership in public relations. Results show a number of similarities and differences in Latvian and Russian participants’ interpretations of professional leadership. Gaining access to the dominant coalition, or decision-making authority in the organization is perceived as an important ability in both countries. Challenges of talent management are more acute in Russia than Latvia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholars have long studied the relationships between professional journalists and public relations practitioners. However, public relations literature (both scholarly and trade) has not sufficiently examined the nature of the relationships between citizen journalists and public relations practitioners. This study addresses that gap through surveying U.S. citizen journalists on their views of public relations professionals and their materials. Study findings point to ambivalence among citizen journalists: they are not sure of the value of public relations people or the usefulness of their material, but they voice a positive regard for public relations people the more they interact with them. These findings indicate that a more carefully considered outreach to citizen journalists can allow public relations practitioners to build better relationships with these non-traditional reporters and, therefore, enhance the opportunity for practitioners to be more effective conveying information within the online news ecology. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a fully functioning society, citizens need information about economic, social, and political issues. The news media perform this function. Citizens also need to engage in relationships with all sorts of economic, social, and political organizations. Public relations helps to create, maintain and change these relationships. Journalism and public relations are the foundation of a fully functioning society. This article explores the extent to which journalism and public relations professionals share foundational values. We compare the codes of ethics from 33 countries (66 public relations and journalist associations) looking for both convergence and divergence in ethical values. Our findings suggest that the two professions share core values such as professionalism, expertise and moral standards. The codes agree on the individual qualities that encourage professionals to act ethically. The codes diverge, however, on each profession's view of its role in society. Journalists continue to emphasize duty to the public in their codes of ethics whereas many public relations codes focus on duty to the client or organization. Yet, this study found an evolving set of ethical codes in public relations that brings public relations and journalists closer together acknowledging their communitas roles in a fully functioning society [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article presents representations of the nation by a group of at-risk youth residing in welfare homes. These co-constructions of what it means to live in Singapore and what it means to be a citizen in that country were part of a research project to answer the call by critical political observers in Singapore to expand the space for ideas and perspectives regarding Singapore other than those from the governing elite. Led by a critical culture sensibility for theorising from below, the author spoke with 25 teenagers from troubled backgrounds, and analysed and interpreted the conversations using constructivist grounded theory. Fourteen categories emerged from the corpus, with negotiating becoming the core category articulating all 14 categories, and accounting for the dialectical relations amongst the categories as well as the discontinuities between the categories and the dominant nation building narrative as embodied in the Singapore Story . The core category instantiates the discursive empowerment of the youth. The suggestion is to open up discursive spaces for marginalised voices. Public relations, in its capacity for listening and co-construction, can play a nation building role that goes beyond managing information campaigns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public relations practitioners and academics are often silent on silence because the stigma on silence threatens to become a stigma on public relations. Journalists and communicators work in professional exchange and strive. The public relations practitioners are fully visible for the journalists; invisible are they only for the public. Silence has become a “code word” journalists use to pressure information sources not to shut up. This paper discusses public relations responses to that stigma, which include strategies of silence. I draw ideas from Aristotle's “apophatic” silence, Michel Foucault's “exhaustive representation”, Frances Sendbuehler's “profound communication silence” and John Cage's “sound of silence”. I suggest borrowing from those ideas and the development of silence and invisibility as central categories in public relations. Both are carriers of meaning. Both are ontological, neutral phenomena – neither good nor bad. I show possible applications in the areas of resistance, framing and change. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scholarship on public relations in popular culture presents an uncritical and unproblematic understanding of the representation of public relations. The aim of this study is to offer an alternative reading by examining a television series, which foregrounds public relations techniques and irony, and by situating this study within postfeminist scholarship and the vampire genre. It analyses the representation of public relations in HBO's television series, True Blood , focusing on the campaign to pass the Vampire Rights Amendment run by American Vampire League. The findings reveal there is no single reality of public relations. Instead, multiple discourses of public relations invite the audience to engage critically with public relations concepts and meaning-making. The representation of a powerful, female practitioner highlights the paradoxes of postfeminism and does not resolve gender issues. Public relations scholars must begin to develop a more sophisticated understanding of the processes of representation in popular culture, including the subversive use of humour and irony to encourage critique of normative ideals, and the significance for popular understandings of, and engagement with, public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Public relations’ identity in research sets parameters that can limit or illuminate the field. In this paper we consider how public relations have been developing a “relationship identity” in research. General public relations research, as opposed to sub-disciplines such as crisis communication, is dominated by a relationships approach. The focus on relationship was designed to enlighten public relations research and even improve the practice. But has the emphasis on relationships and focus on the organization–public relationship (OPR) as an outcome really enlightened public relations research? This paper explores four concerns about the application: (1) problems associated with applying a concept from interpersonal communication to public relations, (2) how identities affect the formation of close relationships, (3) the value of close relationships for publics, and (4) the parasocial nature of organization–public relationships. While of some heuristic value, the relationship focus should not be embraced uncritically. Public relations researchers should be cautious about concentrating on close relationships between organizations and publics and seek appropriate re-formulations and alternatives that more accurately depict organization–public connections. We should consider the value of weak relationships and parasocial relationships if we are to maximize the value of a relationship approach to public relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The words of Lund and Nabavi, “we learn more about something if we talk about it” ( 2008 , p. 27), highlight the importance of conversation and dialogue in bringing about change – be it in an organization or in society. In South Africa, given the country's history, changed and new conversations are needed even though dialogue across ethnic, social and political divides does not come naturally. Despite celebrating 20 years of democracy, South Africans still face many economic, social and moral challenges. These challenges manifest themselves through protest actions against the slow pace of improvement in the townships, frustration with lack of personal progress among young South Africans and a lack of tolerance and understanding of the “others” ( Seekings, 2007 ). Unfortunately, change takes time and concerted effort ( Eyre & Littleton, 2013 ); trust must be built and is earned through participation in open dialogue and mutual negotiation ( Bardhan, 2011 , p. 97). Public relations (PR) activism as a manifestation of the postmodernist worldview and PR activists as change agents are at the heart of this exploratory study of the role of public relations in South African society. This article investigates the principles and methods used by Primedia Broadcasting South Africa's LeadSA initiative to start and facilitate social dialogue and to contribute to social change. Data were collected by means of interviews with key decision-makers at LeadSA. In addition, a variety of documents, such as electronic newsletters, internal documents and research reports, was analyzed. A case study approach was used to contextualize the theory and illustrate the principles and practices implemented by LeadSA. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article reviews the role of professional communication codes of ethics through a postmodern lens. It argues that codes of ethics interfere with individual ethical decision-making and move ethical responsibility away from the individual to that of the group. While recognizing the power of human agency in ethical decision-making, the article argues that in professional environments human agents also are bound by laws and contracts, which hamper unencumbered ethical decision-making in public relations practice. It critiques the role of public relations in promoting the ethical standards and ideologies of the powerful people they serve. They do this by presenting these ideologies and ethical standards as rational and objective. It argues for the rejection of universal codes of ethics of professional organizations in favor of individual, responsible ethical decision-making, which will be determined by the specific environment and situation of the practitioner. The moral impulse to the Other then becomes the guiding principle and the purest form of ethical decision-making in the workplace. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

What are the best ways to advance PR leadership? In exploring answers, we consider the last two decades of PR literature and identify two main tendencies. We link those two with general leadership literature and practices, as well as with literature on leadership pedagogy. We conclude that, rather than recent moves to look within the field, without self-reflection, to existing PR perspectives and figures for solutions, looking outwards has greater potential to transform not only the PR leadership literature, and PR practice, but also to create less hierarchical, and more democratic and “leaderful,” PR workplaces. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper argues that multinational corporations (MNCs) are best placed to progress public relations (PR) practice in Vietnam through significantly expanding their corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. While there are many MNCs in Vietnam that warrant analysis regarding their CSR efforts, American coffee giant Starbucks is an instructive starting point as it is generally renowned for its strategic CSR efforts in the United States and other developed markets. The authors believe there is a need to examine whether there is a spillover effect in Vietnam, due to Starbucks’ recent establishment in the country, to further CSR and PR research. Using content analysis, the authors investigated content relating to Starbucks Vietnam's CSR efforts on Starbuck's Facebook page and website, and in the mainstream media in Vietnam. The authors found a remarkable lack of strategy and sophistication regarding Starbucks Vietnam's CSR efforts and the communication of these efforts, resulting in unfocused, ad hoc and short-term CSR activities with limited stakeholder engagement, including with media stakeholders. The authors’ paper recommends clear identification of beneficiaries of CSR, and more strategic, sophisticated and long-term activities promoted with more engaging communication that would enable MNCs such as Starbucks to expand CSR in Vietnam and steer the country's emerging PR industry in a socially responsible direction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This experimental investigation ( N = 476) parses the influence of information source and interactivity on the effects of the 2012 United States presidential candidates’ online campaign communications on citizen-campaign political organization–public relations and political trust. The results indicate Facebook is differentially more effective than campaign websites at building both citizens’ relationships with the campaigns and trust in government, especially among users who engage in expressive behaviors triggering higher levels of elaboration and self-awareness. These findings support the direction of the exposure effects in the political organization–public relations model and extend two-way communication models by testing the influence of interactivity and specifying the online platform on which political expression exerts the greatest effects on relational outcomes and political trust. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concept of dialogue has always been a mainstay in the research literature on public relations. However, the fields of corporate communication and, more recently, business management have focused on different aspects of the notion. Despite such increased research interest, the concept of dialogue yields a range of analytical perspectives; this is due in part to the fragmentation of academic study, whereby scholars pursue parallel lines of inquiry that never intersect in interdisciplinary exchange. Therefore, the twofold purpose of this article is to explore the concept of dialogue in the context of business: on the one hand, to offer an interdisciplinary account of dialogue based on a model of analysis shaped by the five key dimensions of the concept; and on the other hand, to use the model to trace which perspectives are articulated in the related theory. In short, the article works towards a clearer understanding of the management implications that stem from the conceptualization of dialogue. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This literature review paper examines theoretical text on corporate storytelling to ascertain if it can be a valuable public relations (PR) strategy to heighten employee engagement, and to identify how storytelling may improve internal loyalty to the corporate brand that ultimately strengthens internal and external reputation – validating its worth for an organisation's corporate social responsibility (CSR). The paper includes an integrated literature review of contemporary text and theories on storytelling from academics and industry leaders relating to the benefits of using corporate stories; corporate stories and employee engagement; employee engagement and enhanced internal reputation; the link between internal and external reputation; the benefits of PR strategies to CSR; and the limitations of corporate storytelling. Results from a 2012 Australian corporate survey on the use of storytelling are also integrated into the review. Many theorists endorse corporate storytelling as a valuable medium for engaging with employees and improving internal reputation. However, both contemporary academic and industry analysis appears limited in acknowledgement of a link between internal storytelling and improved CSR. The paper draws a link between using corporate stories to engage more deeply with staff in order to strengthen internal loyalty and effect a stronger external reputation, as organisations seek to heighten their CSR credibility and make employees their reputation champions. This link appears to be given limited attention in current PR academic text. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article argues that organization–public relationships (OPR) generate challenges for PR as both a practical and theoretical discipline. The investigation is set against the backdrop of the growing pre-occupation with OPR in research and practice. The study highlights disconnections between how the field represents itself in an OPR context and the existence of particular attitudes and practices in each of these areas. It uses the Orwellian concept of doublethink as a conceptual device to tease out these tensions. These contradictions are framed as public relations doublethink and presented as critical propositions designed to illustrate the gaps that can exist between representation and reality. The article also debates the implications of these examples for the practical and theoretical development of public relations using research that considers how organizations listen to stakeholders on-line. It seeks to stimulate further debate through a new conceptualization of social media listening, as well as a set of inter-disciplinary insights concerned with the study of complex phenomenon. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The notion of public relations contributing to the fabric of society is heavily contested in the public sphere and under-researched by the academy. The authors of this paper propose that the study of the relevance of public relations to society can be enlightened by turning to economics. Using information asymmetry as a framework, the argument is that public relations can be analyzed as a social institution that both helps to mitigate market imperfections and consequently increases the efficiency with which society’s resources are allocated as well as the chances for more market participants to derive value out of economic transactions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]