Search

We present the last part of this special issue on Use of Artificial Intelligence in Communication: Ethical Implications for Media. This editorial examines the role that humans should play in the responsible use of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in the media. It provides an overview of transparency as an ethical obligation in relation to trust and truthfulness when using GenAI to create different kinds of content. Finally, it enters into the debate about the moral status of machines as we anticipate ethical questions in the study of ethics and GenAI in the media. Six articles complete this special issue with studies examining implications of GenAI for semiotics research, public relations, advertising, fact checking, information literacy and journalism education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The controversy surrounding ChatGPT has reopened the debate about the impact of new technologies in many fields of activities, including communication and PR. This study mapped Romanian PR practitioners' use of generative AI and their perception of it, placing a special focus on the ethical concerns involved and the implications for the profession itself. We took a quantitative-qualitative approach by using both a survey and semi-structured interviews. Our goal was to determine the impact of generative artificial intelligence (AI) in the Romanian PR industry and to understand the reasons and challenges behind integrating generative AI in PR practice. The survey findings revealed a substantial adoption (73.5%) of AI within the Romanian PR community, with an overwhelming 91.6% of them using ChatGPT. The satisfaction level was remarkably high, with 92% expressing satisfaction with generative AI application efficacy. Benefits included timesaving, work simplification, and the reduction of repetitive tasks. Surprisingly, not only did 67.3% of respondents not perceive AI as an immediate threat to PR jobs, but 80.5% believed AI represents an opportunity for the industry. Indeed, almost all our interviewees admitted relief and satisfaction when using generative AI tools to complete their tasks. However, some concerns were expressed regarding the quality of the generative AI content and, in particular, the need to always check this kind of content by a human editor before using it. Moreover, PR professionals' main ethical concerns are related to the issue of transparency towards their clients when using AI tools to produce different types of content. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper focuses on the concept of the impact area as the intersection between the common issues of the personal agenda and the public agenda. Expanding the concept of agenda-setting effects, which focuses mainly on the relation between the public and media agendas, we have examined the congruity of the public agenda and the personal agenda as a contingent condition for the strength of these effects. The concept also distinguishes between the top-priority issues of the public and personal agendas, setting out that the general public's search for information about these top-priority issues highlights the need for orientation. We used data from Spain to focus on the national elections (2011, 2015 and 2019), plus the beginning of the pandemic (2020). The study includes a content analysis of the El País daily newspaper for the four periods and a variety of surveys and representative electoral barometers. To those data we have added an analysis of the main search topics on Google Trends for each of the four years. The results reveal that variations in the relationship between the public and personal agendas are linked to the strength of the agenda-setting effect between the media and public agendas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes the research published during the period 2011-2020 by five leading Spanish peer-reviewed journals of communication, aiming to identify the most common theoretical frameworks and standard theories. A statistically representative sample of the articles published during that period was systematically selected from the five journals of communication ranked as having the greatest continuity and impact according to SJR-Scopus: Profesional de la Información, Comunicar, Communication & Society, Estudios sobre el Mensaje Periodístico and Revista Latina de Comunicación Social. A coding protocol that includes 13 variables and 74 categories was defined and applied to compare the type of theoretical frameworks and the theories in the different subject areas observed. The results show that although almost all the papers studied have a theoretical framework, fewer than half are grounded on recognizable theories. Specifically, journalism and digital communication are the two subject areas whose articles frequently include standard theories: in journalism by the support of classical theories of communication (framing, agenda setting, journalistic professional cultures and roles), and in digital communication by the support of more theoretically dispersed frameworks. Theoretical frameworks developed by literature review are common in other subject areas (such as audiovisual studies, public relations and documentation). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms are being used to shift the balance of power, functioning as tools of resistance for activist publics on social justice issues. This article uses a postmodern approach to public relations with the purpose of clarifying the role of dissensus in social media contexts, connecting it to the principles of the ethics of care that promote dialogue but not necessarily with the aim of achieving consensus. Scholars and practitioners can claim a broader role for public relations in society by considering and analyzing conflicting perspectives in digital communication as a way to engage with activist struggles in social justice and human rights causes. By applying critical discourse analysis (CDA) to a case study that articulates interdisciplinary concepts, this research analyzes the first national weekly Portuguese newspaper Expresso support for the anti-racist cause through its promotion of a manifesto and a Facebook post against racist intimidation. In a contemporary society characterized by fragmentation, taking a public stance on important social and political issues, as in the case analyzed, demands moving beyond consensus-driven communication. The data confirm that social media platforms are not necessarily dialogic spaces and that conflicting communicative perspectives may be a useful way to analyze social change in public relations theory and practice. By taking a public stand against racist intimidation, assuming the possible alienation of specific publics –and “Facebook bullying”– this private newspaper also demonstrated the practical application of the assumptions of the ethics of care. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study develops models capable of finding empirical relations between social factors in practitioners' private lives, that is to say, extra-organizational or external factors to the work environment that affect the career promotion of female professionals in public relations. The aim is to analyse some gender issues at a global level by exploring the Latin American subcontinent, where there is an accepted lack of knowledge. With that purpose, the focus is on the public relations practitioners' care responsibilities (such as living with children or dependents) and if these responsibilities influence their opportunities for career development in Latin American countries. Quantitative data from 803 Latin American practitioners representing 18 countries were analysed through predictive multivariable analysis with data mining techniques, using hierarchical decision trees. The applied statistical method is valid to explain some of the extra-organizational factors that affect female career promotion in public relations and can be used for other studies. Results empirically found that family dependency and caring responsibilities affect the career opportunities of women, and that family responsibilities do not affect men's chances to career promotion. Therefore, the predictive analysis statistically proves that gender can be a determinant factor for career promotion in these circumstances. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article applies La Boétie's concept of voluntary servitude to public relations historiography through a historic-critical analysis. Written in the same Renaissance era than other early history books of the history of public relations such as Machiavelli's The Prince, The discourse of voluntary servitude (1552-1553) reveals to the publics the power that would lie in their refusal to engage with the authority (or in other words, the state, the prince or the monarch). The result is that, through a postmodern approach of emphasizing dissensus, the concept of voluntary servitude and its encouragement of activism and passive resistance can be considered an early precedent of critical public relations theory. Furthermore, without being judgmental, La Boétie invites us to a reflection on the role of self-responsibility of the publics in their power relationships with organizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective of this work is to analyse how the representation in the public sphere of the Crown and the Head of the Spanish State is managed towards public opinion through public, official, and unofficial institutional acts, as reported by the House of H. M. the King. To answer the research questions contained in this objective, a quantitative methodological design based on content analysis is carried out (Krippendorff, 2002). This is applied to a corpus of the 996 public, official, and unofficial acts, contained in the web institution of the House of H. M. the King, between 2015 and 2019, for its subsequent computer processing with SPSS statistical software. Through the concept of intramethod triangulation, a qualitative analysis is applied in an auxiliary way to answer RQ3. The results show not only that the presence of the Royal Family, in the acts observed, contributes towards the public staging of its constitutional functions, but also that there is a map of specific audiences on which the Royal House projects pertinent legitimising messages (regarding the Crown and the Head of State) based on perceived social demands. This confirms the existence of a dialogical communication system, supported by a strategic conception of Crown-society relations, which is resolved mainly through ceremonial acts. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article analyses the use of social networks as a public relations strategy within the framework of a crisis communication strategy deployed following a terrorist attack. More specifically, the Twitter account of the Police of Catalonia (@mossos) is analysed in view of the attacks that took place in Barcelona and Cambrils in August 2017. Methodologically, content analysis of the Catalan police's Twitter account is performed through the collection and subsequent analysis of messages issued in the 10-day period following the first attack. Additionally, and as a result of this research, semi-structured interviews were conducted with eight experts in crisis communication, with the aim of determining, within the framework of this case study, the functions and uses of social networks in the context of crises caused by terrorist attacks. The results show how, in a context of crisis communication, the messages posted by the Mossos d'Esquadra's Twitter account transcend mere service information to become an asset of public relations, engagement and constant interaction and mutual collaboration and dialogue between the Catalan police and the population that it administers. As a whole, this has an impact on the improvement of the image and reputation of the Catalan police among its fellow citizens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The economic crisis suffered in Spain in the last ten years has forced management of the country's public museums to look for new sources of funding with which to compensate the reduction of public funding. Business sponsoring has been one of the most intensely studied channels. One of the consequences of the new scenario is the weak bargaining position of museums before sponsors. There are clues that suggest that a new model has arrived in Spain: museums are used as public relations agencies by businesses and the subtlety that once characterised the relationship between a sponsored museum and its sponsor disappears. The article lays out the development of business sponsorship in public museums in Spain, illustrating the changes that have taken place in this relationship. Through a content analysis of cases that answer to the new model and structured interviews with cultural journalists from written media, it is shown that sponsors do not achieve their objective, which is to factor the communication media into the equation to increase their brand notoriety and/or strengthen their corporate image. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article studies the communicative structures of the main companies in Spain. Based on the fact that these organisations have significant economic and human resources, the structure of their communication areas is analysed, as well as the specific training of their top managers. In addition, the article will outline the main concerns that these organisational structures have with regard to the day-to-day management of business communication (transparency, reputation, identity, etc.). To do this, the object of the study is made up of the main companies in the Spanish continuous market, some of them included in the Ibex 35 in 2018. This population has been selected because it has the greatest impact on the national economy and is susceptible to greater information transparency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The field of public relations is often misunderstood, due to its hybridity, complexity and competing perspectives within the field of scholarship. This essay, which is based on extensive engagement with literature conducted over decades of teaching and researching the subject, outlines the main schools of thought within the field. These are summarised as a) Excellence; b) Advocacy; c) Dialogue; and d) Critical and Cultural approaches. Each perspective reflects variations in understanding of the role of public relations in theory and practice, ranging from an idealised conceptualisation of the practitioner to a demonised view of the practice. It refers throughout to different attitudes to ethics found within these schools, as approaches to ethics provide insight into understandings of the role of public relations within society. The piece concludes with reflections on the growing engagement with promotional culture and emerging research directions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper originates from the results of the EU financed project, ECOPSI, which advanced understanding about the professional competences of European public relations and communication managers. The paper focuses on deficiencies in competences that practitioners identify for themselves and on the needs for the future generation that will perform four professional roles: chief communication officer (CCO), crisis communication, social media, and internal communication. Questions to understand the roles and their future requirements were defined around: means for achievement of current competences to perform the role, competence gaps, specialized competences, and future needs. They were explored with qualitative methodology through 53 in depth interviews. The analysis of data shows that European professionals understand and evaluate their way of performing the practice through a complex framework of competences. The findings provide evidence of synergies in the understanding and interpretation of the four roles and there is common identification of on-going gaps and future needs, suggesting that public relations is a maturing discipline with an accumulated set of standards in Europe. The study also targets the capacity of intervention for advancing the profession to an approach of knowledge acquisition and supporting the previous academic consensus about the necessity of a body of knowledge and specialized skills for professionalization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The main objective was to evaluate if museums around the world are migrating from a 1.0 Online Pressroom model to a 2.0 Social Media Newsroom model, adapting their website to a wide group of publics and not just to the media. This article analyzes the websites of the 100 most visited museums worldwide, from 24 countries. It was applied a content analysis methodology, studying the characteristics of the sections devoted to news, the information resources used and interaction systems available on them. The results show that museums still have a long way to come in terms of social media. The traditional technicpie of sharing news exclusively with journalists still persists. Most museums still think that their websites are a place to disseminate news and information, but not a place to interact and engage in dialogue with their publics. It can help improve the understanding of how organizations disseminate information and engage in dialogue (or not) with their publics through their specific sections of news. It also contributes towards identifying the strengths and weaknesses of online communication policies and activities of organizations and to help improving their communication management, making entities more open and community-oriented. The study reflects the outcomes of a 3-year research project. It presents a specific methodology that help researchers and practitioners to assess and improve the online tools to engage in dialogue with their publics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This research explores the opinions of Basque advertising professionals regarding the importance of distinct areas of competence to their daily work and those in which they plan to pursue additional training over the next five years. Results of a survey conducted in 2016 are compared with data from a similar study conducted in 2008. Findings indicate that although sector opinion in the Basque County regarding the relative need for specific competences in the workplace has not substantially changed between 2008 and 2016, digital marketing skills have become substantially more important during this period. The areas of competence practicing professionals continue to consider most relevant to their work are creativity and strategic planning, followed by digital marketing, sales skills, management, media planning, graphic design and advertising copy writing. In addition to the functional competences covered in the prior study cited above, this study addresses attitudinal competences, which individuals surveyed agreed were crucial in their field. The findings presented here offer professional insight into the relative weight that competences should have in distinct areas of undergraduate advertising and public relations curricula. Of interest to schools operating within the European Credit Transfer and Accumulation System, the data compiled on the importance of attitudinal competences in daily sector work strongly suggest that attitudinal competences should cany a specific weight in ECTS credits awarded in this type of undergraduate programme. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

La noción de públicos como diversos colectivos específicos y segmentados ha supuesto un cambio de paradigma en las relaciones públicas y la comunicación corporativa Esta transformación en la forma de entender el sujeto receptor del proceso comunicativo permite que la función comunicativa pueda gestionar la relación entre la organización y estos colectivos de manera más eficaz. Para ello, las organizaciones aplican procesos como la identificación y la jerarquización de los públicos, para poder comunicarse y relacionarse con ellos de forma específica. Este artículo busca reconocer qué concepción de públicos predomina en los departamentos de comunicación de las empresas del sector energético en España, a la vez que evaluar el nivel de coherencia existente entre la identificación y jerarquización de los públicos y la implementación de las acciones comunicativas por parte de estas empresas. La metodología de estudio fue de carácter cuantitativo dirigida a las empresas del sector energético español y se llevó a cabo a través de un cuestionario en una plataforma online. Los resultados indican una dicotomía en la concepción de públicos en las empresas energéticas: por una parte, se los concibe como grupos específicos y por otro se los considera como un colectivo masificado. Sin embargo, se observa que existe una coherencia metodológica entre la importancia asignada a los públicos y la implementación de acciones de comunicación hacia ellos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Before the Internet, social media and search engine optimisation, there was the “information superhighway" and the “Megachip age" in the 1980s. This paper, drawing on the archive of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA), reviews early discussion and adoption of innovative technology by practitioners through the application of historical method. It finds they were slow to appreciate the benefits of technical advances in communication and held doggedly to print-based models of mediated communication. Practitioners and thought leaders did not foresee that information would be available to more people through ICT developments. Practice responses, developed by reference to Rogers' Diffusion Theory, were in three categories (in descending order of frequency) of Ignorers, Cautious/Sense-makers and Modernists/Adopters. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years in Spain, university teaching of Communication has been adapted to European Higher Education Area. This process has been studied and analyzed by scientific community of Communication. Thanks this interest, today there are several academic research and papers about this issue. In this context, our aim is to built a global view of the academic papers which have been published in Spanish scientific Communication magazines about adjustment to EHEA of degrees and postgraduate programs of Journalism, Audiovisual Communication, and Advertising and Public Relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Football clubs are benchmark sports organisations for public opinion and society that have become official sources for the media. Communications management at the Communications departments of football clubs is crucial for sports journalists, as it determines both the quantity and the relevancy of the information produced, which is required and demanded by the media. This paper analyses the sports journalists' perception of the Real Madrid CF communication model during the 2011-2012 season and their positioning within the information ecosystem that has been developed by this organisation to keep in contact with its strategic target audience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Museums are developing a broader commitment to society. Strategic Communication can decisively contribute to the development of this new mission of museums. The principal aim of this article is to study the importance given to communication by the museums, and to examine how they manage communication with their publics, analysing those aspects which are linked to the communication planning process of the institutions. The results show that communication has no strategic dimension in the museums, since it is conceived as a short-term tactical tool, and it is not considered as a key resource to engage in dialogue with their publics. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The purpose of this paper is to recall the early historical development of public relations (PR) in five European countries so as to trace the emergence of the study and teaching of PR as a profession in Europe as compared to the United States. In light of recent accounts of the history of PR, the main goal of this study is to contribute to a comparative, international historical narrative by providing an overview of the main events that shaped the early stages of the profession in the United Kingdom, Italy, France, Germany and Spain. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Blogs have strengthened its position as an online communication tool to increase the dialogue between organizations and their publics, and this thanks to their interactive capacity and easy use. Although blogs didn't enjoy the popularity and swift penetration of social networks, Spanish companies are gradually incorporating this channel to their Public Relations plans. Thus, it becomes increasingly interesting to develop a quantitative index allowing determining the degree of compliance to excellence criteria. This paper aims to identify the main factors in order to value the quality of a corporate blog, describes the design of the evaluation index and, later, applies this index to study the corporate blogs of the main Spanish companies in order to unveil how they are exploiting its many advantages. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Financial institutions are the protagonists of the ongoing economic crisis. Recent financial scandals and dubious management have emerged while an intense debate on the responsibility of business has risen. In academia, the stakeholder management school has earned acceptance; and one question arises: is orderly, coherent management possible when executives embrace the demands of customers and other stakeholders? A case study from the banking sector would be of interest, in order to ascertain if the industry, traditionally branded as opaque and ill-disposed towards public demands, has embraced stakeholder theory assumptions in its management practice. This case allows a deepen thought in the field of communication management, far removed from window-dressing, which stands as a true social dialogic dimension. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social dimension of the firm appears to be an inescapable reality. Its presence in the public sphere compels managers to face a more complex environment. People and entities--customers, employees, public authorities and civil society groups- expect and demand not only financial benefits, but social value. The path over responsibilities comes out with a wider range, and managers should know how to deal with different and every so often contradictory ones. The management of communication relationships with different publics could promote understanding and strengthen credibility in social environment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we have reviewed and classified some recent researches about the situational theory. We have noticed that most of them try to include new variables in the theory or try to combine it with other models, while few of them have altered its structure. Furthermore, we have concluded that most of them do not have any kind of continuity and there are not empirical studies that prove their validity. However, all of them corroborate the situational theory and, since they link it with actual issues, they prove its permanence. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores various principles of internal communication within non-profit organizations. Even though many non-profit groups have launched social communication marketing campaigns, few studies have been published that document the effectiveness of these campaigns. The article examines several of these principles that include outside information created apart from these non-profits as well as institutional identity. The article accentuates the importance of hiring people with specific knowledge of public relations principles.

The article examines the concept of commercial value and the right of publicity in the United States' legal system as well as in Spain. Since the invention of the camera and the use of photography in journalism, the idea of personal images has been a crucial form of communication. According to Spanish regulations, the commercial value of a person's image used in the press is also considered to be part of a person's right to privacy and identity. The article explores how the United States' regulation on using certain images for publicity could also be applied towards existing regulation in Spain.