PR education

The debate topic about how relevant a PR degree is in the PR industry is interesting. That is why I had decided to write my dissertation about PR education. My question is, why get a Public Relations degree? Is it providing students with fundamental practical skills, giving them an advantage over others or is it a way of making the PR industry more professional?

There is little written about Public Relations degrees and its effects in the PR industry. However, a chapter in Public Relations: Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice by L’Etang and Pieczka argues that PR education is a tool of professionalising the PR industry. Professional bodies such as CIPR and PRSA believe that these degrees will educate practitioners about the values of PR and reinforce PR’s reputation as a respected profession. Until there are entry requirements into the PR industry and professional codes are enforced, I don’t think PR will ever be considered a true profession. Another argument about PR education is that PR cannot be taught but must be learned on the job. In PR for Asia by Morris and Goldsworthy, they state that PR education is “definitely a second-best to practical experience”. Although I believe that with any job you must learn skills “on the job”, I think PR education gives insight and useful skills to students wanting to enter into the industry.

Through my time in this course I came in knowing very little about the PR industry, I had never written a press release or done a pitch. However, now I do feel more confident in applying for a PR job because I can physical show my portfolio of my press releases, newsletter and pitches that I have written during my studies. It seems that PR degrees can be a starting point for students wanting to learn more about the industry. I believe that PR degrees do give students fundamental skills need for the industry and shows to employers that they are dedicated since they have a degree about PR. I am glad I chose to write about PR education because it is an interesting topic and I’m interested to see what I find in my research.

The rise of new media

Due to the popularity and consistent use of the internet, people of all ages are continuously “surfing” the internet for information. The decline of newspaper sales is because more people are getting their information/news via the web. Despite what people are saying I don’t think newspapers will completely be absolute in the future. Older generations, those who don’t have internet connection and those travelling on public transportations still read the newspaper. Looking around while travelling on the tube I spot many people reading newspapers from the Guardian to Times. I believe people still do and will continue to buy newspapers.

The internet provides people with up-to-date information whereas newspapers can’t. I think that’s one of the many reasons why people read the news online because it’s consistently updated. For example, I personally have 5 websites that I religiously read daily and sometimes view up to 3 times a day. I keep checking CNN’s website because I like to be informed on current information from all over the world. Since CNN keeps updating their page almost hourly, I like to see if there are any new stories or information.

I also enjoy reading Perez Hilton’s website, the popular American celebrity gossip blogger. It was stated in class that bloggers just repeat what they read in newspapers however I believe that to be untrue, I believe for the most part it’s the other way around. I think newspapers read popular blogs or online magazines to see the newest celebrity gossip. On Perez’s website he states celebrity news that later I read in the newspaper the next day. Perez has become so famous that celebrity agents and paparazzi contact Perez about new stories so he is able to break that story first since over a million people read his blog daily.

With the popularity of bloggers, people argue that this demonstrates democracy because it creates a forum for people to express their opinions and get feedback. That is why PR agencies are now using popular bloggers like Perez to promote their clients or product. These blogs are a good a PR tools because it’s a third party endorsement however the downside is that these bloggers can also write negative pieces on products/celebrities. So I think it’s important that PR practitioners use both traditional and new media in promoting products to reach a wider audience. I think new media will continue to increase and become popular because more people are going online.

Reference:
http://women.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/women/celebrity/article3397552.ece
http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/16928530/perez_hilton_the_queen_of_mean

The most dreaded word...dissertation

One suggestion I would like to make for next year’s students is having dissertation classes in November or December. That way we, the students, can start thinking about what we want to write about and can have time to discuss it with others. The main complaint that I have heard from my classmates is time, we were not given enough time to start planning our dissertation. We knew we had to write it however, none of us knew that it would be this difficult in narrowing our topic and making sure it is plausible. We are all frustrated which showed in today’s class when no one raised their hand that they are confident in their topic. I feel that we had plenty of time last term to do the dissertation classes and we could have been refining our topic during the Christmas break.

Like most of my classmates have stated we have too much on our plate this term with taking on 3 classes and then preparing for our dissertation. Last term we only had 2 classes and it would have been more feasible to have taken the dissertation class then. All of my flatmates for their class had to submit their one page proposal in November, have met with their professor one-on-one and now have their topic approved. In talking to them they know exactly what they are going to write about and feel confident. Whereas I feel like my classmates and I are running around trying to get our topic approved and the dissertation is due in 5months. I know it was stated that we were taking the dissertation class in February however, we should have had it in November or at least been given the option to vote on our preference.

For next year, I hope that my suggestion is taken into consideration and it is stressed early on how difficult writing a dissertation is and for students to start thinking of their topics. I think only in today’s lecture my classmates and I fully realized how specific these dissertation have to be.

Corporate Social Responsibility

I think CSR programs are a win-win situation for both businesses and society. Some of the arguments of CSR as stated in Public Relations-Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice, is that businesses participate in CSR activities for economical and reputational reasons. My response is so what, if it helps companies improve their reputation or gain more revenue, these critics are missing out on the big picture. It is great that companies are trying to be more socially responsible and create sustainable programs to make people aware of environmental causes and trying to improve the future.

In America it is very common for companies to invest in programs that help society. All throughout my childhood my schools received their computers through Dell or Microsoft companies. Coming from a low economic school district without these companies help, my schools wouldn’t have had that many computers in our classrooms, so it helped students. Because of this and the good things companies try to do for my society, I am more willing to buy products from a company that is committed to helping social and environmental issues.

For example, Toyota was the first car company to create Hybrid cars which is fuel efficient and its emission is cleaner than other cars. By Toyota creating the first Hybrid car in 1995, more car manufacturers have followed in their footsteps. I don’t see how CSR can be bad, if car companies are trying to promote cars that emit and use less gas which help the environment. I can understand that some critics say that cars are still emitting dangerous gases however, cars will still be produced due to supply and demand. If these car manufacturers are going to produce cars at least they are cleaner and use less gas. Toyota didn’t have to create these Hybrid cars but decided to commit to good ethical behaviour through CSR. Yes, it helped increase their sales but these cars are at least safer for the environment. That is why these cars have become popular because they are more environmental friendly.

I think more consumers are becoming aware of CSR and support companies that provide sustainable programs. Although CSR can help businesses appear more social responsible, my argument again is its a win-win situation for society. These CSR programs will have a lasting impact on society and its future, so I don’t understand how it could be considered bad. I think if businesses gain economical profit because of their good causes, I don’t have a problem with it because they are at least doing something to help society. More companies should commit to CSR programs because they are in the spotlight and consumers trust them, so they should be giving back to society.

Source: Toyota: http://www.toyota.com/about/our_commitment/environment/vehicles/hybrids.html

Diversity in PR

Wednesday’s guest speaker was very interesting because I never knew that there was a field in PR that was specifically for helping create diversity in companies. I didn’t realize that these diverse PR agencies were developing strategies to help target certain ethic groups for businesses. For me, I just thought that companies are trying to be more socially responsible by representing different minorities in their campaigns or advertising. I was even more surprised that foreign companies are resisting to reach out to different minority groups or fully representing them in their campaigns. It is important for business/companies to mirror their diverse customers, so that they can feel like companies cares about them and recognize them.

In reading Managing Public Relations by J. Gruing and T. Hunt, they argue that it is vital that companies outreach to different minority groups. These authors state that most companies respond to different minorities groups by putting more “pictures of blacks and Hispanics in their advertising”. However, they argue that companies should: “conduct research to determine how the organisation is regarded in minority communities”, and target ethnic-orientated publications to fully reach diverse customers. Through these methods these authors state companies can fully embrace their diverse audience.

Coming from California which holds the largest Hispanic population, businesses are constantly outreaching to this ethic group. Hispanics are the largest minority group in the U.S, so companies make sure that they include them in their advertising or campaigns since they are a huge audience and/or potential consumers. Since Spanish is the second most spoken language in the U.S due to the Hispanic population, most companies provide their information to consumers in both English and Spanish. For example, Time Warner Cable the largest cable service in CA provides an option for English or Spanish language when you call them, get pamphlets or view their website. Therefore, Time Warner Cable is making sure that their public relations material targets their diverse audience.

I do feel it is important that companies reach out to their diverse cliental base. Companies including different ethnic groups in their campaigns will not only help in their sales but signal that they recognize different minority groups in society which is important.

Feminisation of PR

I am very interested in why there are more female PR practitioners than men. I had read a 2007 PRWeek survey that revealed that 63% of PR practitioners* are women. This had me wondering, why aren’t there more men in PR? I even did a blog examining why PR is dominated by women. In reading Kevin Moloney’s book Rethinking Public Relations: The Spin and the Substance, he offers several suggestions to why women dominate PR. One of his theories was that women are better at communicating. This was brought up in class today when we were discussing “feminisation” traits. Several people in class associated women with being better communicators. It is debatable rather women are actually better at communicating due to biological or social traits. I would agree like most of my classmates that women are better at communicating and that is why they are enter into PR because ideally it's about creating a two-way communication between an organisation and the public.

Although women dominate the PR industry, they are still underpaid compared to males. In America there are gender discrimination laws that are aimed at preventing unequal pay and discrimination in the work force. However, in class it was stated that in a 2001 study, women in the U.S earn 46% less than men. As I read Moloney’s book he also discussed that women in PR are underpaid as well in the U.S and in the UK. If it is know that women are unpaid, why is nothing being done to fix this problem? It seems to me that since nothing is being done to correct this problem, it has become the norm that women will just be unpaid although they dominate the PR industry. When will equality in pay in PR exist? This seems to be a question that no one has a solution for or is trying to fix.

Reference:
*http://offlinehbpl.hbpl.co.uk/misc/WRP/ReportsandSurveys/SalarySurvey2007-RESULTS.pdf

Stakeholders

In reading The Public Relations Handbook by Alison Theaker, she defines company’s stakeholders as employees, suppliers, members of community and customers. She elaborates the importance of stakeholders when she states: “these stakeholders should be recognized by those who actions may impinge upon them” (pg.61). I realize how important and powerful stakeholders can be to a company. For example, in my city San Diego in 2006, Wal-Mart was trying to build a superstore. However, due to public pressure Wal-Mart was denied a building permit by San Diego's Government due to the community’s protest. Wal-Mart’s superstores include a grocery store inside their normal Wal-Mart which small businesses and local San Diego grocery stores were against. In an article I was reading about this incident it stated that “the California Supreme Court backed the San Diego community…saying that cities and counties can place restrictions on what sort of stores can open in their communities.” (http://www.csmonitor.com/2007/0619/p02s01-ussc.html)

Although Wal-Mart is well known in America for having the lowest prices, they have a bad reputation for denying work unions, having poor health benefits and paying low wages to their employees. San Diego denied Wal-Mart’s superstores after growing community petitions to our local government. This goes to show that stakeholders are very important for a company. Just because of Wal-Mart’s bad reputation and poor employment standards they were blocked from building their superstore in San Diego.

In viewing Theaker’s book she states that it's always important to “map stakeholders and understand their relationships to the specific project”. In order for Wal-Mart to have been successful in opening a superstore in San Diego, they should have ensured that they would have the support of the community and government. If Wal-Mart had a better reputation and treatment towards their employees they probably would have had the support of the San Diego community. Therefore, it is important that companies ensure that they have the support of their main stakeholders because it can greatly affect their company.

PR ethics

In class we were given a scenario that we worked for a computer company and we gave out temporary computers to journalist to test out and write about but they had to return it afterwards. However, one journalist has asked to keep her computer before she has released her review. The question was what we would do, let the journalist keep the computer or ask for it back. I wouldn’t agree to let the journalist keep the computer because for me it’s a bribe and if the other journalists found out it would ruin the company’s reputation. Although it would help build up a good relationship with this journalist for my computer company, it wouldn’t be fair since the other journalists had to return their computers. Plain and simple the journalist is hinting that she would write a good review, in return we would have to let her keep the computer.

I would base my decision on the fact that it would be morally wrong but also I would be afraid of the exposure from the media, that my computer company hands out bribes for good reviews.

In reading Public Relations-Critical Debates and Contemporary Practice by Jacquie L’Etang & Magda Pieczka they state companies use public relations as a technique or tool for enhancing reputation. It's hoped that PR practitioners do as Bentham states, “the greatest good for the greatest number”. So returning back to the computer scenario, I would be doing the greatest good for the company by not subjecting to bribes for just one journalist. Although practitioners should adhere to PR codes of ethnic I feel that in reality most practitioners do what’s in the best interest for a company’s reputation. Since PR practitioners are hired by companies to look after their reputation, I can see why practitioners sometimes don't follow the rule "the greatest good for the greatest number", but instead the greatest good for their company they are representing. For me, I believe PR is helping to build a company’s reputation and not necessarily that PR practitioners are trying to follow the best codes of ethics.

The power of PR

For my Corporate Communication course I had to put together a crisis management presentation. I focused on Ford and Firestone’s recall in the United States in August 2000. Due to defected tires, Ford’s SUVs were crashing and rolling over which led to 134 deaths. However, both Ford and Firestone reacted differently to this crisis which I found interesting. After the recall Ford sent out press releases stating that their company had shut down three of their truck assembly plants to free up new tires and that Ford was dedicated to replacing these defected tires. However, Firestone continued to insist that there wasn’t a problem but stated it was due to hot climate and under-inflated tires that lead to these tire blowouts. Only a year later Firestone spoke to their customers through a website about the recall.

My first reaction was that Ford had done the right protocol by reassuring their customers that they cared about fixing their defected tires. Looking back at both of these companies reactions, people trust Ford again because Ford made it a point to speak to the media and through commercials stating that they were sorry and were making Ford safe again. This helped re-build Ford’s reputation whereas it seemed like Firestone only cared about the safety of their customers when backed into a corner and not because it’s a part of their corporate philosophy. Most Americans even today do not trust Firestone's tires although the recall was 8yrs ago.

Risk Issues and Crisis Management by Michael Regester and Corporate Communication by Paul Argenti give helpful tips and suggestions about how to prepare and react to a crisis. It looks like Firestone did a horrible job in dealing with this crisis since they ignored all the PR rules. I think if Firestone had followed these textbook suggestions of having an open communication and talking directly to their affected customers they would have rebuild their reputation. However, in my corporate class an interesting point was made, Firestone was probably in denial that after all their years of making tires that there will be a problem with their product. Also, I can read all these PR crisis management textbooks but it comes down to the fact if companies would actually listen to me. Someone working for Firestone might have suggested all of these textbook guidelines to help rebuild up their reputation, but it doesn’t mean that Firestone’s corporate executives will listen. This helped remind me that a PR team can be prepared for a crisis but we are not that powerful. It is up to the executives of a company to listen to the PR’s recommendation when a crisis occurs.

Crisis Communications

Today's exercise of dealing with a crisis management was a good practice for what to expect when working in PR. It was more difficult than I expected, to make sure you say the right thing, to sound sincere and concise in releasing a statement. For the exercise we were given I learned that you have to be careful of what you say to the media because any wrong word or sentence will make your company look bad. For example, when the School of Education group told the parents that their school was safe and would remain open, everyone attacked them. It was argued that the school should be shut down and that the School of Education group shouldn’t say any information they didn’t know was accurate. I learned that you really have to think about what you are going to say to the public and the media without being attacked and yet trying to keep everyone calm.

In reading Corporate Communication by Paul Argenti, he provides a chapter about handling crisis. Argenti states that when panic sets in and there is a media frenzy some companies can add to the crisis by not coordinating all their information and making wrong statements due to pressure. Argenti states that lack of preparation by companies about how to handle a crisis can also make a crisis even more severe when it finally does occur. However, it is difficult to prepare for a crisis. With a crisis there is an element of surprise so I don’t think a company can be fully prepared for what might happen. For example, the September 11 attack took everyone by surprise there was no way to prepare United Airlines for something like that. I think the only thing companies can really do is handle each crisis case by case. However it is important for companies to organize the different roles people would play when a crisis does occur, like who would handle the media and who would handle communicating to the CEO, etc. I think that’s all the preparation a company can really have.