Week 7

aWow, 3 readings for this week... packing them in big time there! But yet again they were well chosen for our understanding. Ok, I'll begin with chapter 10 of the text book, 'Public Relations - Theory and Practice' by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi. The points that I found especially interesting/relevant to my personal learning experience included:

• Finally, a reason why public relations is recognised predominently for its work with the media. The text states that this is because we can finally see the work of the practitioners through the media and the outcomes of their efforts.



• Habermas was one of many analysts who noted that the pr industry grew quickly through the demands and influence of the press/media. The text emphasises that the relationship between journalists and pr practitioners is not a one-way relationship. Pr practitioners provide information through media releases, and in return, journalists provide information through media monitoring ("...reading, watching and listening to the media every day") to enhance their scope and role in understanding the publics opinion.



• The point that pr practitioners need to comply to a list of news values is relevant to me personally as I study both a pr and journalist degree. It is funny to see the differing perspectives of such techniques that are used by both careers. For example, in our journalism class, money as a news value is not even explored in the text books.



• Pr practitioners have a responsibility to host their media releases in accordance to the strict deadlines cast by journalists. Therefore it is important that practitoners understand and coordinate with the time restrictions of different media outlets.



• The text states that there are two important components to understanding the news room a practitioner is interested in releasing information to. It is first important to "...understand the personnel make-up of a newsroom..." and to "...know the names and roles of the journalists within the newrooms in your target area...". It is important to know the journalists by name aswell. Practitioners need to consider the media means through which they are providing information to the public as different sources have different customs/layouts/styles/specifications.


• "Selecting the best media for the message is extremely important....Different media target different publics." Practitioners need to evaluate the best media form for their message, this involves staying up to date with media trends.


• Common tools for dealing with the media include the media release (press release, it is important to use appropriate language and format, ie news style, in these otherwise the practitioners release will become one of many rejects. Media releases are assessed according to who you are, the headline and the lead.), a media kit (includes media releases and may also include "...a fact sheet; a backgrounder; a feature article; a newsletter; a biography or profile; a brochure; a map; a calendar of events; a list of key personnel; an annual report; key newspaper clippings; a poster; a keyring; a business card; a media pass; even a t-shirt or cap.") and media conferences (which are held to desseminate news to a wide audience, allow all media sources access to the news at the same time and allow journalists to "ask follow-up questions").


• The text states that media relations involves both technical and magerial roles in pr practice. It also "...calls on the key attributes of writing, organisation and planning, as well as keen interpersonal skills and up-to-the-minute knowledge of news and current events. It also calls for an understanding of the specific nature of the media environment."

I found this reading particularly interesting because it relates to the other course I am doing at university, journalism. The fact that both careers relate and cross-over so often is interesting and allows for enhanced understanding of the role of each professional. This reading has really allowed me to gain insight into the relevance of the information relationship between journalists and PR practitioners.

The next reading by Becker and Van Emden, 'Speaking as Part of a Group', was extremely useful in relation to public speaking although contrastingly focusing on the group presentation. The points I found to be especially important include:

• The benefits of group presentations include a collection of varying abilities, the opportunity to express abilities towards teamwork, the workload is shared and there is a variety of skill, technique and opinion. I find that the most important advantage of group presentations is that it provides a supportive context for the speakers, each individual are not left on their own, they are supported as a component of a group.
• I found it interesting that the text states that the group should use their stronger speaker at the start of the oration to provide a briefing of the topic. I was suprised to read that the text recognises that peoples confidence changes according to a situation. For example a shy person may come alive in front of an audience.
• Visual aids, a change in pace and volume and a change in speakers are all techniques for keeping the audiences interest.
• The suggestion that speakers wear formal shoes because it encourages them to stand up straight was interesting and a point that I have not heard before.
• "A good introduction gives time for listeners to settle and get themselves ready to hear the speaker, before you start giving the essential information in a way which catches their attention." I found this to be a useful summary of the aim of the introduction.
• The low point is two-thirds into the oration and this is the time in which the speakers need to re-gain the attention of the audience using the techniques I mentioned above, or (as the text states) through humour.
• I was suprised by the relevance of rehearsals to the progression of the speech and also by the fact that people end their orations on an irritable level through words such as "That's it!" as opposed to simply pausing and thanking the audience.
• I personally find question time to be incredibly difficult because it is hard to recognise the information that is neccessary to be able to answer the questions. The text was especially useful here in representing how the group can endeavour such questions that are likely to be asked, and how to handle question time in a successful matter.

Although this text was extremely relevant to the pr course in terms of group presentations/debate, I found it to be irrelevant in some of the information and points it drew on. For example the information on choosing a topic for the debate is irrelevant to our situation. Despite this I found it useful when the text put the oral presentations into a context in which doing them will be relevant to our future careers. The text mentions that group presentations can ultimately aid students in interview processes, because they can draw on the fact that they have teamwork experience, a component that is important to the majority of businesses.

The last reading from Drew, titled 'Oral Presentations' from 'The Student Skills Guide' is another example of an important academic article which provides information and points that need to be considered when dealing with oral presentations in a learning context. The points that I thought were important from this text included:

• The exploration of nerves in a speaking context was helpful in that it provided relaxation techniques or techniques for dealing with nerves (such as breathing and viaulising a "pleasant scene") and recognised that although the speaker may know that they are nervous, often the audience can't tell. I also thought the idea of providing visual aid to draw the audiences attention away from the speaker and onto the visual is especially helpful.
• A presentation longer the 20 minutes can be tedious and therefore it may be neccessary to break it up into activites.
• "Knowing your topic will increase confidence." A short yet extremely important point in speeches. I personally feel that this point is critical and essential to oral presentations.
• The methods of providing yourself with cue cards or points that allow the speaker to talk about the topic in a conversational tone as opposed to a drawing, 20 minute talk, which can become boring for the audience.

This reading is very alike to the one above and therefore I didn't feel the need to repeat the points that were already made by the first text. Despite this I found that the second reading was relevant and essential in enhancing the understanding of the first text as it provided a differing view of the topic.

The focus of both readings on oral presentations bases around the need to hold the attention of the audience through techniques that are appealing to their sences. In particular, Drew's text states that "Thinking about the audience is essential to pitch a presentation correctly." I was suprised to see that both readings placed a large amount of relevance on the room set out, in constructing an effective oration.

Both readings on oral presentations are helpful in different ways. The first reading from Becker and Van Emdem is useful in aiding group presentations and the responsibilities of working as a group through support and attributing different opinions/skills. The second reading from Drew was more relevant in individual approach to presentations in that it provides concise detail in formatting an appropriate oration for the audience. This reading bases around the individuals emotional coping as well as the physical aspects of the speech.

Ultimately the texts this week explore the skills and techniques neccessary to becoming a successful PR practitioner and employee. Although oral presentations are a stressful situation in some cases, both the texts from Drew and that from Becker and Van Emdem ease the pain through rational and insightful advice. Chapter 10 from the course text was especially relevant to PR as it explored the relationship with media professionals and the skills that are needed to use that relationship to aid the role and movement of the practitioners.

Week 6 comments

This week I commented on Ngaio Stobbs' blog page, her week 5 reading!

Week 6

The readings from this week were both taken from Johnston and Zawawi's text book, 'Public Relations-Theory and Practice', chapter 4 (the legal environment) and chapter 5 ethical practice.



The points from chapter four that I found to be especially important to my public relations education, included:

• It is important for practitioners to take into account the legal context through negotiation with lawyers on the strategies they emplyed to minimise harm and to ensure that their outcomes are not "compromised". I found that the example of the law suit between McDonald's and London Greenpeace, was really helpful in understanding a situation that the chapter describes. It is relatively obvious that what the PR practitioners have done for London Greenpeace would be negative in relation to the law.




• The tort (described by the text as a "..legal way of saying a civil wrong") affects/limits what can be published by PR practitioners, providing a method to protect the reputation of the practitioners and their clients.




• The text states that "...words could assume different meanings by a person drawing inferences or having knowledge of additional information...". I found this point to be really interesting and true! It expresses one of the difficulties of symbols (both word and image) and the effects and connotations that they can carry, a barrier in PR.




• It is important that PR practitioners state the facts and then draw conclusions from those facts rather then simply saying what they think.




• When determining wether a piece should be publishing, a court will consider "the extent of the publication, the proportion of reader..." who are interested in the item and whether the item is purely for "commercial gain".




• I found this point especially relevant to the story of PR; "When organising campaigns and lobbying for support for a particular campaign, care should be taken to verify claims to ensure they are not misleading and deceptive, which means looking at the way the material will be received and not what it is intended to mean". I think that this could involve collecting response data to ensure that people do not get the wrong idea about the publication, then what was intended by the practitioners. Contrastingly I can not see how a publication can be free from negotiating meaningings by all, as each person has something new to bring to an idea and therefore may interpret it differently to it's originated meaning.




• I found the information about the property law interesting, as I didn't actually know about the codes for protection of property including creative works and inventions. I think this is important for PR practitioners to recognise and acknowledge in their campaigns because (obviously) otherwise they could be wrestingly with law suits. I think the most important point made in the text in reference to copyright laws would be that "Public relations practitioners should vet all public statements, press releases and promotional material for obvious breaches of copyright."



• contracts "defind the relationship between parties and are used in all facts of public relations..." The standard form contains "'a uniform set of printed conditions which can be used time and time again and is oriented towards servicing a large volume of clientele as expeditiously as possible." I found that the texts desciription of the essential concepts within a contract was especially basic and therefore easy to come to terms with. The text states that "The essential ingredients of a contract are an offer; acceptance of that offer...and consideration."



• A contract may specify a particular level of duty of care, and if this standard isn't met it can lead to issues of negligence and action. This level of duty of care is dependent on two things: "forseeability and policy."



• It is important that organisations develop a legal strategy, thus minimising the chances of harm arising from legal problems.

I found this chapter of this weeks readings to be extremely dense, although it seemed to become easier to read as I got further into the chapter. Chapter 4 made me think about the legal side of public relations alot more, something that I had barely taken into account up until now. It is suprising to see how careful PR practitioners need to be in accordance to freedom of speech, copyright laws and individual rights. I think that this chapter was really important in demonstrating my lack of understanding of the legal objects involved with PR, therefore it was important that I read the chapter.

The next chapter (chapter 5), ethical practice, was also really important to the demonstration of appropriate PR practice. The points that I took to be especially important from this reading included:

• The reason for a rise in ethical consideration is put down to being due to a public demand for "greater moral accoutability". Technology has influenced practitioners ability to relay information truthfully.



• The encarta dictionary from Microsoft word defines ethics as "a system of moral principles governing the appropriate conduct for an individual or group." I.e. ethics involves acting the right way, "doing the right thing". The text supplies a detailed definition of ethics in business practices, describing it as the process or "prioritising moral values for an organisation and ensuring its behaviours are alligned with those values." In the case of PR, ethics inter-relates with both the practitioner individually and the organisation itself.



• I think that the five duties of PR professionals, as proposed by Sein and Fitzpatrick, are important to understanding PR ethics. The duties included as being to "oneself, the client, the employer, the profession and society."



• Often ethical dilemmas can involve a decision about two alternatives that are both undesirable.



• The text relays study by Professor Ralph Potter of Harvard University in relation to the constructs of ethical decission making, these including; "...the situation and the person's values, principles and loyalties." Also expressing his method of ethical decision making through the concept of the 'Potter Box'. From the given example and my own opinion, I don't feel that the 'Potter Box' should be a critical tool for decision making as it excludes alot that may be neccessary when forming a decision, for example legal rights for confidentiality.



• The theory of utilitaianism is based on the belief that "...judgements should be made on the basis of the greatest good for the greatest number."



• The 'fathers' of PR, Edward E. Bernays and Ivy Lee, aided the development of ethical practices in relation to PR. Ivy Lee proposed a number of principles (the 'declaration of principles') in 1906 about the practice of PR.


• "Best-practice public relations serves the public interest by developing mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics."


• The text claims that advocay is closely linked with the ethical debate, defining it as "...the act of publicly representing an individual, organisation or idea with the oject of persuading target audiences to look favourable upon, or to accept the point of view of, the individual, the organisation or the idea." It is important that practitioners ensure a balance between an advocay for an organisation's interests and other outside interest groups.
• Ethical dilemmas can occur on a number of levels: 1. Interpersonal (between a practitioner and others in the work area), 2. Organisational (the effect of an organisation's protocal or policies on the practitioner), 3. Stakeholder (between an organisation and publics/groups that have an interest in it's motives and actions).
• An important fact that I have taken from this weeks reading and in-class learning is that there are a variety of codes and conducts that practitioners must follow. This includes not only the policies of the organisation and the law, but also ethical codes such as the 15 point code provided by the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA). It is also important to note that such codes are different for various locations, eg the Canadian code for PR ethics could be very different to the Australian code.
• The text states that "An ethical culture is central to good corporate governance (ie the method of direction/control)."

I learnt alot about the legal matters of PR from this chapter as well, expanding my knowledge of the relevance of ethical considerations. The text emphasises the relationship between what is and what isn't ethical in well performed PR practice.

A massive reading for this week, but glad we got through it!

commenting in week 5

Today i will comment on Deborah Wise's blob! Thanks!

Week 5

This weeks reading from 'Chapter 4 - A Typical Public Relations Program', In C. Tymson, P. Lazar, P and R. Lazar's 'The new Australian and New Zealand public relations manual'; has provided me with real insight towards the role or public relations practitioners in practice. Their ultimate position as "proactive" (playing an active role in voicing the communities perspectives), managerial, public relation practitioners. I was suprised to read that often a public relations program is formed without "clear objectives in mind" and that it is purely the role of public relations that designs and emphasises particular objectives/strategies. The points that I thought were those that were most important from this particular reading included:

• that "identification of target audiences is the first major step in program planning",


• that John Bulbeck states that there are three methods of researching current opinions of the populous. These include desk research (eg journals, online sources, library resources, existing research), field research (includes observational research or research through contacts) and formal research (hard research involving quantitative and qualitative research methods).


• that there are sound (quantitative, measurable, realistic, time-bounded) objectives and probably unsound (qualitative, unmeasurable, optimistic/pessimistic, time-extended) objectives.


• the process of media selection involves four steps: 1. to look at and divide your target audience 2. work out which forms of media are best suited to your campaign 3. "...process of media selection (involving) further definition of the media that have been selected." 4. to implement your media selections through tests to ensure that they are appropriate.


• Suprisingly some public relations practitioners do not believe in evaluating their campaign results. Personally I feel that this practice of public relations is lazy as evaluation is important to development and can increase one's skills through recognising negative and positive points within a project/campaign.


• that if the right public relation techniques and methods are used in a campaign then the success and results can be measured and effectively evaluated.

I found the case study 'AMP sponsorship of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay' really helpful in broadening my perspective of strategy and method behind public relation campaigning. I also found the outline of the role of PR practitioners and the methods of campaigning described throughout the text to be helpful not only to the personal growth of my understanding, but also relevant to the annotated bibliography assessment (in reference to public relation tactics). Although dense in some areas, the text was successful in broadening my perspectives of PR campaigning.

The second reading for this week; "chp 7: strategy, planning and scheduling" from Johnston and Zawai's text 'Public Relations - Theory and Practice' became an insightful read and was inspirattional to my educational development. The points that I found to be most relevant from this reading were as follows:

• the strategic public relations program is a proactive method that "...recognises the cause and effect relationships between our communication activities and the achievement of the ogranisation's mission."
• For public relations to be effective, the practitioner needs to have direct communication with the "decision-making dominant coalition of the organisation."
• Public relations strategies are necessary for ALL target groups.
• The relevance of two-way communication not only through the action of a campaign, but also in the strategic development. The text focuses on internal communication between the Public Relations practitioners and the CEO or head office.
• I liked the text's definition of one particular role of Public Relations in beneficing communication and relationships; "Public Relations can further be explained as building, consolidating and maintaining relationships, centring the function more on the relationship and on communication as the tool that helps to achieve this relationship."
• A vision statement is defined as "...the future state of the organisation at a selected time." The text expresses that this is ideally developed through participation within a group.
• A mission statement describes and plans a number of practical steps for achieving the 'vision' set in the vision statement.
• Key performance indicators (KPI's) measure the progress of the mission in achieving the vision. As some areas of a public relations campaign can't be meausred (public relations is not often measured by quantifiable data), often KPI's are irrelevant to the measurement of progress.
• Lester Potter's (1997) 'ten-step strategic communication plan' portrays the basic structure of a communication plan. The steps include (in order and quoted from the text) executive summary, the communication process, background, situation analysis, main message statement, stakeholders, messages for key stakeholders, implementation, budget, monitoring and evaluation.
• According to McElreath (1997:158) "A budget is a plan for coordinating resources and expenses over a period of time by assigning costs to goals and objectives for specific activities." The text suggests that there are two tyoes of budgeting. These include financial budgets (gives the estimates of the incomes and spending for an organisation) and operating budgets (which "estimates the cost of the goods and services that the organisation will use for specific purposes."
• All Public Relations plans must involve dedicated scheduling to make it a successful campaign. Scheduling helps to ensure jobs are timely and identify a number of steps and strategies.

This readings made me think more about public relations theory and the design of a public relations campaign plan. The text emphasises the relevance of detail and precision in creating a designated campaign outline which justifies budget and strategy. The case studies provided relevant examples of a public relations plan in action and were insightful to the more systematic concerns of public relations practice.

The focus of both texts on the development and before math of proactive campaigning reveals the relevance of development in creating an external and internal, two-way communication strategy.

Thanks guys

Alyssa

Comments

Today I will be commenting on Jess's blog!
Stay tuned

Week 4

This weeks readings were really helpful in again showing what kind of jobs are out there for people who have successefully completed a public relations degree. It was interesting but also humerous to find that each person giving their career experience claimed their job to be perfect for their lifestyle situation. I was suprised by the salaries that the public relations practitioners were being paid; higher then i originally expected for this work.

Both readings shaped public relations as a career revolving around teamwork. For example, this is recognised in the text 'Public Relations - Theory and Practice' (JaneJohnston and Clara Zawawi, 2004) in chapter 11 'Internal and Community Relations, in the statement;

"Senior managers are now recognising that one unhappy employee has the potential to damage a company's polished image in the community."

Therefore it is idealised that each employee must work together as a team to build a reputable position for the company and achieve a greater respect amongst the community. One disgruntled employee has the opportunity to disrupt the process of public relations campaigning.

Basically, the chapter in 'Public Relations - Theory and practice', explores the inter-relationship of employees in an organisation. Reliance on each employee to perform actively and effectively is crucial to that companies development. I thought it was interesting to read that the solution to gossip and rumours in the workplace is the provision of factual information, a theory that is basic but one that I did not expect to be discussed in this text. The focus is on the relationship between the staff and employers, as the staff rely so heavily on the information that is fed to them from the higher positioned workers within the organisation. The formula can therefore be placed as:

a happy relationship between employer and employee + an informed employee = a happy and productive practitioner which therefore leads to a successful business.

I believe that (as stated in the text) face-to-face communication would be the most formal and successful method of creating a strong relationship between employer and employee. Although other methods (for example memos, events and newsletters) may aid in building relationships, the sole reliance is on face-to face communication as it has always been the method that builds a strong and familiar connection. For example, where I work a monthly newsletter is supplied in the lunch room on organisation developments and staff experience. From observance, these newsletters are rarely looked at and if so, are only skimmed over. In contrast, the managers can provide information to employees at the start of a shift that becomes successfully memorised.

I found it interesting to observe that each of the other suggested methods of creating relationships between staff and employer, dabble with public relations as a communication role.

An organisations relationship with the community is perhaps the most important relationship for profit and professional gain. Ofcourse, in public relations, communication between the community and the organisation is the most powerful link between gaining influence in the society. The text outlines the fact that it is important to achieve opinion and response from the people that are involved in the public relations campaign. To do this successfully, the community must be provisioned with descriptive and concise information on the campaign, it's methods and purpose. I think it is important to keep the community involved in the developments of the campaign (as suggested in the text) because they can therefore see not only the aims and ideas behind such a campaign, but also the methods of obtaining the ultimate goal intended.

Thus, I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were circulated around the importance of contacts and building relationships to imply a successful organisation, both internally and externally. The company cannot rely purely on it's relationship with it's customers but must also take into account the attitude of it's staff. A company must also not only focus on the relevance of it's internal memebers (staff) but also the community as this is where the profit and development of the company is promised.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that it broadened my understanding of the jobs that are available to those that have completed a public relations degree. The information providedby the different practitioners in Melanie James text, about what people should take into account when in interviews. I have discovered that, in terms of public relations, success comes with individuality, accurate gramma, concise language and personality. From what these people describe, a formula of the above characteristics enhance your availability to become involved in a job in public relations.

Cheers guys for your advice!