Search results

Prevailing thought in academia holds that the ideal model of public relations is two‐way symmetrical. In this model, communication flows both ways between an organisation and a public while both are prepared to change their own behaviour. The result is posited as the most professional, ethical and effective practice. Contingency theory offers qualifications and reservations of excellence theory. One qualification is that dialogue between an organisation and a public may not be allowed for a number of reasons, such as legal constraints or moral convictions against compromising with a public. To build the contingency theory from the ground up, top practitioners are interviewed to learn whether six such proscriptive factors ring true in their experience. The implications of the findings for practitioners, educators and those interested in theories that help define professional practice in public relations are discussed.

This paper offers a quick overview of Cameron's contingency theory of conflict management in public relations. It then applies the theory to three cases that occurred during the 1996 Summer Olympic Games that were taken from the policy position papers, notes, diaries and tape recordings of C. Richard Yarbrough, Managing Director‐Communications of the Atlanta Committee for the Olympic Games (ACOG). The areas analysed include: the moving of preliminary volleyball matches from one venue to another which was forced by conflict between gay activists and local politicians who passed an anti‐gay resolution — a sustained effort at accommodation that shifted to advocacy; conflict between the ACOG board of directors and the media resulting from the disclosure of ACOG executive salaries — a strong advocacy stance that led to compromise; and conflict threatened between ACOG and a minority minister who was disgruntled about an Olympic sponsor — a case of marginality too insignificant to bother with. The cases not only illustrate and support factors in the contingency theory, but highlight the impracticality and inflexibility of two‐way symmetrical or mixed‐motive public relations as models of choice.

Public relations practitioners and journalists in South Korea (n=300) were surveyed regarding their perceptions of the influence of 11 types of informal relations (ranging from press tours to perks and bribes) on the news. Using coorientational analysis, the perceptions of each group regarding the ethics of informal relations were also investigated. The two groups reported significantly different perceptions of the influence of informal relations on the news, as well as the ethics of informal relations. Practitioners perceive greater influence of informal relations on news coverage as well as on news content, and perceive informal relations as more ethical or acceptable in practice than do journalists. Regarding informal relations, journalists’ perceived gap between their own ethical values and their predictions of practitioners’ ethical values is bigger than the converse. Finally, practitioners’ misunderstanding of journalists’ ethical values is greater than journalists’ misunderstanding of practitioners’ ethical values. This study indicates that even in a culture where press clubs and interpersonal media relations are the norm and could be expected to breed familiarity, attitudinal differences between practitioners and journalists are striking.

Using the National Football League (NFL) concussion crisis context, the purpose of this paper is to provide sports marketers with a strategic approach to sports crisis management through consideration of crisis media coverage and organizational reputation.

An online experiment assessed the impact of two crisis response strategies, fan involvement and exposure to crisis media coverage on emotional response, corporate message credibility, crisis perception and perceived corporate reputation.

The accident response strategy was associated with more favorable perceptions of the NFL and corporate message credibility. Sports fan involvement facilitated more favorable perceptions of the NFL’s reputation, while exposure to media coverage of the NFL’s crisis created negative perceptions of the NFL’s reputation. Exposure to media coverage of the NFL concussion crisis increased feelings of anger, which in turn decreased perceptions of corporate message credibility.

A limitation for this study is the specific crisis scenario that was used. The NFL concussion crisis is different from other crisis types in that it does not directly impact the audience’s well-being, but instead affects their perceptions of an iconic institution.

In light of study findings, it is suggested that sports marketers consider the following when dealing with crises: carefully determine proper framing methods when crafting a crisis response as different response types affect consumers in different ways; leverage public relations (PR) practices by engaging in media monitoring to inform an appropriate crisis response to control the narrative; and examine forces exernal of the organization that influence consumer emotions, paying special attention to feelings of anger as anger negatively impacts consumer perceptions of corporate credibility.

This paper addresses sports crisis strategy from both marketing and public relations perspectives. It describes how strategic efforts protect a sports organization’s reputation, thus increasing marketing effectiveness.

The purpose of this paper is to extend current theories in crisis communication, by developing a more systemic approach to understanding the role of emotions in crises and the strategies organizations can use to respond. The authors' integrated crisis mapping (ICM) model is premised on a public‐based, emotion‐driven perspective where different crises are mapped on two continua, the organization's engagement in the crisis and primary public's coping strategy.

Content analysis was used to analyze 259 stories in US mainstream newspaper covering five different crisis cases.

The initial test suggests theoretical rigor. It found that publics involved in crises pertaining to reputational damage, technological breakdown, industrial matters, labor unrest, and regulation/legislation, are likely to feel anxious, angry, and sad. At the same time, they are likely to engage in conative coping.

Understanding publics' emotions in crisis is a rarely studied area. This model is arguably the first to suggest a framework of emotions. This study is the first of a series of tests to generate what Yin termed “analytic generalization” for the ICM model.

In this historical analysis, Jacques Ellul’s theory of propaganda is applied to analyse the changes of China’s propaganda. It is found that China’s propaganda is undergoing structural transformations from depending on human organisation to extensive control and use of media technology. Sociological propaganda as a complement to political propaganda has significantly expanded; integration propaganda replaced agitation propaganda. International image management by the government has become a new dimension of China’s propaganda. The research is one of the first to observe such structural changes.

Crisis planning, which symbolizes an organization's crisis preparedness and often conceptualized at the corporate headquarters, is increasingly decentralized to regional centers of global companies. These centers, in turn, synchronize their crisis master plans with its national units for expeditious management of localized crises. The purpose of this paper is to capture the decision‐making processes that practitioners at a regional center faced as they nurtured their master plan from conception to implementation.

The qualitative method is used. This is a case study of a Fortune 500 company with plants in every continent. The company has four regional centers, and the center under study oversees more than 20 national units or countries.

This study found a deep divide in attitude, expectation, and style between what practitioners and the dominant coalition regarded as necessary and sufficient measures in crisis planning.

Restricted access to more interviewees.

Studies like this, grounded in the practitioner's world, add rich layers of context to understanding how theory and practice can integrate. Given that in this study, corporate communications has been found to be regarded as an auxiliary, rather than ancillary, function in this study, this paper offers practical tips on what practitioners can do to transform organizational perception.

Such studies are rare because of the lack of accessibility to data. Practitioners are hesitant to grant access because of the highly sensitive nature of this topic, for fear of reprisals from their organizations, and an inadvertent revelation of organizational privacy and secrets.

It was only after considerable pressure had been brought to bear by the various health authorities of the country that the Government, in July, 1899, appointed a Departmental Committee to consider the subject of the use of preservatives and colouring matters in food, and it is now some months ago that the full report of the Committee was published, containing certain recommendations of the utmost importance for the consideration of the authorities. Up to the present time nothing further has been heard of the matter, and in answer to a question recently put to the President of the Local Government Board by the Mayor of Kensington, Sir SEYMOUR KING, as to whether the Board intends to take steps by the introduction of a Bill, or otherwise, for giving effect at an early date to the recommendations contained in the report of the Committee, the President stated that the report was “still under consideration,” and that he could make no statement at present as to the course which the Government would take.

The desire to obtain authentic guidance as to the real nature, quality and value of food‐products and of other articles of necessity has grown rapidly during recent years, while the demand for amending and additional legislation, and for increased governmental and official activity, plainly indicates that general public attention to this most important of national questions is at length aroused.