Week 10- Chapter 11 & 16

Risk, Crisis, Issues, and Third Sector.

Chapter 11 (Risk, Issues, Crisis and Recovery) introduced me to ideas and processes around critical events. I found the diagrams slightly annoying to be honest, there was a lot to take in. Whether or not we like it, risk is inevitable- it is a part of life. How we respond as media practitioners is what is more important.

This chapter emphasised the importance of good communication practises, noting that without them, negativity can fall upon organisations resulting in them looking incompetent.

While nothing can be done to prevent crises from occurring, PR practitioners can enlist in the help of various strategies as a form of emergency management.

Chapter 11 also pointed out the benefits of crises, stating that "a new reality may present unexpected opportunities and benefits" (Johnston & Zawawi 2009, p. 321).

The third sector is constituted by all those organisations that are not-for-profit and non-government, together with the activities of volunteering and giving which sustain them. These organisations are a major component of many industries including community health services, rural, education, housing, sport and recreation, culture and finance.

While they differ between themselves, third sector organisations differ as a group from for-profit businesses and from government departments and authorities. Third sector organisations vary greatly in size and in their activities, and have gained international acceptance as a positive and inclusive term.

The Third Sector is tipped to be working with PR even more closely than before, probably due to the fact that they are well known for promoting awareness and public relations can provide an outlet for it. This again brings up the notion of truthful relationships in the field of public relations.

- Johnston, J & C Zawawi, Public Relations: Theory and Practise. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2009. 3rd ed.

Week 9- Typical PR Program

A very practical text, Candy Tymson's 'A Typical Public Relations Program' was reminiscent of last weeks readings in relation to research and evaluation. Tymson highlights the importance of being pro-active, the following quote enforces this notion:

"The practitioner should be out there, finding out what is going on and recommending creative actions to the CEO." (Tymson, 2006)

Tymson stresses the relationship between PR practitioners, management, and clients, and the image the first two have of the client. This image will then influence the client on their personal view of the organisation- a merry-go-round of sorts.

The four images are as follows:

1. The current image - how the public arena views their client, usually thought of as corporate image.

2. The mirror image - how the client organisation sees itself or its problems.

3. The wish image - how the client wishes the image to be or would like it to be.

4. The optimum image- the most desirable image compatible with the clients policy and their extended range activities.

This weeks text was helpful on a practical level by making me recognise clearly what is required and how we, as future practitioners, can achieve it.

Week 8- Chapter 6 & 10

Research and Evaluation and Sponsorship and Event Management

Okay so it's been a really busy week, Sponsorship and Event Management is what my group debated on...so here is my debate! I don't necessarily agree with this side, so feel free to comment regarding any side of the argument. I won't be offended :-)

"I am arguing for the affirmative side of the topic, that community events do indeed invariable benefit from securing corporate sponsorship.
Blake covered areas of benefit such as funding, free advertising and possible access to organisational skills, and I’m going to cover areas such as: community spirit and media coverage.

To do so, I’m going to use an example which involves Xstrata Coal and the many small community events and organisations which they sponsor.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with Xstrata, Xstrata Coal is the world’s largest exporter of thermal coal and one of the largest producers of hard coking coal, producing both premium quality hard coking coal and semi-soft coal.

Headquartered in Sydney, Australia, the company has interests in over 30 operating coal mines throughout Australia, South Africa and Colombia.
Xstrata Coal brings out a yearly brochure called the Corporate Social Involvement brochure, and I managed to get my hands on one to have a look at the community events or organisations which have secured corporate sponsorship from Xstrata Coal.
Xstrata has invested more than $8.5 billion in Australia in the past five years, and currently employs over 11,000 Australians.

Peter Freyberg, who is the Chief Executive of Xstrata Coal, says in the foreword of the brochure that in relation to their partner organisations,

“It is their shared vision to improve the quality and quantity of services being offered locally and regionally across the areas of health, social and community development, the environment, education, and the arts, which has aligned them with Xstrata Coal.

By working together we have helped establish new educational initiatives, scholarships and training programmes, funded long-term environmental projects, purchased life-saving medical equipment for hospitals and rescue services, and helped build urgently required housing and drop-in facilities for young people and the homeless".

So, some of the actual sponsored community events and organisations include the following, some of which you may have heard of:

-Tennis Queensland’s Regional Player Development Centres. This is designed to find and develop the next generation of sports stars.

- Carries Place (this is in Maitland) Originally founded as a crisis refuge, Carrie’s Place now operates 10 properties and has broadened its focus to include outreach services, child support programmes, community education, medium term housing, community development, early intervention and abuse prevention work.

But the demand for help continues to grow. In the year to June 2007, a staggering 633 children and 522 women, an increase of 22%, sought help at Carrie’s Place.
Nine out of 10 of these women and their children were turned away due to lack of funding.
In 2008, Xstrata Coal is committing almost $125,000 to fund the work of Carrie’s on High – an outreach centre established to provide counselling and an education programme to prevent homelessness caused by domestic violence.

- Lake Macquarie All Abilities Playground

-All Women’s Rugby League- Xstrata Coal was the principal supporter of Australian Women’s Rugby League during the World Cup year of 2008.

- Queensland Art GalleryXstrata Coal Emerging Indigenous Art Award and Art Collection

- The Power of Music Programme- School students across the Hunter Valley will have the opportunity to participate in new music classes and bands with Xstrata Coal’s support for The Power of Music programme. Xstrata Coal’s $190,000 commitment over two years will enhance existing school instrumental programmes and allow new programmes to be set up in schools in the Scone, Denman, Merriwa, Muswellbrook, Singleton, Jerry’s Plains and Kirkton areas.

- The University of Newcastle- Xstrata Coal is pleased to continue its financial support for the training of geologists and geoscientists at the School of Environmental and Life Sciences at Newcastle University with a $60,000 donation for 2008.

Okay so as we can see, Xstrata puts a whole lot of money, effort, and time into corporate sponsorship of local community organisations and events.

With organisations such as Carrie’s Place, it is extremely obvious that they benefit from this sponsorship. Community spirit is a huge role which can be attributed to corporate sponsorship. At the end of the day, money is important and is integral to maintaining or organising an event or small organisation, and funding from outward sources relieves monetary pressure leaving time for the celebration of success, teamwork, and this in turn helps create community spirit.

Funding and media coverage due to a company such as Xstrata helps promote small community events, and it creates an ‘everybody wins’ attitude due to the developed alliances and community spirit.

According to Johnston and Zawawi, the actual meaning of corporate sponsorship is “sponsorship of an event or activity not normally linked to the sponsoring company’s general business. These sponsorships are entered into in order to link the sponsoring organisation to a popular or high profile event or activity, and thus to reap the benefits of this positive connection in the minds of the organisations publics”.

Some could take a more cynical approach to corporate sponsorship and argue that it is solely for the corporations benefit or agenda, and they have no real interest in helping others out. However, I would argue that corporate sponsorship comes from a shared vision for the future, and it simply cannot be argued that community events DON’T benefit in any way from sponsorship.

Ultimately, community events when sponsored by a corporation gain sponsorship, which can allow them to achieve their varying goals- financial goals, media coverage, advertising, and community spirit. Furthermore, some small events or communities actually seek out corporate sponsorship, so it can be seen that everyone is aware of what it is, how it works, and how it is mutually beneficial.

It is my standpoint that corporate sponsors should be recognised and appreciated for what they do as they provide tools to events and organisations in order to succeed that they may never have had the ability to obtain previously, as well as ongoing support".

Week 7- Tactics & Business- Chapter 8+14

This weeks readings regarding tactics linked back the the previous weeks readings about strategy. From what I gathered, once a strategy has been decided upon, tactics are then chosen relating directly back to its defined purpose in achieving the strategic outcome.

Relating this back to PR professionals, tactics can come in the form of publicity, newsletters, media releases, meetings, etc. However just because these tactics are accessible, does not mean they all need to be utilised for a successful campaign.
This chapter also highlighted the importance of exhibiting some wariness as a practitioner when it comes to technology. The introduction of the Internet has completely transformed the way practitioners use tactics. According to Johnston and Zawawi (2009 p. 208):

"...Public relations professionals also need to be aware of operating in a world in which high-level regulation, lawsuits, watch-dogs and heightened corporate governance influence tactics and how they are implemented".

Some other key points included:

- The method of delivering communicaion to target audiences plays a critical role in determining its effectiveness.
- Despite the internet occasionally being a nightmare for practitioners, it can have huge advantages in message delivery.
- Different campains call for difference tactics.

The second chapter for this week highlighted how public relations has strong links to the promotional phase of marketing. I concluded that public relations practitioners who are vying to be successful will maintain an open relationship with its publics, keeping them up to date and in the loop with the entire process, from start to finish.

- Johnston, J & C Zawawi, Public Relations: Theory and Practise. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2009. 3rd ed.

Week 6- Chapter 13- Communities and PR

This week was all about communities and public relations and highlighted the importance of communities, but also highlighted the negative side of communities- something which to be honest I didn't think existed until I read this chapter. When I think of community I think of a group of people striving together for a common cause. How can that be negative?

Well, sometimes campaigns cannot penetrate through the ideals of a cohesive group- which would result in negative consequences as the goal wouldn't be met! Furthermore, lack of understanding on a community group generally means a campaign is destined to fail from the beginning. Power problems within communities is also raised, which may result in lack of communication or debate. It is for these reasons that community engagement is hugely important and essential for the field of public relations and those who work within it.

Johnston and Zawawi recognise the social impact of PR and the importance of community, stating:

“It does not mean that responsibility for decision making is delegated to the community, but rather that community perceptions. Values and concerns will be considered and addressed by the organization”.

As for the topic of social capital, I found it really quite difficult to grasp. I felt like the gist of it was based on a mutual level of trust or commitment. I still don't quite have my head wrapped around it though, so I may have to cut this one short!

- Johnston, J & C Zawawi, Public Relations: Theory and Practise. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2009. 3rd ed.

Week 5- Ethics

Johnston & Zawawi (2009) state that ethics "refers to the personal values or deeply held belief systems that underpin the behaviour and moral choices made by an individual in response to a specific situation" (p. 111).

There are three basic ethical doctrines:
1. Deontology- ethics is duty-based and relies on moral obligation to tell the truth or keep promises.
2. Teleology- outcome based, where the 'ends justify the means'.
3. Aristotle's Golden Mean- based on what is best for the majority. (Generally the system used in a democracy where the minority sometimes has to sacrifice something of value if it is best for the country as a whole).

Upon reading this chapter (although I obviously was aware of this previously) it became apparent that ethics play a huge role in public relations. When it comes to PR, ethics relate to not only the practitioner themselves, but the organisation for whom the work is being carried out for.

Seib and Fitzpatrick (1995 as cited in Johnston and Zawawi 2009 p.113), explain this in terms of public relations practitioners having five duties in order to be as ethically sound as possible. These include yourself, the client, employer, the profession, and society.

Ethical dilemmas do indeed occur in the field of PR, and mostly on the following levels:
- Interpersonal (occurs between a practitioner and peers or superiors in the workplace).
- Organisational (arises between practitioners and an organisation's internal policies and protocols).
- Stakeholder ( between organisation and publics- such as activists or regulators).

Ethics within the field of public relations are represented in both the culture of the organisation, as well as in codes of conduct. Ethics are of course a personal belief system, however in conclusion it is important that practitioners are committed to embracing ethics as part of day-to-day behaviour and decision making. The chapter concludes:

"When practised properly, public relations encourages social resonsiblity and a greater contribution to society. This gives the profession the opportunity to be a leader in ethical practise, not as a follower".

(p. 132).

- Johnston, J & C Zawawi, Public Relations: Theory and Practise. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2009. 3rd ed.

Week 4- Chapter 9

This weeks textbook reading was all about media relations, with an extra reading thrown in regarding the SARS epidemic in Singapore.

Chong (2006) made me realise that public relations practitioners need to focus on building strong relationships with the media. It was this that enabled PR practitioners to provide news for the media, which is why there was such widespread coverage of the SARS epidemic. This in turn turn raised awareness and enabled the global community/public arena to help out or donate.

The article also raised the issue of trust, and more or less emphasised that the truth should be told by the media in order to create a trustful relationship with the public, to ensure that in times of a major event, they will be confident that they are not being fed propaganda. (Correct me if I am wrong though...that felt like the general gist!)

The closing paragraph of Chapter 9- Process and Application of Public Relations sums up the issue nicely, stating:

"Despite what is sometimes seen as an uneasy alliance between the media and the public relations profession, there is a growing interdependence in the two industries. This can be developed and enhanced through a mutual understanding of, an respect for, each other's roles and responsibilities".

(Johnston & Zawawi, 2009 p. 261).

- Chong, M (2006) A crisis of epidemic proportions: What communication lessons can practitioners learn from the SARS crisis in Singapore. Public Relations Quarterly; Spring 2006; 51; 1; ABI/INFORM Global.

- Johnston, J & C Zawawi, Public Relations: Theory and Practise. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, 2009. 3rd ed.