Week Two

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that there are many theories pertaining to how PR is practiced. Of all the theories mentioned in Chapter 3 of the text, I feel that Grunig’s four models of PR theory are the most informative with regards to how PR can be carried out.

While press agentry model is hardly demonstrated today, it was very prevalent in the past especially with political campaigns relying heavily on propaganda. This model is a fine example of how NOT to carry out PR.

The public information model has been demonstrated in Singapore in recent years for public health and awareness campaigns for SARs and dengue fever. The aim of such campaigns is usually to spread awareness, and not for economic gains.

The two-way asymmetric and two-way symmetric models are the strategies used by most companies today. Companies now recognize the need for feedback from their consumers in order to find out areas for improvement, thus enabling them to better cater to the needs of their publics.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory and practice in that while the theories do not inform on how to go about PR, it does provide a general idea of the appropriate strategy to adopt of a particular public. Also, the readings show that some principles of the different theories overlap, thus showing that there is no hard and fast rule when in comes to practising PR.

With regard to the article written by Mark Chong, I feel that on of the key reasons that the SARS crisis was managed so well is because of its size. It is a lot easier to disseminate information in a small country like Singapore where practically every household has television set. However, I feel that such a crisis would have been much more difficult to manage in countries like China or Brazil, due to the vast population and the poor connectivity of rural areas to the cities.

(332 words)

First Impressions

I think the key points to remember from this week's readings are that Public Relations or PR is a rapidly growing industry where effective communication is fundamental for the success of a campaign.

There are many duties of a PR practitioner as the parameters of PR are not well-defined. Duties of a PR representative include publicity, communications, promotions, marketing, crisis management, internal relations, industry relations and fundraising, just to name a few.

There are also many names that a PR practitioners use, such as Corporate Affairs Manager, Public Affairs Executive or Media Liaison Director. All these terms used reflect the nature of the job, which is to ensure that the company's image is projected as intended. Building bonds and relationships with various publics is key to achieving desired outcomes.

The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that it has changed my impression of this industry as one that is steeped in 'spin doctoring'. While 'spin doctoring' of published material to influence mindsets of people may have been prevalent in the past, this is not the case now as people are much more cynical and selective in choosing what to believe. Therefore, feedback from specific public is important for the success of a PR campaign, so that PR planners know what the public’s expectations are, and are hence able to deliver what is expected of them.

I also feel that it is interesting how in the early days of PR, many journalists became PR practitioners. It makes sense because journalists have to stay up-to-date with information, meet deadlines, know how to communicate effectively, and write convincingly, thus making them well-suited for the industry.

Ihad had my doubts about doing PR, but now it appears that the combination of journalism and PR— which is our double major— is a symbiotic one.

(303 words)