INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS

Trends and Theories in PR

INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS
Module Leaders: Gerard Choo and Gyorgy Szondi

MA Public Relations
Student name: Uma Datye Student id: 77102166
(Word Count: 3681)
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INDEX
1. Introduction ..................................................................................... 4 2. Infrastructure and International PR ............................................... 6 3. International media and PR ............................................................. 9 4. Around the world ............................................................................. 13 5. Future of International PR ................................................................ 20 6. Bibliography ...................................................................................... 22

Question:

To what extent has public relations become a global profession? Support your answer with relevant examples and theories.

Introduction:
During the first two decades of existence, public relations scholarship was built on experiences from only a few Western countries, especially US and UK. International public relations is the same as public relations except that international public relations deals more with different countries, values, cultures, mentalities and nationalities. Efforts to gather empirical evidence about public relation activities from other parts of the world based on theoretical underpinning using sound methodology only began in the early 1990s (Sriramesh K. and Vercic D., 2009). Consultancies with an international network as well as multinational companies in house public relations departments often communicate with consumers, media, shareholders or employees who are situated in another country or continent. The body of research categorized as being international or global arena is confined predominantly to a few countries of Asia and Western Europe. Mergers, acquisitions and outsourcing are taking place on an international scale and resulting in new organisations, corporate cultures and working practices. International public relations practitioners need to identify and understand views, opinions and behaviours of foreign publics in order to

communicate effectively with them and to implement public relations campaigns that cross cultural boundaries. Many organisations who position themselves as global rather than being country specific invest heavily in developing their global image. It is not only MNCs that engage in international public relations, but NGOs and governments also engage in IPR to build and maintain the their reputation or image (Tench R. and Yeomans. L, 2006). From the professional point of view, the world of international public relations requires almost the same business expertise as any other business operating on a global level. These are: 1. Establishment of clear organisational objectives that can be measured 2. Recruitment of right professionals to achieve those objectives 3. Management capabilities to guarantee good reporting 4. Smooth communication between team members 5. Thorough budget management that makes it possible to implement strategies and tactics in time. (Public Relations Review, pp. 274)

Infrastructure and International Public Relations:

A nations political system, its level of economic development and its level of activism are the three main infrastructural ingredients that are the key to international public relations. However, each of these factors influences and are influenced by a countrys culture and media environment. Political system: A countrys political system influences its social structure. Public relations practice thrives on public opinion, which is valued only in true democracies. In societies whose political systems do not value public opinion, the nature of public relations is not sophisticated and often tends to be one way propagandist. Since the beginning of the 1990s, the world has been revolving rapidly and many countries have been undergoing changes on political, economic and societal grounds resulting in many countries moving towards democracy and market reforms. Since these countries are in various stages of democratisation, they offer varied opportunities and challenges to public relations practitioners. Political environment in these countries determines the nature of public relations that can be practised there and therefore it is essential to link various political ideologies and public relations which are yet to be explored in many countries. Political ideologies and economic development go hand in hand since political conditions are affected by economic decisions and vice versa. This stands true for every country. Dynamics between the political and economic systems determine a nations
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stability and economic development since the lack of economic development often leave the society stuck with a vicious circle of illiteracy and poverty, preventing strong democratic political institutions from taking root. For example, according to Esfahani (1994, cited in Journal of Communication Management, 2001, pp. 103-117) the poor relationship between the economic and political elites in Egypt led to a weak civil service and resulted in an inefficient state dominated economy.

Economic development: A countrys economic development provides public relations professionals with an opportunity and a challenge. Many agree that pluralistic political philosophy favours greater economic freedom. Strategic public relations are favoured by developed economics than developing economies. Till today, even developed countries do not consider public relations as a core organisational function in organisations. The level of economic development affects poverty and illiteracy which have a direct impact on strategies and techniques adopted by public relations practitioners in that country. Lack of communication infrastructure severely challenges the international public relations professional who attempted to conduct information campaigns in developing nations.

Activism: Activism, political system and level of development are interrelated. A countrys political system has a direct influence of on the extent of activism in
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that country because only pluralistic societies tolerate any sort of activism. A countrys level of economic development also directly influences the level of nature of activism in the country. If people are struggling to earn their next square meal, they will have no inclination whatsoever to participate in other activities.

Legal System: With the political and economic development also comes the legal system of the country with poses many challenges to the international public relations professions. A thorough study of the theocracies on public relations is essential since the legal codes in Western democracies maybe explicit, but the ones in some other regions maybe embedded more in the social and religious codes.

International media and public relations:

The relationship between the mass media and public relations is a critical one. Many authors agree that media and public relations have a symbiotic and contentious relationship. Wilcox and Nolte (1997, citied in The Global Public Relations Handbook, 2009 pp. 13) observed that despite the continued tension between public relations professionals and journalists, the symbiosis in the relationship requires that they maintain a solid working relationship based on mutual respect for each others work.

Mass media and images of nations:

Mass media has a powerful influence on public opinion, organisational activities in general and public relations in particular. Media plays a powerful role in building a countrys image in the global scenario. Whereas developed countries are generally portrayed positively by the media, developing nations generally get a negative portrayal. Kunczik (1993, citied in The Global Public Relations Handbook, 2009 pp. 15) remarked, since most peoples scope of experience is naturally very limited, and their knowledge of complex social processes in other countries comes mainly from mass media, there is always a danger that, due to the process of news selection, there are differences between real reality and media reality. Many developing countries feel the need of fighting back against the negative feedback but are unable to do so due to the lack of resources. But the developing nations have a need to be
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heard in the developed part of the world as a part of their public diplomacy because they desperately need a foreign aid and loans from world bodies. Only by gaining an understanding of the media environment in a particular country can the international public relations practitioners develop strategies for conducting effective media relations suitable to that environment.

Media control: To maintain effective media relations, it is necessary that the public relations professionals understand who controls the media organisations in a country and whether the control extends to editorial content. The latest Freedom House survey of media freedom found that 75 countries had media systems that could be classified as free, 50 had partly free media and 61 were not free (Sussman & Karlekar, 2002, citied in The Global Public Relations Handbook, 2009 pp. 15). Media ownership, in all parts of the world depends on the political system and level of economic development of the country. In developed democracies, the capitalist entrepreneur invests in the media. There is minimal direct or indirect relationship fiduciary relationship between the government and media organisations in capitalist democracies. In such democracies, news is sold as a commodity, thus generating interesting choices in coverage. In developing societies, media is practically owned by the political bodies or the elites in the society. In most developing countries, the government typically owns the electronic media and often permits private entrepreneurs to their own print media. On the other hand, media ownership does not result in
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media control. In many developing countries, even though the media is owned by private interest, there is always a strong vigilance on it by the governmental or political forces. Editorial freedom is directly proportional to the level of economic development in the country. In developing countries, lack of infrastructure and economic development are the hindrances to having editorial freedom. In most developing countries, economic independence is a mirage for most media outlets, which also results in various limitations on editorial freedom.

Media diffusion: For the savvy public relations professionals, placing a story in the media is often the most significant part of media relations activities. But, merely placing a story does not have the intended effect of ones audience. This is just the first step. Other steps include message comprehension or changes in level of knowledge and attitude need to be traversed but he audience before changes can occur in the behaviour. For this, international public relation practitioners need to understand the extent of media diffusion in countries where they operate. Despite the perceived power of the media, these purveyors of information may not provide an effective means for wide dissemination of organisational messages in every country. Media reaches homogenous and relatively small segment of the total population in most developing countries due to illiteracy and poverty. Television sets and radios are often expensive for a large section of citizens who have limited resources. In larger developing nations, lack of infrastructure like rail electrification, etc hinders the timely
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distribution of print media to far flung places. Public relations practitioners must realise that no matter the sophistication of their profession, their efforts will reach only a certain segment of population from a country. But, practitioners do have some hope since a lot of developing nations economies have been spurting resulting in an increase in television ownership. When local conditions limit the use of western-style media like televisions, radio, newspapers, etc one of the only resorts for practitioners would be to adopt to the Indian way to passing information i.e. folk media like docudramas, dances, skits, street performances, plays in rural areas.

Media access: Media access is the opposite of media diffusion. Media access denotes the extent to which various segments of society can approach the media to disseminate the messages which are important. Sriramesh and Takasaki (1998, citied in The Global Public Relations Handbook, 2009 pp. 18) mentioned that the Japanese press clubs act as gate keepers between the media and organisations to limit access by organisations and others to the media. But, just as an organisations access to media is critical, so is the medias access to the organisations opponents, principally activists. When the media is accessible to individuals or groups with different points of view, the organisation will be forced to use two-way communication for conduction public relation activities with varied publics.

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Around the world:

Public relations practitioners need to understand the differing developments of public relations around the world since public relations practice from country will be different than that of the other. The trick lies in understanding the roots of the public relations professions in a given country or region. These differing origins can lead to differences in the level of public relations development and give rise to a issues of concern in a given country of region.

Public relations in Europe: According to public relations scholars David Miller and Philip Schlesinger (2001, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp. 89), public relations in Europe is unevenly developed. Some countries have very well developed public relations while others are continuing to establish the profession. Public relations in Britain is the most developed in Europe. Between 1979 and 1997, British public relations consultancies expanded nearly tenfold (Miller and Schlesinger 2001, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp. 90). In the UK, public relations professions remains on an upward growth path and is now the second most popular professions worth 3.4 billion pounds to the UK economy (Dickerson 2005; Nagvi 2007, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.90). Companies are shifting advertising budgets to public relations. While government public

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relations is on the rise, risk and crisis public relations are also growing. Dickerson (2005, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.90) says that to be a successful public relations practitioner in the UK, one must have speciality knowledge in addition to his/her public relation skills i.e. finance, medicine, law, sports, etc. Elsewhere in Europe, public relations as a profession develops differently according to each region. In Western European countries, CSR is particularly important for public relations work. In Italy, consumers are drawn to companies with social campaigns and were predicted to donate 1.1 billion Euros to social causes in 2005 (Weber and Shandwick 2003, cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.90). Central and Eastern Europe has different levels of development. These regions are historically, legally and politically different from Western European countries. Many Eastern European countries are joining the EU, and their public relations industries are being exposed to international markets and ownership. Lithuania has become the fastest growing economies in central and Eastern Europe. Public relations in areas of central Europe once dominated by communism may also have some differences in development, but the industry is clearly growing in the region. Public relations in Poland has been developing rapidly since the 1990s,, with an annual growth rate of 12% (Lawniczak et al. 2003, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.91). Polish public relations market saw a slowdown in the last 1990s because of an economic downturn.

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Public Relations in Asia: An area as large as Asia is bound to have differences in the development of public relations. The first public relations firm opened in China in 1984. By 1997, universities started offering public relation courses. Today, the public relations industry in China is experiencing a 33% growth rate (Gorney 2005, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.91). US American assumptions about public relations cannot be applied to Asia because of differences in the political systems, cultural values and media environment (Wu 2005, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.91). For example, Cadbury launched its Temptations chocolate bar in an advertisement by comparing the chocolate bar to the Kashmir region between India and Pakistan stating its too good to let go. Back then, Cadbury did not have a PR team. This promotion was handled by their marketing team. This ad was a huge PR disaster and was criticised by the PR Week saying that Cadburys jokes about a conflict that has killed more than 50, 000 people just goes to show that they now need a PR team in place. Most Asian nations have used publicity and promotion for nation-building. Such campaigns are common both in Singapore where government owns the media and in India which has free press (Newsom 2007 cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.91). In Malaysia, government-inspired campaigns still account for much of the current public relations activity. Singapore public relations still has roots in nation building but has expanded greatly. International public relations began
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to appear in Singapore after it became independent in 1965. Japan has a high level of national public relations development and its primary clients are business but its historical roots are quite different from those of other Asian countries. All public announcements, whether from government or from individual must come through press club (Botan 1992; Ohashi 1984 2001, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.92). The Japanese public relations industry is worth US$4 million per year (Weber Shandwick 2006 2001, citied in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.92).

Public relations in Africa: Today, Africa is the originator and the focus of intense public relations efforts (Turk and Scanlan 2004, cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.92). Many African nations still see publics relations as a primary tool for national development. Modern African public relations is modelled on European approaches, but there are distinct differences in regions with so many developing nations. In Kenya, modern public relations developed partly out of founding of the BBC in 1992. Public relations in Kenya focused on implementing self-government, supporting Kenyas foreign policya and supporting business owners. In many African countries, media were the originator of public relations (Sattler 1981 cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.93). Relying on mass media channels alone is insufficient for African nations, and hence the resort to traditional mediums like the
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market square, the town crier, gongman, etc (Botan 1992; Pratt 1985 cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.93). In Ghana, folk media like dance, songs, and storytelling are still important channels of public relations.

Public relations in Latin America: The public relations market in Latin America is one the fastest growing ones in the world today. They were earlier associated with lobbying and events, but the industry is evolving t to meet new challenges of communicating across this vast region (Weber Shandwick 2005, cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.94). Since many public relations practitioners have a political and media background, many firms are automatically involved in political campaigning, public affairs and government strategy. Some ten years ago, the public relations agencies in the region were small and mainly focused on political strategies and crisis communication. They also helped Western oil firms manage their presence in these countries. They also helped large financial organisations like Citibank to deal with their communication challenges. Unfortunately some public relations firms were involved in some violent and corrupt actions and as a result, foreign and domestic corporations now need to do better in promoting their employees.

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Public relations in the Middle East: Public relations practice in the Middle East dates back to the early Egyptian and Mesopotamian civilization (Grunig and Hint, 1994). It extends back to almost 1, 200 years. Here, practitioners consider different cultures while applying public relations theory and strategies. In some parts of the Middle East, public relations is still considered to be all about procuring visas, arranging transports and performing hospitality functions (Ayish and Kruckeberg 2004, cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.95). The public relations in the UAE have been tremendously affected by the socio-economic, educational and cultural development of the country. UAE ministers and administrators established their in-house public relations departments to respond to growing depend on their publics. Public relations in Australia and New Zealand: The Australian public relations industry has grown tremendously from the establishment of professional public relations institutes in 1949 in New South Wales and in 1952 in Victoria. Australian public relations has been shaped by the US developments but it displays a huge difference in cultures, language, geography, economics, politics and business (Singh and Smyth 2000 cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.95). The first public relations firm in Australia Eric White & Associates, started in 1947 and began specializing in government relations. They were later bought by international public relations firm- Hill & Knowlton. Today, the Australian
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industry features both corporate and agency public relations and successfully operates in business sectors like politics, finance, business, health, technology. Community and consumer relations (PRIA.com/au cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.95). In New Zealand the public relations industry had no formal training until the mid-1980s but now, the industry is growing and maturing. Already, 7 major institutions around the country offer a public relations degree and diploma courses. The responsibilities of public relations managers from New Zealand are growing from media relations to risk management, community relations, corporate affairs, government relations, marketing communications and internal communications. Although the professions is really young here, but it is gradually growing and maturing to greater heights.

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Future of International PR:

Today, businesses follow a very simple policy of Go global or go home. Globalisation has helped public relations become a growing industry all over the world, but till today, the global marketplace remains complex. The increasing spread of democracy and free enterprise makes for increased competition and communication. The barriers to business might be low, but cultural sensitivity is high. In order to be able to succeed in todays competitive world, companies must understand local behaviour and preferences. Public relations has implications on increasing multiculturalism, emerging democracy and rising anger at the pervasiveness of Western lifestyles and values that the globalised world offers. Multiculturalism is an important trend with far reaching implications for public relations. As Cook (2007, cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp.282) puts it, the world is witnessing a cultural fusion. Public relations must become more precise in its efforts to target audiences, but at the same time, they should keep global perspectives in mind when adapting to this new cultural environment. Corporations and institutions are trying hard to keep up to these cultural and linguistic preferences. For example, many sports teams are trying to reach the Hispanic audiences. Outside the sports arena, public relations staffs for Hispanic consumer magazines are working hard to reach their target audience more effectively.
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Public relations practitioners should be aware of public perceptions towards each type of media. Discovering these types of credible communication channels is imperative in building civil society. Also, if organisations act responsibly and adopt a two-way pattern of communication, they will avoid pitfalls of not being viewed as an organisation with a lot of crisis. Zaharna (2001, cited in Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning cultures, 2009, pp. 285) describes three primary ways of describing clientpractitioner differences in international public relations: country, cultural and communications profile. While country profiles will outline what is feasible for the county, cultural profiles will talk about what may be effective and the communications profile to help us the practitioners know how cultural differences will affect the publics, which will in turn affect the public relations practice.

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Bibliography:
1. Esfahani, H. S. (1994) Lessons from the political economy of privatization and public sector reform in the Middle East and Southeast Asia. Journal of Communication Management. 6, (2) June 2001 pp. 103117 2. Freitag, A. And Stokes, A. (2009), Global Public Relations: Spanning borders, spanning culturesb. Taylor and Francis Group 3. Gracia, C. (2010) Integrating Management Practices in International Public Relations courses: A proposal contents. Public Relations Review 36 (2010) pp. 272-277 4. Ken, J. (n.d). The Importance of International Public Relations. California Management Review 5. Leeds Metropolitan University (2006) Policy, framework principles and procedures for research ethics [Internet]. Available from: <http://www.leedsmet.ac.uk/research/PublishedPolicyFramework(res _Ethics).doc> [Accessed 13th May 2011]. 6. Morris, T. and Goldsworthy, S. (2008), Public Relations for Asia. Palgrave Macmillan. 7. Sriramesh, K. and Vercic, D. (2009), The global public relations handbook: theory, research, and practice. Taylor and Francis Group 8. Tench, R. and Yeomans, L. (2009), Exploring public relations. Financial Times Prentice Hall.

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