Post 4 Ethics

I think the two key points to remember from this week's readings are the importance of ethics in public relations and the movement towards genuine professionalism.

Currently, public relations practitioners face a few challenges:

Reliabilty - Public relations practitioners are trusted and are required to provide accurate information to the public. However, it is so just so easy to disseminate misleading information.

The CEO - As a public relations practitioner, one is only as good as one's CEO allows one to be. Every decision made requires the CEO's approval.

Discrimination - There is prejudice wherever you go. Gender, race, language, religion and appearance are just some of the discrimination issues faced.

Ethics - How ethical is it to promote an inferior product?

There are three basic ethical systems. They are deontology, teleology and Aristotle's Golden Mean. Deontology is basically about morals. As we are all different, the system relies on self-discipline of the public relations practitioner. Because to err is human, the decisions made can be infulenced by culture and background. Teleology is outcome-based. Advocates of this sytem believe that the outcome is more important then anything else. Aristotle's Golden Mean is generally "for the greater good". One's decisions are made based on what is best for the majority. This system seems like the most ethical system.

Also the PR practitioner has four major roles. They are the role of counsellor, advocate, corporate monitor and corporate conscience. It is important to remember that one must not just folllow blindly what the customer asks, one must ensure that one advises the customer on the most ethical approach.

Post 3 Media Relations

I think the two key points to remember from this week's readings are the importance of establishing good relations between the PR practitioner and the media and the various tools that are available to the PR practioner when handling the media.

Media Relations. What is it? Basically it is the relationship between the PR practitioner from a given organisation and the media. It is an extremely important relationship as the media is a very powerful ally. The media can "make or break" an organisation.

Media relations is also an excellent PR tactic. There are many ways to go about using media relations as a PR tactic. First of all, there are press conferences. Press conferences are an good way to establish a good relationship with journalists. This "we care" attitude stands to sit well with the media. There are also media releases. However, one must be careful with the language written. One certainly does not wish the media to receive the wrong message!

That being said, the relationship between media and PR practitioner is largely uncontrolled. Also, trying to establish this rapport with the media is no easy task. Besides having good writing and interpersonal skills, one must also have any eye for detail. The PR practitioner needs to know how the media functions in order to "understand the media". Only then can the PR practitioner adapt to the changes in the media and plan the strategy and tactics more effectively.

Post 2

Well, as mentioned in the readings, strategy, planning and scheduling are three of the most important aspects of public relations.

As explained in the material, "strategy is not a series of campaign steps or tactics. It is the underlying rationale that guides the selection of these tactics and stages." Having a good strategy will ensure that the entire campaign will be a success. The idea might be good, but if there is no good strategy to put this idea into use, then the idea might just fall through. As the saying goes, "If you fail to plan, you plan to fail". Therefore, objectives and goals need to be identified so that a direction can be maintained. Then a planning will ensure that the objectives are followed through.

It is indeed true that a public relations manager or officer will only be as good as the organisation's CEO. All of the skill sets of the PR manager will be for naught if the CEO does not approve. Hence it is vital to bring the decision-makers into the planning process. Before the organisaition can put their strategy to use, internal communications must first be achieved. The bosses need to know that for the organisation to be successful, good public relations must be there.

As to how a good plan can be made, the readings offer a 10-point strategy which apparenly ahs been proven to meet the needs of many types of organisations.

Post 1

I agree with the book about the difference between public relations and advertising . Many people are confused with the differences between the two and often use the two words interchangeably. However, as explained in the book, the differences are very distinct.

Public relations is the process of managing the dissemination of information between a certain organization and the public. Unlike advertising, the agenda of public relations usually does not involve monetary gain. While an entire advertising campaign may last several weeks with the purpose of creating public awareness of a certain product or service, public relations is an ongoing process. In addition, public relations helps to establish a rapport between the organization and consumers.

An experience I had that I wish to share with whoever is reading this would be during my stint as a customer care consultant with StarHub. My job scope was very clear. I would answer customer's phone calls and help them with their problems. I was to be polite and helpful at all times. Before I started work, the supervisor made sure I was clear about my tasking. She told me that our department was not the marketing branch so I was not supposed to try to sell the customers anything but just help them with their questions. According to her, StarHub has always maintained good public relations.

So as mentioned earlier, the differences between advertising and public relations are distinctive.