The last day of class ended with a debate whether skills are needed in PR or it's about contacts.
Before and still after the debate I was convinced that one does not need to study public relations to practice it. I had believed that it’s about the personality and the right contacts. After class, I actually took time and thought about my stand and I now differ with this statement. The PR industry has never really been given the credit it deserves. I now believe that a practitioner should have the relevant PR qualifications to practice it.
Sunday, April 6, 2008
New Media - Traditional Media (A new role for PR)
Oh dear! On this day I came late to class - so I’m really not sure what was discussed hence I will discuss this topic in my own context.
A lot has been written whether new media is taking over traditional media. What's the future of newspaper? Well, I am one of those people who are really technology challenged. Im no techno-wizard. You'd swear I was born in the Stone Age.
The easier - the better for me: so what im trying to say is that I appreciate my newspaper. Will this cost me a great career growth opportunity in the vastly growing and competitive PR world? Possibly.
I believe that the public relations industry is highly competitive, and if a PR practitioner demonstrates an ability to communicate using both traditional and new media, they stand a very good chance of getting lucrative job/clients.
Narrowing this discussion to my own home country, I could say that South Africa is swiftly catching up with developed countries in terms of embracing new media. For example, On Wednesday, 2 April 2008; the fourth annual South African Blog Awards were held in Cape Town.
Trish Taylor, MD of East Coast Radio (a popular radio station in Durban - my home town) says that "our blogs and podcasting over the last year and half have added a whole new level of interaction and accessibility to our audience. When we had the big waves that pounded our coastline last year, residents turned to our website and blogs to keep them up-to-date hour by hour. Traditional media like print and even traditional radio for that matter, hard a hard time keeping pace with the story – but our team managed it with ease, offering reporting, photos (many from residents) and video from the scene. Article written by Simone Puterman "http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/15/23379.html
However, traditional media is still predominantly the main form of communicating to the masses.
A lot has been written whether new media is taking over traditional media. What's the future of newspaper? Well, I am one of those people who are really technology challenged. Im no techno-wizard. You'd swear I was born in the Stone Age.
The easier - the better for me: so what im trying to say is that I appreciate my newspaper. Will this cost me a great career growth opportunity in the vastly growing and competitive PR world? Possibly.
I believe that the public relations industry is highly competitive, and if a PR practitioner demonstrates an ability to communicate using both traditional and new media, they stand a very good chance of getting lucrative job/clients.
Narrowing this discussion to my own home country, I could say that South Africa is swiftly catching up with developed countries in terms of embracing new media. For example, On Wednesday, 2 April 2008; the fourth annual South African Blog Awards were held in Cape Town.
Trish Taylor, MD of East Coast Radio (a popular radio station in Durban - my home town) says that "our blogs and podcasting over the last year and half have added a whole new level of interaction and accessibility to our audience. When we had the big waves that pounded our coastline last year, residents turned to our website and blogs to keep them up-to-date hour by hour. Traditional media like print and even traditional radio for that matter, hard a hard time keeping pace with the story – but our team managed it with ease, offering reporting, photos (many from residents) and video from the scene. Article written by Simone Puterman "http://www.bizcommunity.com/Article/196/15/23379.html
However, traditional media is still predominantly the main form of communicating to the masses.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Good Business - the rise of CSR
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY - DONT WE ALL JUST LOVE THAT CONCEPT!!!
Adam Garfunkel gave an exceptional presentation on CSR entitled ‘a practitioners perspective’ you could tell that the man has been in this business for quite a while – talk about someone who know’s his job inside out. It’s quite refreshing when one comes across people like Adam – who actually demonstrate enthusiasm about what they do as Public Relations practitioners.
I guess like public relations – the discipline has several definitions attached to it. You could argue that it is defined by its relevance to an organization. These are some of the issues that academics could explore – should CSR have a precise definition?
Just extracting from his presentation – its amazing how often most company’s take the concept of CSR for granted. CSR is not just about giving 1% of the total profits to a community – it is about reflecting an initiative that goes far beyond financial compensation. CSR is about financial, social and environmental commitment – what will usually be referred to as a triple bottom line. This triple bottom line is very important in CSR because it embodies and taps upon all the critical aspects of human and environmental needs.
Going back to Adam – he made quite an impactable statement that CSR is a voluntary action of business. Now one is left to wonder what actually prompted this voluntarism – could it be the government regulations that is forcing company’s to adhere to environmental and social needs. Could it be pressure from NGO’s and “Green Organisations” such as Friends of the Earth who constantly campaign for company’s to be more green and environmentally friendly or could it be the forever probing journalist?.
One can not shy away that these could be some of the reasons why companies have gone green. There is pressure from all sides – so how does a PR practitioner fit-in in all of this. In an effort to meet these challenges, with the help of public relations practitioners, companies seem to have adopted the idea that they must be – and must be seen to be doing good in society through corporate social responsibility.
Corporate social responsibility is defined by Kotler and Lee (2005, p3), as a commitment to improve community well being through discretionary business practice, contributions of corporate resources and commitment to contribute to sustainable economic development.
The authors highlight discretionary as the key word because they state that ‘this business activity is not mandated by law or that are moral or ethical in nature and perhaps therefore expected. Rather, they are referring to a voluntary commitment a business makes in choosing and implementing these practices and making these contributions.
The concept of CSR seem to sparke a lot of debate and pressure groups seem to be cynical about CSR. Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper said that companies which have something to hide use Corporate Social Responsibility to deflect attention and discourage regulation. He continues to say that ‘such CSR should clearly be treated with a pinch of salt. Companies like BAT will not act in the best interests of society or the environment unless legislation forces them to do so.’ http://www.foe.co.uk.
Adam also informed us that he also writes CSR reports his clients. However, highly critical to the CSR report stance is Andrew Griffin: Managing Director of Regester Larkin and author of New Strategies for Reputation Management. He argues that manifestation of the CSR report by companies is ubiquitous, and pointless. He states: ‘these reports are produced in their thousands but read by almost nobody except sceptical NGOs, the occasional critical journalist and the growing CSR industry itself. They are not read by the company's real stakeholder: the customer. CSR reports reinforce the role that companies seem to have accepted for themselves: the bad guys, obliged to prove to the responsibility police that they are addressing their own inadequate behaviour.’ http://www.prweek.com/uk/home/article/777750/.
But it could be argued that organizations have to demonstrate that they are doing something about environmental, social and economic issues. A publication / report might be the best tool to communicate with various constituencies through these publications.
The area of CSR is another discipline that PR practitioners could tap into and explore it in a broader context.
As Adam had mention a number of company’s have engaged the concept of CSR but it is how they go about in implementing it that is actually mostly crucial. This is where we as PR practitioners come in – as expects and giving just the right knowledge and advice.
Adam Garfunkel gave an exceptional presentation on CSR entitled ‘a practitioners perspective’ you could tell that the man has been in this business for quite a while – talk about someone who know’s his job inside out. It’s quite refreshing when one comes across people like Adam – who actually demonstrate enthusiasm about what they do as Public Relations practitioners.
I guess like public relations – the discipline has several definitions attached to it. You could argue that it is defined by its relevance to an organization. These are some of the issues that academics could explore – should CSR have a precise definition?
Just extracting from his presentation – its amazing how often most company’s take the concept of CSR for granted. CSR is not just about giving 1% of the total profits to a community – it is about reflecting an initiative that goes far beyond financial compensation. CSR is about financial, social and environmental commitment – what will usually be referred to as a triple bottom line. This triple bottom line is very important in CSR because it embodies and taps upon all the critical aspects of human and environmental needs.
Going back to Adam – he made quite an impactable statement that CSR is a voluntary action of business. Now one is left to wonder what actually prompted this voluntarism – could it be the government regulations that is forcing company’s to adhere to environmental and social needs. Could it be pressure from NGO’s and “Green Organisations” such as Friends of the Earth who constantly campaign for company’s to be more green and environmentally friendly or could it be the forever probing journalist?.
One can not shy away that these could be some of the reasons why companies have gone green. There is pressure from all sides – so how does a PR practitioner fit-in in all of this. In an effort to meet these challenges, with the help of public relations practitioners, companies seem to have adopted the idea that they must be – and must be seen to be doing good in society through corporate social responsibility.
Corporate social responsibility is defined by Kotler and Lee (2005, p3), as a commitment to improve community well being through discretionary business practice, contributions of corporate resources and commitment to contribute to sustainable economic development.
The authors highlight discretionary as the key word because they state that ‘this business activity is not mandated by law or that are moral or ethical in nature and perhaps therefore expected. Rather, they are referring to a voluntary commitment a business makes in choosing and implementing these practices and making these contributions.
The concept of CSR seem to sparke a lot of debate and pressure groups seem to be cynical about CSR. Friends of the Earth Director Tony Juniper said that companies which have something to hide use Corporate Social Responsibility to deflect attention and discourage regulation. He continues to say that ‘such CSR should clearly be treated with a pinch of salt. Companies like BAT will not act in the best interests of society or the environment unless legislation forces them to do so.’ http://www.foe.co.uk.
Adam also informed us that he also writes CSR reports his clients. However, highly critical to the CSR report stance is Andrew Griffin: Managing Director of Regester Larkin and author of New Strategies for Reputation Management. He argues that manifestation of the CSR report by companies is ubiquitous, and pointless. He states: ‘these reports are produced in their thousands but read by almost nobody except sceptical NGOs, the occasional critical journalist and the growing CSR industry itself. They are not read by the company's real stakeholder: the customer. CSR reports reinforce the role that companies seem to have accepted for themselves: the bad guys, obliged to prove to the responsibility police that they are addressing their own inadequate behaviour.’ http://www.prweek.com/uk/home/article/777750/.
But it could be argued that organizations have to demonstrate that they are doing something about environmental, social and economic issues. A publication / report might be the best tool to communicate with various constituencies through these publications.
The area of CSR is another discipline that PR practitioners could tap into and explore it in a broader context.
As Adam had mention a number of company’s have engaged the concept of CSR but it is how they go about in implementing it that is actually mostly crucial. This is where we as PR practitioners come in – as expects and giving just the right knowledge and advice.
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