Public Relations Inquiry

The article deals with the current status of public relations (PR) as a scientific discipline which is in the process of breaking up into several subdisciplinary fields of research. It gives an overview of the problematic aspects of the disciplinary developments of PR and crystallizes the main points of the debate. The author criticizes the constant broadening and fragmentation of the field, occupying terrain from neighboring disciplines, and the eclecticism with which PR adopts concepts and theories from other fields without providing substantial theory building of its own. PR is considered a ‘postdisciplinary’ field of research, and the author points toward both the positive and the negative aspects that are associated with this. The conclusion suggests different approaches how to address the status quo.

While R Edward Freeman’s stakeholder theory has become one of the most generative contemporary management theories and has shaped the public relations lexicon, its influence on public relations theory and practice has been muted. In this essay, I use the work of the American pragmatist philosopher Richard Rorty to resituate Freeman’s theory and offer a vision of public relations practice that is grounded in what can be called humane conversation. After describing both the promise and limitations of stakeholder theory, I provide an overview of Rorty’s philosophical project and describe potential points of contact with Freeman’s theory. Then, I suggest how this encounter can frame a new understanding of public relations grounded in Rorty’s notions of contingency, irony, and solidarity, in which scholars, professionals, and students learn to see themselves as humane intellectuals in the fullest sense of the term.

This study explores the 21st century context of ‘Gay Pride’. Leaders of gay pride organizations in major US cities revealed through in-depth interviews how they plan and execute what have become major events that attract millions of visitors annually. These leaders emphasized how their mission has changed over time. Forty years of progress toward lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender (LGBT) equality has helped create a more inclusive environment that demands more from today’s gay pride organizations. Accordingly, the leaders detailed how they are adjusting their operational and communication strategy to better forge and maintain productive relationships among today’s immensely complex stakeholder network. The findings contribute to social movement scholarship and offer insight regarding the intersection of relationship management theory and stakeholder theory.

This qualitative study of 45 women public relations professionals explores how the essentializing of gender shapes the public relations industry. The focus on the meaning-making of women practitioners proposes a more complex understanding of gender in public relations and speaks to gendered tensions experienced among other communication professionals. Responding to feminists’ call for gender to be explored in more holistic ways, I posed the research question, How do women public relations practitioners define gender? Participants defined gender as a binary construct, a social construct, and a phenomenon linked to age, race, and ethnicity. Findings suggest that some women public relations professionals are cognizant of gender scripts present in the industry, yet are vocalizing and enacting sexist stereotypes about women and gender. This study complements previous feminist theorizing by illustrating gender as relational and discursive as well as intersectional and ‘situated knowledge’.

A qualitative thematic analysis of data from a 13-organization research study focusing on public relations ethics identified five main themes: first, that ethical dilemmas were frequent, widespread, and often handled in ways that practitioners themselves were uncomfortable with; second, labels and stereotypes about public relations practitioners as unscrupulous exacerbated the problem; third, hierarchies and silos of power in relationships within organizations, between organizations, and with clients contributed to the problem; fourth, there were barriers to, and inadequate channels or opportunities for, candid and forthright discussion about these hierarchies and silos, this lack typically manifesting as senior staff self-censoring or parroting optimistic organizational orthodoxy about ethics and junior staff feeling unsafe to criticize organizational processes; and fifth, practitioners used multiple coping strategies to deal with their sense of powerlessness including blaming others (particularly journalists), fatalism, reductive framing, and intentional blocking of awareness and evaluation of ethical issues. While it is possible these themes could be interpreted as evidence of public relations practitioners’ individual moral inadequacy, a broader analytical lens, taking into account the organizational and global power structures the practitioners described, suggests otherwise. Taking its cue from the power-attuned approach of feminist poststructuralists, this article argues that the data should be read as symptomatic, not causal, and that it is to the overarching operating power structures of global capitalism that public relations ethicists could most productively turn their attention if they want to identify loci for change.

Drawing upon critical public relations literature, this article calls for public relations research to critically examine the content in national narratives as the precursor to reconstructing a more tenable discourse on nation building and national interests. In the culture-centred approach, a deconstruction of the dominant discourse is the initial step to opening the space for participation. In line with the culture-centred approach, I conducted a critical metaphor analysis on 58 speeches delivered by Singapore government leaders on the necessity of national education for national survival. The analysis reveals eight metaphoric themes: CONTAINER, with BUILDING as a subset of that theme, JOURNEY, REMEMBERING, SEEING, MORALITY, CULTIVATION and LABOUR. This article discusses the four most salient themes of CONTAINER, BUILDING, REMEMBERING and MORALITY. Locating these themes in the socio-political context of a semi-authoritarian democracy reveals the ideational preoccupations of the government as the agent-organisation seeking to preserve its hegemonic leadership. The research highlights the usefulness of critical metaphor analysis for critical culture public relations practitioners and researchers in uncovering the propositions and agenda latent in naturalised discourse pervading a society.