Media Relations

The media proves to be the most effective means of communicating with the public- an essential skill of a public relations practitioner. The readings this week established the importance of an understanding of journalism and the associated tools used to reach audiences by the media. An understanding of media releases, deadlines, newsvalues and media conferences will further engage a practitioner with their set task and over all improve the standard of their practice. Through an understanding of these journalistic elements a relationship between PR and journalism can be founded. Typically the relationships between PR practitioners and journalists are viewed as competitive and unfriendly. The readings suggest that uneasy relationships need to be mended through mutual understanding and respect for each other's roles due to the growing interdependence between the two industries.

I enjoyed reading about media conferences as the readings included detailed, helpful and practical advice about running conferences such as when to hold a conference, who to invite and how, where conferences should be held and set-up considerations. Practical inclusions in the readings such as these really help me to understand public relations more clearly and they help give a more vivid depiction of a career in the industry.


See Laurie's blog for this week's critique.

The Legal Environment and Ethics

'The Legal Environment' forced me to address to legal side of PR, which I had previously underestimated its complexities. The readings established a clear importance of understanding law in the PR domain. Practising without a basic understanding of laws such as contract, copyright, negligence, torts, defamation etc could easily lead to unlawful behaviour which is potentially destructive to a PR campaign, sponsors, careers, relationships and reputations. These elements run hand in hand with public relations practice and thus signify the up most importance of both understanding legal obligations and practicing within these obligations. The unnerving part is that a PR practitioner can break these laws without even knowing or intending to due to the complexity and intricasies of the legal environment. This emphasises the need for mindful practice and the execution of thorough care when working with clients- especially when reputations are at stake. A practitioner must obide by their duty of care. When failure to exercise reasonable care takes place a litigation may arise costing time, money and potential damage to relationships.

I think the key point to take from this reading is that it is important to engage with the legal environment. Although it is complex and there are unavoidable legal problems in PR, practicing with sound legal advice is almost certain to minimise damage.



Johnston and Zawawi explain 'ethics' with a straightforward idea, "Ethics are standards of integrity. In a nutshell, ethics is about doing the right thing." This is simply the main point to take away from the chapter, however i understand that deciding what is right or wrong is not always an easy task. Decisions must ensure a balance of commercial objectives and responsiblities to stakeholders. When making a decision, companies must consider the concept of transparency and professionalism in order to achieve a sense of genuity and trust with stakeholders and publics.

I found the 'Cash for Comment' case study the most interesting and a clear guide of what not to do in orer to practice ethically. Deception of publics and those enlisting a sense of trust in an organisation is a sure fire way to damage reputations, relationships and consequently careers.


See Emma's blog for critique.

A Typical Public Relations Program & Strategy, Planning and Scheduling

This weeks readings really helped me to understand the practical nature of PR strategy and planning and the intricasies involved in effectively practising PR. I learnt the importance of objectives, target audiences, opinions, research and budgeting and also the need to re-evaluate these original strategies to ensure effective and efficient practise and implementation. The Zawawi and Johnston's lay out of a strategic public relations plan summarised these elements effectively as it explained what a campaign's 'skeleton' should include. Also the importance of lists and charts was made known in order for a practitioner to think about their plan systematically.

I found the case study "AMP Sponsorship of the Sydney 2000 Olympic Torch Relay" particularly interesting as it puts all of the theoretical aspects into motion. Beginning with a detailed list of goals and objectives AMP were able to implement a successful campaign through targeting publics and developing strategies such as on site branding, promotions, advertising and risk management. The continual evaluation of this process was vital to make improvements and enhance the success of the campaign. Brand, Employee and Commercial measurements were made through research evaluating the success of the objective in comparison to the actual result. For example, the objective to raise the profile of financial planning was achieved as 90% of financial planners said torch relay involvement increased their profile in the olcal community.

I think the most important element of the readings this week is to recognise that a campaign is only successful through continuous evaluation of the existing strategies. If something isn't working upon implementation, then it needs to be reconsidered in order to achieve the desired objectives.


See Teigan's blog for critique.

PR FAQ and Internal and Community Relations

I really appreciated the readings this week due to the detailed insight into PR in the 'real world', where are parties, champagne and celebrities are few and far between. It added a third dimension to the way I had previously viewed PR that strangely enough didn't diminish my interest in the field. The personal accounts of practising PR revealed that a sincere passion for the industry can be developed. I appreciated the honest, un-distorted view points that really deflates the fabricated, pop-culture depiction of PR that still sometimes taints my perceptions.


Internal and community relations was an interesting chapter that outlined the importance of a harmonious internal relations within a company in order to succeed. I found the opening sentence interesting upon first reading the chapter.

"Trust, honesty and community-these are the values that organisations and public relations need to embrace."

These three values are the opposite to what most people feel PR embodys- Betrayal, lies and selfishness. Once again this enforces the point I made above about the common PR misconceptions.

We learn that image is everything in PR and one of the best ways to maintain a company's healthy image is to invest in employee goodwill. If the employees are happy, then their family and friends are happy thus maintaining an extended company appreciation. This is remniscient of Grunig's Two Way symmetric model. The ANZ Case study applies this theory within their 'break out' strategy. To be successful it must be stressed that one hundred percent employee commitment was needed including adopting the value of "leading and inspiring each other".


See Larrissa's blog for critique.