Week8 Readings

I think the 2 key points to remember from this week’s reading were the need for PR practitioners to relate tactics to their targeted audience and taking extra precautions not to cross the line where the cultures of a community should be looked upon and respected before making the right tactics.

Firstly, tactics must relate be related back to the target audience. This is important to determine the tactic that the practitioner intends to use. At the end of the day, the practitioner’s goal is to deliver the intended message to their target audience. Distortion of the message is the last thing that should occur.

The readings made me think of how public relations practice use the tactic of audio-visual communication to connect with the target audience. Especially in this era where getting the attention of your targeted audience is already half the battle won, using audio-visual communication can be effective as this would appeal to our audience’s most important senses – sight and hearing.

However, as the readings have mentioned, using such a highly-invested tool to capture the attention of the audience can be very costly to some PR companies. Therefore, a company’s budget is the company’s limitation. In turn, they might lose their share of the audience. This, however, does not mark the end of the company’s ability to succeed.

With other right tactics, it would still be possible to overcome the hurdle and still capture the targeted audience.

The readings also made me think of how PR practice use advertising as a campaign to promote something – a product or a message may be inappropriate in certain cultures. Sometimes though, it can be a wrong move altogether. One example was the advertisement of Okomoto’s condom on bananas to demonstrate the length of its condoms. These advertisements which were pasted in public trains in Singapore had some of its citizens cringed on the sight of it. Singapore, a relatively conservative country may not be too open-minded yet with such issues. Though the advertisements may have achieved in delivering the intended message, it may also send the wrong signals to its audience too.

Therefore, PR industry should be sensitive in their choice of advertisement where the culture of the country’s people must be taken into consideration.

Week6 Readings

I think the 2 key points to remember from this week’s readings are the benefits and problems of using new media to engage in social networks and possibilities of conflict resolution.

The readings made me think about public relations practice where having engagement in social networks is important. This ‘social capital’ also refers to shared values and trust from within it. The readings also made me think about public relations practice of conducting this ‘bridging and bonding social capital’ between organizations, clients and publics. In this era, to PR’s advantage, new media has enabled greater reach to these groups of people to reach out and engage in a two-way communication. This way, social communities are maintained.

One limitation, however, still remains where the use of new media does not allow full interaction between the parties. Feedback through means of emails for example immediately screens out the intended tone of the message and facial expressions, which are important elements especially where body language plays a part in determining the intended feedback.

Apart from that, the readings mentioned how new media has enabled communities to voice out their opinions through the use of blogs or any other online applications. For example, the online Straits Times online blog often encourage Singaporeans to voice out their feedbacks and opinions on new policies, improved regulations, or other comments on reporter’s news stories.

This online opportunity however, can sometimes become more of a chit-chat session where online users use the portal to voice out opinions which are may not necessarily relate to the subject matter at all. For example, the Straits Times Online Mobile Print (STOMP) which allows users to post comments has become irrelevant overtime since the online users end up insulting the other party when disagreements arise.

This problem arises probably because of users’ opportunity to remain anonymous and thereby misrepresent them purposefully. It is of no wonder that there is a lack in authentication in such opinions.

The readings mentioned on possible approaches to negotiation and conflict resolution. These two ways include position-based and interest-based. However, the readings also addressed the problem of how the community may have problems in comprehending complex issues in the first place. As a result, their opinions and feedbacks may seem more like apathy.

As a PR practitioner, it is their job to separate relevant points brought out from those which are merely necessary ranting. PR practitioner may also want to carry in-depth research to why their comments are there in the first place.

Week5 Readings

I think the 2 key points to remember from this week's readings is the role of ethics in Public Relations and the importance of corporate social responsibility PR practitioners have to sustain for the benefit of society.

Firstly, it is essential for PR practitioners to assess ethical implications of their strategies and tactics. This can be done by assessing their personal, professional and institutional ethics. Keeping in mind of the core five parties are individual, employer, client, profession and society. The readings made me think of how one should look within one self’s own set of values to assess and judge what is wrong and right to carry on the plan. It made me think of the common phrase of how one is his/her own best judge. However, I feel that this is quite tricky since we are humans after all and committing an error in judgments is possible. Therefore, I propose considering possible alternatives with the help of other employers to double check one’s actions.

The role of a counselor, as mentioned in the readings, would also be helpful to the practitioner where making a decision is a concern. The readings made me think of the practice of objective observations analysis of a client’s/ employer’s situation. For the practitioner to achieve in these practices, practitioners would be better at analyzing how their future actions would be seen by various stakeholders.

The readings also made me think of PR practice on how social responsibility should also be exercised. Like what was mentioned in the readings, one should aim to ‘go beyond the pursuit of profitability’ where forgoing short-term profit goals brings long-term goals of maintaining interests of the organizations’ stakeholders.

In today’s world where companies are placing more importance on non-financial indicators, like assessing the quality of the workplace tells a lot about the company’s policy of exercising corporate social responsibility. Though I do agree on this, good quality of the workplace however, does not determine the ‘mood’ of the organization where there might be disagreements within.