Pub Date : 2020-12-15DOI: 10.1177/2046147X20979294
Paweł Surowiec, Christopher Miles
This article theorises the interplay between public diplomacy and populism. Building on Baudrillard’s simulacra, we advance the hybridity approach to soft power statecraft by analysing a cultural shift in US presidential public diplomacy. Using discourse analysis, we uncover how, rather than aiding the building of relationship with foreign publics, Donald Trump has brought to the field cultural codes alien to public diplomacy, imploding the meanings central to the endogenous norms of diplomacy and turning towards an agonistic relational dynamic with foreign publics. This article reveals how digitalisation affords the expansion of Donald Trump’s populist style, and makes the populist cultural shift highly visible on his Twitter. To reveal this dynamic in granular detail, we propose ‘kayfabe’ as an epistemic lens for the interpretation of the populist style in the conduct of Trump’s ‘simulated public diplomacy’, a defining feature of the current US global leadership. As well as considering socialities re-shaping relational dynamics, this article unpacks tensions stemming from the expansion of populist style into presidential public diplomacy. Finally, we reflect on the epistemic crisis of US public diplomacy within the strategic landscape of political uncertainties associated with the proliferation of populism in the field.
{"title":"The populist style and public diplomacy: kayfabe as performative agonism in Trump’s Twitter posts","authors":"Paweł Surowiec, Christopher Miles","doi":"10.1177/2046147X20979294","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X20979294","url":null,"abstract":"This article theorises the interplay between public diplomacy and populism. Building on Baudrillard’s simulacra, we advance the hybridity approach to soft power statecraft by analysing a cultural shift in US presidential public diplomacy. Using discourse analysis, we uncover how, rather than aiding the building of relationship with foreign publics, Donald Trump has brought to the field cultural codes alien to public diplomacy, imploding the meanings central to the endogenous norms of diplomacy and turning towards an agonistic relational dynamic with foreign publics. This article reveals how digitalisation affords the expansion of Donald Trump’s populist style, and makes the populist cultural shift highly visible on his Twitter. To reveal this dynamic in granular detail, we propose ‘kayfabe’ as an epistemic lens for the interpretation of the populist style in the conduct of Trump’s ‘simulated public diplomacy’, a defining feature of the current US global leadership. As well as considering socialities re-shaping relational dynamics, this article unpacks tensions stemming from the expansion of populist style into presidential public diplomacy. Finally, we reflect on the epistemic crisis of US public diplomacy within the strategic landscape of political uncertainties associated with the proliferation of populism in the field.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"10 1","pages":"5 - 30"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147X20979294","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47360564","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-15DOI: 10.1177/2046147X20979290
C. Costa-Sánchez, M. Túñez-López, María-Isabel Míguez-González
The aim of this study is to analyze the state of communication in Galicia, as an example of a peripheral environment, and to determine to what extent it corresponds to the patterns indicated in different studies for the Spanish case and for the whole of Europe. A quantitative technique was used, consisting of the distribution of an online questionnaire, via e-mail, to three groups: communication officers from companies, communication managers from public institutions, and agencies offering communication and public relations services. Trends point to limited communication planning and to some impact of the economic crisis in terms of danger (budget cuts, especially in the case of agencies) and opportunity (increased need for measurements to justify investments). In addition, actions considered most needed within 5 years converge as a result of globalization: online communication and social media management are priority goals for diverse organizational profiles. However, the degree of awareness of strategic communication is higher in the institutional sector than in the corporate sector, since its use has been linked to the development of political communication management.
{"title":"Normal is not normative: Public relations indicators from a Spanish secondary political and economic region","authors":"C. Costa-Sánchez, M. Túñez-López, María-Isabel Míguez-González","doi":"10.1177/2046147X20979290","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X20979290","url":null,"abstract":"The aim of this study is to analyze the state of communication in Galicia, as an example of a peripheral environment, and to determine to what extent it corresponds to the patterns indicated in different studies for the Spanish case and for the whole of Europe. A quantitative technique was used, consisting of the distribution of an online questionnaire, via e-mail, to three groups: communication officers from companies, communication managers from public institutions, and agencies offering communication and public relations services. Trends point to limited communication planning and to some impact of the economic crisis in terms of danger (budget cuts, especially in the case of agencies) and opportunity (increased need for measurements to justify investments). In addition, actions considered most needed within 5 years converge as a result of globalization: online communication and social media management are priority goals for diverse organizational profiles. However, the degree of awareness of strategic communication is higher in the institutional sector than in the corporate sector, since its use has been linked to the development of political communication management.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"10 1","pages":"197 - 219"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-15","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147X20979290","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46249761","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-12-08DOI: 10.1177/2046147X20979291
Mohamed Ben Moussa, Sanaa Benmessaoud
The paper examines the role of social media platforms in public relations engagement, focusing on the case of a leading non-profit organization in the UAE, namely Dubai Cares. Drawing on multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), the paper analyses the textual, paratextual, and visual modes of communication deployed by the organization, and investigates their role as (multimodal) discursive practices in constructing engagement and shaping power relations between the organizations and its publics. A key finding of the paper is that Dubai Cares’ online public relations efforts to promote its international recognition and legitimacy often come at the expense of addressing multiple power differentials between the organization and its stakeholders. The paper demonstrates how approaching engagement as a multimodal discourse, where power relations are at play, helps transcend the limitations of instrumental interpretations of the notion of engagement, thus obscuring its inherent discursive and social dimension.
{"title":"Online engagement as a multimodal discursive practice: The case of Dubai Cares’ Facebook page","authors":"Mohamed Ben Moussa, Sanaa Benmessaoud","doi":"10.1177/2046147X20979291","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X20979291","url":null,"abstract":"The paper examines the role of social media platforms in public relations engagement, focusing on the case of a leading non-profit organization in the UAE, namely Dubai Cares. Drawing on multimodal critical discourse analysis (MCDA), the paper analyses the textual, paratextual, and visual modes of communication deployed by the organization, and investigates their role as (multimodal) discursive practices in constructing engagement and shaping power relations between the organizations and its publics. A key finding of the paper is that Dubai Cares’ online public relations efforts to promote its international recognition and legitimacy often come at the expense of addressing multiple power differentials between the organization and its stakeholders. The paper demonstrates how approaching engagement as a multimodal discourse, where power relations are at play, helps transcend the limitations of instrumental interpretations of the notion of engagement, thus obscuring its inherent discursive and social dimension.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"10 1","pages":"49 - 71"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-12-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147X20979291","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43533708","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-09-01DOI: 10.1177/2046147X19868833
Talal M. Almutairi, H. Sharoufi, A. Dashti
This article adopts a critical approach to public relations by applying a new model for analysing public relations discourse in the context of the Kuwaiti Police. It further attempts to apply a new pragmatic framework that might provide a new alternative for analysing public relations practices thus shedding more light on this professional area. Hence, it is suggested in this article that the use of Sharifian’s cultural pragmatic framework could be effective in anchoring overarching meanings in public relations discourse. Three Officers from the Kuwaiti Police were consequently interviewed for this study, with their interviews being analysed in light of the new framework, thereby exploring the issue of cultural influence in public relations discourse and testing the efficacy of applying the new framework on public relation practices. The application of this framework subsequently generates four themes related to Police public relations discourse.
{"title":"The role of pragmatic cultural schema in analysing public relations communication strategies","authors":"Talal M. Almutairi, H. Sharoufi, A. Dashti","doi":"10.1177/2046147X19868833","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X19868833","url":null,"abstract":"This article adopts a critical approach to public relations by applying a new model for analysing public relations discourse in the context of the Kuwaiti Police. It further attempts to apply a new pragmatic framework that might provide a new alternative for analysing public relations practices thus shedding more light on this professional area. Hence, it is suggested in this article that the use of Sharifian’s cultural pragmatic framework could be effective in anchoring overarching meanings in public relations discourse. Three Officers from the Kuwaiti Police were consequently interviewed for this study, with their interviews being analysed in light of the new framework, thereby exploring the issue of cultural influence in public relations discourse and testing the efficacy of applying the new framework on public relation practices. The application of this framework subsequently generates four themes related to Police public relations discourse.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"9 1","pages":"277 - 294"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-09-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147X19868833","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44149972","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-27DOI: 10.1177/2046147X20932136
Jenny Zhengye Hou
A recent critical turn to both public relations and institutional studies has highlighted ‘agency’ as a shared important theme. While public relations scholars call to bring back ‘agency’ into analysis of practice and process of public relations, neo-institutionalists use ‘agency’ to explain heterogeneity and innovation in institutional outcomes. In this context, this article proposes to use ‘agency’ as a meeting ground to explore how the two disciplines could engage in a dialogue that improves mutual understanding and theoretical enrichment of each other. It argues that institutional thoughts such as ‘embedded agency’, ‘institutional entrepreneurship’ and ‘institutional work’ advance understandings of the downplayed issues of power, diversity and activism in the public relations literature. In turn, the multi-paradigmatic public relations scholarship provides useful tools for analysing institutional agency. Also, this article discusses future research agenda to advance fruitful collaboration between the two domains.
{"title":"The articulation of ‘agency’: How can public relations scholarship and institutional theory enrich each other?","authors":"Jenny Zhengye Hou","doi":"10.1177/2046147X20932136","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X20932136","url":null,"abstract":"A recent critical turn to both public relations and institutional studies has highlighted ‘agency’ as a shared important theme. While public relations scholars call to bring back ‘agency’ into analysis of practice and process of public relations, neo-institutionalists use ‘agency’ to explain heterogeneity and innovation in institutional outcomes. In this context, this article proposes to use ‘agency’ as a meeting ground to explore how the two disciplines could engage in a dialogue that improves mutual understanding and theoretical enrichment of each other. It argues that institutional thoughts such as ‘embedded agency’, ‘institutional entrepreneurship’ and ‘institutional work’ advance understandings of the downplayed issues of power, diversity and activism in the public relations literature. In turn, the multi-paradigmatic public relations scholarship provides useful tools for analysing institutional agency. Also, this article discusses future research agenda to advance fruitful collaboration between the two domains.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"10 1","pages":"97 - 117"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-06-27","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147X20932136","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47105607","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-26DOI: 10.25384/SAGE.C.5042399.V1
Me McLean, Kelly Vibber
This exploratory qualitative study looks at Death Week, the annual commemoration of Elvis Presley’s death at Graceland in Memphis, TN, as a uniquely important part of tourism-based strategic public...
{"title":"Remembering the King: Understanding strategic management of and participation in Elvis’ Death Week:","authors":"Me McLean, Kelly Vibber","doi":"10.25384/SAGE.C.5042399.V1","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.25384/SAGE.C.5042399.V1","url":null,"abstract":"This exploratory qualitative study looks at Death Week, the annual commemoration of Elvis Presley’s death at Graceland in Memphis, TN, as a uniquely important part of tourism-based strategic public...","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"92 11","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-06-26","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41243720","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-06-07DOI: 10.1177/2046147x20920808
Charis Rice, Maureen Taylor
This article uses Northern Ireland as a research context to explore how elite discourse (from political and media actors/institutions) influences how Non-Profit Leaders (NPLs) assess the trustworthiness of government. We provide emergent themes which should aid theory development and practice in the area of political public relations by showing: (1) the value NPLs place on ‘soft’ trust qualities in trust assessments of government, namely benevolence; (2) the importance NPLs place on communicative acts which model trust (e.g. dialogue, compromise, mediation); and (3) the destructive role of divisive political elite discourse within a defective political system, amplified via the media, in NPLs’ distrust of government. The study thereby emphasises the crucial and constitutive role trust perceptions play in (in)effective political public relations, arguing that ‘trust’ must be defined by the perceiver and critically unpacked if public relations research is to fully appreciate its function. We propose that the nature of Northern Ireland’s post-conflict divided society, and political discourse in specific, makes certain trust antecedents most desirable to cross-community stakeholders. The findings contribute to further refining the concept of trust in public relations and they may also be instructive for other contexts.
{"title":"‘What they say peters down’: How non-profit leaders assess the trustworthiness of government – Elite discourse and distrust in post-conflict Northern Ireland","authors":"Charis Rice, Maureen Taylor","doi":"10.1177/2046147x20920808","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147x20920808","url":null,"abstract":"This article uses Northern Ireland as a research context to explore how elite discourse (from political and media actors/institutions) influences how Non-Profit Leaders (NPLs) assess the trustworthiness of government. We provide emergent themes which should aid theory development and practice in the area of political public relations by showing: (1) the value NPLs place on ‘soft’ trust qualities in trust assessments of government, namely benevolence; (2) the importance NPLs place on communicative acts which model trust (e.g. dialogue, compromise, mediation); and (3) the destructive role of divisive political elite discourse within a defective political system, amplified via the media, in NPLs’ distrust of government. The study thereby emphasises the crucial and constitutive role trust perceptions play in (in)effective political public relations, arguing that ‘trust’ must be defined by the perceiver and critically unpacked if public relations research is to fully appreciate its function. We propose that the nature of Northern Ireland’s post-conflict divided society, and political discourse in specific, makes certain trust antecedents most desirable to cross-community stakeholders. The findings contribute to further refining the concept of trust in public relations and they may also be instructive for other contexts.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"9 1","pages":"237 - 256"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-06-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147x20920808","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48273415","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2020-05-24DOI: 10.1177/2046147X20920800
Anne M. Cronin
This article offers a sociological account of how we might analyse the relationship between contemporary practices and discourses of secrecy on the one hand, and those of transparency on the other hand. While secrecy is often framed in popular and political discourses as the antithesis of transparency, in reality, their relationship is more complex and co-constitutive than may initially appear. The article argues that understanding the interface between secrecy and transparency as a socially embedded dynamic can offer public relations scholarship productive avenues for both theoretically oriented research and empirical studies. In its role in the management of the secrecy−transparency dynamic, PR plays a significant role in actively creating social relations. This article aims to provide resources for assessing the strength of this dynamic in acting to structure social, political and economic relations, and offers new perspectives on how techniques employed to manage the secrecy–transparency dynamic – including public relations – are both embedded in such relations and act to shape them.
{"title":"The secrecy−transparency dynamic: A sociological reframing of secrecy and transparency for public relations research","authors":"Anne M. Cronin","doi":"10.1177/2046147X20920800","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.1177/2046147X20920800","url":null,"abstract":"This article offers a sociological account of how we might analyse the relationship between contemporary practices and discourses of secrecy on the one hand, and those of transparency on the other hand. While secrecy is often framed in popular and political discourses as the antithesis of transparency, in reality, their relationship is more complex and co-constitutive than may initially appear. The article argues that understanding the interface between secrecy and transparency as a socially embedded dynamic can offer public relations scholarship productive avenues for both theoretically oriented research and empirical studies. In its role in the management of the secrecy−transparency dynamic, PR plays a significant role in actively creating social relations. This article aims to provide resources for assessing the strength of this dynamic in acting to structure social, political and economic relations, and offers new perspectives on how techniques employed to manage the secrecy–transparency dynamic – including public relations – are both embedded in such relations and act to shape them.","PeriodicalId":44609,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Inquiry","volume":"9 1","pages":"219 - 236"},"PeriodicalIF":1.8,"publicationDate":"2020-05-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://sci-hub-pdf.com/10.1177/2046147X20920800","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"46702354","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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