Pub Date : 2025-03-18DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102558
Shanetta M. Pendleton
Corporations frequently use social media platforms to vocalize their social stance as part of their corporate socio-political activism (CSA) initiatives (Parcha & Kingsley-Westerman, 2020). This study employed an electronic experiment using a between-subjects, posttest-only experimental design with a control group to examine the effects of Instagram posts on perceived authenticity of CSA activities. The findings of this study provide further evidence that corporations engaging in CSA can help build and maintain relationships with their external and internal publics (Park & Jiang, 2020). However, these results also provide evidence of how this form of signaling can pose a threat to authenticity, and damage relationships, due to it being seen as performative and inauthentic, especially among individuals who don’t have positive attitudes toward the issue, or CSA in general (Leong, 2021; Gaither, Austin, & Collins, 2018).
{"title":"Friend or faux: Testing the perceived authenticity of corporate socio-political activism messages on Instagram through the lens of Black Lives Matter","authors":"Shanetta M. Pendleton","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102558","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102558","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Corporations frequently use social media platforms to vocalize their social stance as part of their corporate socio-political activism (CSA) initiatives (Parcha & Kingsley-Westerman, 2020). This study employed an electronic experiment using a between-subjects, posttest-only experimental design with a control group to examine the effects of Instagram posts on perceived authenticity of CSA activities. The findings of this study provide further evidence that corporations engaging in CSA can help build and maintain relationships with their external and internal publics (Park & Jiang, 2020). However, these results also provide evidence of how this form of signaling can pose a threat to authenticity, and damage relationships, due to it being seen as performative and inauthentic, especially among individuals who don’t have positive attitudes toward the issue, or CSA in general (Leong, 2021; Gaither, Austin, & Collins, 2018).</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 2","pages":"Article 102558"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143644347","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-03-18DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102556
Brooke Fisher Liu , Duli Shi , Beth St. Jean , Jane Behre , Miranda Downey
An estimated 400 million people live with long COVID. Long COVID is a chronic condition with more than 200 symptoms, many of them debilitating. Alarmingly, there are no universal treatments or cures, and research communities have inadequately addressed the communicative practices and information needs of COVID long haulers. We extend theorizing on forgotten publics and information marginalization through a cross-disciplinary, mixed methods study. We conducted a survey of 135 COVID long haulers in the U.S. and 29 follow-up interviews. Findings reveal that COVID long haulers have experienced four contextual conditions that lead to information marginalization: information accessibility, information trust, knowledge, and confidence. These contextual conditions contribute to the information barriers that COVID long haulers face: (1) challenges in accessing information, (2) psychological barriers, (3) low quality information, and (4) lack of social support. In response, COVID long haulers engage in a variety of defensive information practices, including doing their own research, joining support groups, sharing lived experiences, self-advocating, bending the rules, and giving grace to build resilience. Overall, this study extends public relations and information studies theory, offering insights into supporting marginalized communities during and after crises.
{"title":"Theorizing forgotten crisis publics: COVID long haulers’ information marginalization","authors":"Brooke Fisher Liu , Duli Shi , Beth St. Jean , Jane Behre , Miranda Downey","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102556","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102556","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>An estimated 400 million people live with long COVID. Long COVID is a chronic condition with more than 200 symptoms, many of them debilitating. Alarmingly, there are no universal treatments or cures, and research communities have inadequately addressed the communicative practices and information needs of COVID long haulers. We extend theorizing on forgotten publics and information marginalization through a cross-disciplinary, mixed methods study. We conducted a survey of 135 COVID long haulers in the U.S. and 29 follow-up interviews. Findings reveal that COVID long haulers have experienced four contextual conditions that lead to information marginalization: information accessibility, information trust, knowledge, and confidence. These contextual conditions contribute to the information barriers that COVID long haulers face: (1) challenges in accessing information, (2) psychological barriers, (3) low quality information, and (4) lack of social support. In response, COVID long haulers engage in a variety of defensive information practices, including doing their own research, joining support groups, sharing lived experiences, self-advocating, bending the rules, and giving grace to build resilience. Overall, this study extends public relations and information studies theory, offering insights into supporting marginalized communities during and after crises.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 2","pages":"Article 102556"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-03-18","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143637707","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-25DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102545
Cassandra L.C. Troy , Nicholas Eng , Holly Overton
The public increasingly expects companies to speak out and act in relation to serious societal issues and corporate involvement is necessary to accomplish the SDGs. At the same time, scholars have noted a tendency toward symbolic (i.e., not supported by evidence or organizational change) corporate support for the SDGs. Guided by legitimacy theory, we used an online experiment to understand how symbolic and substantive corporate social responsibility and corporate social advocacy messaging related to SDG 3 and SDG 13 affected consumer perceptions and behavior intentions. Altogether, participants reacted favorably and similarly to SDG messaging compared to a control message. However, substantive communication offered advantages in terms of higher ratings of company reputation and lower perceptions of hypocrisy. Meanwhile, CSR messages could be particularly helpful for reducing perceptions of hypocrisy alongside boycott intentions. Finally, perceptions of moral legitimacy, authenticity, and hypocrisy acted as mediators.
{"title":"Corporate support for the sustainable development goals: Effects of symbolic and substantive communication","authors":"Cassandra L.C. Troy , Nicholas Eng , Holly Overton","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102545","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102545","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The public increasingly expects companies to speak out and act in relation to serious societal issues and corporate involvement is necessary to accomplish the SDGs. At the same time, scholars have noted a tendency toward symbolic (i.e., not supported by evidence or organizational change) corporate support for the SDGs. Guided by legitimacy theory, we used an online experiment to understand how symbolic and substantive corporate social responsibility and corporate social advocacy messaging related to SDG 3 and SDG 13 affected consumer perceptions and behavior intentions. Altogether, participants reacted favorably and similarly to SDG messaging compared to a control message. However, substantive communication offered advantages in terms of higher ratings of company reputation and lower perceptions of hypocrisy. Meanwhile, CSR messages could be particularly helpful for reducing perceptions of hypocrisy alongside boycott intentions. Finally, perceptions of moral legitimacy, authenticity, and hypocrisy acted as mediators.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 2","pages":"Article 102545"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-25","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143479661","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-20DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102546
Anna E. Hartman , Carys Fisser , Rohan Venkatraman , Erica Coslor
This paper explores reviewers as a passionate public, examining their category work in the construction of online reviews within an institutionalized market category: whisky. Centering on the discursive aspects of cultural intermediation in market shaping, we examine the emotion-oriented rhetorical evaluations in online whisky reviews from a US-based alcohol retailer (BevMo.com). Using qualitative analysis of 403 user reviews spanning 99 whisky products (e.g., Scotch, bourbon), this study examines whisky reviewers as a type of passionate public and highlights how their passion for category knowledge also fuels the discursive (re)production of category meanings through its display. Reviewers draw on institutionalized category knowledge to establish credibility in their own member identity construction, while also enacting discursive category work by reproducing market category norms through their demonstrated expertise. Our primary theoretical contribution is the identification of reviewers as a passionate public, theorizing their engagement as a form of category custodianship, a process shaped by both positive and negative emotions. We identify four distinct category work practices in their reviews: (1) authenticating, (2) tutoring, (3) valorizing and (4) matchmaking. We conceptualize ‘category custodians’ as an understudied form of cultural market intermediary who perform a dual producer–consumer role as an outcome of their passionate engagement. This study contributes to the socio-cultural turn in public relations scholarship, arguing that a category lens provides a valuable framework to conduct future research on salient issues with academic and managerial implications.
{"title":"The category work of custodians: Passionate publics and online reviews","authors":"Anna E. Hartman , Carys Fisser , Rohan Venkatraman , Erica Coslor","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102546","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102546","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This paper explores reviewers as a passionate public, examining their category work in the construction of online reviews within an institutionalized market category: whisky. Centering on the discursive aspects of cultural intermediation in market shaping, we examine the emotion-oriented rhetorical evaluations in online whisky reviews from a US-based alcohol retailer (BevMo.com). Using qualitative analysis of 403 user reviews spanning 99 whisky products (e.g., Scotch, bourbon), this study examines whisky reviewers as a type of passionate public and highlights how their passion for category knowledge also fuels the discursive (re)production of category meanings through its display. Reviewers draw on institutionalized category knowledge to establish credibility in their own member identity construction, while also enacting discursive category work by reproducing market category norms through their demonstrated expertise. Our primary theoretical contribution is the identification of reviewers as a passionate public, theorizing their engagement as a form of <em>category custodianship,</em> a process shaped by both positive and negative emotions. We identify four distinct <em>category work</em> practices in their reviews: (1) <em>authenticating</em>, (2) <em>tutoring,</em> (3) <em>valorizing</em> and (4) <em>matchmaking</em>. We conceptualize ‘category custodians’ as an understudied form of cultural market intermediary who perform a dual producer–consumer role as an outcome of their passionate engagement. This study contributes to the socio-cultural turn in public relations scholarship, arguing that a category lens provides a valuable framework to conduct future research on salient issues with academic and managerial implications.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 2","pages":"Article 102546"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143453385","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-11DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102542
Suman Mishra , Mia Moody , Rosalynn A. Vasquez
This study uses a netnography approach to explore why brand publics engage in passionate discourse about a Black-owned business on social media, especially during a crisis. It analyzes 2463 comments posted in response to an Instagram video statement shared by the Black founder and CEO of the Honey Pot Company during a 2022 crisis. The findings reveal that Honey Pot’s most vocal brand publics were Black women and members of the broader Black community. Their passionate engagement is rooted in several factors: 1) a belief that the products were made specifically for them using high-quality natural ingredients, 2) a commitment to supporting Black-owned businesses and ethnic solidarity, 3) deep-seated fears and historical trauma associated with harmful products marketed to the Black community, and 4) a need to hold individuals accountable. Based on the analysis, this unique study reveals four key drivers of passion: product-based passion, identity-based passion, historical trauma-based passion, and accountability-based passion. The study contributes to the public relations literature on passionate publics by illustrating how Honey Pot’s brand publics formed a passionate online community to call for accountability, express ethnic solidarity, and advocate for change.
{"title":"Black-owned business and passionate brand publics: A netnography of The Honey Pot Company PR crisis","authors":"Suman Mishra , Mia Moody , Rosalynn A. Vasquez","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102542","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102542","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study uses a netnography approach to explore why brand publics engage in passionate discourse about a Black-owned business on social media, especially during a crisis. It analyzes 2463 comments posted in response to an Instagram video statement shared by the Black founder and CEO of the Honey Pot Company during a 2022 crisis. The findings reveal that Honey Pot’s most vocal brand publics were Black women and members of the broader Black community. Their passionate engagement is rooted in several factors: 1) a belief that the products were made specifically for them using high-quality natural ingredients, 2) a commitment to supporting Black-owned businesses and ethnic solidarity, 3) deep-seated fears and historical trauma associated with harmful products marketed to the Black community, and 4) a need to hold individuals accountable. Based on the analysis, this unique study reveals four key drivers of passion: <em>product-based passion, identity-based passion, historical trauma-based passion,</em> and <em>accountability-based passion</em>. The study contributes to the public relations literature on passionate publics by illustrating how Honey Pot’s brand publics formed a passionate online community to call for accountability, express ethnic solidarity, and advocate for change.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 1","pages":"Article 102542"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-11","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143378988","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-08DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102543
Lisa Tam , Soojin Kim
A few research studies in public relations have identified significant associations between relational and situational variables in the context of a specific issue involving an organization. Despite this, no research to date has explained why and how these associations occur. Therefore, this study tests the roles of conspiratorial thinking and responsibility attribution in influencing the confluence of publics’ perceptions of an organization with their perceptions about an issue involving the organization. Situating the study in the context of the Australian Government and the issue of high-rise overdevelopment, an online survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 400 Australian citizens. The results showed that publics with high levels of distrust and political cynicism toward the government also reported high conspiratorial thinking about the government. Conspiratorial thinking was significantly associated with responsibility attribution to the government for causing the issue of high-rise overdevelopment. Subsequently, publics developed situational perceptions and motivations about the issue. The findings showed that even if individuals attribute responsibility to the government for causing an issue, as long as they have high situational activeness in the issue, they will engage in proactive communicative behaviors to seek, forefend and forward information from the government. (196 words)
{"title":"Influence of perceptions of organizations and perceptions of issues on communicative behaviors: Roles of conspiratorial thinking and responsibility attribution","authors":"Lisa Tam , Soojin Kim","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102543","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102543","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>A few research studies in public relations have identified significant associations between relational and situational variables in the context of a specific issue involving an organization. Despite this, no research to date has explained why and how these associations occur. Therefore, this study tests the roles of conspiratorial thinking and responsibility attribution in influencing the confluence of publics’ perceptions of an organization with their perceptions about an issue involving the organization. Situating the study in the context of the Australian Government and the issue of high-rise overdevelopment, an online survey was conducted with a nationally representative sample of 400 Australian citizens. The results showed that publics with high levels of distrust and political cynicism toward the government also reported high conspiratorial thinking about the government. Conspiratorial thinking was significantly associated with responsibility attribution to the government for causing the issue of high-rise overdevelopment. Subsequently, publics developed situational perceptions and motivations about the issue. The findings showed that even if individuals attribute responsibility to the government for causing an issue, as long as they have high situational activeness in the issue, they will engage in proactive communicative behaviors to seek, forefend and forward information from the government. (196 words)</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 1","pages":"Article 102543"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-08","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143350159","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-07DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102541
Yangzhi (Nicole) Jiang , Yang Cheng , Yuan Wang
The use of artificially intelligent (AI) chatbots in the Chinese market is increasing along with corporate social responsibility (CSR). We surveyed 606 Chinese consumers to examine how a company’s chatbot can contribute to CSR dialogues by enhancing users’ perceptions of chatbot listening and shared meaning creation. The findings revealed that Chinese consumers appreciate the use of AI-enabled chatbots in CSR conversations, particularly if the chatbot has a social-oriented communication style. This communication style helps shape shared meaning of CSR and enhances consumers’ perceptions of a chatbot’s ability to listen. Furthermore, the communication style facilitates consumers’ willingness to engage in CSR dialogues, provide support, and recommend the business to others (supportive intent). In addition, we found that perceived chatbot listening and shared CSR meaning partially mediate the positive link between the social-oriented communication style and users’ supportive intent. Trust in the chatbot played a moderating role in the indirect effect of chatbot communication style (social-oriented) on supportive intent through perceived shared meaning. This effect increased with consumers’ trust in the chatbot’s competence and communication integrity. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.
{"title":"Leveraging AI in CSR: How social-oriented chatbots influence Chinese consumers’ supportive actions via dialogic communication","authors":"Yangzhi (Nicole) Jiang , Yang Cheng , Yuan Wang","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102541","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102541","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>The use of artificially intelligent (AI) chatbots in the Chinese market is increasing along with corporate social responsibility (CSR). We surveyed 606 Chinese consumers to examine how a company’s chatbot can contribute to CSR dialogues by enhancing users’ perceptions of chatbot listening and shared meaning creation. The findings revealed that Chinese consumers appreciate the use of AI-enabled chatbots in CSR conversations, particularly if the chatbot has a social-oriented communication style. This communication style helps shape shared meaning of CSR and enhances consumers’ perceptions of a chatbot’s ability to listen. Furthermore, the communication style facilitates consumers’ willingness to engage in CSR dialogues, provide support, and recommend the business to others (supportive intent). In addition, we found that perceived chatbot listening and shared CSR meaning partially mediate the positive link between the social-oriented communication style and users’ supportive intent. Trust in the chatbot played a moderating role in the indirect effect of chatbot communication style (social-oriented) on supportive intent through perceived shared meaning. This effect increased with consumers’ trust in the chatbot’s competence and communication integrity. The theoretical and practical implications of these findings are also discussed.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 1","pages":"Article 102541"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143348890","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"OA","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-02-05DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102544
Joseph R. Giomboni
This study examines the institutional practices that shape and inform internships within the public relations industry. The investigation is pursued through a textual analysis of recruitment postings at 18 leading PR agencies and marketing communications firms to provide insights on how the industries solicit student workers, illicit emotional responses to the media text, and exploit the ontological rewards of future employment. This study aims to uncover internship postings role as discursive objects that articulate not only expectations between organizations and students, but also code a certain kind of ideological vision for what intern labor should entail. By examining how agencies solicit intern labor, researchers, educators, and practitioners can gain a better understanding of the defined role and responsibilities of prospective interns. The findings suggest PR and communication agencies recruit labor on two professional tracks: technicians and industry exposure for future management. Future technicians perform emotional labor when solicited by agencies through work-as-fun mantras to join creative cultures rooted in networking and professional development workshops. These individuals are required to be ambitious, personable, self-starters who can work on multiple projects on tight deadlines. Other agency positions feature industry exposure for future managers who are partnered with award-winning professionals. In addition to administrative research and media monitoring skills, I argue media literacy is required for ideal management track candidates who are storytellers, consume and evaluate news coverage, and identify strategic opportunities for the agency or clients within a changing media landscape.
{"title":"The media literacy divide: Ideological framing of labor in public relations agency internship postings","authors":"Joseph R. Giomboni","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102544","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102544","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This study examines the institutional practices that shape and inform internships within the public relations industry. The investigation is pursued through a textual analysis of recruitment postings at 18 leading PR agencies and marketing communications firms to provide insights on how the industries solicit student workers, illicit emotional responses to the media text, and exploit the ontological rewards of future employment. This study aims to uncover internship postings role as discursive objects that articulate not only expectations between organizations and students, but also code a certain kind of ideological vision for what intern labor should entail. By examining how agencies solicit intern labor, researchers, educators, and practitioners can gain a better understanding of the defined role and responsibilities of prospective interns. The findings suggest PR and communication agencies recruit labor on two professional tracks: technicians and industry exposure for future management. Future technicians perform emotional labor when solicited by agencies through work-as-fun mantras to join creative cultures rooted in networking and professional development workshops. These individuals are required to be ambitious, personable, self-starters who can work on multiple projects on tight deadlines. Other agency positions feature industry exposure for future managers who are partnered with award-winning professionals. In addition to administrative research and media monitoring skills, I argue media literacy is required for ideal management track candidates who are storytellers, consume and evaluate news coverage, and identify strategic opportunities for the agency or clients within a changing media landscape.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 1","pages":"Article 102544"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-02-05","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143100672","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-29DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102540
Irene Di Jorio
This article explores the relationship between the terms “propaganda” and “public relations” within the discourse of Italian PR professionals after 1945. Inspired by the critical history of PR, it examines how these professionals conceptualised and named their activities at that time. Extensive documentary research of historical sources from the Italian PR world reveals the porous boundaries between “propaganda” and “public relations”, while also highlighting the professional and political conflicts underlying their definitions. The need to define the PR profession’s boundaries then produced a series of oppositions destined to become classic: transparency vs. opacity; democracy vs. dictatorship; free world vs. totalitarianism; expertise vs. ideology. These dichotomies, characteristic of anti-communist imaginary, contributed to forging the idea of a correspondence between political regimes and forms of communication, where propaganda was on the side of “totalitarian” states, while PR was on the side of democracies. The incompatibility between public relations and dictatorship was, however, selective in the discourse of professionals: it followed the political divisions of the Cold War. At the same time, the idea of a discontinuity between fascist propaganda and the public relations of post-war democratic Italy was not monolithic. Historical research deconstructs the narrative of an ethical progression from propaganda to PR. Sources from the Italian PR world empirically demonstrates the historical inadequacy of this narrative, which was above all an ideological construct of the Cold War.
{"title":"Porous boundaries, contentious boundaries: “Public relations” and “propaganda” within the discourse of Italian PR professionals after 1945","authors":"Irene Di Jorio","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102540","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102540","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>This article explores the relationship between the terms “propaganda” and “public relations” within the discourse of Italian PR professionals after 1945. Inspired by the critical history of PR, it examines how these professionals conceptualised and named their activities at that time. Extensive documentary research of historical sources from the Italian PR world reveals the porous boundaries between “propaganda” and “public relations”, while also highlighting the professional and political conflicts underlying their definitions. The need to define the PR profession’s boundaries then produced a series of oppositions destined to become classic: transparency <em>vs.</em> opacity; democracy <em>vs.</em> dictatorship; free world <em>vs.</em> totalitarianism; expertise <em>vs.</em> ideology. These dichotomies, characteristic of anti-communist imaginary, contributed to forging the idea of a correspondence between political regimes and forms of communication, where propaganda was on the side of “totalitarian” states, while PR was on the side of democracies. The incompatibility between public relations and dictatorship was, however, selective in the discourse of professionals: it followed the political divisions of the Cold War. At the same time, the idea of a discontinuity between fascist propaganda and the public relations of post-war democratic Italy was not monolithic. Historical research deconstructs the narrative of an ethical progression from propaganda to PR. Sources from the Italian PR world empirically demonstrates the historical inadequacy of this narrative, which was above all an ideological construct of the Cold War.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 1","pages":"Article 102540"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-29","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143156835","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Pub Date : 2025-01-20DOI: 10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102539
Carla White, Shelby Luttman, Elizabeth Johnson Avery
Identifying best practices for efficient yet effective social media listening and use among PIOs with limited resources is pressing given the pervasiveness of health dis- and misinformation. This study examines the practice of social media monitoring by public information officers (PIOs) at public health departments across the United States. The current study updates previous work (Avery, 2017) and explores the relationships between PIOs’ time spent on social media management and monitoring as well as the effects of available time, financial, and personnel resources on use. The perceived impact of social media on the spread of health misinformation is discussed as well as the gaps between perceived benefits of social media monitoring and its practice. Recommendations include increasing the prioritization of social monitoring within public health departments to combat health misinformation online.
{"title":"Public information officers’ use of social media monitoring: An updated analysis of current practice","authors":"Carla White, Shelby Luttman, Elizabeth Johnson Avery","doi":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102539","DOIUrl":"10.1016/j.pubrev.2025.102539","url":null,"abstract":"<div><div>Identifying best practices for efficient yet effective social media listening and use among PIOs with limited resources is pressing given the pervasiveness of health dis- and misinformation. This study examines the practice of social media monitoring by public information officers (PIOs) at public health departments across the United States. The current study updates previous work (Avery, 2017) and explores the relationships between PIOs’ time spent on social media management and monitoring as well as the effects of available time, financial, and personnel resources on use. The perceived impact of social media on the spread of health misinformation is discussed as well as the gaps between perceived benefits of social media monitoring and its practice. Recommendations include increasing the prioritization of social monitoring within public health departments to combat health misinformation online.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48263,"journal":{"name":"Public Relations Review","volume":"51 1","pages":"Article 102539"},"PeriodicalIF":4.1,"publicationDate":"2025-01-20","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"143100671","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":3,"RegionCategory":"管理学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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