Introduction
The dynamics of contemporary society are undergoing
drastic changes; hence the business environment is expected to develop coping
mechanisms. Precisely, the forces
defining the business environment are compelling businesses to create the right
image in the public arena which is imperative for their relevancy and
survival. Amongst the reasons behind
this paradigm shift are the changes in channels of communication, the rate of broadcasting
information and technological processes. These factors create an effective
channel to reach a wider audience and disseminate the latest market information
such as the availability of a variety of products, products’ features and
prices of different goods as well as services.
To remain competitive and retain customers, businesses need to generate
positive media coverage to create a positive image in the public eye. This
approach is referred to as public relations. PR activities have been employed
extensively to achieve their objectives effectively. Consequently, public relations and propaganda
are viewed as approaches that aim to shape viewpoints and influence a specific
market niche opinion. Thus, it is noteworthy to mention that PR uses propaganda
to support their customers’ interests while employing a myriad of techniques to
persuade and influence a specific customer base. However, while public
relations and propaganda are akin to communication objectives, they are
distinct differences in their principles, ethics and results.
Concept of Public relation and Propaganda
The biggest message between propaganda and public
relations is the degree of the truth in the message. According to Theakrer (2020), public
relations can be defined as the act of having persuasive information and
executing adjustments to Forster's support for an activity or an institution. A
successful PR presents an image that is aligned with the reality. Also, its
persuasive nature helps in convincing the masses that it is the reality.
Notably, a high percentage of PR is directed towards the general public but
some reasonable percentage is directed towards the human capital within an
organization (Moore et al., 2023). PR
entails several steps that include but are not limited; to conducting research,
promotion, information planning, implementation of ideas and evaluation of the
outcomes. It achieves its goals by connecting its activities such as publicity
and media consultation that are central to disseminating information to the
public. On the contrary, PR activity can be executed using unorthodox means of
relying on information that includes propaganda.
Propaganda is a
persuasive mechanism that aims to shape public opinion, attitudes and beliefs
using unacceptable means such as deception and lies. Its main objective is to get support from the
public and acceptance; concurrently creating hatred for the opposing party (Bredikhin
et al., 2020). In other words, primarily
is to serves the interests of the messenger.
The messenger relies upon one-sided information, emphasizing the
strength of one side while highlighting the limits of the other (Bastian, 2006). It employs communication media, for example,
television, radio and newspaper to reach a mammoth audience. Since such an audience is incapable of giving
feedback, it simply agrees or disagrees.
Channel to
amplify salient information’s and organization’s milestones
In a situation where PR is aligned properly with other
marketing activities, it is effective in amplifying what the organization is
trying to communicate using alternative channels. For example, a press release
launching a new product can be timely used as a channel for marketing the
product, even though the product is making its debut in the market. According
to Grunig et al., (1984). The four models of communication in PR are its
representation in reality. Gruni’s four models have influenced scholars in the
PR field, and it is considered a perfect model in modern society (Vivian, 2017). He draws an intellectual roadmap with
well-entrenched phases that make a distinction between PR and propaganda.
Precisely, it makes PR intellectually respectable, more practical and also
teachable. The First three models target to help an organization to be
goal-oriented. According to Gruning,
persuasion is a softer word in comparison to manipulation. He further purports
that persuasion has always been an integral part of the fourth model (two-way
asymmetrical); hence it is not rejected since it is symmetrical.
The press
agentry/public model of PR will attempt to amplify the key information of an
organization’s product or services by getting media coverage. Although the organization is not very
concerned with the truth and accuracy, PR is not like propaganda that uses
excess efforts to attempt to control public opinion and discard any dissenting
arguments (Seletzky et al., 2010) . For instance, a case study of the Beijing
2008 Olympics. The Olympics is an
all-round competition being held every four years and attracts millions of
spectators and thousands of participants. Since it is a global event, the
visitors view things differently because of the differences in cultural
backgrounds (Fei et al., 2021). China
being a communist state, controls media activities and the utilization of the
internet. Therefore, due to this factor,
a major challenge faced the organizations in the country, as they tried to
maintain positive public relations. Also, it plays a role in resolving the
issue of engagement, a bit complicated compared to most of the countries
worldwide. The event was important to the Chinese government and, therefore
they used media to show that the government was committed to maintaining an
open environment even before the beginning of the tournament.
Consequently, to amplify information regarding its
milestones, PR employs a public information model. The model is confined to the
organization disseminating true and accurate insights to inform the public
(Fawkes, 2007). For example, a company releasing information on its public
health campaigns aimed at dealing with waterborne diseases due to heavy
flooding. While PR may be targeting to release accurate and truthful
information, Propaganda in most cases employs ‘in-house journalists’ who
primarily serve the media with lies and deception that people want to hear.
The third
model aims to achieve efficient communication.
The two-way asymmetric nexus is on understanding the thinking of the
public (Kelly et al., 2010). For
instance, when an organization is launching a new product, the message will be
packaged better with a proper approach. In a nutshell, within this model, the
organization distributes feedback tools such as questionnaires. Notably, the
ultimate objective of the two-way asymmetric model is to compel the audiences
aligned to the desire of the organization and not bring changes to the
organization.
Within the
context of the amplification of important information, such as the launching of
a new product, PR employs a two-way symmetrical model. The model realm is on
engagement and relationship between the organization and the public (Milojevic,
2015). Therefore, before launching a new product, the organization will try to
engage the public to understand how they think. The feedback will then be
utilized to make better decisions and directives in the interest of both
parties.
Engaging
with audience
Fundamentally, PR activities can generate compelling
and attractive content that can feature on various platforms of the
organization such as websites and social media. Thus, such information can be
amongst the approaches to changing with subscribers. It can be the source of
generating interest and traffic even with the culmination of the PR
undertaking. Also, the movers and shakers in the industry may visit these
digital platforms to get the latest information such as product development,
growth plans and also various news. The
advancement in communication technology makes digital platforms the ideal
platforms to communicate two-way interactive.
According to the study that involved assessing organizations’
communication, it is only government corporations and nonprofits organization
that prefers to use one-way communication in their various digital platforms (Kirkwood, 2017). According to Waters et al., (2011) these
kinds of organizations have a strong preference for a one-way communications
model to pass information digitally and the press agentry model was more
utilized than the three other models. The systems theory emphasizes that the
organization are part of the business environment that facilitates the
interconnection and interaction of systems.
For example, the media, federal state, buyers and many others may be the
systems within a company’s environment. While the organization is focusing on
establishing an efficient external system, it is also important to have an
internal system. The internal systems should have interacting subsystems, where
they’re a myriad of units affecting the operation of each other. They include
but are not limited to the production units marketing and accounting units.
Notably, the main objective of the theory is that the survival of the
organization should be pinned on monitoring and adaptation to the ever-evolving
and changing environments between the systems.
The interaction between the organization and its customer base is only
to provide the organization with useful insights and retain the customer base
(Idris, 2020). Although dialogue
communication seems to be an effective PR activity, it is facing challenges.
They are mainly triggered by organizations not willing to use social media and
websites as a mechanism for reaching out to their customers. Briones et al.,
(2011) on research on the cross social media revealed that the challenges of
building relationships and meaningful conversations on digital platforms are
directly proportional to the staff’s resources and the average time spent
online. The other delimits are on
assuring the organizational management of the importance of digital platforms
on two-way communication and fostering a relationship. Soon et al., (2014), study in Singapore
federal state indicates that challenges in two-way communication are the
investment in terms of time and resources to pursue a successful communication
and the identification of the best evaluation method of evaluating public
engagement on various sticky issues.
Sense of entitlement and employee pride
An organization
using PR to organize corporate social responsibility activities can help boost
employees’ pride and morale. Such
activities provide an ideal opportunity for employees to work and collaborate
to ensure the success of the undertaking. According to Tech and Yeomans (2017),
they infer CSR is a responsibility of any organization to its society.
Therefore, the employees who execute the four dominant PR roles will have a
sense of entitlement and pride. During the CSR-PR undertaking the expert prescriber
is responsible for identification communication breakdowns and problems. They are also expected to develop solutions.
The communication breakdown between the organization and the public will be
solved in an efficient and effective approach to avoid creating more problems
that may need another public relation (Broom and Smith, 1979). The communication faciliatory employees are
expected to be the bridge between the public and the organization. Their job is
to facilitate interaction and play an important role in enabling and developing
two-way communication. The purpose of two-way communication is for the
organization to gather more information on customers’ viewpoints and act
accordingly according to both parties’ interests (Broom and Smith, 1979).
Another type of employee involved in CSR-PR activity is the problem-solving
process facilitator. Their job is to
identify and develop mechanisms to solve problems. However, unlike the expert
prescribers who work individually, they are expected to work together with the
organization’s management. The collaboration ensures that they offer tailored
solutions to the identified problems.
Finally, the communication technician employees are responsible for
writing and distributing communication content such as press releases. Notably, in any PR activity, there must be a
press release to relay information to the public on the latest developments.
However, the communication technician is not in problem-solving or strategic
planning processes. In other words, their job-specification is not a
task-oriented role.
Conclusion
Similarly, while propaganda and public relations share
some similarities in communication activities, there is a distinction in their
operations. Based on the information presented in the essay, it is clear that
PR uses persuasion and transparency. In other words, the findings have alluded
that effective persuasion is capable of shaping perceptions. Furthermore, it
influences the way people interpret and accept information, hence underlines
its importance in the modern society.
However, it is worth noting that even though information is persuasive
it does not mean it is ethical. This is the case with propaganda that uses lies
and deception to persuade the public.
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