pilot study of US public relations practitioners (original) (raw)
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The 24/7 news cycle, the Internet, and cellphone technology have changed the playing field for public relations professionals during a crisis. Consumers today are more empowered to run their own stories, without editors or producers to vet content and quality. Additionally, the time that public relations practitioners spend crafting statements and releases is shrinking, given the fact that faster information flow impacts the preparation process. Now the public relations field grapples with how to embrace and integrate new technologies. We conducted a pilot study in which an online survey was disseminated to U.S. public relations practitioners in-house and at external agencies. The 175 respondents were mostly based in New York City, the largest U.S. media market, but represented a wide variety of industries. Questions were designed to elicit responses about the relationships between technology and crisis communication. The research fills a gap in literature on current technological applications in crisis communication plans and implementation by public relations practitioners, and captures trends in the industry regarding technological innovation and crisis communication.
Corporate Communications: An International Journal, 2006
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The Diffusion of Social Media in Public Relations: Use of Social Media In Crisis Response Strategies
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This essay brings together key findings from across the recent literature on challenges posed by new media to public relations. It is also seeks to understand how public relations practitioners are using new media technology in their profession. But, given the fast moving nature of today’s technological developments, I believe many public relations practitioners are struggling with the impacts of new media, especially the Internet, on their practice. Possible ethical guidelines for practitioners, albeit made for journalists, are presented in order to create a proper setting for digital contents in this industry. Possible threats and opportunities offered by new media for today’s public relations practice are explored and directions for further research in this area are suggested.
Public Relations Review, 2011
Value changes and the rapid emergence of media innovations (internet, social web) in society lead to an institutionalization of crisis communication, in which especially new media play a crucial role. The key contributions of the paper include deepening and refocusing the theoretical foundations of crisis communication by experimentally analyzing the effects of traditional and social-media strategies on the recipients' perceptions of reputation; and by analyzing the effects or crisis responses on the recipients' secondary crisis communications (e.g., sharing information and leaving a message) and reactions (e.g., willingness to boycott). The results indicated that the medium matters more than the message. For all three dependent measures-reputation, secondary crisis communication and reactionsmain effects of medium occurred, whereas the message had only a significant main effect on secondary crisis reactions.
Establishing Media Partnerships in Crisis Response
Prominent crisis communication researchers have suggested that practitioners should work with the media as partners when managing a crisis (Ulmer, Sellnow, & Seeger, 2007). This study provides an example of a crisis case in which the media was embraced as a partner in the crisis response. Specifically, the partnership established with the media as part of the crisis response following the bombing of the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building in Oklahoma City is assessed. Conclusions further the literature on interorga-nizational partnerships while encouraging research and discussion concerning working with the media as a partner instead of an adversary in public relations, generally, and crisis communication, specifically. Organizational leaders often view reporters as nothing more than attack dogs out to get them. The media is the enemy. While academic literature is encouraging relationship building with the media, we have not noticed a reduction in apprehension and anger by organizational leaders during crisis media training and consulting. Overwhelmingly , our participants and clients are concerned that the media will report information incorrectly or even purposefully twist the information to make the organization look bad. There is good reason for concern. After all, research has shown the media frame can greatly influence how an individual understands or experiences a crisis (Hearit