Tuesday, August 28, 2007
Readings for week 7
Chapter 10 - Media Relations
In: Public Relations: theory and practice
edited by Johnston, J. & Zawawi, C.
Crows Nest, NSW, Allen & Unwin, 2004, pp. 259-286
Drew, S. (2001) Oral Presentations,
in The Student Skills Guide, London, Gower, pp. 98-114)
Van Emden, J. & Becker, L. (2004), Speaking as Part of a Group,
in Presentation Skills for Students, New York,
Palgrave Macmilllian, pp 77-93
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10 was quite interesting because I think that all the activities that are subsumed under the term “media relations” will be the first work you have to do when you start working as a public relations practitioner. So the information about writing press releases (e.g. news factors) and what to think about in selecting the adequate media to reach your selected publics was really helpful. The argument to tread media in the way the particular medium needs it is a logical but most important factor of doing successful pr work. An especially interesting insight was also the notion to see the relationships with journalists on an individual layer. Hence it’s important to know the employees structure of the newsroom you want to address, to know what competences particular journalists have and to know the names of the them or rather know them personally. The information about Media kits and media conferences was also very logical and straightforward. So was the case study, which gave some good insights and practical examples. However, I have to admit that I’ve already read more interesting case studies…
----------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately I couldn’t do the other two readings because I was searching them yesterday in the library and they weren’t available for today. Nevertheless I think that this is not so bad, because I’ve already done two courses on presentation skills as well as one introduction course in presentation in English at my home university. Additionally I estimate that I’ve already done about 50 presentations during my studies, my work as teaching assistant and other works and projects. So I should be able to handle my debate. Though it would be really embarrassing if I would suck at my debate after writing so proud about my presentation skills and experiences :-)
Well, that should be enough for this week…
In: Public Relations: theory and practice
edited by Johnston, J. & Zawawi, C.
Crows Nest, NSW, Allen & Unwin, 2004, pp. 259-286
Drew, S. (2001) Oral Presentations,
in The Student Skills Guide, London, Gower, pp. 98-114)
Van Emden, J. & Becker, L. (2004), Speaking as Part of a Group,
in Presentation Skills for Students, New York,
Palgrave Macmilllian, pp 77-93
----------------------------------------------------
Chapter 10 was quite interesting because I think that all the activities that are subsumed under the term “media relations” will be the first work you have to do when you start working as a public relations practitioner. So the information about writing press releases (e.g. news factors) and what to think about in selecting the adequate media to reach your selected publics was really helpful. The argument to tread media in the way the particular medium needs it is a logical but most important factor of doing successful pr work. An especially interesting insight was also the notion to see the relationships with journalists on an individual layer. Hence it’s important to know the employees structure of the newsroom you want to address, to know what competences particular journalists have and to know the names of the them or rather know them personally. The information about Media kits and media conferences was also very logical and straightforward. So was the case study, which gave some good insights and practical examples. However, I have to admit that I’ve already read more interesting case studies…
----------------------------------------------------
Unfortunately I couldn’t do the other two readings because I was searching them yesterday in the library and they weren’t available for today. Nevertheless I think that this is not so bad, because I’ve already done two courses on presentation skills as well as one introduction course in presentation in English at my home university. Additionally I estimate that I’ve already done about 50 presentations during my studies, my work as teaching assistant and other works and projects. So I should be able to handle my debate. Though it would be really embarrassing if I would suck at my debate after writing so proud about my presentation skills and experiences :-)
Well, that should be enough for this week…
Tuesday, August 21, 2007
comment wednesday 22 august
Today I posted a comment on the blog of ashley:
http://cmns1290ashleycay.blogspot.com/
http://cmns1290ashleycay.blogspot.com/
Readings for week 6
Chapter 4 and 5 - Legal Enviroment and Ethical Practice
In: Public Relations: theory and practice
edited by Johnston, J. & Zawawi, C.
Crows Nest, NSW, Allen & Uniwin, 2004, pp. 73-134
----------------------------------------------------
Reading chapter 4 was really interesting but also difficult to read due to all the law terms. The central insight for me was that pr practitioners firstly always have to be aware of the legal framework of their activities. Secondly, they always have to take advice as soon as any issue goes beyond their expertise in law. Moreover, they always have to reflect legal advices and strategies from a public relations point of view, because a legal win in a case might not mean a win in public relations terms. Hence it is always important to maintain relationships and a good reputation whatever legal action one takes. In this regard the example of McDonalds was very demonstrative.
I also found the paragraphs about the different forms of ownership very informative. Especially the explanations about intellectual property and copyright were really important (for pr practitioners), because these matters are getting more and more relevant as we are heading more and more into a media and communication society. Furthermore, the notions about the global context of legal considerations in terms of public relations were a logical, but interesting insight. Last but not least, the paragraphs about contract law were really helpful, in particular the different guidelines about making up contracts from Clark, Cho and Hoyle on the pages 95-97.
-------------------------
The chapter about ethics was both an amendment and an extension to the law chapter, as “law is the floor and ethics must work above this” (p 123). I really liked the integrated approach of the text that both business and communications ethics has to seen as crucial to pr ethics and the work of pr practitioners. Hence the description of the different roles of a practitioner with regards to ethics within an organization is really important. Most important for me was the fact that the practitioner always has to be more a counsellor than an advocate. So while, in my opinion, e.g. the management sometimes just focuses on the economic goals, the pr department also has to consider the ethical responsibility to the stakeholders and the society. Hence it’s likely that practitioners are getting into ethical dilemmas when they have to balance both the interest of the company and the stakeholders. But in the end the need for ethical behaviour will always have a crucial importance: The actions of a company will always affect its reputation and image of the company, which impacts directly the economical outcome in the long run (that’s why ethical issues are getting more and more important in our contemporary media and information society). Therefore ethical matters should be handled by the public relations departments as well as the pr practitioners should have an important role within the companies’ hierarchy.
But to come back to the actually chapter, I furthermore really liked the interesting practical insights it gave, for example the “Potter-Box” or above all the paragraphs about the addressing of ethical issues. The latter were really helpful for me to get some additional concrete information how ethics can be applied in the practice. Also the part about the ethical framework was quite interesting, because I got an overview over the main institutions involved in the establishment of Australian pr- and communication ethics.
But I don´t have any time to write about this because the tutorial starts in 25 minutes...
In: Public Relations: theory and practice
edited by Johnston, J. & Zawawi, C.
Crows Nest, NSW, Allen & Uniwin, 2004, pp. 73-134
----------------------------------------------------
Reading chapter 4 was really interesting but also difficult to read due to all the law terms. The central insight for me was that pr practitioners firstly always have to be aware of the legal framework of their activities. Secondly, they always have to take advice as soon as any issue goes beyond their expertise in law. Moreover, they always have to reflect legal advices and strategies from a public relations point of view, because a legal win in a case might not mean a win in public relations terms. Hence it is always important to maintain relationships and a good reputation whatever legal action one takes. In this regard the example of McDonalds was very demonstrative.
I also found the paragraphs about the different forms of ownership very informative. Especially the explanations about intellectual property and copyright were really important (for pr practitioners), because these matters are getting more and more relevant as we are heading more and more into a media and communication society. Furthermore, the notions about the global context of legal considerations in terms of public relations were a logical, but interesting insight. Last but not least, the paragraphs about contract law were really helpful, in particular the different guidelines about making up contracts from Clark, Cho and Hoyle on the pages 95-97.
-------------------------
The chapter about ethics was both an amendment and an extension to the law chapter, as “law is the floor and ethics must work above this” (p 123). I really liked the integrated approach of the text that both business and communications ethics has to seen as crucial to pr ethics and the work of pr practitioners. Hence the description of the different roles of a practitioner with regards to ethics within an organization is really important. Most important for me was the fact that the practitioner always has to be more a counsellor than an advocate. So while, in my opinion, e.g. the management sometimes just focuses on the economic goals, the pr department also has to consider the ethical responsibility to the stakeholders and the society. Hence it’s likely that practitioners are getting into ethical dilemmas when they have to balance both the interest of the company and the stakeholders. But in the end the need for ethical behaviour will always have a crucial importance: The actions of a company will always affect its reputation and image of the company, which impacts directly the economical outcome in the long run (that’s why ethical issues are getting more and more important in our contemporary media and information society). Therefore ethical matters should be handled by the public relations departments as well as the pr practitioners should have an important role within the companies’ hierarchy.
But to come back to the actually chapter, I furthermore really liked the interesting practical insights it gave, for example the “Potter-Box” or above all the paragraphs about the addressing of ethical issues. The latter were really helpful for me to get some additional concrete information how ethics can be applied in the practice. Also the part about the ethical framework was quite interesting, because I got an overview over the main institutions involved in the establishment of Australian pr- and communication ethics.
But I don´t have any time to write about this because the tutorial starts in 25 minutes...
Tuesday, August 14, 2007
Readings for week 5
Chapter 7 - Strategy, planning and scheduling
In: Public Relations: theory and practice
edited by Johnston, J. & Zawawi, C.
Crows Nest, NSW, Allen & Uniwin, 2004, pp. 169-196
Chapter 4 - A Typical Public Relations Program
In C. Tymson, P. and R. Lazar, (Eds.)
The new Australian and New Zealand public relations manual
----------------------------------------------------
The chapter in the textbook was interesting, because it gave some brief elementary explications about the different points of a pr strategy as well as a bit of guidance about the application of it in the practice. Very helpful in this respect were the practical examples and the case studies. I really liked the explanations and the examples about the flowcharts and Gantt chart, because I’ve never worked with these particular items. In particular the case study about the flowchart use in the production of a newsletter was very helpful, because the topic itself was very uncomplicated and therefore it was easy to get a learning out of it. Hence I got some useful insights in new means of scheduling things – a knowledge I need not only for pr purposes…
-----------------
Nevertheless the second text was more interesting for me. The structure was as easy and logical as it could be: first list and visualise the different steps of a pr plan and than discuss each one at a time. Additionally the practical examples made all of it even more comprehensible and straightforward. And the AMP case study in the end was probably the most informative chapter I’ve read so far in this course. That was both compact and full of information and interesting insights – especially table about the objectives, the measurable and the results. Before I read just theoretical stuff that setting objectives and doing evaluation is important, but here there were real existing examples and figures, where I could easily detect coherences.
Well, I hope there will come up more like this in the next weeks…
In: Public Relations: theory and practice
edited by Johnston, J. & Zawawi, C.
Crows Nest, NSW, Allen & Uniwin, 2004, pp. 169-196
Chapter 4 - A Typical Public Relations Program
In C. Tymson, P. and R. Lazar, (Eds.)
The new Australian and New Zealand public relations manual
----------------------------------------------------
The chapter in the textbook was interesting, because it gave some brief elementary explications about the different points of a pr strategy as well as a bit of guidance about the application of it in the practice. Very helpful in this respect were the practical examples and the case studies. I really liked the explanations and the examples about the flowcharts and Gantt chart, because I’ve never worked with these particular items. In particular the case study about the flowchart use in the production of a newsletter was very helpful, because the topic itself was very uncomplicated and therefore it was easy to get a learning out of it. Hence I got some useful insights in new means of scheduling things – a knowledge I need not only for pr purposes…
-----------------
Nevertheless the second text was more interesting for me. The structure was as easy and logical as it could be: first list and visualise the different steps of a pr plan and than discuss each one at a time. Additionally the practical examples made all of it even more comprehensible and straightforward. And the AMP case study in the end was probably the most informative chapter I’ve read so far in this course. That was both compact and full of information and interesting insights – especially table about the objectives, the measurable and the results. Before I read just theoretical stuff that setting objectives and doing evaluation is important, but here there were real existing examples and figures, where I could easily detect coherences.
Well, I hope there will come up more like this in the next weeks…
Tuesday, August 7, 2007
Readings for week 4
Insider Info chapter
in FAQs Public Relations by James
Chapter 11 Internal Communications
In C. Tymson, P. and R. Lazar, (Eds.)
The new Australian and New Zealand public relations manual
----------------------------------------------------
Reading the Insider Info Chapter for me was quite interesting, because it gave an easy insight both into the varying roles within the PR branch and into the daily workflow of different practitioners. Instead of giving an overview over the whole content I just want to mention some of the most central points to me:
As from my own experiences, a job in the communication branch can’t be measured in categories like “40 hours a week, 8 hours a day”. The working times of all the presented persons were vastly flexible and aligned to the specific workload of particular projects and communicative high seasons. Additionally, as some interviewee mentioned, you don’t have so much identical or routine work – every day and every project brings varying challenges. That’s what I personally really like about the field of professional communication. Though I think that the portrayed working hours per week were a little bit too high because the people represented in this book seem to be successful and kind of workaholic – most times it was from 40 up to 55 or so…
The chapter also showed that in the practice it is sometimes quite difficult to draw the line between PR and other disciplines such as marketing or management. This led even to funny paradoxes like the self description of Angela Scrymgour: She said that her job involves the “full range of PR activities, such as marketing strategy and promotion, research, event management brand auditing and management, and community support and liaison” (p. 54). Hence it seemed to me that very often the activities of the portrayed practitioners could be described though the approach of integrated communication.
The last point, which is in my mind very useful to students, is the advices regarding what young people should know about the branch as well as about the job application and interviews. There were some good as well as logical insights, such as avoiding mistakes in the application, being proud and passionate what you are doing and to present yourself as an individual but integrative personality.
The last point I have to mention is that the description were sometimes a little bit clichéd and that the practitioner were a little bit stereotyped as workaholics – especially in the “my week calendars”, which seemed to me sometimes a little bit ridiculous with all that “work, work, work, and once a week gym or yoga” stuff…
----------------------------------------------------
The chapter about internal communications was very useful in getting a first contact with the materia, because I haven’t read anything about that topic before. It had a very good structure, used an easy language and enumerations about the most important fact you have to consider when thinking about internal communication.
The core point for me was that not the medium or the message can create meaning or influence behaviour, but good working and maintained relationships within an organization. Also very central was the notion that communication is not to be seen as a specific action or project, but as an consecutive progress which must be held up be everyone. So the role for professional communicators is mainly to imply a framework for a prolific communication and supervise and measure the communication, think about issues and strategies. So the communication within an organization is simply everyone’s responsibility, as the author mentions in the conclusions paragraphs.
ok, the tutorial starts in 10 minutes, I´ve to stop writing...
in FAQs Public Relations by James
Chapter 11 Internal Communications
In C. Tymson, P. and R. Lazar, (Eds.)
The new Australian and New Zealand public relations manual
----------------------------------------------------
Reading the Insider Info Chapter for me was quite interesting, because it gave an easy insight both into the varying roles within the PR branch and into the daily workflow of different practitioners. Instead of giving an overview over the whole content I just want to mention some of the most central points to me:
As from my own experiences, a job in the communication branch can’t be measured in categories like “40 hours a week, 8 hours a day”. The working times of all the presented persons were vastly flexible and aligned to the specific workload of particular projects and communicative high seasons. Additionally, as some interviewee mentioned, you don’t have so much identical or routine work – every day and every project brings varying challenges. That’s what I personally really like about the field of professional communication. Though I think that the portrayed working hours per week were a little bit too high because the people represented in this book seem to be successful and kind of workaholic – most times it was from 40 up to 55 or so…
The chapter also showed that in the practice it is sometimes quite difficult to draw the line between PR and other disciplines such as marketing or management. This led even to funny paradoxes like the self description of Angela Scrymgour: She said that her job involves the “full range of PR activities, such as marketing strategy and promotion, research, event management brand auditing and management, and community support and liaison” (p. 54). Hence it seemed to me that very often the activities of the portrayed practitioners could be described though the approach of integrated communication.
The last point, which is in my mind very useful to students, is the advices regarding what young people should know about the branch as well as about the job application and interviews. There were some good as well as logical insights, such as avoiding mistakes in the application, being proud and passionate what you are doing and to present yourself as an individual but integrative personality.
The last point I have to mention is that the description were sometimes a little bit clichéd and that the practitioner were a little bit stereotyped as workaholics – especially in the “my week calendars”, which seemed to me sometimes a little bit ridiculous with all that “work, work, work, and once a week gym or yoga” stuff…
----------------------------------------------------
The chapter about internal communications was very useful in getting a first contact with the materia, because I haven’t read anything about that topic before. It had a very good structure, used an easy language and enumerations about the most important fact you have to consider when thinking about internal communication.
The core point for me was that not the medium or the message can create meaning or influence behaviour, but good working and maintained relationships within an organization. Also very central was the notion that communication is not to be seen as a specific action or project, but as an consecutive progress which must be held up be everyone. So the role for professional communicators is mainly to imply a framework for a prolific communication and supervise and measure the communication, think about issues and strategies. So the communication within an organization is simply everyone’s responsibility, as the author mentions in the conclusions paragraphs.
ok, the tutorial starts in 10 minutes, I´ve to stop writing...
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