Public relations face a lot of challenges in terms of public trust. The reason emanates from the traditional view of the professional. The profession has been taken as one that attempts to cover the negative ills in the society, specifically for the top political and corporate class, and putting a brave face despite an overwhelming evidence of a failure.
Often, when faced with criticism that require an objective response, the PR spin doctors would quote words such as ‘business as usual’ in the office, or ‘we have not lost any s focus to serve the public’. Such have been the approaches taken by pioneer Edward Bernays and the professionals who believed in such school of thought. According to Moye (1), during the 1850-1905 period, people like Edward Bernays, believed in using the press to generate “publicity at almost any cost, and this approach engendered the unethical reputation of modern-day public relations”. In such scenario, the public views the PR professionals as people hired to defend conducts, behaviors and beliefs that are against the public interest. This is purely propaganda.
I would support the contemporary public relations approach. It focuses on ethics and integrity other than propaganda (Moye, 1). The approach looks at the practice as anchored on the principle of the intercultural diplomacy and persuasive communication (L’Etang, 145). The approach is different from the traditional view of the practice where the professionals attempted to sway public opinion, shape it and achieve a specific purpose. In that sense, public relations are based on rhetoric. I would, therefore, defend contemporary public relations as an attempt to evaluate the cultural and anthropological dimensions of a given audience and attempting to come up with asymmetrical information. The information should be well researched, accurate and meet the expectations of the stakeholders.
The outcome of contemporary public relations approach is mutual understanding of the information. The approach creates a critical paradigm shift where the PR practice directly and indirectly recognize the aspects of multiculturalism, avoids media and political rhetoric and recognizes the emergence of new media-social media that allow direct and uncensored publication.
Works Cited
Moye Jeniffer. Ethics and Public Relations. 2011. Web. 16 Nov. 2014.
<http://www.instituteforpr.org/ethics-and-public-relations/>
L’Etang, Paul. Making it Real: anthropological reflections on public relations diplomacy and
Rhetoric. London: Sage. 2010. Print
