The Search for Jiminy: A Wide Range of Online and Print Resources, He Could be in One of These!

Last semester my journalism professor told my journalism history class that the most important article is placed strategically on the right side of the front page every day, because the eyes always gaze at the right side of the newspaper when the reader picks up the paper.

---> After browsing through front pages from various newspapers, I then was able to understand the generic front page layout, and that's exactly the same layout I have applied to my PageFlakes. The most important part of my PageFlakes, my annotated bibliography that I have compiled for my own research purposes and others to use is placed on the right side, of course.

<--l--> In the middle is my universal blog and news search, and below that are my Diigo bookmarks and my Bookmarking soulmate (remember her?!) below the searches. Just like a newspaper, I placed what I thought to be less important on the bottom below the end of the computer screen, or in the journalism world you'd say that was below the crease of the front page.

<-- On the left side of my PageFlakes, we have ten RSS feeds from blogs I follow on Conscience Communications. Once again (through my own judgment), I placed the blogs in order of quality or importance to the subject of PR, social change and social responsibility.

So, let's take a look at the right hand-side "article," my annotated bibliography.

If you browse through the various sources that I have displayed you will find some odd ones in there that are very specific and don't have any of the key words, "social change" "social responsibility" "public relations" or "activism" in their titles.

For example, this one citation is about animal rights:

Scudder, Joseph and Mills, Carol Bishop. "The Credibility of Shock Advocacy: Animal Rights Attack Messages." Public Relations Review 35.2 (2009) 162-164.

While researching, I like to find a few very broad resources that encompass a wide range of topics in the field I am researching, and then I like to get pretty specific. The citation above is an example of my specificity. This article is about how PETA's PR was effective in gaining awareness towards slaughterhouse issues, which is directing public attention towards a social problem -- animal abuse.

With that said, many more of my sources in my annotated bibliography focus on specific topics in PR, whereas many of the peer-reviewed books I researched are broad; this approach to research has never failed me.

In other words, if it is a peer reviewed article most likely from Public Relations Review or Public Relations Research then expect the information to be specific. Likewise, if the source is a book it is most likely to cover many topics.

Now I will walk you over towards my Searchin' Flake that has a universal blog and news search that is updated frequently.

I used the term in the box "public relations social responsibility" because "public relations social change" did not yield many results, so bare with me. This key word search should be broad enough to bring in news and blogs about PR's relationship with society, as well as many corporate social responsibility news items.

Next, if you scroll down, you'll come across my Diigo bookmarks. I have quite a few from the last few weeks surfing the web, but they are in no particular order of importance or subject. All the book marks are just ordered in the way I randomly found them online while skimming through others' bookmarks, PR websites and the like.

A little farther down we now come across my social bookmarking soul mate's Delicious bookmarks. If you want to know more about my social bookmarking soul mate and what kind of topics you can research through her bookmarks, feel free to head over to one of my earlier posts this month about Andrea.

And last but not least, we stop this tour on the left side of the page at my RSS feed to various blogs. Blogs accompanied on this list all made it through a rough dismissal process. I recently had around 20 blogs that pertained to the subject of this blog, but I picked the ten that I think are the most helpful and useful for anyone who is interested in PR and social change too; I hope you find them as helpful as I have found them so far!

Enjoy my PageFlakes and research I've complied. Glance through the sources and try to help me find just where Jiminy Cricket is hiding in the PR world! Is he in a blog post, a news article about a PR campaign? If you find that conscience before I do, let me know!

Hey PR, Take Me to Corporation Heaven

Back to a topic I mentioned earlier in this blog about the role public relations plays in society and how exactly PR practitioners would define the term "social responsibility."

I have an answer for those PR practitioners that work for businesses and nonprofit organizations-- and that's corporate social responsibility.

In a study published in the Public Relations Review in November 2008, researchers Kim Soo-Yoen and Bryan H. Reber collected data from 173 PR practitioners about their role in society and thoughts about practicing corporate social responsibility.

The study was researched in the context of two questions I am very interested about. They are basically the exact questions I had when I started this blog, just in the researchers words:

Are there identifiable roles of public relations in social responsibility?
What do public relations practitioners see as their contribution to social responsibility?

What a golden find!

In summary, many of the PR practitioners that were interviewed believe that they can influence the corporations or organizations they work for to be socially responsible, as well a leader in the community they are part of. Those who worked in the nonprofit PR sector believe that PR is "central" in promoting social and political issues of importance that NGOs try to tackle.

Likewise, interviewees said the role of CSR directly mirrors the values and ethical guidelines of a corporation or organization that PR practitioners will follow. But we can't forget that a business needs profit. Thus, there are times where good CSR could be conducted by a corporation but is not because it is not profitable or does not improve the image of the corporation. Even if a PR practitioner has a different view, all they really have got to do is follow the Public Relations Society of America Code of Ethics, which may force the PR practitioners to just follow the guidelines but not go farther and really reach a hand out to society through CSR.

One really interesting information to note: this study also found that some PR practitioners think that PR is actually the organization or corporation's conscience. Hence, my blog name -- conscience communications!

It all sounds great until you realize the actual words in the phrase "corporate social responsibility" -- CORPORATE social responsibility, not PUBLIC RELATIONS social responsibility. The power is truly under the wings of the CEOs of these companies or managers of the organizations. If they grant their PR practitioners the power, then low and behold and watch the PR practitioners fly the corporation or organization to heaven, as the rest of the employees listen to the conscience of communications.

The good thing is that PR practitioners really can have an influence on acts of social responsibility by corporations and organizations, and channel good publicity through the airwaves of the community. If only the PR practitioners were the CEOs, THEN we would maybe really see some social change!

A Juicy Bite of Pork is Chewed Up and Spit Out with the Help of a PR Campaign

Pork may be good to add in a homestyle Mexican dish, or good ol' American barbecue, but does not exactly induce such a tasteful craving when mixed with politics.

But pork and PR -- well, they just might mix.

According to an article in the Bulldog Reporter's Daily 'Dog, PR can influence public policy.

You know what that means? In this case, PR mixed has a mixed relationship with social change! Just what I've been looking for -- a real, current day example.

The article summarizes as follows: during the unforgettable 2008 presidential campaign, pork-barrel spending and earmarks were key phrases in candidate discourse. Thanks to the tri-team of think-tanks Illinois Policy Institute, Citizens Against Government Waste and the Chicago PR firm Mac Strategies Group these two phrases inched their way into the discourse more frequently.

How exactly did these three groups influence a greater power?

In the end, we can say that PR was the one extra step that these two think-tanks needed to be noticed.

The sole purpose of the partnering up of these two think-tanks and the PR firm Mac Strategies Group was to publicize the "2008 Illinois Piglet Book;" which is a book that exposes pork-barrel projects in Illinois, a state that leads the US with pork-barrel spending.

The book and two think-tanks, needing an audience, were striving to be publicized. Mac Strategies mixed it up a little brew of successful strategy: they used not one, but two press conferences.

That means double the chance of coverage in greater news outlets, and an echoing voice through the state of Illinois and to citizens and government officials in both the both largely populated areas of Springfield and Chicago.

According to the article,

"The dual press conferences landed the organizations a combined 15 television
segments and 17 radio interviews and comprehensive print news coverage."

Talk about a lot of coverage!

By working closely with the Mac Strategies Group, both think tanks were able to attack the news aggressively -- and succeeded.

Large donations and popularity was awarded to this tri-team. The Piglet Book became an invigorating topic among reporters of Illinois and nation-wide, as reporters then began following the think-tanks and encouraging the groups to publish another Piglet Book in the future.

***

Alright, now for my two-cents on the article.

I got a little confused here. It seems that the PR firm took a step forward and actually did the job of the reporter. Social change campaigns use journalism as the key to unlock the door that leads them to the greater public so the issue is heard loud and clear; but, this time it seems the PR firm did this job, and then reporters walked through the door. Before, these two think-tanks had the same purpose, but well but were not well noticed. After the PR firm opened the door to the public, we saw a glimpse of social change -- or a campaign for it.

Looks like PR really can compliment my journalistic heart; it'll be a good day.

A little more than a 140 chraracter limit: a whole 'lotta bookmarks

Tweeter, Twitter, Totter.

Sounds Twitastic!
...or not.

After countless hours of searching on social bookmarking sites like Diigo, Twine and Delicious, I finally came across one Delicious user who was a little different from the rest -- her bookmarks encompass a larger view of communications, change and the future of PR. Her wide range of different personal bookmarks gave me the opportunity to really understand her online personality and see ifs she's my social bookmarking BFF. In other words, I finally found a bookmarked that isn't all about Twit-Twit; she focuses on a lot of other equally important things.

I primarily wanted to find my bookmarking soulmate by seenig who else bookmarked the page SourceWatch (an organization dedicated to "watchdogging" journalism and PR sources). However, many of the users I found had interests that were spread along a large spectrum of thought; this left me with the user Andrea.vascellari of Delicious.

Andrea.vascellari, a professional entrepreneur and communicator, actively bookmarks -- she has about 682 bookmarks so far; you can trust that she will add more of these bookmarks daily.

From the looks of it, Andrea.vascellari is interested in new mass communication strategies (including blogging, tweeting and facebooking). There is not one specific focus of what her bookmarks are aiming towards -- i.e these bookmarks range from pr strategies in general (not specifically for a nonprofit or corporation), web design, advocacy tips, the relationship between the reader and writer of a blog, 'how to's' using social media and lastly, the future of PR in a Web 2.0 world.

Sure, we can use social media to compliment a client's image in the public. But even if the client may be enacting one of the biggest social change campaigns of his time (hypothetically speaking, let's say a nonprofit or group of people solved the world's problem to poverty and hunger; and are taking a dose of PR to help better their cause) their image may not be respected, noteworthy, or even apparent in the public eye. No matter how good one's intentions are, image still says it all.

But PR practitioners easily understand this. That's why to fight for a good cause we are told through various blogs and user's personal bookmarks to use social media. As boring as it can be by following these same themes over and over again, take a look at one of Andrea.vascellari's bookmarks.

One page that caught my attention was a link to a blog post about 'How to be More Human' when using social media. This post is written by PR practitioner David Armano in his blog In Fine Print.

Here's a glimpse at an example he gives about 'how to be more human:'

"People can spot robots, artificial intelligence and a fake a mile away. Talking like your legal team, your PR agency or a computer will get unfollowed, unfriended or ignored. Ifwe wanted to hear from machines, robots or legal eagles, we'd watch mroe advertising or interact with your organizations mainstream touch points. We're on the social web because we want to connect with other human beings and we want tthem to act like them. Being human means talking like a human."

This straightforward post digs deep into the PR practitioner's mind by communicating like a human voice.

Just remember: no matter how much good you may be doing with a PR campaign, remember that how you use social media will have a great effect on your image -- and in this case, you've got to be a real human like you already are.

You've also got to be that human you are by helping others -- and Andrea.vascellari gives us an extremely helpful site to enact any type of social change mixed with PR.

This site is called The Point and as Andrea comments on it (as she does consistently with her other bookmarks), in her words this site is,

"More than a petition. Better than a fundraiser. Easy and effect group action. Whether you're raising money, organizing people, or trying to influence change: if you can't do it alone, you can do it on The Point."

In summary, The Point is an online campaign organizer that helps you raise money, make a campaign widget and let members join causes anonymously when issues get pretty controversial.

I found this very helpful and like a magical supplement to any PR campaign that is interested in enacting social change. With just a connection to the internet and access to this site, you can do it too!

Aside from these two links that I found were very interesting and helpful, take a look at her bookmarks for yourself and see what catches your eye. Her tagging is consistent, organized and easily to understand; it shouldn't be hard to navigate your way through her bundle of bookmarks.

But here's the catch: even though she writes a lot about PR and communications, she barely has any 'PR' or 'public relations' tags. Most PR tags are under 'strategy, tools and utilities.'

Finders keepers, losers weepers!

Trifecta

Hello, World!

The convergence of print to online journalism is no myth. It is evident that many readers find online news articles are more accessible and interactive. With the advent of social media, citizens can share articles with each other and even write their own. As nice as these practices may sound; it is also a very challenging time for journalism. Profit is where the people are -- and that's online, ironically where most information is free. |

As this is a pressing issue in society right now, journalists and college students are trying to guide their way through the media world without becoming unemployed. That, in some journalist's eyes, may be "selling out" to the public relations (PR) profession.

On the other hand, for college students it may be lead them towards a PR oriented job because as most of these students have likely been told, "PR is where the jobs are." I know I've heard that one before! Sure, the PR profession is where the jobs mainly are in the media world today. But why do journalists feel like they are "selling out" to PR? Moreover, how can journalists STILL seek the truth, stand up for those who don't have a voice, and be a "watchdog" for greater society through practicing PR?

Back in the day, I was a young child with a dream; I was never interested in any other career path besides journalism. Believe it or not, I have been faithful to that dream from a nine year old elementary student to a current twenty year old undergraduate student. College students may be known to change their major and plans frequently, but I was one that always knew just exactly what she wanted to study: journalism. Having the power to expose injustice in society and help others through this public service profession always intrigued me. It even helped me develop my snappy and 'stand up others and what I believe in' type of personality. To sum up my thoughts exactly about the journalism profession:

"Good journalism does not often topple a president [in reference to Watergate],
but it frequently changes the lives of citizens, both grand and ordinary."

-Washington Post Reporters Lenoard Dowie Jr. and Robert G Kaiser, The News About the News

But then why am I focusing on PR in this blog?

Unfortunately, after transferring out of the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University and enrolling as an 'undecided' student at USC, I was not admitted to the Annenberg School for Journalism at USC last spring semester. Because of lengthy degree requirements for the journalism major, now the only program in the journalism school that I can apply to is the public relations program.

Don't get me wrong -- it's not like I have never thought about a degree in PR. I just never thought I would actually be applying to PR programs because I never had a doubt in my mind that I would not be a journalism student. But this journey is far from over: I will be a student in a journalism school; I can't give up just yet! However, due to the circumstances, I can say that it is now time for me to follow the yellow brick road of the media world and research the PR field. While doing so, I will never forget the concept that attracted me to a media profession the most: social change.

In this blog, I'd like to investigate the role public relations can play/or has played in any type of social change. I will tackle a broad range of topics that will be related to: the history of public relations and its relation to journalism, the meaning of "social responsibility" to public relations practitioners, different public relations strategies and campaigns (from the nonprofit sector to corporate relations), what it means to be a "PR watchdog" and the current day relationship between public relations and social media.

Everybody has the ability to make a difference in this world. The only thing different about such ability is how one approaches it. My approach is will be through PR, starting right about now with this blog -- hopefully it does the trick. Hold on tight, and embrace yourself as you embark on this journey with me to help me find my niche in the media world.

Welcome!

Profile Post: "Call the Spin Doctor!"

Help, my image is dying!

It's not unlikely for one to associate public relations solely with the concept of spin: a public relations practitioner's attempt to favorably shape the news media's image of a politician, corporation, or the likes, especially after a crisis.

It's a win/lose situation. A "spin" may better the client's image, but bury the respectability of the PR profession, even if there are only a couple "spinsters" among the hundreds of other honest PR practitioners.

In the blog titled F.A.D.S. -- The Fight Against Destructive Spin, various PR professionals of a PR firm named Arment Dietrech write about PR spin. These professionals are "committed to improving the reputation of [their] industry and educating the public. PR is misunderstood, so F.A.D.S educates the public about what we do and the important role we play in society." The purpose of this blog is therefore to expose the 'destructive spin' concept of PR, and restore the profession's integrity. This blog reports and criticizes on the use of 'spin' in current day PR and the media, touches on truthful and 'good spin' practices within the PR and media industry and encourages discussion among readers about the issues and PR ethics. With posts appearing every 1-5 days, readers are able to read and discuss on a weekly basis. F.A.D.S.' Technorati rank may 588,858, but don't let that large number fool you -- this blog is a perfect place for online discourse about the integrity of the PR profession.

For instance, in one post titled "Astroturfing is WORSE than Spin!" a F.A.D.S. blog contributor, Gini Dietrich exposes a dishonest PR campaign conducted by Dewey Square Group. Dietrich is sure to explain what exactly astroturfing is for those who may not know PR lingo:

"What’s astroturfing, you ask?
It’s a political, public relations, or advertising campaign designed to create the impression of being spontaneous, or grassroots, behavior (hence the reference to artificial grass)."

Following, this campaign involved a forged letter to the editor of a newspaper by a PR professional to promote a good image for the Dewey Square Group. Dietrich ends the post stating bluntly: "I'm disgusted."

I absolutely love the ending of that post. It shows just how much one of the contributors of this blog really cares about the integrity of his profession, as well as its social responsibility to tell the truth. The authors have the courage to show faults in the PR world, as illustrated in this post among many more posts, which makes this blog so powerful.

But this blog doesn't only expose the bad -- our favorite Disney conscience, Jiminy Cricket, must have jumped in and did some talking because these bloggers know just how to see the good in PR.

Speaking of Disney, one post entitled, "Great PR in Rough Spending Times" contributor Tom Short enters the conversation of good PR practices by illustrating Disney's newest PR strategies related to the corporation's movie Earth. For every person who attended the movie during the opening week, Disney planted a tree in Brazilian Atlantic Forest. Short comments about the PR campaign:

"Yes, Disney does have the money to do that anyway, but it shows there are big
companies that don’t just care about the money and themselves."

Not only is Disney making money, but they are also promoting a caring image.
Likewise, this blog makes sure to point out that Disney is having an impact on the environment through PR, just one of the biggest social problems of our times.

With the help of this blog, I will be able to research PR campaigns that are far from helping society, and learn the difference between 'bad' and 'good' PR. Nonetheless, I will also be able to learn about the good practices PR entails, which is one of the sole purposes of my own blog. The posts may be sometimes short, but that's the job of a PR practitioner anyways: to get the most important information out in a simple and condensed manner. Because these are all PR professionals contributing to this blog, I feel that it is a very respectful source of information about PR, social change, and wrongdoings in the profession. As this site is built upon the ideals of confronting the PR stereotype of "spinning," my blog will differ in its emphasis (that being social change) but at times easily touch on the issues presented in this blog. Because this is a very engaging blog, hopefully when I become more knowledgeable about PR I will be able to discuss avidly with other PR professionals that read this blog.

Voices Post -- Vivid Creativity

Blogs aren't just black and white. They are usually dressed up in vivid color by the author's voice that keeps readers interested -- whether that voice is colorfully humorous, or even intellectual. When searching through different blogs that were related to PR, one blog I came across was PR-Squared. This blog is written by Todd Defren, a PR professional at SHIFT Communications. Defren discusses the changing PR industry. Sounds like another one of those blogs that duly identifies PR strategies using social media, right? Well, think again. Defren uses an informal, conversational and creative voice to engage the reader and effectively share his thoughts about PR.

Although Defren's blog does touch on lengthy PR strategies that are highly detailed, he writes as if he is personally speaking to the reader as if the reader was a colleague. For example, in one post discussing the future of public relations, Defren emphasizes:

"When people talk about the "Death of Public Relations," it doesn’t bother me at
all. I know what they are talking about. They are talking about the death of
MEDIA RELATIONS. . .Now that that’s changing, our approach can change.
PUBLIC RELATIONS can fulfill its mandate to improve RELATIONS with the
PUBLIC."

Like in this post, Defren uses an abundance of capital letters to state his opinion on the subject matter, and clearly show the reader what is important in the post. He also uses italics and bolds as well to make his point clearly in other posts -- especially at the end of the posts to ensure that the reader gets the 'take home message.'

Moreover, commas, colons and periods are the magical figures of Defren's use of punctuation. They help gather his big ideas into short and straightforward sentences. It is not likely to find a any post in this blog with run-on sentences. Thus, his use of punctuation helps characterize his professional and informal voice because he knows enough about the subject of the posts to be able to condense his ideas into such short sentences. Like Defren would say,

Ideas win.

In other words, he knows what he is talking about.

Aside ffrom writing posts about the future of PR, he actually mimics the voice of a PR client when talking hypothetical situations:

"The brand enthusiast created by great online experiences becomes an even
bigger threat when they become disgruntled by the lack of attention paid to
all other customer service channels: "Treat me like a STAR one day,
and give me a nightmarish experience the next day, just because I’ve
reached out via a different channel? F* you! I’m gonna tweet about
this — you are a fraud!!"

I found this adding some creativity to his voice, which actually complements the content of this blog. These hypothetical quotes exaggerate dialogue of a PR client, or PR professional through the use of punctuation!!!, swearing, underlining and italicizing to show just how much an effect the subject of his post(s) can have on the PR profession.

Even if he makes up his own quotes in these situations, he doesn't fake his conversational lingo between himself and the reader. A favorite phrase of Defren, as seen in many posts is, 'eh?' like: "Not recently, not often, eh?"; "Yet more and more marketing agencies are hurtling into the social media vortex, eh?"

Through these examples of his voice, you would think there is little strategy when choosing diction because these examples are more conversational than poetic. However, he uses an abundance of daring adjectives and adverbs in his posts. Among the ones I found striking being "bulletized," "atomized," "newsy," etc. To complement his daring diction and informal voice, Defren enacts playful links in this blog. For example, he talks about working at SHIFT Communications:

"Lots of really cool people want to work here; we work hard but it’s usually pretty
fun."

The link seems a little tricky -- what exactly could "pretty fun" link to? Well, it links to another blog post about SHIFT Communications being named one of the best places to work in the SF Bay Area. I have got to say, that's a pretty creative choice of a link. As you have already seen, creativity runs deep in this blog. Defren's titles, i.e. "Social Change's Bloodless Revolution", "Terrorized into Excellence", "Your Personal Brand is Crap!" "Can't Hurry Love", etc. help make Defren's overall creative persona.

As a reader, one can see that Defren has the skills, determination and creative voice that anyone needs to work in and educate the communications world.

Facts and Might-- The Relationship Between PR and Journalism

Fact: something known to exist or to have happened.
That definition is a fact. But, it's always up for interpretation.

A fact is the backbone of both journalism and public relations, but with a different understanding.

Journalists, according to the Society of Professional Journalists Code of Ethics, seek and report the truth. Facts, then are objective pieces of evidence that together unfold the truth about a certain situation.

On the other hand, public relations practitioners don't view facts as clearly objective. Those facts can be interoperated, and manipulated to boost a client's image.

Likewise, because PR practitioners are said to undermine facts and sometimes have a tarnished image before others in the media industry. This rivalry between the two profession has been an apparent discussion from the beginning of the PR profession in the 1880s until now. To sum the rivalry up in harsh words, Stanely Walker, editor at the New York Herald Tribune in 1932 gave is known to once have said: "[public relations agent] are mass-mind molders, fronts, mouthpieces, chiselers, mooches, and special assistants to the president."

As harsh as that sounds, Reporters also have a specific term for PR practitioners, flack. According to Media and Culture: An Introduction to Mass Communications:

"[flack] derives from the military word flak, meaning the antiaircraft artillery shells fired to deflect aerial attack, and from the related flak jacket, the protective military attire worn to ward off enemy fire. For journalists, the word flack has come to mean PR people who insert themselves between employers/clients and members of the press."

It is obvious that there's a lot of friction between the free press and the PR profession. To gain a little insight, PR practitioners are blamed for being the "go-between" between journalists and direct sources, and business can be manufactured into "news" taking the spot of real news, etc.

The power PR can not only hold reporters back but also give them a heads-up. With the downsizing of newsrooms during the economic downturn of our times, there may not be enough funds or reporters to pick and chose what information makes its way to the center stage of a newspaper or news broadcast. But with press releases written in a news story form, reporters are given story ideas. The strategy of the PR practitioner is then fulfilled: the PR practitioner's client is given publicity through the news media.

But just like a "flack" or "flak jacket", PR has a lot of power; which is exactly why I would like to take note of this "rivalry" or "dispute" between the professions. Broadly speaking, it is obvious to state that power in a profession can have a lot an impact.

I mention this babble and between two distinct media professions to illustrate how powerful public relations is, especially when it can sometimes control or take over one of the most favorable public service jobs in the United States: a reporter for the free press.

If PR practitioners have a somewhat easy time to direct a message towards a news media outlet or have the power to interoperate facts and feed them to the mass public, then they have the power to ignite social change. Social change starts with an idea, but needs to be spread to a mass amount of people for anything to happen.

Even if a PR practitioner doesn't have the skills of an investigative reporter, they may still have the power and knowledge of one specific problem to get it out in the public, known, and changed (with the help of the population, of course).

I feel that I must rename this babble between reporters and PR practitioners and actually call it a symbiotic relationship. Open up the doors, work together, and let the PR practitioner help the journalist do his job by telling what the journalist should "watchdog" for society and publish in the press.

There will be times when that "job" is to retain a company's image after a crisis, or "spin" a politician's image after wrongdoing, but like the old saying goes: always find the good within the bad. Just because the PR profession is tarnished and associated with undermining facts and the ethics of journalism doesn't mean PR cannot do any good. Not all agents are "flacks" or "mooches" or "mouthpieces", as mentioned earlier in this post. With power, one can do what's right. But what exactly would some PR practitioners call "right?" What exactly would they believe their social responsibility is?

Any ideas?
More to come, with answers.

An informal and professional "listen to me" voice

Blogs aren't just black and white. They are usually dressed up in vivid color by the author's voice that keeps readers interested -- whether that voice is colorfully humorous, informal, or even intellectual. When searching through different blogs with the similar topic of nonprofit PR strategies and communications one that I took the most note of was Steve Cebalt's blog NonprofitPR: Communication with a Purpose (http://nonprofitprforum.blogspot.com/). In this blog, Cebalt discusses nonprofit PR and is specifically targeted at small, local nonprofit organizations. Sounds really interesting, right? Well, even if you are interested in nonprofit PR but can't see yourself actually reading this blog, take a second glance.

Although Cebalt's blog is highly detailed, he uses an informal and yet professional voice to personally speak to the reader as if the reader was a client. For example, in one post about using multiple marketing strategies and thus focusing on the one audience that is the closest to the problem one's grassroots organization is trying to help or solve, Cebalt uses figurative language:

"Let's consider the term "grassroots." Note that it is plural. One blade of
grass standing alone is virtually invisible; but a small patch of grass is the
start of something that can grow. The point: As a nonprofit communicator, you
can't rely on any one grassroots marketing strategy; your outreach efforts have
to be used together to create a multiplier effect, to reach people with the same
message in multiple places and formats."

Cebalt is able to literally show the reader why multiple marketing strategies work (i.e. making the reader visualize grassroots vs. one small blade of grass). Like in this post, Cebalt uses the phrase "the point" with a colon following it to add emphasis to what he wants the reader to remember and also exactly how he wants to reader to interpret his use of figurative language. Also, in Cebalt's case, commas and semicolons are the magical figures of punctuation. They help gather his big ideas into one large, complex, and intertwined sentences. Like in the post above, he uses two commas and a semicolon all in one sentence. This helps characterize his professional and informal voice because he knows enough about the subject of these posts to be able to summarize complex ideas into long sentences and easily get the point across. In other words, he knows what he's talking about. Aside from telling the reader about different PR/marketing strategies small nonprofit organizations can use, he actually touches on the concept of a "voice" in PR writing:

"Your writing may not have any specific problems like spelling or grammar, but
it could just be plain boring. Around here, we call that sort of writing
“lifeless.” When we revise we say “breathe some life into it” by adding personal
interest stories and finding a new way to state an old idea or removing business
jargon or clichés.You don’t want your audience to fall asleep or lose interest
while reading your material, you want them to get excited about your
organization and motivate them to take action. They might not jump for joy, but
some degree of excitement would be great."

This quote summarizes Cebalt's voice in his own blog. Although some of his "how-to" instructions in his blog may seem bland, he makes more engaging by adding questions at the end of posts like, "Am I right?" or "Discuss among yourselves, then come back. Back? Ok." Let's get back to our point." Likewise, he quotes famous sayings from people like Henry David Thoreau and Winston Churchill and also examples from his personal life and family and connects them to the post of the day, or even in one case he links popular culture and the television show the Sopranos to the blog post of the day. His examples, questions, and short sentence structure and abrupt punctuation help his professional and informal voice becoming engaging, and also encouraging because it is like he is personally speaking to the reader. As shown in the two examples, the diction he uses is very simple. He rarely uses flashy adjectives or adverbs in his posts, which is one of the reasons why I have characterized his voice as professional. But because he speaks personally to the reader it is more of an informal voice, which stays consistent in throughout his blog no matter what the subject of the post is about. An emotion that I thought was being conveyed in many of his posts is the emotion of hope, as his titles of posts are encouraging. Examples include, "In times like these, motivation matters"; "How to implement social media marketing without having to learn any of the icky new techy stuff"; "If you aren't in the race, you can't even lose!"; "One blade of grass, or the whole yard?" He makes it seem as if small nonprofits can easily overcome obstacles: they can overcome the "icky techy stuff", reach a "whole yard" of people, etc. With such encouragement, the reader can see that this blogger really cares about what he is writing about and truly hopes to help out small nonprofits with PR, especially because his blog posts are very detailed and with many tips.

Like it or leave it, Cebalt's professional and informal voice complements this blog by making small nonprofits hopeful and believe that their PR can have a positive social effect if they listen to his voice.

Hello World

The convergence of print to online journalism is no myth. It is evident that many readers find online news articles are more accessible and interactive. With the advent of social media, citizens can share articles with each other and as well as even write their own. As nice as these practices may sound; it is also a very challenging time for journalism. Profit is where the people are -- and that's online, ironically where most information is free.

As this is a pressing issue in society right now, journalists and college students are trying to guide their way through the media world without becoming unemployed. That, in some journalist's eyes, may be "selling out" to the public relations (PR) profession.

On the other hand, for college students it may be lead them towards a PR oriented job because as most of these students have likely been told, "PR is where the jobs are." Sure, the PR profession is where the jobs mainly are in the media world today. But why do journalists feel like they are "selling out" to PR? Moreover, how can journalists STILL seek the truth, stand up for those who don't have a voice, and be a "watchdog" for greater society through practicing PR?

In this blog, I'd like to investigate the role public relations can play/or has played in any type of social change. I will tackle a broad range of topics that will be related to: the history of public relations, the meaning of "social responsibility" to public relations practitioners, different public relations strategies and campaigns (from the nonprofit sector to corporate relations), what it means to be a "PR watchdog" and the current day relationship between public relations and Web 2.0 technology.

As you can probably guess by now, I am an undergraduate student is interested in social change and mass communications. Next fall, I hope to apply to the PR program at the university I attend. Thus, I will use this blog to help me understand just how a job in PR can fulfill one's desire to help various social problems in our time and have an impact on the world.

Everybody has the ability to make a difference in this world. The only thing different about such ability is how one approaches it. My approach is through PR, starting right about now with this blog. Hopefully it does the trick. Welcome!

Be sure to keep in mind:

"Public relations is the attempt, by information, persuasion and adjustment, to engineer public support for an activity, cause, movement, or institution." -Public Relations Pioneer Edward Bernays, Crystalizing Public Opinion