How European public relations men and women perceive the impact of their professional activities

Piet Verhoeven, University of Amsterdam & Noelle Aarts, University of Amsterdam and Wageningen University

Findings in that article are very interesting – an annual survey about trends in the profession public relations showed gender differences. The results showed that female pr practitioners in most countries in Europe think that their influence have less impact than men on the strategic decision making in their organizations. The second founding is that females are more likely to value social media and social networking than men.

People who use social media tend to be:

1.       Social,

2.       Involved

3.       Dedicated

4.       Seeking intimacy

5.       Media smart

Such a skills and experience is more a female style of communication. Women feel more comfortable using social media.

The survey shows big difference of perception by men and women.

Very interesting for me was that there is no significant difference between men and women in Eastern Europe. In the article the reason is explained with transition from communism to the neoliberal economy.

Public relations and Globalization: Building a case for cultural competency in public relations education

Pam Creedon, Mai Al-Khaja
Available online www.sciencedirect.com

The article analyses the importance of adding cultural capability to the list of skills and that it is an opportunity to educate a generation that will accept differences and value a global culture separate from national identity.

Very interesting part of the article is: ‘Understanding the racism: blue eyes/brown eyes’. It is about a third grade teacher – Jane Elliott who tried to explain her students why civil rights leader Martin Luther King had been shot and killed. At the end she discovers that ‘you can create racism. And, as with anything, if you create it, you can destroy it’. It is something like ‘culturally biased test’. At the end the author asks the question: ‘What role could public relations have in creating cultural understanding by helping students explore spaces and places, i.e., social system, different from their own?’

The article also explains the role of education in exposing cultural elitism, providing resent case examples, like – ‘ A non-western perspective of history’, ‘ A non-Western perspective on historical geography’ , ‘A non-Western approach to numbering wars in the Middle East’,’ Journalists need to consult with non-Western historical experts to find parallels and context’, ‘Understanding non-Western culture and religion’. I found the research and the whole idea very interesting.

The last part of the article explains very clearly why the understanding of non-Western culture is important. It shows the need of education about other cultures, about the common mistakes and misunderstandings of Arab and Muslim history, culture and religions.

Beyond excellence: Extending the generetic approach to international public relations The case of Bosnia

Michael L. Kent, Maureen Taylor
Available online at www.sciencedirect.com


The article explains international public relations by explaining rhetorical generic theory.
Interesting point from the article is that the model of understanding American and international public relations is actually limiting public relation theory development. There is a comparison between PR and other fields like physical and social sciences that rely on multiple theories to explain their phenomena of interest.
It is also said that the Excellence model has several limitations.
That article suggests that the academics have to examine more the cultural, social, and economic factors that influence public relations development.
Cultural and interpersonal communications cannot be reduced to a few principles, because they are much complex. New theories and researches are needed and one theory will never explain the practice of PR in every different country.

Social Meda in 16th Century

How Luther went viral
Five centuries before Facebook and the Arab spring, social media helped bring about the Reformation
from the print edition

I enjoyed that article a lot. It was very interesting to read how Luther used 'old version' of social media, sending his religious messages - pamphlets, ballads and woodcuts to the public.

Actually he used a diverse social media tools, written songs with particular melody – almost like YouTube nowadays, wooden pictures – could be compared to Pinterest for example.

It is impressive how important is the use of right language. At first he wrote his pamphlets in Latin language and didn’t have serious success, but after the translation to German the social network was activated and his messages were send all around Europe.