Textbook Chapter 14

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Fourteen - Careers and Expanding Horizons

This chapter focuses on the various factors that one should take into consideration before embarking onto the profession of public relations. I find this rather insightful as I was able to understand the various steps that are essential for me to take before I prepare myself for a successful career. There are various points that are being highlighted in the chapter.

1) Gain some experience

I agree with this point as I feel that having adequate working experience gives one an insight on the operations of a public relations practitioner. Having work experience also meant that the applicant would have an advantage over the others who may not be familiar with the job scopes of the public relations industry. In fact, I feel that gaining experience does not solely apply to the area of public relations as I believe many companies out there would prefer hiring staff who are more experienced and knowledgeable in the line they are working in.

2) Attend more international events and schools' exchange programmes

I feel that such opportunities are hard to come by and should I be given a chance to gain overseas exposure, I will be more than willing to accept that offer. This is because having an overseas exposure gives one the ability to socialize with various cultural groups and such invaluable experience would give one the advantage of gaining a deeper understanding of different cultures. Public relations practitioners would also be able to handle public relations at an international level since they managed to learn from their own overseas experience. In addition, exchange programmes are often than not offered to students only. This means that an applicant who has graduated and have not gone for an exchange program may lose out as he or she is competing with several other applicants who may have gone for more than one exchange programmes.

3) Always apply public relations theory in your work

I feel that this statement is not necessarily true. Theories are often designed with a set of assumptions involved. It is difficult to apply theories in reality when the assumptions does not necessarily apply to all situations. This means that some discrepancies may result in the process of management such that inaccuracies would occur. I feel that it is essential for public relations practitioners to constantly analyze the situation and assess the possibility of fitting the various theoretical concepts into the situation before they proceed with the plan.

4) Read and Research online

This is an important aspect especially in the case of public relations practitioners. It is important that one conducts his or her own proper research to ensure that there would be no discrepancies of information released to the public. Such discrepancies may result in the doubts raised by the clients' customers and shareholders and would also lead to countless queries from the media as well. Aside from that, I feel that having a proper research and knowledge on the issue of concern would enable public relations practitioners to handle the event or crisis in a proper manner and this would help to minimize damages to the reputation of their clients.

Through this chapter, I realized that it is important that we keep ourselves updated because as public relations practitioners, we need to handle and manage our clients reputation regardless of the line that they are working in. We need to be prepared to work for any organisations and that means we would need to be as well informed as our clients are. After all, what is the point of hiring us if our clients know better than we do?

Textbook Chapter 13

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Thirteen - Focus on Asian Public Relations Management

This chapter is different from the previous ones as it has narrowed down to the framework of public relations in Asia. It explores how public relations is shaped and applied in the countries that comprise the region, and provide various aspects that are being applied to different locations. I realized that there is no universal code of practice in the profession of public relations and different countries have different barriers and culture to follow. Therefore, this explains why some countries choose to differ their way of operations from the western style.

In this chapter, it mentioned a point that I would like to elaborate on: public relations in Asia mainly focuses on relationship building and framing. This means that public relations practitioners have to think about the issue or event of concern in a particular angle such that they could frame such ideologies within a certain framework. I feel that this point could be explained with the recent earthquake tragedy at Japan where the government had to deal with several public enquiries on the situation and their measures to improve the situation. In such circumstances, it is important the public relations practitioners understand the ideological positions of the government so the frame they build around the issue or event matches the agenda embedded within the ideology. At the same time, this also highlights the need for public relations practitioners to constantly consider the objectives of their clients before they set out the framework of their strategies.

This chapter also highlighted that trade is an important factor in Asia that led to the importance of public relations in the region. It was mentioned that trade is especially important not just in Asia as it is a factor used to determine a country's economic wellbeing. Let's use the Japan earthquake for instance, the nuclear crisis has led to concerns over the issue of radioactive iodine and caesium in various food products. Such consequences meant that trade would decline in Japan as there would be less demand for their exports and this would in turn result in a fall in the economic growth. Therefore, the process of framing the government's ideologies about health concerns has to be strategized in the best manner possible to ensure that minimal damage is done to the country's development.

Textbook Chapter 12

Reflections on Textbook Chapter Twelve - New Media and Public Relations

As discussed earlier, the emergence of technology has made the Internet an integral part of our lives. People are generally tapping onto the advantages of the Internet to bring about effective communication and to spread the message to the mass population. In this chapter, it focuses on the dimensions of the new media and how it has affected and brought about advances to the profession of public relations.

One aspect that I agree with this chapter is that with the development of the Internet, information flow is no longer controlled or generated by organisations and gatekeepers. This is because everyone who logs onto the Internet can generate and publish their own information on the website, and express their own identity to other netizens yet at the same time, have the option of remaining anonymous. Therefore, with several users generating information at the same time, it has made communication more complex for organisations especially when information published are fast and instantaneous. It has thus created a challenge for public relations professionals to verify the information generated as the public may question the rationality behind such information that clearly was not produced by the respective organisations. Therefore, even though the Internet has enabled a two-way communication between the public and the organisations, it may result in the lack of credibility.

However, one thing to note about the new media is that it has enabled organisations to achieve public awareness. For instance, the increasing reports of animal cruelty in Singapore has led to the Society of Prevention of Cruelty to Animals to set up a facebook page to post pictures and videos of inhumane acts that would increase an awareness that animal cruelty is prevalent in this country. As a result, it has led to an increasing number of volunteers joining the organisation to support the shelter's cause, as well as an increase in the number of volunteers who are willing to a sign a petition to combat animal cruelty in neighbouring countries like Malaysia. Such examples clearly demonstrate that the use of new media applications such as Facebook and Twitter are effective in making a message known such that solutions and help are provided instantaneously. We have to take note that at the end of the day, public relations practitioners aim to help increase public awareness for the respective organisations and such forms of communication have been proven to be effective.