31 Critical reflections on the field

Abstract

In this chapter, we argue that the effect of public relations on society merits further attention from scholars and practitioners. In particular, the advent of digitisation, algorithmic technologies and AI more generally, have been under-examined. In these areas, greater reflexivity and scrutiny of how such tools are used in the industry, and the ways it might perpetuate or challenge their in-built biases, is sorely needed. In a communications landscape characterised by the co-existence of digital utopias, post-truth politics and fake news, we suggest that the challenges raised by these new technologies relate to two key issues: voice and diversity, both of which are deeply affected by digital technologies. The industry's capacity to adequately reflect on its role in enhancing or limiting these inequalities depends on adopting a renewed ethics in pedagogy and practice that adequately equips practitioners with the reflective and analytical skills to not only use digital technologies, but also to account for their effects as part of the arsenal of communications tactics in the 21 st century.

Public Relations, Social Inclusion, and Social Exclusion

“…I also believed that public relations professionals could develop research methods and algorithms to use big data to identify publics and their problems, to give voice to publics in strategic management, and to evaluate organization–public relationships. Bourne and Edwards (2021), however, have pointed out that digital media could be used in the opposite way: to restrict voice and to increase inequality.…”

“…At the same time, research is needed on communicators own knowledge, ethics, and behaviors. To quote Bourne and Edwards (2021): The industry’s capacity to adequately reflect on its role in enhancing or limiting these inequalities depends on adopting a renewed ethics in pedagogy and practice that adequately equips practitioners with the reflective and analytical skills to not only use digital technologies, but also to account for their effects as part of the arsenal of communications tactics in the 21st century (Abstract, p. 601).…”

“…At the same time, research is needed on communicators own knowledge, ethics, and behaviors. To quote Bourne and Edwards (2021):…”

Prospects and risks of digitalization in public relations research: mapping recurrent narratives of a debate in fragmentation (2010–2022)

“…Shoai, 2021; Sen, 2022); this implies fighting the current risks of individualization and polarization and giving voice to diversity and minorities in the digital sphere (e.g. Bourne and Edwards, 2021). This engagement is regarded as vital to preventing future PR from turning into “a morally indifferent practice of persuasion, attempting to manage – that is, limit the freedom of – relevant individuals” (Bachmann, 2019, p. 327).…”