Public Relations’ Professional Boundary-Work

Towards new directions in public relations activism and advocacy research

“…This perspective misses that there are forms of activism that can be interpreted broadly with various intents (from advocating for corporate advantage to social change) within the organisational sphere, including employees, leaders, shareholders or trustees, especially in the wake of a growing social unification to mitigate the changing climate and social injustices. As such, it also overlooks the role of public relations professionals as activists, who with their strategic/persuasive communication expertise and power to organise ‘some of the most influential social and global discourses of our time’ (Bourne, 2022: 10) have a potential to intervene in and challenge regimes of injustice at the organisational and societal levels (Holtzhausen, 2006). It tends to exclude advocacy, activist and social movements groups from its investigations—these are largely the focus of critical scholarship.…”

Humanoid artificial intelligence, media conferences and natural responses to journalists’ questions: The end of (human-to-human) public relations?

“…In both the short and long terms, though, public relations scholars and practitioners alike will need, above all, to turn their attention to the increasingly significant threats posed by AI to professionals and the practices in which they engage, to stop dismissing or negating those threats, and to consider ways to minimise or even prevent the threats with a view to taking action as swiftly as possible through professional and academic activities. In considering these issues, fresh academic studies will helpfully build on previous scholarship that has considered the human dimensions of AI in connection with public relations, especially with respect to individuality (Moore, 2018) and posthuman public relations (Moore and Hübscher, 2021), as well as professional discourse (Bourne, 2022). It may be many years before completely realistic humanoid robots appear in large numbers in media conferences facing television cameras and media outlets’ microphones; however, the sooner the profession and field take action, the better the outcomes will eventually be in supporting human communicators who can more effectively care for organisations, communities and groups, not just in media conferences, but also in all areas requiring skilled human communication.…”