Public relations, voice and recognition: a case study

Abstract

Public relations' role in democracy is most often conceptualised as a distortion of public debate through the intrusion of vested interests in the public sphere. In this paper, an alternative view of public relations is proposed, grounded in the work of Silverstone, Couldry and Honneth, as a tool through which spaces of appearance may be constructed for individuals within deliberative systems. The results of a pilot study conducted with one UK charity are presented, to explore how the use of public relations by marginalised young people allowed them to express voice, receive recognition and engage with others as citizens.The paper concludes with a consideration of the limitations of the study and its implications for the role of public relations in democracy. KeywordsPublic relations, voice, recognition, mediapolis, Couldry, Honneth, deliberative systems, youth, democracy PUBLIC RELATIONS, VOICE AND RECOGNITION 2 Public relations, voice and recognition: A case study Public relations is a promotional industry defined by a strategic approach to communication, incorporating a range of online and offline techniques that enable organisations to communicate to audiences in a way that serves their interests. Because its work contravenes the parameters for Habermasian approaches to deliberative democracy, it is usually critiqued by democratic theorists as instrumental communication that distorts the media agenda; through which vested interests are able to intervene in debates about the public interest; and through which the ideological hegemony of markets, individualism and consumerism are sustained (

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