PR & Communities: Establishing a bond, not just talking at each other!

In PR today there is an ethical responsibility to have at least a little bit of two-way communication going on. This need for PR practitioners to engage more with publics and stakeholder groups has led to greater levels of transparency and accountability for organizations involved, however, to engage with communities one must first know what they are.

The reading this week cites the Oxford English Dictionary definition which is “a fellowship, or a community of relations or feelings” (p. 363). This sounds a little cold and flat if you ask me. Communities are important to just about every facet of PR and working and communicating with communities should be every practitioner’s passion.

The reading talks about six basic characteristics which could apply to a community. These are: commitment to, and quality of, relationships; sense of interconnectedness and social cohesion; commitment to core values and beliefs; balancing of rights with responsibilities; sense of empowerment in decision-making; broadening of one’s social world. However, it must be remembered that ‘community’ is not always a positive thing as it “can have negative or anti-social consequences” in the form of the shutting down of debate and the exclusion of voices thus favouring the views and opinions of those with the power to broadcast. ‘Community’ can also over-simplify complex groups and relationships; here the reading uses the example of the ‘Aboriginal community’.

Once a practitioner knows what a community is they must then communicate with its members. An impossible task to complete without an understanding of it. This is where the need for diversity comes into the picture. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) discovered that PR is mainly a ‘white’ profession which means that practitioners must work with what is available (community leaders, peak organisations, and advisory bodies) to understand minority communities.

Dealing with communities must ever be thought of as an easy job but it is a necessary one. I believe that it is in everybody’s best interests that the days of communities and PR professionals talking AT each other are long gone and now its common practice to collaborate and come up with a solution which works for everyone.

Reading: Chapter 13 ‘Communities and Public Relations’ in J. Johnston & C. Zawawi (Eds.), Public Relations: Theory and Practice (pp. 361-388). Crows Nest, NSW: Allen & Unwin.