Textbook Chapter 6

In this chapter, I learnt about the standard practices of public relations practitioners. Regardless of the work environment, public relations practitioners are bound to face challenges daily. However, public relations is an important part of any organisation as it is able to create improved understanding, mutual benefits and joint action both internally and externally.

Public relations practitioners aim to foster good working relations between organisations and their stakeholders and communities. They work towards achieving this goal through communication between these entities.

I felt that this chapter is rather similar to chapter 4, where it discussed public relations ethics. In my opinion, public relations practitioners do not just have to behave ethically and maintain communication in order to maintain good relations with fellow entities and the community. They also have to behave diplomatically and be sensitive to others.

This notion can be proven from the recent Mediacorp fiasco, where its public relations officers sent emails to its advertisers, encouraging them to book advertisement slots during news updates on the earthquake and tsunami in Japan as it would have high viewership during those time slots.

While this was a pragmatic business tactic and was not considered unethical, this incident drew a great deal of flak. The public thought that it was "insensitive and tasteless" to draw on a tragedy to increase profit. As a result, Mediacorp had to issue an apology.

The criticism against Mediacorp in relation to this issue had caused some damage to its reputation. I have learnt it is also crucial for PR practitioners to be sensitive towards the public so that the organisation can maintain a positive image and a good reputation.