Jotted Lines

A Collection Of Essays

Menu
  • Literature
  • Media Studies
  • History
  • Management
  • Philosophy
  • Economics
  • Gender Studies
  • Psychology
  • Law
Menu

How can Public Relations communications theory help us understand the role of new media

Posted on May 18, 2013 by JL Admin

In the final analysis, we can come to the conclusion that the new media has the potential to enlighten and empower an individual. It also can be utilized to deprive citizens of their privacy and fundamental liberties. In practice, individual empowerment is subject to many conditions. First of all, individuals are likely to be empowered only if they have an internal personal drive to achieve that end. While the new media offers a glut of up to date information, we as a society are far from wielding democratic power to hold governments and corporations accountable for their deeds. But the hope lies in the fact that the new media has the potential to remove hurdles to people’s “thirst for knowledge, creativity and personal development” (Sriramesh, & VerČiČ, 2003). While there is room for optimism, there are also some worrying trends. Some media critics point out that the advancements in new media technologies have been paralleled by certain regressive trends in democratic societies, which could ultimately limit the value of new media. For example, across democratic nations of North America and Europe,

“political participation is declining; many argue that news coverage is moving away from serious consideration of policy issues towards a tabloid obsession with celebrities, ignoring international news in favour of domestic news. All the evidence suggests that the internet has not revolutionized media consumption but rather built on existing patterns of behaviour. A combination of cross-promotion, the enormous power of the existing media and the search for trust in an environment of limitless choice means the ‘old’ media dominates the ‘new’ media, as suggested by the fact that UK’s most popular website is that of its most popular broadcaster – the BBC”. (Sriramesh, & VerČiČ, 2003)

References

Berger, B. K. (1999). The Halcion Affair: Public Relations and the Construction of Ideological World View. Journal of Public Relations Research, 11(3), 185-203.
Botan, C. H. & Hazleton, V. (Eds.). (1989). Public Relations Theory. Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
L’Etang, J. (2004). Public Relations in Britain: A History of Professional Practice in the Twentieth Century. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Moriarty, S. E. (1994). PR and Imc: the Benefits of Integration. Public Relations Quarterly, 39(3), 38+.
Oliver, S. M. (Ed.). (2004). A Handbook of Corporate Communication and Strategic Public Relations: Pure and Applied. New York: Routledge.
Owen, D., & Davis, R. (2008). Presidential Communication in the Internet Era. Presidential Studies Quarterly, 38(4), 658+.
Park, H. S., & Choi, S. M. (2002). Focus Group Interviews: the Internet as a Political Campaign Medium. Public Relations Quarterly, 47(4), 36+.
Reese, S. D., & Cameron, G. T. (1992). Enhancing VNR Impact: the Effects of Captioning on Memory and Understanding of TV News. Journal of Public Relations Research, 4(4), 221-234.
Sriramesh, K. & VerČiČ, D. (Eds.). (2003). The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research, and Practice. Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Taylor, B. C., Demont-Heinrich, C., Broadfoot, K. J., Dodge, J., & Jian, G. (2002). New Media and the Circuit of Cyber-Culture: Conceptualizing Napster. Journal of Broadcasting & Electronic Media, 46(4), 607+.

Related Posts:

  • Democracy and the Media: The relationship between Public Relations industry and democratic process.
  • What is litigation public relations, and what are its pro and cons?
  • Should Product Placement in films and other media be controlled?
  • Critical Analysis: The Political Economy of Culture by Sut Jhally
  • The growth in the concentration of media ownership around the world: A Case Study of Rupert…
  • Propaganda Analysis: Apparatus of Lies - Saddam’s Disinformation and Propaganda (1990-2003)
Pages: 1 2 3
©2025 Jotted Lines | Built using WordPress and Responsive Blogily theme by Superb