Russia Versus the World: Are Public Relations Leadership Priorities More Similar than Different?

As a part of a global study, 215 Russian public relations practitioners completed an online survey about their perceptions of professional leadership and communication management. The Russian sample’s demographics differed significantly from the overall sample’s make-up (N=4,484; 22 countries). Despite the differences, there was a significant overlap between Russian participants’ and their global peers’ beliefs. This result might signal the universality of some specific leadership aspects and/or a globalization effect in Russian public relations

Creativity vs. Ethics: Russian and U.S. Public Relations Students’ Perceptions of Professional Leadership and Leaders

The purpose of this study is to investigate possible similarities and differences in American and Russian public relations students’ (N=377) interpretations of such concepts as leaders and leadership in public relations. Three open-ended questions were designed to examine the participants’ perceptions of ethical issues and leadership in PR practice. After American (n=196) and Russian (n=181) students were surveyed, the authors coded their essay-like responses in accordance with emerged themes. American and Russian students were similar in their perceptions of the public relations profession as prestigious and glamorous and PR leaders as superior to other leaders. Significant differences emerged between American and Russian participants on the three main issues—professional ethics, creativity, and the nature of leadership. American students believed that public relations is inherently ethical and societyoriented, and they regarded moral values as the most important values for public relations leaders. Russian students perceived PR as an art that requires a talent, creative thinking, and knowledge of psychological methods of influence. U.S respondents believed that public relations practice is transparent, whereas Russian participants considered public relations hidden persuasion. American respondents perceived public relations leadership as the ability to effectively collaborate with followers, whereas Russian participants thought that public relations leadership is the ability to dominate and impose leaders’ opinions on team members. The fact that American and Russian public relations students might possess an idealized perception of the profession calls for an assessment of teachers’ instruction to create a more balanced and realistic image of the profession

Drowning Out the Message Together: Analysis of Social Media Comments on a Political Sex Scandal

This study content analyzed online comments on Fox News and CNN’s YouTube platforms related to news stories on the 2017 special election for the U.S. Senate in Alabama. Republican candidate Roy Moore attracted widespread media attention one month prior to the election – after being accused of sexual misconduct for alleged relationships decades before his run for U.S. Senate. Comment threads were polarized on the two ideologically different forums (CNN and Fox News) as well as within these forums. The latter indicated a crossover effect or the tendency of social media users to leave comments on an ideologically opposing forum. Regardless of being “native” or crossovers, commenters tended to drown out reporters’ messages by introducing new discussion topics. Through the examination of the most popular comments, this study argues for the need for a more nuanced approach to understanding audience gatekeeping in today’s polarized media environment. The article highlights the importance of monitoring online comments to understand the power of the audience to exercise control over the direction of social media commentary

The International Divide in Public Relations Ethics Education: Advocacy versus Autonomy

This study examines how ethics is incorporated into the curriculum and pedagogy of public relations, comparing Western European and U.S. educators. There is a wide divide in their views of ethics pedagogy: U.S. professors take the approach of professional ethics, while European professors focus on moral judgment or autonomy and the need to educate communication practitioners to become ethical agents in the philosophical sense. Although U.S. public relations educators are connected to the industry and appear to want the industry thrive, European educators see themselves as autonomous critics of public relations ethics and exhibit an intellectual distance from industry. Interviews were semi-structured and were conducted with a purposive sample of European (n=20) professors and U.S. (n=32) professors. Comparing participants suggests that European educators have an advantage in preparing students to face ethical dilemmas. Compliance with industry standards limits U.S. educators’ ability to meet challenges of globalization and contemporary business, according to participants. Moral philosophers argue that autonomy is necessary in order to provide a rational, unbiased analysis of ethical dilemmas. Therefore, we conclude that an ideological divide exists in public relations education along international boundaries, related to advocacy for public relations and professionalism versus autonomy and critical reflection of the role of public relations in responsible business and in an ethical society

Prenatal Testing, Disability, and Termination: An Examination of Newspaper Framing

Keywords: disability, genetics, prenatal testing, health, framingGiven the increase in the prevalence of prenatal testing for disabilities and the options following positive test results, this study investigates how information about prenatal testing and disability is represented in the top 30 newspaper markets in the United States. The goal is to examine how print media convey information about prenatal testing for disabilities to its readers. Analyses of 148 full-text articles from 1998 to 2006 indicate that disability is represented in negative terms. The negative framing of disability is paired with positive representations of prenatal testing, and to a slightly lesser extent, positive representations of termination of pregnancies involving a fetus diagnosed with disabilities

University teachers' perceptions and evaluations of ethics instruction in public relations curriculum

This study examined the present state of teaching ethics in university public relations departments in the U.S. and abroad. The results indicated that public relations teachers perceived ethics instruction in public relations education to be essential, and they believed in a close tie between general morality and professional ethics. However, as the results of a quantitative survey suggested, foreign participants believed that ethics instruction helps students make right choices on the job less so than did participants who were born and teach in the U.S. A series of qualitative interviews with communication teachers in Western European universities revealed that the foreign teachers did not perceive themselves as direct contributors to the public relations industry. Instead, they saw themselves as individuals who are responsible for general liberal education of the youth, not specialized training. Multiple regression analysis of a number of respondents' demographics showed that the higher the participants' rank, the less favorable attitude they held toward the value of ethics education to students. This result is a subject of a future investigation. The majority of participants recognized ethics instruction incorporated in courses throughout the PR curriculum as the most valuable format of ethics instruction delivery. The most used pedagogies--teacher lectures, case studies, and group discussion--appeared to be the most effective approaches, whereas the most used resources in teaching ethics--textbooks, trade magazine articles, and newspaper or magazine stories--were perceived as the most effective material in teaching ethics. Future research should focus on the content of ethics courses; theoretical systems (e.g., Judeo-Christian ethics, Kantian deontology, utilitarianism, and others) examined in the course; whether and to what extent ethics is not only a teaching, but also a research interest of public relations teachers; and, the most important, whether and to what extent ethics instruction affects public relations graduates' future as individuals and professionals. This study makes a pedagogical and theoretical contribution to a thin literature on ethics education. Research based on examination of teachers' perceptions and preferences may help public relations educators see trends in contemporary education, better understand their underpinnings, and possibly enhance their own teaching and educational curricula. (Published By University of Alabama Libraries