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Training Requirements for the next
Generation of PR Practitioners:
An Analytical Discourse
EDITH UGOCHI OHAJA*
Abstract
In these trying economic times, the need has arisen for public relations
practitioners to take a pivotal role in corporate governance. They shoulder
the responsibility of helping their organizations maintain acceptability and
profitability whereas the norm seems to be anachronism and bankruptcy
for many establishments. This paper analytically examines these and other
challenges facing public relations (PR) in this new century and suggests a
broadening of PR education to equip aspiring and current practitioners with
requisite skills for meeting them. The suggestions include proficiency in
advanced computer-mediated-communication (CMC) and research, a
stricter ethical-cum-corporate social responsibility orientation and
diplomacy.
Key Words: PR Practitioners, New Century Challenges, PR
Education. Computer-Mediated Communication,
Diplomacy.
Introduction
At this period of global economic recession when businesses are struggling to stay afloat,
the need for a new breed of public relations (PR) practitioners has become much more
apparent than before. With spending by the populace greatly reduced, only those
businesses that have distinguished themselves over the years and stayed ‘ahead of the
game’ by responding to recurring consumer demands and changing environmental and
social pressures can maintain a substantial share of the market and, perhaps , expand their
ventures.
This is the wisdom General Motors (GM) in the United States (US), once reputed to
be the biggest company in the world, did not apply. In early June 2009, it was forced to
file for bankruptcy protection that resulted in the loss of about 21,000 jobs in spite of the
fact that it had received billions of dollars in bailout money from the government. Why
did this tragic development occur? It was churning out huge, gas-guzzling models,
middle-class vehicles like Sports Utility Vehicles ( SUVs) and trucks. In doing this, the
company ignored up-and-coming buyers who could only afford smaller cars and who
would likely make repeated purchases in future.
On the contrary, Asian models, notably from Japan, being more compact, cheaper
and more energy-efficient were taking over the market. The strain became too much for
GM when oil prices hit an all-time high of 150 dollars per barrel in 2008. It is instructive
__________
*Miss Edith Ugochi Ohaja is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Mass Communication, University of
Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.
JCMRJournal of Communication and Media Research, Vol. 3, No. 1, April 2011, 55 – 66.
© Delmas Communications Ltd.
56 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 3 No. 1. April 2011
to note that GM’s Asian operation was untouched by the woes of its head office in the US
(in fact, it was prospering) because it had foresight as other Asian auto makers did
(News, CNN &BBC World, 2009).
PR is critical to building the distinction and initiatives that mark out a business as
worth patronizing through a sustained process of two-way communication between it and
its publics building mutually beneficial relationships and earning social responsibility
accolades. The same is true for government and non-profit organizations.
These goals of PR are enunciated in whatever definition of the discipline one looks
at. For example, Arens (2006, p. 338) sees it as “the management function that focuses on
the relationships and communications that individuals and organizations have with other
groups (called publics) for the purpose of creating mutual goodwill” while the World
Assembly of Public Relations approved that it be defined as
the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their
consequences, counselling organization leaders and implementing planned
programs of action which serve both the organization’s and the public
interest (Quoted in Dominick, 2007, p. 307).
Although PR was practised in centuries past as when Julius Caesar (100 – 44 BC) “fed
the people of the Roman Empire constant reports of his achievements to maintain morale
and to solidify his reputation and position of power” and Genghis Khan, Mongol
conqueror (1162 – 1227), sent men in advance “to tell stories of his might, hoping to
frighten his enemies into surrendering” (Baran, 2009, p. 345), it was not until the
beginning of the 20th century that its present name came into use (Lattimore, D., Baskin,
O., Heiman, S. T., Toth, E. L. & van Leuven, J. K., 2004) and it began to be organized as
a profession and discipline in institutions of higher learning (Rodman, 2006) first in the
US and then around the world.
This paper hopes to look at what is needed to equip the next generation of
practitioners for the awesome demands of the next decade and beyond. Before doing this,
the paper will adopt a theoretical framework, briefly explain its methodology and look at
how the practice of PR has changed over the years plus the current challenges facing it.
Theoretical Framework
This paper is undergirded by the evaluation theory propounded by American educa-
tionalist, Ralph W. Tyler, in 1949. The theory attempts to explain the relationship
between periodic evaluation of existing curriculum and a balanced mental development
of learners. The main thrust of the theory is its insistence that the curriculum which is an
essential element in the development of the learner should be subject to continuous
evaluation. As A. V. Kelly puts it, “Curriculum evaluation is that process which attempts
to gauge the value and effectiveness of any particular piece of educational activity”
(2004, p. 136).
In his book, Shaping curriculum and instructional design (1949), Tyler asked four
prominent questions that later became famous and are regarded as Tyler’s Rationale
(Quoted in Kiester, 1978):
1. What educational purposes should the school seek to attain? (Defining
appropriate learning objectives)
2. What educational experiences can be selected that are likely to be useful in
attaining these objectives? (Introducing useful learning experiences)
3. How can these learning experiences be organized for effective instruction?
(Organizing experiences to maximize their impact)
4. How can the effectiveness of learning experiences be evaluated? ( Assessing the
areas that are not effective and revising them).
Edith Ugochi Ohaja:Training Requirements for the next Generation of PR Practitioners 57
Tyler further holds that the structure of the school curriculum has to be responsive to
three central factors which represent the main elements of an educative experience hence
the need for constant revision. These factors are:
1. The nature of the learner (developmental factors – learner’s needs, life,
experiences, etc.)
2. The values and aims of society (democratizing principles, values and attitudes),
and
3. Knowledge of subject matter (what is believed to be worthy and usable
knowledge) (Kiester, 1978).
This paper finds Tyler’s evaluation theory particularly useful because it is advocating
for an upgrading of the PR curriculum to make it relevant to and adequate for meeting the
needs of the contemporary era.
Method of Study
The analytical approach was adopted for this study drawing largely from literature on the
subject matter from books, journals and news reports. The researcher’s observation of the
changing dynamics of the current age proved invaluable and inferences were drawn from
the contributions of PR educators and practitioners as gleaned from the literature.
Evolution of PR Practice
In its early stage, PR was just one-way communication sent to secure some advantage for
whoever was paying the practitioner. It was beamed at the society through the then
emerging mass media. In other words, the messages were seldom tailor ed for a specific
group except where face-to-face communication was used.
PR was also used independently, often to limit the disastrous consequences of the
client’s policies, statements or actions. That is to say, it was largely employed on an ad
hoc basis to manage crisis. PR tactics in such cases consisted of denial of responsibility
for wrongdoing, telling half-truths and outright lies, usually by a representative and not
by the personality in the centre of the storm.
When PR was used to promote a product, cause or a person, it used hype and
exaggeration as Phineas T. Barnum did with his circus. He called it “The Greatest Show
on Earth” (Rodman, 2006, p. 368). Politicians were characterized as marble saints,
entertainers as prodigious in talent; everyone who had a publicist working for him was a
genius exempt from human flaws and vices.
But as PR began to evolve into a discipline, its conception and practice began to
change. It moved from one-way to two-way communications, sending messages and
actively seeking feedback, even providing opportunities for the publics to initiate the
communication process through complaints and inquiries. Practitioners beg an to realize
that “Successful public relations needs to be as much about listening and being
influenced, as influencing and guiding, in order to support organizations in this
increasingly technologically connected and fragmented world” (Hayes, 2009, p. 15).
PR also moved from being self-serving to recognizing the public interest and
insisting that organizations conform to it. The greed, arrogance and selfishness of
business leading to the attitude “The public be damned” could no longer be sustained
(Baran, 2009, p. 346). Ivy L. Lee pioneered the change. According to Rodman (2006, p.
372),
Because of Lee, the goal of public relations was no longer to fool the
public as P. T. Barnum and the early press agents had, or ignore it, as the
robber barons had. Lee believed that businesses should align themselves
58 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 3 No. 1. April 2011
with the public interest … While he believed in image building, he also
believed that corporation’s performance should fit the image that their
public relations professional built.
Thus the idea that PR, rather than being outrageous and manipulative, should concern
itself with doing good and taking credit for i t to create goodwill was born. So was the
idea of corporate social responsibility which is clearly expressed in this call by Robert L.
Dilenschneider, founder and CEO of the public relations firm, Dilenschneider Group, that
for businesses “to preserve (their) economic gains, they need to restrain their pursuit of
even larger profits by assuming greater responsibility for the lives (they) affect.” These
include “the nations they operate in,” “average workers,” “the underclass in (their)
country and around the world.” He counsels that businesses “must start giving back and
helping to solve society’s ills” (Quoted in Lattimore et al., 2004, p. 14).
PR practitioners also began to identify distinct publics, often requiring different
treatment and messages like the government and regulatory agencies, shareholders, the
media and employees.
There was also a shift from what Center and Jackson call reactive or firefighting PR
to proactive or fire prevention PR. That means rather than waiting “for public criticism,
emergencies or bad publicity” to erupt before acting, the practitioner takes advantage of
every opportunity to create good publicity and to “prevent potential problems from
flaring up” (2006, p. 13).
This also involved the move from seeing PR as a programme or series of tactics used
as occasion demands to a process strategically planned and sustained. For PR to be part
of company policy, the practitioners also had to be seen not as mere technicians, writing
and distributing messages and staging special events, but as managers (Smith, 2004) who
operate from the highest echelons of the organization to build and maintain positive
relationships within and outside it.
PR also began to be used not in isolation but as an integral part of the
communications mix thus compelling collaboration with advertising, marketing and
human relations personnel.
Current Challenges
The biggest challenge facing PR practitioners now is helping their clients cope with the
damaging effects of the global economic downturn. With factories shutting down,
companies and individuals becoming bankrupt and stock prices nosediving, the sense of
financial insecurity and despair heightens. Public anger is unleashed on governments for
not doing enough to prevent or contain these disasters, on companies for paying sky-high
salaries and bonuses to their chief executives while their businesses were failing with
downsizing, cuts in employee benefits and dividends. The results have been strikes and
street protests around the world, some of them violent.
There is also the problem of the persistence of PR’s negative image. PR and its
precursor, press agentry, have always been cast in a negative light. According to Rodman
(2006, p. 367), in ancient times, “rulers all over the world employed spies whose job it
was to keep in touch with public opinion and to spread rumors favorable to the
sovereign.” Seen as snitches, these spies were regarded with dread and hatred. Having the
power of access to the rulers which others lacked, they could doctor their accounts of
public attitudes and behaviour as well as their reports of privileged peeps into the royal
mind and conduct to serve their personal interest or that of their masters.
To date, many people still see PR as “basically untrustworthy” with the practitioners
given such derogatory names as “spin doctors and flacks” (Rodman, 2006, p. 392),
“hucksters” and “wilful deceivers” (Baran, 2009, p. 342). The PR profession is, therefore,
Edith Ugochi Ohaja:Training Requirements for the next Generation of PR Practitioners 59
like the proverbial physician who needs healing himself because while it builds positive
images for others, it is plagued with a terrible image of its own.
On another front, the information and communication technology (ICT) explosion
has made PR work much more daunting. In addition to long-established mass media, new
media technologies and services now abound. These include mobile telephones offering
voice mail, short message service (SMS), multi-media message service (MMS), audio
and video recorders, digital cameras and broadband connectivity for surfing the Net. The
Net itself offers e-mail, the Web, listservs, and telephone services among other resources.
Audio cassettes and VHS tapes are being replaced by CDs, DVDs, i -pods, MP players
and various classes of computers.
In the words of Hayes (2008, p. 21),
the world has moved from traditional media determining what we know
and when we know it to the formation of thousands of news sources with
citizen journalists and activists breaking news via YouTube, Wikipedia,
RSS feeds, Twitter and blogs. There are now more than one billion
broadband internet users and by 2012, there will be one billion mobile
broadband users. It is said that two blogs are created every second.
Safeguarding reputation, and with it, the value of the brand is becoming
more challenging every day.
The edge that new media can give a person or organization in this highly competitive
world can be seen in the unprecedented success of current US president, Barack Obama,
in his political career. With the help of his PR man (dubbed media consultant), David
Axelrod, his campaign and fundraising through the Internet helped him secure a seat in
the 100-member US Senate in 2004, making him the third African-American to do so.
That was after he had served only one term in the Illinois State Senate (Obama, 2006).
Similarly, in Obama’s bid for Democratic Party nomination as presidential candidate
and in the subsequent election campaigns, Axelrod and his partner at AKP & D Message
and Media, David Plouffe, ‘took the game to another level.’ According to Ogunbayo,
(2008), Axelrod kicked off Obama’s bid with a
five-minute Internet video released January 16, 2007, to encourage citizen
participation in his campaign the way Obama wanted. Obama’s web
platform allowed supporters to blog, create their own personal pages, and
even make use of phone banks from home.
Axelrod’s elaborate use of the Internet helped Obama organize voters
below the age of 30 category who hitherto were disinterested in t he
political process … this innovative method also helped Obama raise the
largest number of volunteers across America ….
Internet technology helped Obama rally more than 475,000 donors in 2007
with everyone contributing less than $100 each. By the end of the
campaign, Obama had raised more than $700 million in campaign funds
far over Clinton’s $50 million and McCain’s $370 million. The huge
donations made Obama decline taking public financing, thus becoming the
first major party candidate to do so (pp. 22 – 23).
That is how Obama became the first individual from a racial minority to occupy the Oval
Office. The challenge is not only to get positive publicity for oneself but to monitor
60 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 3 No. 1. April 2011
everything said about one all over the Net and other media in order to counter that which
is negative before it causes untold damage (Obama, 2006; Dominick, 2007).
The multiplicity of media has also led to the fragmentation of audiences
necessitating what Alexander (2002) calls the “demassification” of PR. That means much
more work managing communications to, from and with many more groups than before.
The job is really delicate because ICT explosion has also resulted in better access to
information creating more knowledgeable and more critical publics who have
multifarious means of airing their views and networking to muster support or dissent
(Hollingshead & Contractor, 2006; Rice & Haythornthwaite, 2006). This factor has really
played out in the current political unrest in Middle Eastern countries that has resulted in
the toppling of governments in countries like Egypt and Tunisia.
Finally, globalization has sounded the death knell for localized PR. Many companies
now operate transnationally. Besides, what one does in one area can be seen and heard
around the globe in seconds. Everything now potentially has world-wide consequences.
Thus PR practitioners have to divest themselves of all forms of ethnocentricism or
superiority complex and tread carefully to avoid bruising cultural, racial and faith -linked
sensibilities unduly.
Training Requirements for the next Generation of PR Practitioners
The basic equipment of prospective PR practitioners with writing, editing and production
skills should be taken much more seriously now especially with radio and TV
transmitting round the clock like Internet resources. Reporters, not having enough time to
initiate and complete many reports, rely heavily on PR material (Gregory, 2009) such as
news releases (print, audio and video), brochures, speeches, house magazines, annual
reports, feature stories, documentaries and news letters.
To communicate effectively, PR practitioners not only need to apply the basic
elements of good writing such as clarity, vitality, freshness of expression and correctness
(Ohaja, 2004; Reinking & von der Osten, 2005 ), they must be familiar with typography,
photography, the principles of graphic design and multi-media production to guide
whatever technical personnel they have to work with.
They also need training in speech communications covering such grounds as
adequate preparation and use of reference material, critical thinking and logical
organization of ideas, employing the power of visualization and persuasive appeals,
developing confidence, proper posture and use of body movements, voice inflections and
clear enunciation of words, tailoring message to audience, adapting to feedback and time
management (Pearson, Nelson, Titsworth & Harter, 2003). History abounds with
literature on this dating farther than the work of famed rhetoricians in the Roman Empire
and Greek city states. In fact, the “oldest known handbook on effective speech” was
recorded “on papyrus in Egypt some 4, 500 years ago” (Lucas, 2002, p. 2).
To be successful, PR practitioners would, in addition, need more than rudimentary
computer-mediated communication (CMC) skills in areas such as the following:
Effective use of new media technologies like PCs, i-pods, personal digital
assistants, laptops, multi-media projectors and mobile phones, especially to take
advantage of their versatility and convergence. This includes competence in the
use of both the hardware and the software bearing in mind that these
technologies are highly dynamic. As they evolve, updated versions accomplish
many more tasks with greater efficiency than the older ones. So there is the need
to instil the culture of keeping abreast of emergent technologies (Williams &
Sawyer, 2005).
Use of Internet and Intranet resources to send and receive information. This
involves the creation and constant updating of an official website. Skills in
website design are required to create attractive pages with much information
Edith Ugochi Ohaja:Training Requirements for the next Generation of PR Practitioners 61
(historical and current), interactive features, electronic versions of company
publications and links to related sites such as that of the industry the firm
belongs to and some of the groups it collaborates with (NGOs and civil society
groups) in carrying out its social responsibility programmes. Managing of
Internet and Intranet site contents is an important responsibility to be learnt “so
that the core themes and messages would dominate,” and not allowing the sites
to be filled with disparate submissions from the CEO’s office, various
departments, branches, individual staff and other contributors (Lattimore et al .,
2004, p. 381).
Creation and management of databases on clients, their publics and competitors.
Conduct of online research to gather demographic and psychographic data on
various publics through online surveys, focus groups and analysis of visitors to
the company’s website, what they check and other links they follow. This
involves tracking hits or monitoring the Internet for every mention of the
company and reacting promptly to negative hits. Competence in the use of
computer software for analysing research data and preparing research reports
with adequate graphic illustrations is also important. Gaddis (2001) presents a
fuller discussion of relevant online research techniques.
While PR practitioners may not be expected to become experts in all these areas or to
handle all these tasks personally, they need sufficient familiarity with CMC to supervise
and instruct others when they are not directly involved.
Prospective PR practitioners also require courses in basic social science especially
sociology, psychology, business studies and marketing to be able to function as an
indispensable arm of the integrated marketing communications programme of their
companies (Alexander, 2004) ensuring that every message resonates with advertising and
marketing efforts to trumpet the theme the company hopes to get across (Clow & Baack,
2002). This is important because whatever else they do, 70 per cent of PR practitioners
today work in a marketing communications context largely for person and product
promotion (Gregory, 2009). These courses would also equip them to be invaluable in the
definition and execution of the firm’s contribution to social marketing causes.
Part of the business training required is in the area of management which
Nwachukwu defines as “the co-ordination of all the resources of an organisation through
the process of planning, organising, directing and controlling in order to attain
organisation objectives” (2007, p. 3). He emphasizes that managers work primarily with
people. Center and Jackson assert that “PR staffers are part of management.” They,
therefore, need skills in leading and counselling others, “getting things done with people”
and getting “the co-operation of people both inside and outside the organization in order
to achieve the organization’s objectives” (2006, pp. 1 & 2). That would mean honing
their creative skills for the task of advising management on approaches to making the
company innovative, distinctive and poised to pre-empt crisis. According to Gregory
(2009, p. 5),
Certainly if public relations practitioners are to claim a seat at Board level,
they will have to get beyond special pleading for a set of communication
skills that can in reality be learned fairly quickly by anyone. They will
have to demonstrate that they are business managers with all the normal
knowledge-base of any other senior business manager.
These huge responsibilities necessitate graduate level and continuing professiona l
training through universities, national and international professional bodies like the
62 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 3 No. 1. April 2011
Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR), the United Kingdom Institute of Public
Relations (IPR), the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the International
Public Relations Association (IPRA), the International Association of Business
Communicators (IABC) and the Global Alliance of Public Relations Institutes. In
Nigeria, Masters and doctorate degree programmes in PR with clear specializations
should be introduced in more universities as they have been at the University of Nigeria,
Enugu Campus. The PR component in Mass Communication undergraduate programmes
should also be broadened everywhere it exists to attend, at least, in an introductory
manner to the demands of the present era.
The aforementioned responsibilities also compel an emphasis on ethics and corporate
social responsibility in PR training. The NIPR Code of Professional Conduct of 1992
states inter alia that,
A member shall have a positive duty to observe the highest standards in
the practice of PR and to deal fairly and honestly with … suppliers,
intermediaries, the media of communications and above all, the public.
…
A member shall not engage in any practice nor be seen to conduct himself
in any manner detrimental to the reputation of the … public relations
profession.
…
A member shall conduct his or her professional activities with proper
regard to the public interest (and) have a positive duty at all times to
respect truth and shall not disseminate false or misleading information
knowingly or recklessly, and (shall) take proper care to check all
information prior to its dissemination.
Anyone engaging in “news manipulation, cover-up (and) sugar coating” (Center &
Jackson, 2006, p. 364) does not understand the times that have been thrust upon us. The
first in a series of Gold Papers published to coincide with the World Congress of IPRA in
Beijing in November 2008 dealt specifically with Ethics in Public Relations. Articulating
the “collective perspective of some of the world’s leading public relations practitioners”
from a study he did to write the second Gold Paper, Hayes stresses that, “The
watchwords for this new era are transparency and trust.” He explains that , “Ensuring that
communications is in tight alignment with business strategy to deliver against promises
made is no longer a ‘nice to have’ but an essential ingredient in long-term survival”
(2008, pp. 21 & 15). Imparting knowledge of ethical guidelines locally and inter -
nationally and keeping up-to-date with amendments plus other codes added to them
should therefore be a crucial part of PR training.
Although the concept of corporate social responsibility is not new, “a recent
McKinsey Quarterly Global Survey (2007) on business and society found that executives
continued to see most socio-political issues as risks rather than opportunities with only a
minority managing to anticipate social pressures” (Hayes, 2008, p. 22). No wonder
Dilenschneider predicts that “our biggest challenge in t he next 20 years will be to
convince corporate leaders that” they need to “adopt a broader, more socially conscious
view of their company’s responsibilities to their employees, their customers, and the
communities in which they operate” (Lattimore et al., 2004, p. 14). Business leaders
should be advised that competition for scarce resources and the aspiration to build a
sustainable future for business and society are imperatives for forging innovative
partnerships with governments and NGOs to advance social causes. This task requires PR
professionals properly trained in the rationale and strategies for implementing corporate
Edith Ugochi Ohaja:Training Requirements for the next Generation of PR Practitioners 63
social responsibility practice. So does the task of helping “business leaders predict the
future (and) see around corners” (Hayes, 2008, p. 22).
Research skills are indispensable for the new breed of PR practitioners. Lattimore et
al. (2004) mention many researches they need to conduct such as environmental
monitoring and scanning (tracking trends and changes in public opinion on vital is sues
and relating same to key decision makers to help the organization adapt to its
environment), organizational image surveys (measuring, among other things, public
familiarity with the firm; its key staff, products and policies; degrees of positive and
negative perceptions to help the company apply necessary techniques for attaining the
desired image), communication audits (assessing the publics’ satisfaction with the
amount of information they receive from the organization, its contents and the preferred
channels) and social audits (assessing public perceptions of a company’s social
responsiveness). Prospective practitioners need to be taught the proper application of
various research methods like surveys, focus group studies and content analysis and how
to incorporate “research findings into position statements, public relations plans,
communication campaigns, media briefing materials and so on” (p. 12).
The foregoing discussion throws up the need for a more practical approach to PR
training to give prospective practitioners a hands-on experience of the activities they will
engage in upon commencing work such as writing and disseminating news releases and
staging special events. This calls for, at the very least, three months internship prior to
graduation, especially for those acquiring bachelor’s degrees.
As Marshall McLuhan predicted over three decades ago, the world is now a global
village (Gamble & Gamble, 2002). As a result, “the public relations professional of
tomorrow needs to be more globally expe rienced, with intercultural skills that are not
currently present” (Hayes, 2008, p. 16). International PR is “one of the fastest -growing”
arms of the discipline that helps “provide businesses operating in other countries with aid
and information about local customs, language problems, cultural difficulties, and legal
dilemmas” (Dominick, 2007, p. 349). Even without becoming experts in this area,
“public relations practitioners are forced to be better versed in intercultural
communication practices and to understand differences in the ways media reporters are
approached and contacted in different cultures” as this may make the difference between
being heard or neglected (Lattimore et al., 2004, p. 39). At the most basic level then,
heeding Taylor’s call for the “internationalization of the PR curriculum” would help
(2001, p. 73).
PR practitioners deal with different publics that sometimes have diametrically
opposed goals leading to conflict. A typical example is management’s desire to maintain
or increase profits and labour’s desire to prevent job losses. In the Niger Delta, host
communities’ protest over their neglect and degradation of the environment through oil
prospecting and production degenerated into violent campaigns by militants resulting in a
shortfall amounting to a third of Nigeria’s oil production. This has pushed Nigeria behind
Angola as Africa’s largest oil producer (News report, SABC, 2009). The government tried
to counter the situation with a military response through its Cordon and Search Task
Force but eventually extended amnesty to militants who laid down their arms before Oct.
1, 2009. In spite of this, militancy has continued with a glaring case being the twin bomb
blasts during Independence Day celebrations at the Eagle Square, Abuja, on O ct. 1, 2010
that left many people dead and wounded.
In the infancy of host community agitation before the upsurge of militancy, nine
Ogoni activists were executed by the Nigerian government under the late Gen. Sani
Abacha in 1995. The families of the slain activists subsequently initiated litigation
accusing the oil company, Shell, of complicity in their torture and murder. Just before the
case came up for trial in New York in June 2009, Royal Dutch Shell agreed to an out-of-
64 Journal of Communication and Media Research Vol. 3 No. 1. April 2011
court settlement of $15.5 million. Although this figure seems huge, it is actually less than
100th of one per cent of Shell’s annual revenue in the Niger Delta. The company used the
occasion to circulate a statement to the media signed by Malcolm Brinded, its Executive
Director for Exploration and Production, reiterating its claim of innocence and calling the
settlement a humanitarian gesture part of which will be used for the provision of social
services in the Niger Delta (News reports, Al Jazeera, BBC World, 2009; World business
today report, CNN, 2009). Obviously, Shell hoped by this settlement to lay to rest a long -
standing, contentious matter and at the same time gain some corporate social
responsibility credit.
These stories illustrate the need for PR educators to take very serious ly training in
the arts of mediation, negotiation and conciliation, or, in one word, diplomacy. Hayes
notes that PR professionals are “now ambassadors for the corporation, often along with
the CEO,” and “Just as traditional diplomats have to increasingly be more business and
media savvy, … CEOs”, with the help of their PR teams, “are being enabled to become
more politically sensitive, engaging on broader issues with sometimes uncomfortable
stakeholders.” Hayes concludes that PR today and in the future calls for a broad range of
skills with the most important one that binds them together being diplomacy (2008, pp.
14 – 15).
Conclusion
Dynamic, fast-moving, always developing, at the heart of the action. These are the words
and phrases that truly reflect the nature of PR practice in the 21st century. … we are in a
business that never sleeps! The media, crises, financial markets, global communities all
function 24/7 …. This does require the industry to think through how it responds to these
ceaseless demands (Gregory, 2009, pp. 1 & 7).
The key response this paper has set forth is the revitalization of PR education both
for aspiring and practising professionals with emphasis on CMC and managerial skills,
ethics, corporate social responsibility orientation, creativ ity/innovativeness and
diplomacy.
The recent Wall Street debacle that triggered a worldwide economic recession
resulted largely from sharp business practices like arbitrary inflation of stock prices for
immediate financial gain. To make matters worse, much of the gains were mopped up by
top managers through outlandish salaries, stock options and perks. The PR industry has
been held partly culpable for not advising against sacrificing public trust, the interests of
various stakeholders and long-term survival on the altar of greed. Although the clouds
seem to be lifting, the world is not yet out of the woods. This is an excellent opportunity
for PR practitioners to chart new courses for their organizations/clients and the world
because the perpetrators of this economic crisis fearing the chop would give them full
attention.
This is also a marvellous opportunity for PR to ‘rebrand’ itself so that the
practitioner is seen as the quintessential stakeholder manager and ethical diplomat
bearing the torch for peace, welfare and sustainable development.
A multifaceted PR education grounded in practice rather than theory is the answer!
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