South Australian State Election Campaign - Essay Example

Public Relations Name Professor Course Date Introduction The theories I have picked in this essay are risk communication theory and propaganda theory of public relation. I will apply the theories in discussing the South Australian State election Campaign. In the discussion, I will demonstrate how the theories are relevant to the South Australian State election campaign. Risk communication is any meaningful exchange of information and opinion about certain risks between the risk managers, risk assessors, and any other involved or interested party. Risk communication should be carefully handled because the effects of the communication might affect the parties communicating or any other person. In the South Australian campaign, risk communication theory is relevant because the communication between the candidates and voters might be risky. Its effects might affect the voters as well as the candidates. This is because hatred might be created between the voters supporting different candidates. The disagreements might lead to a fight between the supporters leading to loss of life and property (Heath 2005, p. 95). This is caused by the communication between the candidate and the voters supporting him/her. Risk communication might cause disagreements between the candidates. This is because each of the candidates is trying to win more votes by influencing many voters to support him/her. The communication or ways of influencing the voters, might hanger or affect the other candidate causing disagreements. All these can be avoided if both the voters and candidates monitor or limit their risk communication. Propaganda theory is a theory about public relation. The theory explains how the understanding of economic, social, and political attitudes are fashioned and manipulated in the minds of individuals. This is a form of communication where the person sending the message or communication to another person is trying to manipulate the understanding of a certain issue to fit its own interests. Propaganda might affect both parties who are communicating. This is because one person is trying to manipulate the other person' understanding to suit his/her own benefits ((Johnstone & Sheehan 2014, p. 281). The other person who is manipulated might be affected in one way or the other. In the South Australia campaign, propaganda theory is relevant and both the voters and the candidates when communicating should consider it. This is because the candidates will be spreading a lot of propaganda about how they will assist the voters when they vote them to power. Other propaganda might be only to influence or manipulate the understanding of the voters for the candidates’ interests. In this case, the voters should be more vigilant on what the candidates are spreading. Some information spread might affect the voters in future in that the candidates might fail to fulfill the promises made. The voters will end up suffering for all term, as the candidate will not serve them as they were promised. In the South Australian campaign, the candidates might be affected by the propaganda they are spreading. This is because the voters might realize what they are trying to communicate in their propaganda is not true and they will end up losing the battle in the election (Thompson 2013, p. 59). Different candidates have different ways of communicating when trying to influence voters to vote for them in the general election. Some of the ways candidates communicate and the promises they make might affect the voters. In the South African campaigns, two parties are competing to be elected in the general election. Labor party who is in power led by Jay Weatherill is fighting with the Liberal party, which is in opposition led by Steven Marshall. The two candidates are communicating to voters in different ways when trying to influence them to vote. The message they are sending to the voters might be risky and it might affect the voters in different ways. Steven Marshall who is opposition leader promises the voters that the government expenditure will be reviewed. In this case, the candidate is passing risk information to the voters on how the current party on leadership is using the revenue on how it is spent. This is through unnecessary expenditure, which he promises them that, he review when he is the next premier. In the election, if Marshall fails to win the election, he will have created negativity between the voters and government. This is because he will have passed risk information to the voters on how the government is spending the revenue on expenditure. The voters will have been affected by the risk information, as they will not have trust on how the government is performing its activities to the residents. Marshall will have ruin the government because what it will be doing will not please the residents as they will not be having any trust on the government anymore. Marshal told the voters that they could give another four years to the Labor party to mismanage their economy. This means that the voters will view the Labor party as wasting their resources in that it is mismanaging their economy as told by Marshall. If Labor party wins the elections, it will not be in good terms with the residents. This is because the people of South Australia already know that the party is mismanaging their resources and it will not deliver what it promised to the residents. All these are risk communications spread by the leaders. To avoid all these, the candidates should take time and analyze what they are telling the voters such that it will not be a problem after the elections. On the side of the voters, they should not react in what they are told by the candidates (Heiman, Toth & Van Leuven 2012, p. 325). Instead, they should analyze the information for them to know whether the candidates are trying to help them or it will be a problem on their side. Another theory, which is relevant to the South Australian campaigns, is propaganda theory. This is because the candidates are spreading various kinds of propaganda to the voters such that they can manipulate the understanding of the voters. In the campaigns, Weatherill who is the candidate for the labor party promised the voters that he plans to invest on the existing industries in South Australia (Johnstone & Sheehan 2014, p. 59). He promised that industries dealing with food and wine would be funded such that more products will be produced to serve the residents and surplus exported. In addition, he promised that he will fund the defense ministry such that the residents will have enough security and for the country to be saved. Of all these promises and propaganda, the voters are not sure if they will get if they vote Weatherill back to power. The voters might vote him back to power and suffer for the next four years without getting the services they were promised. The voters should consider whether Weatherill has been performing as he has been in power for the last four years. If he has not been performing there is no need for them to vote him back using the propaganda they are given by the candidate? Weatherill regretted of the loss of 400 jobs in Holden’s Adelaide factory. This is a real propaganda, of which the voters should be careful because the incident occurred when he was in power. This shows that the voters have been suffering when Weatherill was in power because, if 4oo jobs are lost yet the candidate is still fighting to lead the people again. Weatherill told the voters that the way they will respond in voting is how he will assist them to build infrastructure and investments. This is a real propaganda, which will affect the voters, candidate, and the whole country. This is because as the voters accept what they told, they will suffer, as they are not sure they can get the services. The candidate will not be trustworthy anymore to the voters because he is manipulating the understanding of the voters for his own interest to gain power (Thompson 2013, p. 283). Weatherill has been in power for the last four years and he has not done any of the promises to the people. Now that he is using the propaganda as a tool to gain power. The whole country will be affected by the propaganda because there will be no development as Weatherill will be taking another four years which the voters are not sure of what he is saying. The candidates promise change for the voters of which they are not sure that they will get that change. Change is a risk activity because those who are expecting change are not sure that the change they are promised is positive or negative and they are not sure that change will come. The voters of south Australia should not go as per the changes or promises they are given. Instead, they should take their time to look at the historical performance of the candidate. This will enable them to understand by their own, the history of the candidate and not what the candidate himself is saying. This will help the voters in their own understanding that they will not regret later on the candidate they have chosen. The candidates should be cautious on what they are telling the voters such that the voters will not be affected in any way. The candidates should not force their promises to the public. Instead, they should ask for the views of the people such that the people will contribute their side of the opinion. This will help the candidates to work as per the needs of the public. As the risk, communication is a process affecting two parties, the two will agree on the risks to take before embarking on any activity. This will help the two parties to accept the results of the risk in that everyone was satisfied with the risk before it was chosen. After the candidate has been chosen no one will complaint about the results of the risk as they both agree mutually on the risk before taking it (Heath 2005, p. 129). To avoid the effects of risk communication between the candidates, voters and the government of South Australia, measure should be taken to regulate communication. As most of the communication between the candidates and voters is through the media, devices should design to filter the communication before being released to the public. The media outlets should be made to understand and adhere to the measure of controlling the communication. This will assist because any communication that is seen as a risk and it affect the people is eliminated before reaching the public. Strict rules should be made to take care of the candidates releasing risk communication to the public in the campaign rallies. This will make sure that those attending rallies do not release any risk communication to the public. Those got releasing the risk information should face the law. To control risk communication, the risk is identified and both stakeholders are involved. This will enable the experts to determine necessity of the risk necessary and its consequences. The candidates need to understand all these as it is related to public relation. This is how they should communicate with the public and how they will handle the issues concerning public. This is because the decision the voters will make will take the four the coming four years. The candidates need to be ready to serve the public well for the four years and avoid risk communication and propaganda. The public needs to be attended in terms of infrastructure, communication, investment, and agriculture. The candidates should be ready to deliver to the public by making sure that there is good road network, which will enable the public to travel to different places with their goods or products. There should be efficient communication between the public and the government. This will make sure that the candidate who will be in power will be able to communicate with the public without any problem. In addition, the candidates should make sure that the investors both foreign and local invest in the country. This will improve the general economy of the country (Spicer 2013, p. 172). When the public is served with all these economic and social activities, they will be satisfied with what the leaders are doing to them. They will not be disappointed that they have done a mistake in voting the candidates to power. The public will appreciate to the leaders for the services they are getting after voting. The leaders will be comfortable, as they will be leading the happy public. Conclusion Risk communication is an activity, which cannot be avoided in our daily activities. The problem is how we can handle the risks. This is because we should take risks I every task in our lives. Even venturing into a business, you should take risks because you will not be sure if you will succeed by getting a profit. In the business, it is either you get a profit or a loss or it should be accepted and measures taken. When it comes to South Australian campaigns, the voters should takes from the risk communication they are getting from the candidates. This is because they should vote even if the voters are communicating more risk information. What the voters should be to gauge the voters as per their history of delivering their services to the public in the previous years. This will enable the voters to take the risk in voting but to determine who is better among the candidates. They should choose a better candidate as per his records because they will need his services for the coming four years (Heath 2005, p. 104). Propaganda is a theory where the people receiving it are manipulated to understand the information passed to them as per the interest of the person communicating. The candidates in the South Australian campaigns are trying to manipulate the understanding of the people on how they should vote of their own interests. The information they are passing to the voters inform of propaganda is for the voters to vote as per the candidate interests. This is through the promises they make concerning investment, infrastructure, and communication. The government of South Australia should put some measures, which will control some of false information that is passed to the public. This is not happening in South Australia alone, but it is affecting many countries all over the world. The voters worldwide should be vigilant not to be manipulated or influenced to vote as per interest of the candidates. References Heath, R. L. (Ed.). (2005). Encyclopedia of public relations. Thousand Oaks, Sage. Heiman, S. T., Toth, E. L., & Van Leuven, J. K. (2012). Public relations: The profession and the practice. McGraw-Hill. Johnstone, J. & Sheehan, M (eds) 2014, Public Relations: Theory and Practice, 4th , Allen and Unwin, Crow’s Nest, NSW. Spicer, C. (2013). Organizational public relations: A political perspective. Routledge. Thompson, J. B. (2013). Media and modernity: A social theory of the media. John Wiley & Sons. Read More