The Element of Public Relations and Advertising - Term Paper Example

Public Relations/Advertising Name Course Institution Date Introduction Public sphere is literally a social space where issues are openly discussed. In most cases, issues that are discussed in such forums are mainly of general public concern and this attracts many to participate in anticipation of arriving at probable solutions. In evaluating the element of public sphere, media comes in as a facilitating agent (Salmon & Murray, 2001, p. 135). Media is used to trigger if not to initiate debate in public sphere. Quite often, people assemble in such forums and discuss issues that they have heard and watched in the local media. The Australian media seem to be performing pretty well in that arena. Every single day, there are issues coming up that in some way elicit some kind of discussion in the public sphere. The public communications experts having such understanding can take advantage to shape the society towards a predetermined direction. Experts argue out the aspect of public sphere different. There are those who cannot delineate public sphere from deliberative democracy. Many are convinced public sphere is like a theatre for deliberative democracy. Even with this in mind, the public communication experts have unique propositions that make them extraordinarily suited for shaping the perspective of the society towards a given direction (Perloff 2003, p. 113). This is true regardless of the nature or the form through which public communication is executed. They possess the power to sway masses towards a particular direction through debate and other forum. Any person that is keen in observing the current trends in Australian media will attest to this fact. This cannot be better explained using the coverage of asylum-seekers in the country by the media. Public Communication Public communication is a powerful tool used by different people to influence others. It uses images, tactics and strategies to influence the masses towards a particular direction relating an issue (Perloff 2003, p. 115). While public communication may seem to target the entire population, it targets a particular audience in real life. Public communication is meant to appeal to a wider mass of people. “The designing of the message by the public communicators is done to meet the needs of a specific segment” (Dan 2014, pers. Comm., 1 October). Segmenting the general public is critical in ensuring efficiency in delivering the message. Public communication exploits media to communicate the particular message to the public audience. This is a tool that is used to enlighten the public and make people live a life of dignity. Through public communication, people are informed on various issues that are happening in the society. In enlightening the public in this context, advertising plays a critical role. Nick R says that, “advertising in real sense is used either to persuade or manipulate the target audience to the benefit of the advertiser” (Nick 2013, pers. Comm., 1 October). The focus is to ensure that the message is passed across to the right audience in the best format possible. This is just one of the tools that public communication experts use to ensure their message is appropriately passed across (Coffman 2003, 15). In most cases, a lot of research is undertaken to have a clear understanding of what the general audience lack in terms of information flow. This is based on how important such information can be to the general public. Advertising is one of the approaches that keep a subject under discussion in the public sphere for a relatively prolonged period. Through advertising, people actually come together to discuss issues of concern. The use of TV debate is strategic in the manner in which it is delivered. In Australian media, this has been very common especially in the recent past. There are so many current affairs debating programs that focus on shaping the overall perception by the public over a certain issue (Rice, Ronald & Atkin 2001, p. 115). For instance, the issue of asylum seekers in Australia has elicited some serious feedbacks from the general public. There are so many ways through which the public relations expert uses to shape the opinion of the general public towards a given issue. To start with, during these public debates, the panelists are sourced with a particular agenda in mind (Harris, Deschenes & Wallace, 2002). For instance, when discussing the issue of asylum-seekers, the panelists are most often experts in human rights law as well as international law. The use of TV debate is considered effective on various grounds. The coverage of this particular avenue is very wide. The sphere of influence as caused by such debates can be so large indeed. In illustrating the element of public relations in government, Jane K says, “the government uses public funds to inform and educate it on what is considered of national interest” (Jane 2014, pers. Comm., 1 October). Through TV debates, forums for contemporary issues are created. It is possible to use such debates to create some kind of relationships between the experts discussing the issue and the majority of the audience who happen to be lay people (Perloff 2003, P. 116). The influence is drawn from the experts and the lay people are found to be carried away by the viewpoint held by these personalities that are debating the matter. In the process, it seems like knowledge transfer actually takes place from the experts to the audience. This is exactly how opinions are shaped in such forums. Renay in her emphasis on the role of public relations in government, she says, “The government understands the need to develop this kind of confidence among the general public to in whatever it wants to do in order to gain assurance of acceptance” (Renay 2014, pers. Comm., 1 October). It is interesting that this may be carried down as the perspective by the audience. Public Communication & Asylum-seeker policy in Australia It is true that media coverage of the asylum-seekers policy has been extensive. This policy was brought into limelight after the media reported so many people coming into Australia using boats on the Australian seashores (Mumbrella Appendix A). The new policy denied work rights for the asylum-seekers that did not abide-by the new policy that has been put into place. The publicity that has been accorded this given bill has been quite intensive so to say (Jowett 2010, P. 91). A lot of resources were invested in different platforms of communication in order to give publicity that this publicity it deserved. According to the new policy, individuals who find their way into Australia will be forced to ensure their survival. In addition, the new policy does not give room for asylum-seekers to be granted permanent residency even after they have been verified to be refugees under the international law (Salmon & Murray, J 2001, P. 133). The new policy has been targeted to address the issue of refugees in the country to ensure that appropriate guidelines are implemented to regulate the number of refugees coming into the country (Australian immigration and asylum 2014 Appendix D). In the process of investing in public communication, the government specifically created platforms that will spur debate. In some way, the debate was kept ongoing in order to communicate this message across the audience. This was strategically undertaken to ensure that the general public gets to understand the key issue involved in this case. This kind of publicity in some way comes as a means of warning the target group. In this case, the target group is actually the asylum-seekers in the country. They have to be enlightened on the various issues that surround illegal immigration and overall consequences of immigrants into the country (Salmon & Murray, 2001, p. 38). This is in relation to the effect of illegal immigration to economic development of the country. In most cases, illegal immigrants who do not have genuine work permits are mistreated in different ways. In addition, the income earned by illegal immigrants in most scenarios is not subjected to taxation (Changes to asylum-seeker policy 2014 Appendix C). This makes it uneconomical to the country. Therefore, the country will be losing revenues through tax evasion. With this in mind, the government has to push for an agenda that will enlighten the general public to ensure that this information is passed across (Kendrall & Kelman, 2010, p. 71). This is very common especially when the government is planning to implement a policy that more likely to affect many people. Intensive media campaign is specifically designed to ensure The public relations unit in the government is critical in coming up with strategies that meet the need of this kind. The role of the public relations is to bring forth a good impression of whatever the government is trying to advance. It is the function of the public relations to ensure that a good motive is printed onto the media and subsequently to the public (Jowett, 2010, p. 88). Analyzing the issue of asylum-seekers, one thing comes out quite clearly that indeed the government was committed to ensure the message is passed across appropriately. There are so many platforms that the government used to communicate the message that directly touches on human rights and illegal immigration at the same time (Immigration Detention and Asylum Seekers 2014 Appendix B). Nevertheless, the government heavily invested in advertisement and public relations. The two were used as tools to trigger some kind of debate whose effects are supposed to keep the society talking and finally come to a point of knowledge. In this case, advertising took different forms on various media platforms. Public relation has been used extensively to help maintain a particular perspective of the asylum-seeker policy by the overall public. The government had to use public relations to ensure that people understand that it has a good motive in doing whatever it is doing in relation to the new policy. Conclusion From the discussion that has been precisely presented, a lot of clear about public communication and debate in the public sphere. Public communication uses tools to ensure that debate is provoked within the settings of public sphere. Through this information, the government and probably other agencies effectively use various public communication tools to provoke fruitful debates in the public domain. In this category, advertising and public relations are critical tools that governments and other agencies can use to cause necessary debates made to create a specific notion from the public. Through these tools, the overall opinion in the public domain can be swayed towards a given direction over a specific issue. In discussing this, no one is justified to be ignorant of the current emerging trends in the manner in which the public interacts. For instance, while in the recent past people used to gather together to discuss such issue, nowadays people have new platforms through which they can interact. In the current society, most people socialize much on the social media platforms. The leading ones in this case is the Facebook and Twitter. People take advantage of the social media to interact with one another. This indicates that such issues that are being triggered by the media are discussed extensively on social media. Since the public communication professionals are interested in the way the public responds to certain issues of interest, it is important for them to reinvent the various strategies to be used to monitor conversations on the social platforms. This has been tried by various agencies especially when gathering critical information regarding a certain issue. It is through social platforms that individuals freely give their opinions and experts can use such platform to follow what the general public views certain issues. Appendix A The government’s boat visa ads are targeting voters, not asylum seekershttp://mumbrella.com.au/the-governments-boat-visa-ads-are-targeting-voters-not-asylum-seekers-168299 Appendix B Immigration Detention and Asylum Seekershttp://www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lawcouncil/index.php/current-issues/immigration-detention-and-asylum-seekers Appendix C Changes to the Asylum Seeker Policy: http://www.centrecare.com.au/news/changes-to-the-asylum-seeker-policy Appendix D Australian immigration and asylum: http://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/australian-immigration-and-asylum References Coffman, J. (2002, May). Public communication campaign evaluation: An environmental scan of challenges, criticisms, practice, and opportunities. Cambridge, MA: Harvard Family Research Project. Rice, Ronald E. & Atkin, Charles K. 2001,Public Communication Campaigns,Sage Publications: Thousand Oaks, CA Coffman, J 2003, Lessons in evaluating communications campaigns: Five case studies. Harvard Family Research Project. Retrieved 28 August 2008 from: http://www.mediaevaluationproject.org/HFRP2.pdf Harris, E., Deschenes, S., & Wallace, A 2002, Public Communication Campaigns & Evaluation, Australian Journal of Communication - Business Ethics, Vol. 8, no. 3. Winter 2002. Jowett, G. K., (2010) ‘The functional approach to study of attitudes’, Journal of Communication Research, Vol. 7, No. 2, pp. 88-95. Kendrall, S. W., Kelman, H. C., (2010) ‘Managing public relations’, Journal of Public Relations Research, Vol.12, pp. 67-81. Salmon, C., Murray, J 2001, Communication Campaign Effectiveness. In R.E. Rice & C.K. Atkin (Eds.), Public Commission Campaign (pp. 168-180), Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage, p. 130-138. Perloff, RM 2003, The dynamics of persuasion: communication & attitude in the 21st century, Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, pp. 112-118. Presentations Dan C 2014, Pers. Comm., 1 October. Nick R 2014,Pers. Comm., 1 October. Jane K 2014, Pers. Comm., 1 October. Lucy C 2014, Pers. Comm., 1 October. Renay R 2014, Pers. Comm., 1 October. Read More