The term "strategic communication" traditionally has been understood as referring to external corporate communication, such as public relations, marketing communication, and advertising, with insufficient consideration beyond its role as a tool of persuasive influence. In recent years, however, the field of strategic communication has evolved to be more holistic in its approach and its role within sociocultural contexts. Articles, textbooks, and handbooks have attempted to define the scope, purpose, and nature of the concept, but as the first major comprehensive work of its kind, The International Encyclopedia of Strategic Communication captures the full scope of contemporary theory and practice in strategic communication. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
From the perspective of a group of public relations consultants and communication directors operating in Portugal, this chapter discusses the complexity inherent to CSR communication. Some of the key questions to be addressed include: are so-called sustainable and socially responsible business strategies, in fact, indicators of genuine corporate change? Or is CSR per se insincere and should CSR communication be considered as a mere invention of PR? CSR will be equated, first, from the analysis of the dialectic relationship between activist movements, government regulation and business discourse and action. Then, some core principles for communicating CSR are highlighted, as well as the dangers and dilemmas in communicating CSR policies from a PR theoretical framework. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
When compared to corporate public relations, political public relations are still a new field of study, which nonetheless has a great development potential. This article presents a reflec- tion on public relations in the political sphere, by remembering its conceptual grassroots and studying the challenges imposed on its practice by the new media. Grounded in the relationship management theory and in the ideal of symmetrical and dialogic communication, this article, presents possible paths for applied research in the field of political public relations.
When compared to corporate public relations, political public relations are still a new field of study, which nonetheless has a great development potential. This article presents a reflec- tion on public relations in the political sphere, by remembering its conceptual grassroots and studying the challenges imposed on its practice by the new media. Grounded in the relationship management theory and in the ideal of symmetrical and dialogic communication, this article, presents possible paths for applied research in the field of political public relations.
Media relations is at the core of Public Relations activities in both corporate, governmental, and non-governmental level. All and any organisation need to manage their relationship with the informative media to maintain a positive image in the public sphere. However, the relationship between press officers and journalists is a subject as old as controversial. Some authors find an interdependent relationship in their professional practice (eg. Chinem, 2003; Lopes, 2017), while others understand the press office as parajournalism (eg. Schudson, 2003; Ribeiro, 2015a; 2015c), an activity that manipulates the public opinion, through agenda-setting mechanisms (eg. Moloney, 2000). Bearing in mind these conflicting views, the main purpose of this study is to explore and critically discuss the journalist-press officers' relationship in the current Portuguese landscape. This study is relevant because there is no actual research on the journalism-PR relationship in the Portuguese context. The article is structured in two main parts. The first part develops a brief theoretical review, which aims to discuss the practical and conceptual frontiers that involve the operational field of press office, situated in the relationship between professional sources of information and journalists. As the perception of the journalist-public relations relationship depends on the social-cultural, political and economic context, differences between countries are also debated in this theoretical section. In the second part of the article the main results of a survey applied to a sample of Portuguese journalists are discussed, to answer the research question that guided this research: How do journalists perceive the work of press advisors and the interactions established between them? The questionnaire, disseminated via email, was administered between April 3 and June 25 of 2021 and it is focused on the journalist's praxis as well as on the values they attribute to press office work. The scope of this investigation is, therefore, based on the analysis of the routines, practices and values of the Portuguese journalists. According to the responses of 417 journalists, it was ascertained that the majority see a mutual respect environment between Press officers and Journalists. However, only 23% agreed that the relationship between them is one of interdependence. Even though most journalists prefer to resort to direct sources of information, they recognize the importance of the press office work and admit publishing content disseminated by the press offices, at least once a week. Furthermore, many journalists believe that the press office is actively associated with propaganda and that the journalism sphere could exist without PR practitioners. That suggests that a trustworthy and cooperative relationship between both professional groups has yet to be established. This research enhances the reflection about the current state of the relationship between the Portuguese journalist and public relations spheres, from the journalist perspective. In addition, new insights are presented about media relations practices that can contribute to make it more proficient and respected. Finally, new avenues of research are proposed, centred in the journalist perspective and in the public relations view.
In line with the "relationship management" theory, which claims that in order for an organization to be successful it needs to put ef-ort into establishing and nurturing relationships with its publics and balance mutual interests (Ledingham, 2006, 2011), the main goal of this chapter is to analyse whether or not online communication tools stimulate citizen-politician relationships. In particular, we aim to find out and reflect on how social media is being used to foster interaction and dialogue between citizens and Members of Parliament, specifically at the Portuguese Parliament – Assembleia da República. Our main focus is on this relationship, considering the representative democratic principles that work towards public dialogic needs in a framework of legitimization and transparency, and isolating it from structures and interactions on the platforms made available centrally by the political party or by the Parliament. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
When compared to corporate public relations, political public relations are still a new field of study, which nonetheless has a great development potential. This article presents a reflec-tion on public relations in the political sphere, by remembering its conceptual grassroots and studying the challenges imposed on its practice by the new media. Grounded in the relationship management theory and in the ideal of symmetrical and dialogic communication, this article, presents possible paths for applied research in the field of political public relations.
La notoriedad es uno de los principales criterios necesarios en una estrategia, que pretende promover la reputación institucional de una organización, con el fin de alcanzar una imagen positiva entre las audiencias y, en consecuencia, reinvertir ese capital en el logro de sus objetivos organizacionales. El objetivo de este artículo es presentar una propuesta de estrategia de comunicación específica para revertir el bajo índice de notoriedad de la Comunidad Intermunicipal de Beiras y Serra da Estrela (CIMBSE), fundamentada en los resultados del análisis de contenido de las noticias en línea de los medios de comunicación de los 15 municipios que conforman el territorio en cuestión. Los resultados indican que las actividades en el eje "Patrimonio cultural" son las que tienen más probabilidades de hacer llegar mensajes a la mayor cantidad de personas interesadas; y con la mayor posibilidad de generar recuerdos de marca asociados positivos en los públicos, factor fundamental para que la notoriedad se asocie a una imagen institucional positiva.
The "New media and politics: citizen participation in the websites of Portuguese political parties" is a project funded by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology. It was carried out by a re-search group of the Online Communication Lab (LabCom) research centre at the University of Beira Interior (Portugal) between March 01, 2012 and February 28, 2015. The main objective of this chapter is to highlight the core components of the aforementioned project. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
Este artigo tem como tema a comunicação oficial de crise da Presidência da República Portuguesa (PRP) durante os incêndios florestais que aconteceram nos meses de junho e de outubro de 2017, conhecidos, respetivamente, como "tragédia de Pedrógão Grande" e "incêndios de outubro". Os incêndios de 2017 foram os mais nefastos da história de Portugal e receberam uma grande cobertura dos média internacionais. Naquele ano, Portugal foi o país que mais sofreu com os fogos, de acordo com o relatório da União Europeia (2018), tendo sido responsável por, aproximadamente, 90% das mortes causadas por incêndios. O principal fundamento teórico do estudo é a teoria situacional de comunicação de crise (TSCC) (Coombs, 2007). Na TSCC, Coombs (2007) identificou as variáveis envolvidas numa crise e apresentou as estratégias de resposta mais adequadas a serem aplicadas a cada tipo de crise. Por meio do método da análise do discurso, descrevemos e comparamos a comunicação da Presidência da República Portuguesa na gestão dessas duas crises de origens semelhantes (incêndios florestais) separadas por apenas quatro meses (junho e outubro de 2017). A nossa intenção é contribuir para a compreensão das estratégias de resposta propostas por Coombs (2007) quando aplicadas a uma comunicação exclusivamente baseada no modelo de informação pública (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). A investigação concluiu que a PRP optou pela estratégia de gestão do significado (Coombs, 2015) com informações de ajuste e predominância das respostas reparativas primárias da categoria "reconstrução" e subcategoria "compensação", produzindo a resposta adequada segundo a TSCC (Coombs, 2007). No entanto, observamos que a comunicação de crise da PRP para os incêndios de 2017 é um caso em que as características pessoais do emissor e as variáveis – responsabilidade pela crise, histórico da crise e reputação relacional anterior – foram mais relevantes para a comunicação de crise do que as mensagens propriamente ditas. ; The theme of this article is the official crisis communication of the Portuguese Presidency (Presidência da República Portuguesa – PRP) during the forest fires that occurred in June and in October 2017, respectively known as the "tragedy of Pedrógão Grande" and the "October fires". The fires of 2017 were the most harmful in Portuguese history and received wide coverage in the international media. That year, Portugal was the country that most suffered with fires, according to an European Union report (2018), accounting for about 90% of deaths caused by this type of fire in the entire area covered by the report. The main theoretical basis of this study is situational crisis communication theory (SCCT) (Coombs, 2007). In SCCT, Coombs (2007) identified the variables involved in a crisis and presented the most appropriate response strategies to be applied to each crisis type. Through the discourse analysis method, we described and compared the Portuguese Presidency's communication on the management of these two crises of similar origins (forest fires), only four months apart (June and October 2017). Our aim is to contribute to an understanding of the response strategies proposed by Coombs (2007) when applied to communication exclusively based on the public information model (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). The research concluded that the PRP opted for the managing meaning strategy by adjusting information and predominance of the primary repair responses of the category "rebuild" and subcategory "compensation", producing an appropriate response according to SCCT (Coombs, 2007). However, we note that the PRP crisis communication for the 2017 fires is a case in which the personal characteristics of the sender and the variables – crisis responsibility, crisis history and prior relationship reputation – were more relevant to the effectiveness of crisis communication than the messages themselves.
Grounded in relationship management and political public relations theory, this study takes a critical look at politician-citizen online relationship building in non-electoral periods. Using the example of Portuguese political parties as a case study, participatory tools available on parties' websites, the interactive exchange observed and interviews with political communication managers are analysed to reflect on the Internet's potential for heightening citizen participation. Main results indicate that providing information is a predominant function over promoting interaction and that political parties offer online spaces for citizens to discuss and debate online but hardly join the conversation.
Despite it being a debated issue in recent decades, there is in fact no consensus regarding the potentialities of the Internet for the strengthening of citizens' political participation and – by extension – of democracy itself. Nonetheless, this "new medium", and, in particular, its Web 2.0 version has become the cornerstone of communication strategies for both political parties and their candidates. Several questions emerge from the debate about the impact of the internet on political participation. First of all, the very concept of political participa- tion. Despite its importance in the theory of democracy, this concept is not always easy to define with rigor particularly when it comes to the form and boundaries of such participation. Actually, the ultimate issue is whether we are currently witnessing a "crisis of participation" or quite the contrary, the rise of alternative forms thereof. Secondly, the debate about the so-called "crisis of democracy" is also central when thinking about political participa- tion in our times. Democratic societies are experiencing a democratic deficit, to a large extend a crisis of confidence in traditional political parties, by which citizens feel misrepresented and hence alienated from righteous participation in their political destiny. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
In this book we present the latest advances made in strategic and organizational communication. Beyond traditional approaches, we propose new ways of doing and understanding communication in today's society. We discuss situations far from the traditional path. We delve into global citizens' problems and the way in which dialogue and participation processes are connected. The problem of evictions and the emergence of citizens as new political actors, the management of sustainability in the digital era, the development of positive communication in socially aware companies, grassroots movements in defence of public space, how resilience can shape education, the use of brands and professional associations as activists in the defence of public interests, the feminization of politics and the power of visual elements in political campaigns are some of the issues addressed in this volume. In the book, communication is considered as the strategy to raise our voices and be heard. Strategic and organizational communication takes on an activist role to create a society that is fairer and more committed to citizens. The diversity represented in this book, not only with respect to the authors' nationalities, but also in the theoretical and empirical approaches, reflects one of the most salient features of the European Communication Research and Education Association (ECREA) and the Organizational and Strategic Communication Section's identity. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
The diversity represented in this book, not only in respect to author nationality, but also in theoretical and empirical approaches, reflects one of the most salient features of the European Communication Research and Education Association: Organisational and Strategic Communication Section's identity. The spectrum of themes analysed in this collection – crisis communication, government communication, organisational communication and social media, corporate social responsibility, health media relations – demonstrates the range and vitality of organisational and strategic communication research in Europe. ; info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion
