Public Relations As Activism

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PUBLIC RELATIONS AND THE POSTMODERN TURN IN ORGANIZATION THEORY

Surely one of the great ironies of the modern world is that democracy, imperfect as it is in the political realm, seldom extends to the workplace. In fact, most U.S. citizens do not even question the fact that they are required to “check their voice at the door” of the shop or office.

(Cheney, 1995, pp. 167–168)

Despite the far-reaching changes new technology has wrought in public relations practice, fundamentally the work of communication practitioners has not changed. Practitioners still manage communication, build relationships, and are professional communicators who formally communicate with publics on behalf of “communicative entities” (Hallahan, Holtzhausen, Van Ruler, ...