Challenges are common and expected in any profession. They are however, vary according to different fields of study. Public relations field has been also facing various challenges, which related to activities and occupation. Challenges can be expressed as per organizational culture. This study however, deals with common challenges that have facing public relations.
One of the major challenges discussed in different literature includes news media. Media Nlandscape has been changing from vertical and centralized to horizontal and dispersed ways. In relations to this, Milton, et al, (n.d) specified that the change of media from “top-down media landscape, dominated by major global media conglomerates, to a horizontal, distributed, and decentralized model” is substantial change in the new era. In these way, traditional media have trying to arrange their presence on new media platform.
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However, the new media have emerged with challenges for public relations practitioners. In this regards Broom & Sha, (2013, deliberated some challenges that new media offers for public relations practitioners. In the new media, practitioners unable to remain update in the changing technology. It is obvious that new media changed the way public relations activities have practiced, whereas public relations practitioners are still relying on traditional media than attempting to adapt the news media. The other challenge that new media pose is the response needed for transparency. In the new media presence, the issues of transparency become required. In the new media landscape tell the truth otherwise it will be told by others. As Broom & Sha, indicated that failure to disclose information in the news media can harm organizational reliability (2013).
However, majority of public relations practitioners have been still continuing to tell organizational story in traditional media styles. In addition, the challenge new media pose is the way to represent organization in the new media environment. According to Broom & Sha, the crucial thing for public relations is that the ‘new technology facilitates interactive communication, the essence of building and maintaining relationship” 2013. However, practitioners are still remaining behind to fully engaged in new media so as to represent organization in such highly interactive environment.
There has been also information overwhelming through social media. This overwhelming information can pose pressure on activities of public relations as it makes practitioners busy in monitoring and sorting than producing more stories. In such environment it is challenging for public relations professionals to communicate with information as usual. It needs creativity and competency to make the messages briefer and more reliable.
Other challenges facing public relations that have indicated by Lattimore et al, comprises “increasing need for effective strategies for crisis communication, the evolving global public relations community and practice and the changing organizational structure needed to meet these challenges” (2012). Designing strategy for newly emerging global public relations is some how challenging for practitioners. It needs coordination internationally, designing global strategy, implementation and evaluation. In this regard, Lattimore et al, briefly stated that “doing public relations internationally involves infinitely more coordination and synchronization” (2012).
Public relations has been facing multiple challenges, which can be seen according to organization context. Some of the challenges like social media, dynamism of technology and the challenges to cop up, international practice, organizational structure, little concern about the profession can be listed out. There researcher, therefore, tried to explore challenges facing public relations section at the FEACC in these contexts too.
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