July 27, 2018 • Jonathan McVerry

American philosopher John Dewey said a person learns as much from failure as he or she does from success. For corporate communicators, two of the lowest points in U.S. financial history provide real-world lessons on how to maintain ethical communications through crisis.

Years ago, Yan Jin, professor at the University of Georgia, and Shelley Spector, founder of the Museum of Public Relations, discussed the need to chronicle lessons communicators learn after major crises. They specifically targeted the two… More

July 24, 2018

By Erica Ciszek, University of Texas at Austin

June has come and gone*. The rainbow flags and streamers have been packed in storage for next year. But what about the remaining 11 months of the year?

While the Supreme Court of the United States legalized same-sex marriage in 2015, Richard Edelman, president and CEO of Edelman, noted, “the decision is only the beginning for business, in both the workplace and the consumer marketplace.”

There is a… More

July 19, 2018

By Mi Rosie Jahng, Wayne State University and Hyunmin Lee, Drexel University

Public relations practitioners are no strangers to navigating tumultuous media environments and adapting to changes. Yet, the post-factual “fake news world” brings a formidable challenge to the practice and its scholarship.

Scholars have long argued that a keen sense of ethics and recognition of ethical codes are crucial to furthering the professionalism of the practice. Previous research has shown how public relations professionals identify how… More

July 11, 2018

By Justin Walden, North Dakota State University

Frontline employees’ personal social media use can pose numerous behind-the-scenes challenges to public relations professionals and their organizations, according to a Arthur W. Page Center-supported study in Corporate Communications: An International Journal.

Thanks to a Page Center Legacy Scholars grant, I studied how strategic communicators navigate these challenges and how they guide employees’ posts about work on social media.

This project was born out of my interest in… More

July 4, 2018

By Karen Freberg, University of Louisville, and Carolyn Kim, Biola University

Social media and public relations go hand-in-hand in many circumstances, but nothing is as strong as the connection it has to organizational public relations (OPR). The ways individuals can engage in dialogue and conversation with brands today are limitless, but for customer inquiries and service options, we mostly see customers use social media to get immediate responses from brands

Social care, or customer service offered through social… More

June 26, 2018

By Jami Fullerton, Oklahoma State University; Alice Kendrick, Southern Methodist University; and Lori Melton McKinnon, Oklahoma State University

Without doubt, we live in a world where information—accurate or not—spreads rapidly. The spread of misinformation is nothing new. However, a convergence of factors in today’s digital society has resulted in a range of challenges involving the origin, dissemination, veracity and effects of many types of messaging. These messages include news, “fake news,” sponsored blog posts and native advertising.

… More