Media Essay: Global Media and Cultural Landscapes

Global Media and Cultural Landscapes
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Introduction
Public relations (PR) involve the maintenance of a good public image by a public figure or an organization. It can also be defined as a distinctive management function that helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and co-operation between an organization and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools (Hutton, 1999, p. 200). The Public relations society of America (PRSA) have redefined the PR as a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics (Dragilev, 2020). Notably, the definition of PR has changed over time due to changes and advancement in the society brought about technological shifts and globalization, hence there is need for experts in the field to redefine PR in a bid to continue serving its role in modern society.
The PR industry has rapidly advanced since the beginning of the 21St century. The field has evolved and matured to an advanced level. Currently, PR are being adopted in many major organizations, government corporations, and trade unions across the world. It plays a significant role in the strategic management of relationships between these organizations and the general public. PR is aided by the use of communications to achieve understanding and realize the organization's goals while meeting the public interests (Seaman, 2009, p.3). In modern society, institutions use PR as a means to set up a two-way dialog to actualize mutual understanding between them. It plays important functions both in business and within organizations, such as it can be used to resolve conflicts between two organizations. It performs a significant role in accomplishing organizational goals. It is used to build and maintain the reputation of an institution. It can also help in the selling of products and services in a business (Wilcox, 2006, p.68).
Evolution of Media in Public Relations
In the past, PR was viewed as a one-way approach to communication. It was a tool used by organizations to manage their communications and has often been a reactive function. However, recently there have been huge shifts in regards to the role of PR, thus having impacts on the practitioners. The current thinking and theories of PR focus on the two-way relational communication model, of which the purpose of PR is to create a dialogue between an organization and its respective publics and establishing mutual understanding (Berkowitz, 2007, p. 120). To date, the sole purpose of PR remains to get our story out of an organization.
In the 21st century, the major advancement in PR is the use of the internet. As of October 200, Statista reported 4.66 billion people as active internet users, which account for 59 percent of the global population. The internet ha...