The Technician and Management Levels

I read a book titled 'Public Relations in South Africa', written by Berendien Lubbe and Gustav Puth. I was actually drawn to it because it’s easy to read and yet very informative!
In this book they talk of two PR levels – the technician and the management level to which PR practitioners should operate. Lubbe and Puth quote Gruning to best illustrate this point, it is stated:

‘Public relations practitioners occupy two major roles, the technician and the manager. Communication technicians provide technical services such as writing, editing, photography, media contacts, or production of publications. Technicians are found in all organizations with public relations departments’.

It continues to say: ‘For excellence to be achieved in public relations and for public relations to fulfill its management function efficiently and effectively, expertise, commitment and vision are required at both these levels. These two levels are also interdependent, the PR manager cannot implement his policies without the technical expertise and support of the public relations technician.’ (Lubbe and Puth, 1994, pg 8)

Will PR practitioners ever be respected?

I have observed how some of stakeholders view the university PR department…they seem to believe that PR practitioners add a bit of spin to all the communication messages sent out to, especially the media and the general public.
Sometimes I ask myself if they have this attitude because there is a general perception that the Public Relations industry lies, spins, and manipulates.
Students on the other hand, think that public relations is only about organizing events and all fluffy, unimportant matters. ‘Basically a university can do without this department.’
Having worked in a university for four years, it still surprises me that, the university community trust journalists more than they would trust a university practitioner - perhaps journalists are viewed to be highly skilled than practitioners. Another crucial point is that during crises, PR practitioners will try and avoid sending out messages that might hinder the university’s image and its management, whereas journalists report events as they are, leaving ‘no stone unturned’.

This percerption has always concerned me. When I was reading Aeron Davis book Public Relations Democracy, i realised that like journalists, university PR practitioners since the merger have contributed to an account in which they function as independent guardians acting in the public interest. University practitioners have emphasized the neutral objectivity of the news production process.
Aeron Davis further states that professional values guide journalists towards neutral coverage of issues that are significant to the mass of consumers and therefore tend to act as check on major concentrations of power ensures that consumers get what they want…news that is balanced and broadly reflective of the concerns of the mass citizens. I strongly believe that this applies to PR practitioners as well because university practitioners main goal is to send out communication messages that reflect transparency.
Reference: Public Relations Democracy: Public Relations, Politics and the Mass Media in Britain Aeron Davis, 2002

About My Blog

My blog aims to explore how the role of new media came into play during the transition phase in the higher education system of South Africa- the merger. I will be referring to the University of KwaZulu-Natal as an example, an institution I studied at and currently work for as well. I will discuss why blogging is the trend that should be explored by UKZN PR practitioners.

The Merger: Brief Background

UKZN - this is an institution I have worked for, for the past 4 years.
The merger of the two major education institutions in KwaZulu-Natal, located over two cities Durban and Pietermaritzburg was a move that was not welcomed with open arms by the two parties involved. Hence it posed a great challenge for the public relations department to devise and implement a communications strategy that was effective, relevant and efficient.


South African cabinet backs merger plan for universities
by Michael Cherry

South Africa is to proceed with a controversial plan to merge institutes of higher education that taught blacks and whites separately under apartheid (see Nature 417, 377–378; 2002).The cabinet accepted the merger plan late last month after Kader Asmal, the education minister, made concessions that will allow two of the nation's best-known historically black universities — the University of the Western Cape and the University of Fort Hare — to retain their separate identities.

Reference: http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/v417/n6889/full/417576a.html