How Public Relations Practitioners Who Also Are Activists Use Social Media for Their Activism

• In Event: Activism, Advocacy, and Civil Society

Abstract

In mainstream public relations, the word “activist” has a predominantly negative connotation – one of a trouble-maker, who disrupts the financial well-being of an organization. This is because mainstream public relations takes a modernist, organization-centric stance that valorizes the interests of organizations above all else. In recent times, however, critics of mainstream PR have adopted alternate approaches to public relations where the interests of stakeholders are accorded equal – if not more – importance than those of organizations. Postmodern scholars such as Holtzhausen (2012), urge public relations practitioners to take up an activist stance if they are confronted with unethical behavior from their organization. Holtzhausen (2012) especially points out new media as tools with which public relations practitioners can democratize the discursive space between stakeholders and organizations. Adopting the postmodern standpoint, this study in particular will examine how public relations practitioners who also engage in organizational activism use social media in their activism.

Author

• Soumitro Sen, East Carolina U