Public and Press Relations - Essay Example

Public and Press Relations Public relations is a very important element for anyone be it a high profile public figure or just some random person on the streets. The image that a person portrays to the rest is very crucial since it determines how the rest of the population will perceive you and thus make certain presumptions about you (Bland & Theaker, 2005). Even before speaking or interacting with people the perception that people hold about you will tend to affect the way in which people are going to interact with you or even treat you. For instance if people perceive you to be superior through you public relations from past events or occasions they will tend to treat you with some level of dignity as opposed to when you messed up sometimes back and thus tainted you public image. In that case they will tend to treat you with less respect or dignity and thus treat you just like any other random person since the image that you created or the perception that they have of you is not of the required standard or level of dignity that one is supposed to be respected (Davis, 2009). Thus, it is prudent to note that the image or perception that people create for the public or the media influences largely how the masses will view you and it will definitely influence the kind of respect you will command as well as how people will treat you either online or in real life when they meet you in person. Public relations do not occur naturally it depends on the effort of a person on how he/she packages himself to the public for him/her to gain acceptance (Gregory, 2010). A leader for instance may be very poor or incompetent in dispensing his/her duties to the people but with the right public relations he/she will most likely receive acclamation from the people since the manner in which he/she relates with the masses makes him/her more favourable despite failing in his core obligations of service delivery to the people (Gower, 2007). In the case of Jen Psaki the secretary of state spokesperson of the government of the United states of America in her routine briefings about the state of the nation and issues concerning foreign policy of the government of America once made a speech concerning the crisis that had hit Ukraine whereby it was facing separatist threats to join Russia (Lattimore, 2008). Since the crisis in Ukraine begun the Russian people online in platforms like Twitter and Facebook have been having bad blood with the secretary of state spokesperson due to her stance concerning the issue of Ukraine and Russian as far as separatist issues are concerned (Green, 2007). Moreover, the Russian media as overtime propagated Psaki as a person who has stupid responses to any serious issue and only covers up for this by utilizing clever words just to hide her ignorance concerning the issues in question (Davis, 2009). The image of Psaki that the Russians had perceived her from previous occasions made them have a certain pre-emption concerning her thus anything that she would comment or speak about was just regarded as a joke or utter stupidity since nobody would take her serious not even the media that reports credible information (Bland & Theaker, 2005). The slip up that Psaki made on a single occasion tainted her image before the Russians and this led to the development of a wrong impression of the US spokesperson not because madam Psaki is dumb but just because she had the wrong public relations with the people of Russian on the first encounter with them. This led to a presumption that the spokesperson is just another dumb person who has little knowledge on the matters she is purporting to advocate for her government as far as their foreign policy is concerned (Ames & Spetner, 2013). Psaki is regarded as the most hated person on the Russian social media not because she has done any wrong to the Russians but just because she pulled the wrong public relation and media relations to the people and thus they got a wrong impression of her. Furthermore, madam Psaki was involved in issuing statements on very controversial matters that touches on the policies of the Russian people (Gower, 2007). Russia had interest in Ukraine and that why it was keen to extend its boundaries to the Ukrainian territory to be one of its states but that move was condemned by world leaders since it was viewed as an a form of neo-colonialism since it is not prudent for a sovereign state in the 21st century to allow another country to infringe its territorial integrity by invading its sovereign boundaries without any consent or agreement (Ames & Spetner, 2013). Thus, the matter received criticism from several sectors of world leaders but it was notable that the speech of Psaki on the issue is the one that elicited a lot of controversy across the social media scene in Russia as well as in the Russian news agencies (Bland & Theaker, 2005). For many years Russia and America have been in several superiority power struggles that have been unending thus despite many countries condemning the act Psaki came under much heat from the Russians after making her statement regarding the situation she was subjected to a press briefing where she was asked to explain a certain term which she used in her speech (Du, 2000). The journalist asked her to explain the meaning or ‘carousal voting’ despite utilizing the term in her speech she failed to define its meaning. However, it was not a major issue with most Western media outlets since it was just considered a slip up which anybody can suffer in the course of her career however the Russian media created a scene with that incident thus creating criticism for madam Psaki from both the media and Russian people on social media (Davis, 2009). The scenario raised incompetence issues regarding madam Psaki and the American administration in general since they argued that top government officials would make foreign policy statements concerning important issues without prior research of the inherent issues concerning the subject under discussion (Bland & Theaker, 2005). Therefore, this gave the Russian people a wrong impression about madam Psaki and thus, her public relations with the people suffered a huge blow since people took her for granted. On the other hand, the media relations that Psaki created with the Russian news agencies was not good since she made a wrong impression by exposing her ignorance on crucial matters concerning the subject that was under discussion. This sent a negative public and media relations which dented her image and the overall perception that people had of her (Davis, 2009). Ultimately, it is evident thus, that public relations is a very important element for anyone whether it is a high profile public figure or just some random person on the streets. References Ames, C., Aronson, M., & Spetner, D. (2013). The public relations writers handbook: The digital age. San Francisco, Calif: Jossey-Bass. Bland, M., Wragg, D. W., & Theaker, A. (2005). Effective media relations: How to get results. London: Kogan Page Ltd. Davis, A. (2009). Public relations democracy: Public relations, politics, and the mass media in Britain. Manchester: Manchester University Press. Du, P. D. F. (2000). Introduction to public relations and advertising. Lansdowne: Juta. Gower, K. K. (2007). Public relations and the press: The troubled embrace. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press. Green, A. (2007). Creativity in public relations. London: Kogan Page. Gregory, A. (2010). Planning and managing public relations campaigns: A strategic approach. London: Kogan Page. Lattimore, D. (2008). Public relations: The profession and the practice. Boston: McGraw-Hill Higher Education. Read More