Public Relations Institute of Australia
PR is an ongoing theme on this blog so I was interested to read this from Crikey via PR Watch:
- The president of the Public Relations Institute of Australia’s (PRIA) Victoria chapter, David Hawkins, bluntly summarised the results of a membership survey as, “Most people think the PRIA sucks. The average score across all members was about four out of a possible nine.” In the Australian e-zine Crikey.com.au, Hugo Kelly reports that survey results included the suggestion that the PRIA run “a public relations campaign – ongoing – to explain, and where necessary, defend, public relations.” Over the next two weeks, PRIA chapters in Western Australia, Victoria and Queensland are hosting events for Ross S. Irvine, the president of his own firm, ePublic Relations. Irvine, who describes himself as a “corporate warrior,” promises to tell his Australian audience “how to beat activists at their own game.”
It is always fascinating reading about PR firms “managing” activists. In fact an old lecturer of mine put me onto a PR text book with a whole chapter on “managing” activists. It would be funny if it wasn’t so scary.
