An Integrated Approach to Public Diplomacy and Public Relations: A Five-Year Analysis of the Information Subsidies of the United States,China, and Singapore

This study contributes to the growing research on government-issued information subsidies in mediated public diplomacy in a new media environment. It examines the online information subsidies issued by the foreign ministries of three countries—the United States, China, and Singapore—to address a gap in the literature that has given scant attention to how governments use news releases through online newsrooms for public diplomacy. The study is significant for its conceptual explication of public relations and public diplomacy through an integrative strategic communication framework grounded in relationship building as an end goal of public diplomacy. A Leximancer textual analysis of 13,714 public diplomacy texts published through the three countries’ online press rooms over 5 years (2008–2012) found limited congruence in themes and concepts between and among the three countries, even on the issue of human rights, a major diplomatic point of contention. The weak congruence suggests a modelling of public diplomacy on one-way communication, and reveals a fundamental obstacle to grounding engagement, dialogue and collaboration strategically in a context of co-existence, understanding, mutual interdependence and relationship building. Through a three-country analysis, this study conceptually extends the view of public diplomacy beyond the dyadic construction of public diplomacy that dominates the existing literature.     

Transparency for Sponsored Content: Analysing Codes of Ethics in Public Relations,Marketing, Advertising and Journalism

As sponsored content is gaining ground globally, the boundaries between strategic communication, advertising and journalism are blurring. As sponsored content becomes more common, it raises novel ethical concerns that no industry alone can answer, such as How much disclosure is needed for transparency? Self-regulation via codes of ethics has been suggested as a remedy to meet the rising transparency expectations, and this article analysed 40 codes of ethics in the fields of communication, advertising, and journalism (United States and Finland) related to sponsored content. The results indicate that there remains excessive variation within the codes of ethics of how transparency of sponsored content is addressed. According to our analysis, most of the codes deal with transparency and the separation between commercial and editorial content only vaguely, and only eight of the total 40 guidelines take sponsored content into account. Therefore, we believe that the strategic benefit of sponsored content is threatened as long as no joint codes of ethics exist for sponsored content. To the degree that sponsored content is practiced across professions, we call for a joint code of ethics for sponsored content transparency, as the current codes of ethics fail to answer this emerging need.     

Examining the Impact of Public Engagement and Presidential Leadership Communication on Social Media in China: Implications for Government-Public Relationship Cultivation

This study examined how public positive and negative social media (i.e., WeChat) discussion about President Xi Jinping in China, along with Xi’s leadership communication styles of assertiveness, responsiveness, and authenticity on social media influence publics’ evaluation of his leadership effectiveness, which in turn, influences public trust and satisfaction with the government. Through a quantitative online survey of 396 WeChat users in China, randomly selected via an international sampling firm and a structural equation modeling analysis, the results show that publics’ political discussion about Xi on social media in China significantly influences the perceived leadership effectiveness of the president. Specifically, the more the publics engage in positive discussion about the president on social media, the more they perceive him to be a better political leader, and vice-versa. The president’s leadership communication attributes of responsiveness and authenticity strongly and positively influenced perceived leadership effectiveness and the quality of government-public relationships. Publics’ evaluation of the president’s leadership effectiveness directly contributed to public trust and satisfaction toward the government. The theoretical and practical implications of the study are discussed.     

把握机遇 顺势而为 积极做好中国邮政网络大学的建设工作——陈虹霞总经理助理在中国邮政网络大学建设学术研讨会上的讲话

老师们、同志们： 大家下午好!在2009年春节即将来临之际，很高兴能够参加学院组织的中国邮政网络大学建设学术研讨会。在此，我首先代表集团公司人力资源部及柯岩总经理向学院的各位领导和同志们表示亲切的慰问。     

积极推进中国邮政网络大学建设 开创教育培训和人力资源工作新局面——赵双占书记、院长在中国邮政网络大学建设学术研讨会上的讲话

尊敬的陈虹霞总经理助理、老师们、同志们： 本次中国邮政网络大学建设学术研讨会是在深入贯彻中国邮政集团公司工作会议精神,进一步研究落实2009年度工作任务的新形势下召开的。本次会议不但是学院贯彻集团公司工作会议和全国邮政教育培训工作会议精神、大力推动中国邮政网络大学建设的一个重要步骤,也是学院深人学习实践科学发展观活动、支撑新一轮大规模教育培训开展的一项战略举措。