Lobbying, the public interest, and democracy: Communication perspectives

Trade Unions and Lobbying: Fighting Private Interests While Defending the Public Interest?

Although framing theory has been extensively studied in strategic communication comparatively, little is known about how trade unions, as a specific type of organization, use framing strategies to achieve their organizational goals. Trade unions frequently aim to present themselves as cause groups, campaigning for broader societal benefits and values. A key communicative challenge for them is to argue that the interest of their members equates to the public interest. How do trade unions communicatively construct links between union interests and the public interest? How is this strategy reconciled with the more conflict-oriented framing found in much traditional union discourse? This study …

Beyond the Cultural Turn: A Critical Perspective on Culture-Discourse within Public Relations

International audience; In 1992, Sriramesh and White (1992) pointed to the importance of culture for public relations. Two decades later, public relations scholars had answered their call in force (e.g., Bardhan & Weaver, 2011; Carayol & Frame, 2012; Edwards & Hodges, 2011; Sriramesh & Vercic, 2012). Sriramesh and other PR scholars have criticized much previous public relations research for its focus on the work of Hofstede and cultural characteristics that are apparently common across countries (Sriramesh, 2009), rather than approaches which present culture as a social phenomenon on the level of the social group (Frame, 2012), or as a communication resource or tool-kit (Swidler, 1986). Sri…