The Arab world has engaged in public relations for thousands of years, and the public relations literature provides multiple examples extending from ancient times. However, modern public relations is much more vaguely defined. This is partly because the research surrounding public relations practice in the Middle East remains sparse, especially in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries. This book presents a clear picture of contemporary PR practice in this region, providing a background on the evolution of public relations in each GCC country. It shows how environmental factors (historical, cultural, socio-political, and economic) influence practice in the region. It also contributes to public relations scholarship, education, and practice worldwide by providing new perspectives to those unfamiliar with its practice in this region. This book will benefit scholars and practitioners alike through its informed analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of practice in the GCC countries, as well as being of great benefit to the development of professional practice in the region.

Introduction / Talal M. Almutairi & Dean Kruckeberg -- The status and new directions of public relations practice in Bahrain / Layla AlSaqer & Sama¿a Al Hashimi -- The status and new directions of public relations practice in Bahrain / Talal M. Almutairi & Ali A. Dashti -- Public relations units in the Omani civil service sector : historical background and current characteristics / Abdullah K. Al-Kindi -- Qatar public relations in focus / Talal M. Almutairi, Mahmoud Galander, Omar A. Al Balushi and Rawdha A. Al Balushi -- Public relations in Saudi Arabia : an Islamic perspective / Yazeed Almahraj -- A critical snapshot of the practice of public relations in the United Arab / Badran A. Badran -- Conclusion / Talal M. Almutairi & Dean Kruckeberg -- Index.

The book analyzes recent changes to the identities and cultures of the GCC countries. These important transformations have gone largely unnoticed due to the fast-paced changes in the region that affect all aspects of society. The volume unpacks these transformations by looking from a holistic perspective at the intersections of language, arts, education, political culture, city, regional alliances and transnational identities. It offers selected case studies based on original research carried out in the region. Chapter 7, ‘Identity Lost & Found: Architecture and Identity Formation in Kuwait and the Gulf’, of this book is available open access under a CC BY 4.0 license at link.springer.com

This book explores the purpose, practice and effects of public relations (PR) at a time that has been variously described as an era of populism, post-truth and fake news. It considers how PR processes have contributed to the current social condition of post-truth and what constitutes PR work in this environment. Post-Truth Public Relations: Communication in an Era of Digital Disinformation proposes that while we can now look back upon the last 80–100 years as a period of classical PR, that style is being supplemented by the emergence of a post-classical form of PR that has emerged in response to the post-truth era. This new style of PR consists of a mixed repertoire of communicative work that matches the new geometry of digital media and delivers a mix of online engagement and persuasion in order to meet the needs of increasingly partisan audiences. Using contemporary case studies and original interviews with PR practitioners in several countries, including China and the Philippines, the book investigates how PR workers have reconciled their role as communicative intermediaries with the post-truth era of digital disinformation. This thought-provoking book will be of great interest to researchers and advanced students interested in the changing nature of PR and its practice.

Published articles in ITJEMAST 13(9) 2022

The fourth edition of Global Communication is the most comprehensive, multidisciplinary, multicultural, authoritative, and cutting-edge book published in the fields of media, culture, journalism, and communications. Twenty-four highly accomplished and prominent media scholars representing ten countries provide a survey of international communication, public relations and advertising, implications of globalization, international law and regulation, global culture, propaganda, transnational media, the shifting politics of media, trends in communication and information technology, and much more. The fourth edition includes six new contributors (Lee B. Artz, Daniela V. Dimitrova, Berna Ackali Gur, Petros Iosifidis, Perry Keller, and Nicholas Nicoli) who cover such issues as politics of global culture, global theories, global law, implications of internet and politics. Other chapters are fully updated to foreground contemporary examples and major events that have impacted our global communication environment. Collectively, new contributions and updated chapters reflect the rapid technological and communications changes that are taking place nationally and globally. This eclectic book helps students to understand the emergence of globalization and its effects on a worldwide scale. Contributors: Lee B. Artz, George A. Barnett, Vibert C. Cambridge, Jane Campbell, Theresa Carilli, Benjamin A. Davis, Daniela V. Dimitrova, John D. H. Downing, Richard A. Gershon, Berna Ackali Gur, Cees Hamelink, Petros Iosifidis, Yahya Kamalipour, Yeşim Kaptan, Perry Keller, Dean Kruckeberg, Lars Lundgren, Vincent Mosco, Nicholas Nicoli, Allen Palmer, Kuldip R. Rampal, Devan Rosen, Harmeet Sawhney, Richard Vincent, and Marina Vujnovic.

A diverse group of international scholars provides unique perspectives on contemporary global crises and their intersection with the media of public communication. Contributors draw upon a range of compelling theoretical frameworks and methodologies, situating each chapter in the wider literature within a nuanced and complex historical context.

Pitch, Tweet, or Engage on the Street offers a modern guide for how to practice public relations and strategic communication around the globe. Drawing upon interviews with public relations professionals in over 30 countries as well as the author’s own experience as a global public relations practitioner in the United Nations and in U.S. President Barack Obama’s administration, this book explains how to adapt public relations strategies, messages, and tactics for countries and cultures around the globe. The book begins by explaining key cultural differences which require practitioners to adapt their approaches, before discussing how to build and manage a global public relations team and how to practice global public relations on behalf of corporations, non-profit organizations, and governments. Then, the book takes readers on a tour of the world, explaining how to adapt their campaigns for Asia-Pacific, Europe, the Middle East, the Americas, and Sub-Saharan Africa. Along the way, readers are introduced to practitioners around the globe and case studies of particularly successful campaigns – from a public relations "siege" that successfully ended an epidemic of violence in Kenya to the remarkable P.R. strategy adopted by Bordeaux wineries in China that led to a staggering 26,900 percent increase in sales.

This important book chronicles, responds to, and advances the leading theories in the public relations discipline. Taking up the work begun by the books Public Relations Theory and Public Relations Theory II, this volume offers completely original material reflecting public relations as practiced today. It features contributions by leading public relations researchers from around the world who write about new developments in the field. Important subjects include: a turn to more humanistic, social, dialogic, and cocreational perspectives on public relations; changes in the capacity and use of new information technologies; a greater emphasis on non-Western international and intercultural public relations that considers an increasingly politically polarized culture; and issues of ethics that look beyond how clients and the traditional mass media are treated and into much broader questions of voice, agency, race, identity, and the economic and political status of publics. This book is a touchstone for advanced undergraduate and graduate courses in public relations theory and a key reference for researchers.

This book continues the groundbreaking work begun in Intercultural Public Relations: Theories for Managing Relationships and Conflicts with Strategic Publics (Routledge, 2018), by applying the theoretical framework of intercultural public relations to actual practice. Practical public relations contexts examined by the contributing chapter authors—both scholars and practitioners—include corporations, government, military, healthcare, education, and activism. The book covers real-world situations, including the training of practitioners to become more interculturally competent, identifying and understanding publics or stakeholders with different cultural backgrounds and identities, building and maintaining relationships with these publics/stakeholders, and managing conflicts with them. Offering practical guidance while examining both best practices and difficult challenges, this book is useful for public relations researchers, practitioners, and students as they explore how intercultural public relations contributes to organizational effectiveness and social change.