War and peace in supporting Public Relations

Representatives of communication departments in public institutions, journalists, representatives of nonguvernmental organisations and PR specialists analysed, late last week in Poiana Brasov, the specific features of current relationships between the main public informations factors.

Talks were occasioned by the less formal frameworks of the second edition of the Summer University, focusing on "Public Relations and mass-media: War or Peace?", an event organised by the Romanian PR Association (ARRP0, jointly with the National Agency supporting Youth Initiatives (ANSIT).

Debates mediated by communication specialists, members of ARRP, such as Dumitru Bortun, Liviu Muresan, Simona Miculescu or Radu Balbaie, enabled media representatives and PR officials in ministries to openly voice their mutual expectations and dissatisfaction in their relationship. Speakers provided the theoretical support for talks, equally encouraging didactic implementation and participants' communication.

Topics proposed for discussion and enforcement referred to participants' getitng aquainted with the broad features of the field, the structure, function and mission of a PR department, their explicit relationship with the media, strategies pertaining to the field and features specific to international PR , against the background of globalisation.

The main conclusion of talks refers to the need  and actual possibilities to improve the common level of communication between journalists and public institutions' press bureaus, in order to better serve the public interest, without thus excluding the parties' divergent oppinions. In this respect, several areas have been identified, deficiencies of which are liable to slow down the cooperation pace. On the other hand, mass-media perceive certain ignorance and delays in authorities' answers, while at the same time facing an excessive load of information coming from the respective officers, which are thus trying to make up for the lack of communication with other partners in PR departments.

On the other hand, journalists are seen as insufficiently trained in the fiels covered by each ministry, which is why they tend to ask general questions, not allowing for adequate answers from the authorities, which are also faced with inadequate PR budgets.