Are We Really Communicating? Practicing International Public Relations in Non-Western Countries

Are you interested in how non-Western nations communicate with all of their stakeholders or how they execute national grand strategies? Do you want to better understand why today, Russia and several other countries are in a contentious relationship with the United States? Do you wonder why your public relations program is continually ineffective or has no impact in the international arena? Are you interested in exploring opportunities to work outside the United States?

In this session, we will discuss what you need to consider to help your clients to succeed in these lucrative markets. American practitioners have long realized that public relations is a borderless, global profession. Certainly, many American professionals work with their counterparts worldwide, whose best practices are often to achieve the same goals as U.S. professionals.

Sharing the same goals, however, may not extend to professional practice and its education in countries that have different perspectives on communication, that are hostile toward the United States or that Americans perceive to be hostile to the United States. For example, time may be viewed differently, which impacts how strategies are designed, implemented or assessed by different nations. Russia and countries in the Middle East are only two examples.

Knowledge of international practice in these social, political, economic and cultural environments may be deemed of little importance to American practitioners, if it is considered at all. Also, while most Western nations view stability as a key factor, other nations may communicate with the intent of creating uncertainty as a desired effect or end state. While most Western nations teach and practice a standardized model of public relations, that model is often applied in information environments where it is not effective in adverse or complex information environments.

American public relations practices may be matched against non-public relations strategies, wasting time, money and resources. U.S. practitioners are missing opportunities, not only for their American clients but also in their potential partnerships with international practitioners who may share professional values and have similar education and who recognize the same best practices.

This session will provide an interpretation of public relations practice in such environments. Through multiple contemporary case studies, audience members will learn that thriving professional practice exists in these regions that are oftentimes feared, when they are not forgotten. Audience members will learn about the professional knowledge, skills and abilities (KSAs) as well as the professional values of practitioners in such countries, which the panelists will contextualize and compare to American KSAs and professional values.

The session will be taught by three pre-eminent experts. Dr. Katerina Tsetsura, a native Russian, and Dr. Kruckeberg are co-authors of “Transparency, Public Relation, and the Mass Media,” and co-editors of an upcoming book, “Strategic Communications in Russia: Public Relations and Advertising.” They have performed extensive research of public relations in Russia throughout the decades. Retired Navy Captain David Waterman, a 25-year practitioner in national and international public affairs and strategic communication, served three years in Iraq and Afghanistan and several years in NATO.

By the end of this session, participants will be able to: 
• Analyze how public relations is practiced and is being taught in a country and region with which most American public relations practitioners are unfamiliar, and thereby are forgotten, if not feared.
• Compare and reconcile American best practices with those of American practitioners’ professional counterparts in countries that are viewed with suspicion by Americans.
• Monitor and adopt/adapt best public relations practices in these countries.