They Who Own...Control

As a public relations practitioner, one must make an important decision is how the desired message will reach the intended audience. There are many channels available such as television, radio, blogs, newspapers, magazines, post mail, advertisements, etc. Working cross-culturally will require research on the appropriate and most effective channel for that particular audience in that particular culture. Assuming similarity to one’s own way of life can lead to disaster upon execution.
As an American, I enjoy the rights of freedom of speech and freedom of the press, a right most liberally granted by the United States. It is key to keep this in mind and realize not every country’s media operates as independently as America’s. The role government plays and the ownership it has, along with the “education, experience and ethics of the editors and writers” determines the effectiveness of the country’s media sources (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, 2010, p. 351). A PR practitioner must take into account the bureaucracy involved when attempting to release a mediated message to the public, which goes back to how much government control is on the media channel they have chosen to utilize. Adequate planning and preparation will ensure a productive return on the constructed message.
Reference
Newsom, D., Turk, J., Kruckeberg, D. (2010). This is pr: The realities of public relations. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage. p. 351.

Tap a Value System...Release Change

Perhaps the number one barrier public relations practitioners run into when working internationally is “that social responsibility is based on ethical codes of behavior that have their roots in values, which come from learning and experience,” (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, 2010, p.350), leading to the debate on “truth”. In order to persuade another person, the sender must touch the audience’s core values, the values that determine their self-concept. While Christian believers attest some truths hold universally, other truths are more akin to perceptions bred from personal values, each person viewing the same world from individual prisms (p.350). Taking that principle into an international context requires the persuader to realize the public will have different identification values than themselves and therefore must present accordingly in order to stimulate the desired change.
Earl Newsom shares four principles of persuasion based on this idea of self-identity. For a person to be persuaded, they must relate to the point of view given “as having some direct effect on their own hopes, fears, desires or aspirations” (Newsom, Turk, Kruckeberg, 2010, p. 127). As a public relations officer, one must research what that would look like in the given culture he or she finds himself or herself. The persuader must not leave them in despair of their apparent problem, but provide a convenient solution to their predicament (p.127). There is no such thing as knowing the audience “too well”. PR must consider what resolution would be feasible for their time commitments (based on what takes priority in accordance with their value system), demographics, psychographics, geodemographics, and socioeconomic level. This suggestion should be provided in a clear and succinct format, yet even then, will only be taken to heart if the sender is someone the receiver trusts and regards as familiar (p.127). This last point is crucial for PR; get involved in the atmosphere of the target public on a personal level, walk in their shoes, and in this way adhere to one’s own values of integrity in the implementation process.
Reference
Newsom, D., Turk, J., Kruckeberg, D. (2010). This is pr: The realities of public relations. 10th Ed. Boston, MA: Wadsworth Cengage

Think Global. Act Local

“A global communications community combined with a global marketplace has created both necessities and opportunities for public relations people to work across borders,” observes Newsom, Turk, and Kruckeberg (2010, p. 344). No doubt, a job in PR today will require interaction across political, economic, social, and cultural borders different from one’s own. This is more easily said than done due to that beautiful yet frustrating concept…culture. Typical public relations work consists of putting forward press releases, speeches, and conferences, all message based activities, which tend to reflect culturally mediated patterns of communication of a given region. Public relations practitioners must project how their organization will relate to both its own indigenous culture and the materializing global culture (p. 348). Though cultural awareness is an important and seemingly basic component to successful public relations on a global level, few organizations do the research necessary to build beneficial relationships with desired publics (p. 348). As companies expand, success will come to the ones able to “think globally while acting locally” (p. 351).