Attitudes toward local programming needs: A comparison of a northern and southern sample of community leaders and respective publics
Replicating salient features of a study perfomed in Michigan, it was found that the northern and southern community leaders differed in their programming requests. The two public samples were quite similar, however, in ranking their requests. The findings suggest that care should be exercised by concerned public agencies in evaluating community leaders’ opinions, since they differ from their publics’ unsystematically.
A semiotic approach to the internal functioning of publics: implications for strategic communication and public relations
Abstract Employing public relations as a paradigmatic instance of strategic communication, this article challenges the prevailing view of publics as reactive entities. The article briefly reviews the two primary schools of semiotics, Saussurean and Peircean, and argues for the utility of the latter for building a language-centered understanding of publics. The Peircean ideas of unlimited semiosis, semiotic rhetoric, and community are employed to argue that publics ought to be understood primarily as self-actuated and interactive social entities with values and internal dynamics at least as complex and important to communication campaigns as are message content or client/practitioner intentions. The article concludes that we can best understand a public as an ongoing process of agreement upon an interpretation, and that during this process a public may well develop an interpretation that is more sophisticated, insightful, and socially linked than the understanding with which the practitioner/client started. As a result, we argue, publics should be accorded the preeminent position when studying or practicing any form of strategic communication, including public relations. Carl Botan is Associate Professor at Purdue University. Francisco Soto (MA, Purdue, 1995) is an Account Director for Aleph Communicacion, a public relations firm in Madrid, Spain and lectures at several higher education institutions.
A comparison of public and community leader attitudes toward local TV programming needs
Under current FCC guidelines, it is necessary for a broadcasting station to ascertain the needs and wants of its audience or potential audience. This study explores the differences expressed by community leaders and by the general public. Dr. Baldwin is associate professor in the Department of Television and Radio and Dr. Greenberg is associate professor in the Department of Communication at Michigan State University.