Communications

Mobile communications technologies challenge public relations practitioners to expand their thinking and practice. Liberating electronic communication from fixed devices means that familiar PR approaches designed to reach audiences through such equipment are insufficient in themselves. They need to be complemented by new strategies, including those based on conceptualising cyber-PR as dynamic communicative "touch".

public relations bodies internationally have established ethics codes in an attempt to regulate members' ethical behaviour. This paper critiques the code-based framework on philosophical and practical grounds, suggesting that such frameworks are inadequate because they leave practitioners free to interpret these guides in ways that advance their own and their clients' interests. We argue that this latitude does not foster ethical behaviour. We then contrast rule-following, action-based ethics with agent-based ethics, conceived in Aristotelian terms, and suggest that the virtue ethics advanced by Aristotle and his interpreters represents a more challenging but more authentically ethical path for practitioners to consider.

What is to be made of the podcasting phenomenon? Is it, in the words of the title of a forthcoming book, "pirate radio for the masses", or is it a fad destined to remain primarily a tool of the technologically literate? This paper suggests that podcasting is a "bypass" technology, allowing individuals to bypass the entire established radio industry in the same way that bloggers functioning as "citizen journalists" can bypass the mainstream print media. Podcasting allows users to establish uncontrolled point-to-point relationships (fulfilling an early promise of radio) in the same way that bloggers can establish direct links with those who post to their sites. But in both cases -podcasting and blogging -there is potential for a "roadblock" as major commercial organizations move in. As they seek to coopt the technology in aid of their for-profit purposes, they may undermine the "free-ofcharge, power-to-the-people" ethos which still surrounds blogging and podcasting as it did in the early days of the Internet. However, the possible assimilation of these tools into corporate promotional strategies may prove to be the key to their making an impact on the masses rather than mainly amongst the technologically aware. By deploying podcasts to support their commercial objectives, relatively resource-rich corporations may move podcasting from its "on the edge", pseudo-amateur status closer to the centre of the media sphere. This may be exactly what podcasting needs if, like Rowehl, one takes the view that "Podcasting is a cultural and social revolution, not a technical one". 1

This paper compares and contrasts Israeli and Palestinian approaches to the public relations (PR) war between the two sides. It reflects on the use the parties are making of public relations to advance their interests and assesses the relevance of their efforts for public relations teaching.

In the normal run of local government, efforts to engage the community in decision-making can encompass a wide range of day-to-day activities, from inviting submissions about revamping a city library to seeking citizen input on a strategic plan. Yet from time to time, controversial issues arise which demand more than conventional approaches to community engagement. Such issues see the formation of 'activist communities' within the larger community. These groups insist either that certain types of actions be taken -or, in some cases, not be taken. They are prepared to take dramatic steps if required in pursuit of their agendas.

Public relations practice can benefit enormously from stepping outside the traditional 'problem-solution-next-problem' thinking loop, and embracing the alternative approach offered by Appreciative Inquiry. This commentary signals a research agenda which will be outlined in more detail in a forthcoming full-length paper.

SPHERA PUBLICA www. ucam. edu/sphera Edita: Servicio de Publicaciones de la Universidad Católica San Antonio de Murcia (UCAM). Dirección: Joaquín Guerrero Muñoz-jguerrero@ pdi. ucam. edu Subdirección: Rocío Zamora Medina-rzamora@ pdi. ucam. edu Secretarías: Mar Rodríguez Rosell-mmrodriguez@ pdi. ucam. edu José Carlos Losada Díaz-jclosada@ pdi. ucam. edu Coordinador del presente número: Salvador Hernández Martínez. Consejo de Redacción de la UCAM: Carlos Álvarez, Mª Socorro Arroyo, Antonio J.

Abstract: PR people often deal with risk to clients' and employers' reputations. However, practitioners are less visible in communicating about more tangible threats to health and well-being. The literature is slender in terms of contributions from public relations scholars, other than noted researcher, Robert Heath. He assumes rather than details a public relations responsibility in risk communication.

Abstract This paper uses Solution Focused Brief Therapy (SFBT) to interpret the experience of an academic and an academic development advisor working together on the high-pressure development of new public relations curriculum. SFBT is a counselling approach focused on helping people make improvements in relation to given problems.

Abstract Global climate change effects pose problems both for community development professionals concerned with strengthening communities and for public relations practitioners confronting communication challenges. This paper suggests that each discipline has something to offer the other in dealing with communities facing climate change impacts.

Abstract Public relations can contribute to human development by helping organisations communicate about risk and to confront the uncertainty they face in their environments. Yet this potential to contribute is often not recognised, both within the profession and outside it.

SPHERA PUBLICA Revista de Ciencias Sociales y de la Comunicación Número 7 (2007). Murcia Reconfiguring the Risk Landscape: The Role of Public Relations Chris Galloway Monash University, Victoria, Australia Christopher. galloway@ arts. monash. edu. au Abtract Public relations literature seems narrow when it deals with the profession's engagement with risk, mostly concentrating on questions of managing threats to organizations' reputations.