Page 195 - Convergent Journalism an Introduction Writing and Producing Across Media

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Multimedia Public Relations

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Changes in technology since the beginning of the information age have
provided public relations practitioners with powerful communication
tools and unprecedented opportunities to transform the profession’s
entire approach to relationships. These changes have increased the
potential for communication failures by radically increasing compe-
tition for time and attention.
The Internet or World Wide Web perhaps best exemplifies the
impact of multimedia in public relations. John Pavlik, who directed the
Center for New Media at Columbia University at the time, summed
up the “good news, bad news” of multimedia use in public relations in
a 1996 report:

Rapid advances in the technologies collectively called the “information
superhighway” present both profound opportunities and challenges to
public relations and communication management for organizations in the
U.S. and around the world. To public relations professionals, the World
Wide Web is both a powerful tool of communications and a dangerous threat
to organizational well being. Properly used, the Web represents the ultimate
communication tool for building relationships between an organization and
its publics, both internal and external. Conversely, the Web empowers the
individual to create his or her own communication platforms... .