Defining public relations and its role, Activity 2

Based on your learnings so far, find an example of where public relations is being used in a not-for-profit organisation, a corporate organisation and a government agency. You will come across plenty of examples in the media or alternatively, is there a PR activity happening in your own workplace you could tell us about?

The not-for profit organisation I have chosen is The Australian Red Cross. On the organisations website I found a news room link which focused on the current economic/financial crisis which is surfacing around the world. In this article the PR professional is identifying the devastating effects the economic crisis could have on food supply to everyday Australians. The article presents all factual information sourced from various research conducted and then goes on to mention what the Australian Red Cross is doing to minimise the run on effects of the crisis. The article aims to raise awareness of World Food Day and also promotes other Red Cross food orientated programs. The link to this article is: http://www.redcross.org.au/newsroom_featurestories_World-Food-Day.htm

The Department of the Prime Minster and Cabinet has a media release which relates to sensitive cabinet information being leaked by departmental staff. The PR professionals role in this issue would of played a big part in trying to sort the situation out. The fact that this story would have received alot of media attention initially PR consultants would of had to act as a communication tool between departmental staff, the media, general public and Australian Federal Police. The obvious task with this particular media release would of been to write it for the departmental secretary and then the broader distribution process The link to this media release is: http://www.dpmc.gov.au/media/media_release_2008-08-29.cfm

The private organisation I chose was news.com.au, they are running a fund raising event which aims at sponsoring a whole village for Christmas in the Solomon Islands. The article aims at raising awareness amongst their readers by having pop up ads on their website which lead to the full article. This article can be found at: http://www.news.com.au/story/0,27574,24629329-5018293,00.html