Ph.D. Student,
College of Journalism and Communication,
University of Florida, USA

Tianduo Zhang is a second year doctoral student in Mass Communication at the University of Florida. She received her M.A. in Public Relations from University of Miami and her B.A. in International Broadcast Journalism from the Communication University of China. Tianduo’s research focuses on the socio-economic influence of media in the context of political public relations, political communication, and public diplomacy. Her current research agenda includes: measuring international inter-media agenda building effects, country image measurement scale development, and media’s role in political polarization. In addition to research, Tianduo teaches an undergraduate course in International Public Relations at the University of Florida.

Title and Abstract:

In the Eye of Democracy: Mediated Public Diplomacy and the International Agenda Building Influence of the 2014 Hong Kong Protest

Researchers have been working for decades to understand the dynamics of international news selection. In the context of mediated public diplomacy, the age-old question of news selection is of great strategic significance as news coverage is recognized as the vital medium through which a country’s image and reputation are cultivated. As Sheafer and Shenhav (2009) noted, mediated public diplomacy dynamics can vary among countries. Previous empirical studies have found that a country’s social system or values can shape the media frames of international news and foreign countries. For example, Sheafer and Shenhav (2009) applied the concept of state-level homophily, relative proximity between countries, to explain the pattern of one country’s framing of another country.

Building on the previous literature, the current study examined the impact of level of democracy on the international news coverage of the Hong Kong Protests in 2014. The protest, with its longevity, scale of participation, and pan-democratic nature, received enormous international media attention and constituted the most significant civil rights movement in China since the 1989 Tian’anmen Square protests. As mentioned in Ding (2011), the 1989 Tian’anmen Square Protest has caused substantial damage to the Chinese government’s image and political credibility, which “puts China’s rise in jeopardy.” Given the international reaction to the Hong Kong Protest, it is important to examine the movement as a critical issue that could potentially influence China’s reputation and political credibility in the long run. During the protest, the Chinese government has been pushing out its own news agenda through state-sponsored international media, which provided a unique opportunity to study international intermediary agenda building.

Because democracy is the focal conflict in the Hong Kong Protest, this study intended to test whether democratic level homophily would predict the agenda building influence. To this end, a content analysis of news coverage of the Hong Kong Protest was conducted for three countries: China, Singapore, and Taiwan. The analysis included the first, second, and third levels of agenda building (Kiousis, Kim, Ragas, Wheat, Kochhar, Svensson, & Miles, 2015). The integration of all three levels of agenda-building with system-level variables in an international context offers a unique conceptual and practical insight to the dynamics of mediated public diplomacy and international public relations.

The authors predict that there will be a higher correlation between Singapore and Chinese news coverage than between Taiwan and China based on the two countries’ variance in democratic levels. Both Singapore and Taiwan are East Asian countries culturally close to China. The major difference is that Taiwan was ranked as a high democratic country while Singapore is ranked as a low/medium democratic country. This means Singapore is more similar to China than Taiwan did in democratic levels. The theoretical and practical implications of the international agenda-building effects will be discussed.

List of Speakers

Professor,
Management Communication,
Waikato Management School,
The University of Waikato, New Zealand

Professor David Mckie teaches Strategic Communication and Leadership at Waikato Management School in New Zealand. He has co-authored eight books including Reconfiguring PR: Ecology, Equity, and Enterprise (2007), which won the PRIDE award; PR and Nation Building: Influencing Israel (2013); The Business of Truth: A Guide to Ethical Communication (2005); Please Don’t Stop the Music: An Ensemble Leadership Repertoire and Strategic Innovation for Uncertain Times; the Handbook of Critical PR (2015), and over 100 book chapters and journal articles. As CEO of RAM (Results by Action Management) International, his consultancy work covers organisations in Australasia, Asia, Europe, and the US.

Title and Abstract:

Zeitgeist Strategies: Public Relations, Forging Futures, and Tracking Trends

Struggles to frame the zeitgeist or the spirit of the times by characteristics such as the Asian Century, the Digital Era, Turbulent Times, and the Age of Uncertainty, are not just labels or semantics. They are also bids for power and influence. They seek to generate new word orders to bring into material form new world orders through directing and focussing attention on certain features as the key features. In addition, as these struggles for different version of reality suggest, many strategic communicators believe the world at present is “up for grabs,” and open to transformation. This presentation asserts that contemporary public relations lacks ambition and is more comfortable in reactive mode by tracking short term trends rather than taking a proactive position and forging long term futures. So, while attending to the theme of “Emerging Trends and Challenges of Public Relations and Strategic Communication in the Digital Era,” the presentation will also address three features. The first is the depth and relevance of the trends that are raised by the frame of the Digital Age; the second is whether the Digital Age, on its own, is the most convincing frame for the times we live in; and, finally, if, strategically, the challenges of the Asian Century and those living in the Asia-Pacific are less, or more, urgent than the challenges facing a world of interconnected global citizens.

Futurists have long acknowledged that, as Dennis Gabor (1963), the Nobel-prizewinner who created the holograph put it, “the future cannot be predicted, but futures can be invented” (Gabor, 1963). Similarly, early public relations for Edward Bernays “was about fashioning and projecting credible renditions of reality itself,” and, accordingly, PR practitioners had to “fit, adjust, and relate an actuality, an idea, an object, a corporation, a country, a religion with the public upon which it is dependent” (cited in White & Mazur, 1995, p. 13). This presentation draws from both Bernays’ ideas on PR creating realities, and from futurist thinking on inventing futures and combines them in seeking to fit contemporary actuality to certain concepts of the zeitgeist. As a result the presentation will contend that it is time for public relations to downgrade attempts to predict and follow trends in favour of working with a credible zeitgeist. In addition, by borrowing from futures methods and thinking, it will examine strategies to make public relations more fit for purpose in uncertain and turbulent times as the geopolitical centre shifts from the West to the East.
 

List of Speakers

Professor and Associate Dean,
School of Communication and Design,
Sun Yat-sen University, China

Professor Zhang Ning. Associate Dean, School of communication and design, Sun Yat-Sen University, director of the Institute of public communication of Sun Yat-Sen University, deputy director of the center for Internet and management of Sun Yat-Sen University. Graduated from University of Tsukuba in 2003 and received a doctorate in sociology. Research expertise is the government’s public relations, political communication and crisis communication

Title and Abstract:

Creative Politics: The Policy Participation of Multiple Subjects and The New Political Relationship by The case of “Meng Hao and the No. 39 Document”

With theories of journalism, communication, political science and public management as basis and a combination of document analysis, case studies, content analysis and interviews as research methods, this dissertation cites 18 cases of alternative actions of citizen participation that happened in Guangzhou and takes the case of “Meng Hao and The No.39 Document” as an example to explore the characteristics of these cases and the connections between them and relevant media coverage. The author also attempts to explore the mechanism behind this phenomenon and why such alternative actions have appeared as a specific phenomenon. Taking the perspective of media access, this study also conducts analysis with a new train of thought considering the public, government and media as a whole.

After a comparative study, the author has reached the following conclusions: Firstly, the protagonists show specific interests in people’s livelihood or public affairs in these cases, along with behaviors influenced by performance arts to gain access to media which caused a mutual influence. Secondly, the reports about the cases put labels on the protagonists who have achieved a breakthrough to access the media. The case of “Meng Hao and the No. 39 document” illustrates a typical pattern of game and interaction among citizens, media and government. The alternative actions and its media access have promoted mutually, as the media extending the sphere of public opinion and becoming a non-institutional channel of expression of public.
 

List of Speakers

Director and Professor,
School of Advertising and Public Relations,
University of Tennessee Knoxville, USA

Maureen Taylor, Ph.D., is the Director of the School of Advertising and Public Relations at the University of Tennessee.

Taylor’s public relations research has focused on nation building and civil society, dialogue, the use of websites and new technologies. Her research has taken her to post conflict nations across the Middle East, Africa, Eastern Europe and Eurasia.

In 2010, Taylor was honored with the Institute for Public Relations’ Pathfinder Award for her “original program of scholarly research that has made a significant contribution to the body of knowledge and practice of public relations.” Taylor is a member of the Arthur S. Page Society and serves as an Associate Editor of Public Relations Review.

Title and Abstract:

Public Diplomacy and Evolving Health Communication Networks in China:
How International Relationships Effect Government-Public Relationships

In the era of globalization, a country’s national level decisions have international audiences. Consider China where the world watches every military action, political decision, speech and policy change. China’s internal decisions on topics such as human rights, family planning, and press freedoms are judged by international audiences. One area that has received harsh criticism is the Chinese government’s initial response to HIV/AIDS in the 1990s and early 2000s. Critics accused provincial and national leaders of decisions that lacked honesty, transparency, and compassion. This paper provides an analysis of how the Chinese government has communicated with and collaborated with transnational HIV/AIDS INGOs to improve its approach to the health crisis. The goal of our study is to explore the evolving network of relationships between the Chinese health sector with international NGOs dedicated to HIV/AIDS. We measure changes in the network and trace how the global network of HIV/AIDS INGOs influenced Chinese government policies on HIV/AIDS. Finally, this study examines how China’s cooperative relationships with the INGOs influence international media coverage of China’s approach to the health crisis.
 

List of Speakers

Professor and Department Chair,
Department of Advertising and Public Relations,
Chung Ang University, South Korea

MinJung Sung (Ph.D., University of Maryland, College Park; M.S., Boston University) is professor of public relations at Chung-Ang University and teaches corporate public relations, public relations management and crisis communication. She also works as a communication advisor for AmorePacific, Korea’s top cosmetics manufacture, in the areas of corporate communication and marketing communication. Prior to joining Chung-Ang University, she was an assistant professor at the Baruch College, City University of New York. Her main research interests include strategic management of public relations, corporate communication strategy and crisis/issues management.

Title and Abstract:

Using Social Media for Corporate: Comparative Analysis of Communication Strategies on Corporate Weibo and Facebook

With the growth of social media, companies are increasingly adopting diverse social media channels to engage and build relationships with stakeholders. The current study examines how large companies are using Weibo and Facebook for the purpose of corporate communication and explores their strategies. It analyzes the message posted in the corporate Weibo of 40 large companies operating in China and the corporate Facebook of 40 companies in Korea in terms of purposes, communication strategies, interactivity, and relationship cultivation strategies. Furthermore, the study conducts comparative analyses of those messages based on the company’s nationality and type of industry. The findings of the study not only helps understand how corporations are currently using social media channels for corporate communication purposes in different countries, but also furnishes strategic and tactical implications to enhance stakeholder engagement and participation.
 

List of Speakers

Professor and Associate Dean,
School of Journalism and Communication,
Tsinghua University, China

Dr. SHI, Anbin is currently Professor of Media and Cultural Studies, Associate Dean of International Development with School of Journalism and Communication, and Director of Israel Epstein Center for Global Media and Communication, Tsinghua University, China. His research interests include intercultural communication, global communication, public communication, press and politics. Professor Shi earned his B.A. (1992) and M.A. (1995) in English at Peking University and Ph.D. (2001) in Media/Cultural Studies at Penn State. He was honored as the “Changjiang Scholar” (2016) and “21st Century Outstanding Scholar” (2010) by the Ministry of Education and is serving as the special consultant and guest professor for the State Council’s Information Office, and has completed the training of more than 10,000 government spokespersons and press officers at central, municipal and provincial level. He also frequently appears on CCTV-NEWS, New York Times, Washington Post, Newsweek and Al Jazeera to comment upon contemporary China’s press and politics.

Title and Abstract:

The Transcultural Turn of Crisis Communication in the Era of Digital Media: Case Studies and Theoretical Implications from Greater China

The prevalence of digital media calls for the urgency and necessity of theoretical and paradigmatic transformation in the realm of crisis transformation. Such mainstream theories as “Image repair” (IR) and “situational crisis communication theories” (SCCT) cannot fully account for the intricacies and complexities of crisis response and reputation management for such stakeholders as government and enterprises. What digital communication has brought about is the increasing accessibility of networking and participation across different national, social, religious and cultural communities. In this light, both IR and SCCT, which is based upon transmission model of communication and stimulus-response rationale within the environment of traditional legacy media, cannot follow up with the constant changes brought forth by digital communication. The present study proposes a transcultural turn of crisis communication which would adapt to the more globalized, audience-centred, and multi-platformed ecology of media convergence. Two recent cases from the Greater China (Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Taiwan) would be used as the prism to unravel the theoretical implication of such transcultural turn of crisis communication. The first case in political realm is a recent Facebook “crusade” between Chinese mainland and Taiwan netizen regarding a pop star’s “flag controversy”. The second case in the business world is New Zealand-based Fonterra milk powder scandal in China.
 

List of Speakers

Director and Professor,
School of Journalism and Media Studies,
San Diego State University, USA

Bey-ling Sha is the Professor and Director of the School of Journalism and Media Studies, San Diego State University, USA. She is an award-winning public relations researcher, teacher, and practitioner, who is active in professional and community organizations. Prof. Sha’s scholarly work has been published in Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Public Relations Journal, Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, and Journal of Promotion Management, as well as various book chapters. She is the 2016-2018 editor-in-chief of the Journal of Public Relations Research. Prof. Sha was honored by the Public Relations Society of America as its 2012 Outstanding Educator of the Year. She also won the 2007 Outstanding Faculty Award from San Diego State University and the 2004 Outstanding Faculty Award from the University of Maryland, College Park. Nationally, Prof. Sha was the 2014 chair of the Universal Accreditation Board, which oversees the world’s largest certification program in public relations.

Title and Abstract:

Identity and Political Public Relations: Implications of/for Gender, Race, and Nation Keynote Presentation

Political public relations is a “management process by which an organization or individual actor for political purposes, through purposeful communication and action, seeks to influence and to establish, build, and maintain beneficial relationships and reputations with its key publics to help support its mission and achieve its goal” (Strömbäck & Kiousis, 2011, p. 8). By this definition, political “public relations” is inherently asymmetrical, seeking to accomplish the goals of the organization or some other political actor. The “political” in public relations could refer to political campaigns, government public affairs, interpersonal political communications, or the rhetoric of political parties. All of these “political” processes affect and are affected by the identities of those who participate in them. From the identities avowed by political candidates to the segmentation of voters by identity markers, from the articulations of competing national identities to the representations of in- and out-groups in any nation-state, the intersections of politics, public relations and identity illustrate that all identity is inherently political. The keynote presentation will draw on historical and current events to suggest moments where identity and public relations changed the course of politics, where identity politics resulted in public relations challenges, and where political public relations would benefit from a scholarly understanding of identity.
 

List of Speakers

Associate Professor and Programme Director of Master of Mass Communication,
Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information,
Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

Augustine Pang, PhD, is an Associate Professor and Program Director of Master of Mass Communication at Wee Kim Wee School of Communication and Information, Nanyang Technological University. He specializes in crisis management and communication; image management and repair; media management, and public relations. He publishes actively in Handbooks and peer-reviewed journals. He is thankful for the research awards won at the International Communication Association (2015), Corporate Communications International Conference (2014, 2009 and 2008); the Association of Educators in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC) conference (2015, 2010 and 2007), and the International Public Relations Research Conference (2009, 2004 and 2005).

Title and Abstract:

A Broad Stroke or Different Strokes for Different Folks? Examining the Subtleties in Crisis Management Approaches between State-owned Enterprises and Privately-owned Enterprises in China

In 2008, the Sanlu Group, a former giant in Chinese dairy industry and a quintessential Chinese organization, was confronted with the melamine-contaminated milk crisis. Its products were blamed for causing at least six babies’ deaths and damaging the kidneys of about 294,000 babies. Sanlu was criticized for its crisis handling, which resulted in its collapse several months later. Ye and Pang (2011) attributed its failure to manage the crisis to cover-ups and toeing the “upper-level” line, or relying on the government to bail it out. Sanlu was a state-owned enterprise (SOE).

With the increasingly important status of China in the international community, scholars are beginning to pay considerable attention to how crises are managed in China. For example, studies have examined how China managed its dispute with the U.S. over the collision of a U.S. Navy reconnaissance plane with a Chinese fighter jet in 2001 (Zhang, Qiu, & Cameron, 2003); how the Chinese government managed the Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS) crisis in 2003 (Jin, Pang, & Cameron, 2007); how the Chinese government managed the Chinese products recall in 2007 (Cai, Lee, & Pang, 2009); and how the Chinese government responded to the Sichuan earthquake in 2009 (Chen, 2009). Very few studies have investigated Chinese domestic organizations’ approaches to crisis management. Yet, it is critical to study these organizations because they symbolize the intricacies of managing crises at the local levels, away from the glare of the international media. It also sheds light into the layers of bureaucracy and complexity of relations that is an intrinsic part of Chinese crisis management.

Besides the SOEs, Chinese domestic companies also comprise of privately-owned enterprises (POEs). SOEs refer to enterprises fully owned by the state through the State-owned Assets and Supervision and Administration Commission (SASAC) of the State Council and of provincial, municipal, and county governments. POEs, on the contrary, refer to economic units invested in or controlled by individuals, including limited liability corporations, shareholding corporations, partnership enterprises and sole investment enterprises (Szamosszegi & Kyle, 2010).

Given the growing economy in China, it is natural to compare POEs against SOEs. Each has its own different business orientations, organizational structures, corporate cultures and communication mechanism which may lead to different styles of crisis management (Joseph, 2013). This study examines the differences between the SOEs and POEs in terms of crisis response strategies, use of communication channels, attitudes towards the media, and relations with the government.

Data comes from interviewing 20 participants selected based on the following criteria.

1. They had worked for at least three years in the top 20 PR companies in China (according to the list provided by CIPRA 2013) in corporate communication or crisis management consultancy or;
2. They have worked in Chinese privately-owned enterprises (POEs) or state-owned enterprises (SOEs) for at least five years and have experience managing corporate crises.

The research questions are:

1. How do SOEs and POEs relate to the government in times of crisis?
2. How do SOEs and POEs conduct media relations in times of crisis?
3. What communication channels do SOEs and POEs use in times of crisis?
4. What crisis response strategies do they use in times of crises?
5. How do the crisis management styles between the SOEs and POEs differ?

While characteristics like silence, cover-ups, saving face and guanxi may still dominate Chinese management styles, it is hoped that insights will shed light on the subtleties for both academics and practitioners on how crisis management are conducted in these two of the major types of enterprises instead clustering them as a collective whole when analysing Chinese organizations.
 

List of Speakers

Professor and Executive Associate Dean,
College of Journalism and Communication,
University of Florida, USA

Dr. Spiro Kiousis is Executive Associate Dean for the College of Journalism and Communications and is a professor of public relations. He holds a B.A. in mass media from the University of San Francisco, an M.A. in media studies from Stanford University, and a Ph.D. in journalism from the University of Texas at Austin. His current research interests include political public relations, political communication, and digital communication. Specifically, this interdisciplinary research explores the interplay among political public relations efforts, news media content, and public opinion in traditional and interactive mass mediated contexts.

Dr. Kiousis has had articles published in several leading journals, including Communication Research, Journal of Communication, the Harvard International Journal of Press/Politics, Mass Communication & Society, Public Relations Review, Communication Yearbook, Communication Education, the International Journal of Public Opinion Research, the International Communication Gazette, Public Relations Journal, Journal of Public Relations Research, Journalism Studies, Journal of Media and Religion, Journal of Political Marketing, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, the Southwestern Mass Communication Journal, Journal of Communication Management, and New Media & Society. He also serves on numerous editorial boards and has presented papers to the International Communication Association, the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, the National Communication Association, the World Association for Public Opinion Research, the American Association for Public Opinion Research, the Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication, and the Public Relations Society of America. He recently co-edited a book with Jesper Stromback (Mid-Sweden University) titled “Political Public Relations: Principles and Applications” (Routledge) http://www.routledge.com/books/details/9780415873819/, as well as co-wrote a book with Max McCombs (University of Texas), Lance Holbert (The Ohio State University), and Wayne Wanta (University of Florida) titled “The News and Public Opinion: Media Effects on Civic Life” (Polity) http://www.polity.co.uk/book.asp?ref=9780745645186.

Title and Abstract:

In the Eye of Democracy: Mediated Public Diplomacy and the International Agenda Building Influence of the 2014 Hong Kong Protest

Researchers have been working for decades to understand the dynamics of international news selection. In the context of mediated public diplomacy, the age-old question of news selection is of great strategic significance as news coverage is recognized as the vital medium through which a country’s image and reputation are cultivated. As Sheafer and Shenhav (2009) noted, mediated public diplomacy dynamics can vary among countries. Previous empirical studies have found that a country’s social system or values can shape the media frames of international news and foreign countries. For example, Sheafer and Shenhav (2009) applied the concept of state-level homophily, relative proximity between countries, to explain the pattern of one country’s framing of another country.

Building on the previous literature, the current study examined the impact of level of democracy on the international news coverage of the Hong Kong Protests in 2014. The protest, with its longevity, scale of participation, and pan-democratic nature, received enormous international media attention and constituted the most significant civil rights movement in China since the 1989 Tian’anmen Square protests. As mentioned in Ding (2011), the 1989 Tian’anmen Square Protest has caused substantial damage to the Chinese government’s image and political credibility, which “puts China’s rise in jeopardy.” Given the international reaction to the Hong Kong Protest, it is important to examine the movement as a critical issue that could potentially influence China’s reputation and political credibility in the long run. During the protest, the Chinese government has been pushing out its own news agenda through state-sponsored international media, which provided a unique opportunity to study international intermediary agenda building.

Because democracy is the focal conflict in the Hong Kong Protest, this study intended to test whether democratic level homophily would predict the agenda building influence. To this end, a content analysis of news coverage of the Hong Kong Protest was conducted for three countries: China, Singapore, and Taiwan. The analysis included the first, second, and third levels of agenda building (Kiousis, Kim, Ragas, Wheat, Kochhar, Svensson, & Miles, 2015). The integration of all three levels of agenda-building with system-level variables in an international context offers a unique conceptual and practical insight to the dynamics of mediated public diplomacy and international public relations.

The authors predict that there will be a higher correlation between Singapore and Chinese news coverage than between Taiwan and China based on the two countries’ variance in democratic levels. Both Singapore and Taiwan are East Asian countries culturally close to China. The major difference is that Taiwan was ranked as a high democratic country while Singapore is ranked as a low/medium democratic country. This means Singapore is more similar to China than Taiwan did in democratic levels. The theoretical and practical implications of the international agenda-building effects will be discussed.
 

List of Speakers

Programme Deputy Director and Associate Professor,
M.S.Sc. in Corporate Communication Programme,
School of Journalism and Communication,
CUHK, Hong Kong

Sora Kim is an associate professor in the School of Journalism and Communication at The Chinese University of Hong Kong. She earned her Ph.D. degree from the University of Tennessee. Her research interests include corporate social responsibility communication, and crisis communication management. Her work has been published at Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, Journal of Public Relations Research, Journal of Advertising, Journal of Business Ethics, Public Relations Review, and other international communication related journals. She was awarded a Page Legacy Scholar grant from Arthur W. Page Center and a general research fund (GRF) grant from HK Research Grants Council.

Title and Abstract:

The Use of CEO Personality in Crisis Communication on Social Media

This study examined China’s largest ecommerce company Tmall’s use of crisis strategy and CEO personality to avert a social media reputation crisis on Weibo. The combination of qualitative textual analysis and quantitative content analysis of a social media crisis revealed the importance of developing crisis response strategies based on existing public sentiments and imbuing corporate social media communication with CEO personality. The study also offers insights into crisis communication in the context of Chinese social media.
 

List of Speakers