Assessing the Roles and Practices of Public Relations on Nation Building: The Case of Selected Government Ministries in Ethiopia
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Date
2022-09
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The objective of this study was to assess the public relations practice on the Selected Government Ministries in Ethiopia nation building. The study predominantly focuses on answering how public relations practitioners practice public relations to build a nation, what communication tools or channels the public relations practitioners used to build a nation, what challenges public relations practitioners have faced to build a sustainable nation. To get the answer to these questions, the study employed a qualitative method. Data were collected through in-depth interviews and also document review tools. An in-depth interview was employed to collect information from the practitioners of MOCS, MOE, MOP, MOT and GCS public relations departments. Document review was also used to get insight into how the PR materials were designed to send a positive message to build the nation. The overall finding of the research revealed that the practice of public relations is not based on professional standards of public relations and effective communication strategies. The public relations practitioners are some what used communications channels that may able to lead to various adverse effects, such as misunderstanding, public dissatisfaction, and inefficient use of valuable resources. This is because the public relations practitioners used insufficient communications tools. In addition to this, the practitioners had used ineffective communications strategies.Therefore, the nation building of Ethiopia and its viability was not seen. Moreover, top managers have misunderstanding on the roles and significance of PR. There were problems related to structural, procedural, organizational/establishment and laws.The political affiliation and interest of ruling party towards PR profession affect the PR profession image were the findings of the research.
Keywords: Public Relations, Nation, Nationalism, National identity, National Unity, Nation Branding and Nation Building
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Keywords
Public Relations, Nation, Nationalism