Democracy and government public relations

Public Relations Review 39 (2013) 320–331

Contents lists available at ScienceDirect

Public Relations Review

Democracy and government public relations: Expanding the

scope of “Relationship” in public relations research

Damion Waymer ∗

Texas A&M University, Department of Communication, 4234 TAMU Bolton Hall, College Station, Texas 77843, USA

a r t i c l e i n f o

Article history:

Received 29 June 2012

Received in revised form 21 March 2013

Accepted 14 July 2013

Keywords:

Democracy

Distance

Government public relations

Relationship management

Clinton

Tuskegee

Constitution

Atonement rhetoric

African American health

a b s t r a c t

The author argues that the unique nature of the US government poses significant barri￾ers to democratic governmental public relations practiced in and by the US. By exploring

challenges in relationship management that surface while analyzing a particular instance

of government public relations, the author posits that relationship management research

should take into account publics’ (non)desire for a relationship as well as different types of

organization–public relationships (OPRs) including government–public relationships. The

author analyzes the US Government’s official apology, administered by President Clinton,

to Tuskegee study survivors, introduces the communicative conception of distance to PR

to broaden relationship management frameworks, and argues for broader understanding

of what constitutes democratic public relations.

© 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

The poor image of public relations might be ascribed to this violence, where public relations practitioners, despite

their opposition to unethical organizational behavior, are often the ones blamed for that behavior. An additional factor

might be the undemocratic organizational environment that does not have the checks and balances of a democratic

society. (Holtzhausen & Voto, 2007, p. 77)

This quote is taken from scholars that present an alternative role for public relations practitioners: the role of organi￾zational activists. On the surface, the quote highlights the image challenges the profession continues to face. On a deeper

level, it highlights the dilemma that might arise as practitioners who might otherwise consider themselves both ethical and

committed to the tenets of democracy attempt to practice public relations in undemocratic organizational environments.

But what this quote ignores is that those same challenges present in undemocratic organizational environments are present

even when persons are practicing public relations, directly or indirectly, for what some deem a highly democratic orga￾nization. How is this challenge different in seemingly democratic organizational environments? This study explores this

question by analyzing a specific public relations effort by the United States (US) Government: President Clinton’s apology

to Tuskegee syphilis experiment survivors.

If the aim of this special issue is to address the link between democracy and public relations, it seems logical that a paper

might address government public relations specifically—for by definition, a democracy is an egalitarian form of government

(Diamond, 2005). And if public relations as a discipline is concerned with how public relations theory can better inform the

democratic process, then it makes sense in part to analyze a democratic form of government—thus the purpose of this study.

∗ Corresponding author. Tel.: +1 979 845 5500.

E-mail address: [email protected]

0363-8111/$ – see front matter © 2013 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2013.07.015