Impact of Digitalization on the PR Profession

This article discusses the impact of digitalization on the PR profession, particularly in the context of the rise of fake news. It covers the changing role of PR practitioners, their role in society, and the increased demand for PR professionals in the digital age. Additionally, it explores the dark side of conflicts between PR professionals and management.

impact of digitalization on the PR profession

Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................3
Impact of digitalization on PR profession in context of rise of fake news...............................................3
Changing role of PR practitioner’s..........................................................................................................4
Role of PR practitioner’s in society.........................................................................................................5
Role of PR practitioner’s as a gatekeeper and educator...........................................................................7
Discuss increased demand of PR professional’s......................................................................................7
Dark side in case of conflict between PR professional and management.................................................8
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................9
References.................................................................................................................................................10

Introduction
In current time, use of digital technologies has been increased. Digital techniques are
used in different fields such as business, media and more. PR is a field wherein different forms
of media and communication are used in order to manage the positive reputation in market. In
this profession, one is responsible to maintain effective relationships with different stakeholders
by using digital platforms and medium of communication. This profession is effectively
associated with digitalization. Here, digital techniques are applied in order to maintain positive
interaction with stakeholders. In current time, digital platforms are often used to circulate
misleading and false information. A lot of people get connected with digital mediums thus the
fake news can easily spread within short period of time (Panda, Upadhyay and Khandelwal,
2019). Main aim of present study is to identify impact of digitalization on PR profession in
context of rise of fake news. Here, it includes changing role of PR profession within society
along with different national and theoretical perspectives. The report will cover changing role of
PR professionals in current time. Moreover, PR professionals play a crucial role in providing
suitable information to people with the use of mass media and other mediums of communication.
Impact of digitalization on PR profession in context of rise of fake news
In PR profession media, mass communication are used in order to build, maintain as well
as sustain a particular image of business in market. PR professionals use digital tools so that they
can maintain positive influence of their clients in competitive market. It has become a useful way
to stay connected with audience. Public relation has always been a crucial part of business. With
the rise in digitalization, there is a great shift has been witnessed within this field. Now, PR
professionals use digital mediums such as social media platform, ICT and more in order to stay
connected with audience (Gasparovich, Uskova and Dongauzer, 2020).
Digital PR is a marketing strategy which is performed using online tools and techniques.
Here, PR professionals can utilize these tools so that they can enhance presence of their client
company. Prior this, Television, radio and other such tools were used for the purpose of
connectivity and building relationships. Digitalization has been changed the entire scenario.
Now, it is quiet easy for PR professionals to stay connect with public. Digital platform has the
power to make as well as ruin the image of an individual and business in short time of span. With

few clicks, content get viral over online mediums. Sometimes, it is for good cause but sometimes
fake news also gets circulated with the use of electronic mediums.
Public relation professionals across the globe are well familiar with the recent and
effective tools of communication. Now, web based mediums such as blogs, vlogs, podcast and
more have become crucial platforms to express the opinion. Recent innovation is affecting the
PR professionals in performing their role. Additionally, press release was considers as a crucial
part of public relation. Rather using a typed paper, information is send via mail or fax now.
However, circulation of fake news has also become a serious issued with the increase in
digitalization. With increased use of technology, circulation of fake news is also enhancing. In
digital platforms, one can easily modify the information and pass it to general public in order to
mislead them (Just and Rasmussen, 2019). Now, people are highly active on online and digital
platforms. Here, information can reach to millions of people only with single click. Sometimes,
unauthorized people alter the information and make it viral which further mislead the readers. In
context of social media platforms, there is ample of information available on these platforms.
This information is not highly authentic thus it can easily mislead people. Hence, digitalization
has a profound impact over PR profession. It is the duty of public relation professionals to
provide authentic and reliable information to readers.
Changing role of PR practitioner’s
In current time, role of PR is not limited towards working as a bridge between company
and its audience. Rather, they are responsible to maintain a positive image of organization in
front of its customers. They are known as the face of business entity. In addition to this, PR
professionals represent organization in public (Diller, Asen and Späth, 2020). Now, PR
professionals work as a communicator thus they need to have detailed understanding of the
issues being faced by company. It will help them in performing their role with credibility. They
also work to establish positive relationship with both internal as well as external parties. In
addition to this, they are the medium of communication between company and public. In this
context, changing role of PR is mentioned below:
Corporate communications: With the growth of company, corporate communication
has become highly important. In this regard, PR professional need to ensure that information not
only reaches to suitable stakeholders but also generate desire outcomes. For this purpose, they

use emails, internet, press release and other such mediums. In this role, PR professionals get
involve in interaction with senior leaders and HR managers constantly (Pavlekovskaya and et.
al., 2018).
Messaging and Positioning: In current competitive environment, brand positioning is
really important as it helps in retaining customers for longer duration. Here, role of PR
professional is to transmit proper message to audience in order to maintain positive positioning
of brand. Qualified PR professionals help in building the strong brand image through extensive
market research.
Spokesperson: PR professionals are responsible to represent company in front of
external parties. They need to handle press release and interact with media in order formulate a
positive image of entity. In this context, public relation professional need to act as spokesperson
of client. They answer the queries of external parties, stakeholders on behalf of company. For
this, it is required that they are well familiar with all the relevant information of business.
Press Agent: PR professionals often play role of a press agent. In this role, they put
efforts in order to get the publicity and attention of other relevant parties in order to ensure
success of client business.
Publicist: In current time role of public relation professionals is changing. They are
known as the publicist who interacts with general public and different stakeholders in order to
maintain positive image of client organization in market place.
It is analyzed that role of PR practitioner is changing in current environment. They act as
communicator, spokesperson, publicist who represents business in external environment. With
changing scenario, role of PR has also been changed and now they are considered as a crucial
part of business.
Role of PR practitioner’s in society
Public relationship officer works as a mediator between society and organization. They
are responsible for undertaking marketing and communication practices for client. Here, main
aim of PR professionals is to enhance the market image of entity by maintaining proper
interaction with public. Additionally, general public is also a valuable stakeholder of

organization. It is important to make them familiar with practices of business entity. They have
right to know about profitability, operations of company. In this context, PR professionals
transmit necessary information to public with an aim to protect their interest in business
(O’Brien, 2018).
Public relation practitioners play a vital role in information management which include
opinion polls, mass marketing as well as advertisement. They work to get the public opinion in
order to protect the interest of public, government in business. PR professionals provide right and
authentic information to society. They help society to understand the activities of media,
government as well business. During political events, politician appoints PR practitioners who
help people to understand the agenda of such events. In other words, they play a crucial role in
strengthening the position of general public within society.
PR practitioners work as a counselor in management team of different public and private
organizations. Here, they help such entities in making sound policies in interest of general
public. During decisions making process, PR professionals integrate the understanding regarding
concern and attitude of general public which further help in effective decision making for
betterment of whole society. They focus on maximizing the benefit of public while taking part in
policy formulation. In this way, they contribute towards uniform as well as collective growth of
society.
Community relations and corporate social responsibility is a vital function which is
performed by PR professionals. In this, they engage in strategy formulation, planning so that
company can significantly contribute towards societal well-being (Hoffmann, 2019). In addition
to this, PR professionals stay connected with public thus they have knowledge the area of
improvement in society. In this way, they contribute in growth and enlargement of society in an
efficient manner.
With the above mentioned information, it is clearly stated that public relation
practitioners play a vital role in ensuring growth and development of society in terms of different
dimensions such as economical, political, social and more.

Role of PR practitioner’s as a gatekeeper and educator
Role of PR practitioners as a gatekeeper
In organizations, gatekeeper formally refers to the person who has the ability of exchange
the information with external players. These people maintain strong association with internal as
well as external parties and also have the capability to translate information related to
organization across different communication boundaries. Here, PR professionals play a role of
gatekeeper where they are responsible to communicate necessary information to public. In this
role, PR practitioners maintain proper interaction with internal and external stakeholders. They
have access of necessary information which they can share to external audience in order to
protect their interest in business (Edwards, 2018). In addition to this, PR professionals are
responsible to work on marketing and promotion of products or services of client. In this context,
their major role is to share relevant information with key stakeholders in order to ensure smooth
functioning of business.
Role of PR practitioners as an educator
PR practitioners have wide knowledge which they can share with other people in order to
enhance their knowledge. It is analyzed that PR professionals are effective communicators. They
represent company in press release, conferences and other such public events. They are well –
versed in handling the objections of different external parties and respond accordingly. Here, PR
professionals can educate other employees so that they can handle different situations in an
effective manner. Additionally, they maintain connection with internal and external audience
hence they are exposed with deep and detailed information. They further pass the information to
different parties such as employees, general public, government and more. Here, PR practitioners
play an imperative role in educating employees with needs and requirements of external
environment. On other side, they also convey necessary information to general public in order to
maintain transparency (Gregory, 2020). Therefore, PR professionals have responsibility to also
perform role of an educator for internal and external audiences.
Discuss increased demand of PR professional’s
Public relation is engaged with the strategies and models of maintaining the public facing
image of companies and individuals. With increasing level of competition, demand of PR

practitioners is also increasing. Whether public or private organizations, they are likely to
appoint PR professionals in order to maintain the positive image in market. Main aim of hiring of
PR people is to maintain proper interaction with external audience. It helps in maintaining
transparency. In addition to this, companies also have been started to consider stakeholders as
crucial part of business. Therefore, they look for to maintain positive association with
stakeholders. For this purpose, business entities appoint specialized people to handle the public
events. PR practitioners are efficient to handle the press release and also have experience how to
maintain positive public image of company. In current time, individuals as well as companies are
conscious about their public reputation. PR professionals have the quality to leverage as well as
promote the best qualities of a person or business. They are efficient in keeping eye on details
and have the ability to work under highly pressure environment. Due to the changing prospective
of companies and individuals demand of PR practitioners is increasing with a higher pace. It is
expected that job opportunities for the respective profession will grow with 11 % from 2020 to
2030. It is really fast comparatively to other professions (US bureau of labor statistics, 2021).
Therefore, there is positive outlook in context of the PR profession.
Dark side in case of conflict between PR professional and management
In business, conflicts often take place between different individuals. It is because of
difference between opinions of different parties. It is often seen that conflicts take place in
between of PR professionals and management. It hampers the relationship of both parties. PR
professionals rely on management so that they get exposure of organizational activities. Without
getting proper information, they cannot perform their job. All the necessary information directly
come from the management. Also, PR professionals required data and information in order to
handle the public relation events in an effective manner (Ferguson, 2018). On other side,
management also relies on PR practitioner in order to maintain positive image of business in
market. Conflicts between both the parties have direct impact on public image of business. It will
hinder the reputation of company in media and audience. Company has to face serious
consequences in terms of harm of goodwill due to the conflicts. Therefore, it is suggested that
both the parties need to get engage in proper communication rather working in ambiguous
environment constantly.

Conclusion
It is assessed out of above mentioned information that PR professionals are responsible to
maintain positive image of client with the use of media and other such communication mediums.
Digitalization has brought changes in the PR practices as it promotes the circulation of fake
news. It is concluded that role of PR practitioners is changing with changing environment. Now,
they play role of publicist, spokesperson and more. Further, PR professionals also play an
imperative role in societal development and growth. PR profession is witnessing great rise and
will generate huge employment opportunities in future period of time.

References
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