This was just passing thought in my mind, after being bombarded with New Media from all sides.We always question authenticity of bloggers and their opinion.Occassionally , we choose to believe a argument because it suits our ideology and convenience.But still the fact remains that the credibility and trustworthiness of blogs is a debatable topic.
I was just thinking as a research student doing some rigorous research.All of us come across some information related to our research in the form of blogs. The point is , how many of us actually use it and include it in our work ? How many times would we click away from the page thinking that its just a random blog by a random person and might not be credible.
After being an audience to an incredibly gripping presentation on Obama ,I could not help reading more about it.
I typed in Obama into Google and was not surprised by the nine digit result it showed up within 0.13 seconds. This man has done something worthwhile and credible in the recent times. I am not going to be pointing out his countless qualities which he was either born with or developed with experience , since there is already much been said about that.
Much has been said about political communications in the past and the vast literature available is rather intimidating. I remember reading an online article from Irish News where Tom Kelly made a thought provoking comment , '' Everything is centralised, everything is created at the top and trickled down. In this traditional world there is no space for spontaneity or bottom up opportunities. Conversations are not encouraged as these might ‘dilute’ the message .''
If looked at in this way , then Obama's campaign definitely did not live up to this expectation and undoubtedly raised the bar of political campaigns by a few notches. The Obama campaign, cleverly used the power of traditional and online PR and merged the two create an ‘inline’ solution.
The campaign's potential was evident in the response it gained. This happened majorly because he allowed to loosen his reigns at the grassroot level and also enhance a two way interaction. His supporters were able to personalize logo's , use ringtones , interact with him on social networking sites. All these elements of his campaign have been picked up from day to day life of a common man and hence commanded such a strong emotional and human appeal.
Obama even proved his point to skeptics who believed that new media cannot prove to be effective in political campaigns.The campaign tapped a wider audience subduing all geographical boundaries.
Obama has gotten across to his publics beautifully and gained all the trust and support he would need to inflict the changes he hopes for his country . >
The first class aroused my curiosity enough for me to plunge into the complexities and contradictions of 'war' and 'spin' . And I found myself discovering and unmasking things which were otherwise beyond my comprehension.
The much talked about PR stunt of selling of America on the Persian Gulf War grabbed my attention. Hill and Knowlton very cunningly crafted a version of the war ,which turned tables around. What is even more interesting was , this stunt did not hold the position of a pioneer. Edward Bernays had done something on the same lines in Guatemala 40 years ago. No wonder he knew everything about Iraq without being a part of any of it. The century old Bernays was able to read between the lines and recognize the media machinations instantly.
I learned that,after his demise , Bernays had made all his papers available for exploration with the Library of Congress.Though I have not managed to lay my hands on them but have learnt that most of the policies were founded on deception.Whatever happened to ethical PR !
Following his footsteps , I believe Hill and Knowlton also did not have very sound ethical ground when they contended a campaign against Saddam Hussein. It's apparently referred to as a triumphant moment , but I would refer to it as a derogatory moment in the history of Public Relations. >
A happy go lucky girl , who spent 18 years of my life in a small town called Indore in Central India .In the pursuit of my dreams , moved on to be a part of the glamorous city of Mumbai and succesfully completed my undergraduate studies in Mass Media and also a diploma in event management. My unsatiated desire to learn more, brought me to London to gain a Masters degree in PR. So here I am , falling in love with the one of the most enchanting places of the world , its lovely people and needless to mention ..my enlightening course and most recently blog writing....
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