[ecrea] Call for ICA 2013 Panelist – Activist Public Relations

We are in search for a fourth panelist for submission to the ICA Public 
Relations Division for the 2013 conference on a panel about tensions 
between asymmetrical and symmetrical communication in activist public 
relations. The conference deadline is Nov. 1. Please send abstracts (200 
words max) to (mathis.danelzik /at/ uni-tuebingen.de)

Short panel abstract (I’ll be glad to send the complete 500 word 
abstract by email):

As excellence theory views the ethical and the strategic premise of the 
symmetrical ideal of public relations as a quasi-unproblematic pair and 
privileges the perspective and priorities of corporations, critical 
scholars have raised fundamental issues and furthered public relations 
theory and practice beyond the corporate vantage point (see Coombs & 
Holladay, 2012; Dutta, Ban & Pal, 2012; L’Etang & Pieczka, 2006). In 
order to challenge established public relations orthodoxies, especially 
the study of activism has been identified as an emerging focal point for 
critical public relations scholarship (see Coombs & Holladay, in press).

This panel seeks to explore and further these developments by engaging 
different perspectives on activist public relations that complicate 
common assumptions about symmetry and asymmetry in public relations.

•             Are symmetry and asymmetry appropriate and meaningful 
categories to theorize activist discourses as power, meaning, and issues 
are negotiated vis-à-vis powerful organizations and groups?

•             Is symmetrical communication desirable for activism?

•             How may asymmetry and symmetry undermine and/or contribute 
to activists’ goals?

•             What limitations of asymmetry and symmetry does activist 
public relations encounter?

•             What tensions and questions evolve around the activists’ 
need for conflict and confrontation in order to gain the attention of 
powerful organizations (see Holtzhausen, 2007)?

The participants of this panel will discuss these questions through the 
lens of different cases of activist public relations that illustrate 
dilemmas between symmetry and asymmetry.

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Eberhard Karls Universität Tübingen
Philosophische Fakultät
Institut für Medienwissenschaft
Arbeitsbereich für Print- und Onlinemedien
Wilhelmstraße 50 · D-72074 Tübingen · Germany
R 262
Telefon +49 7071 29-72365 · Telefax: +49 7071 29-5367
(mathis.danelzik /at/ uni-tuebingen.de)