Second Week.

After reading the given chapters and articles, I think the key points of week 2’s lectures are that these theories are important knowledge to anybody who wishes to practice Public Relations. Also, all the theories mentioned in the chapters are very different yet applicable.

The theory that appeared to be most accepted and recent would be the Grunig and Hunt’s four model approach, the excellence theory. The four models; press agency, public information, two-way asymmetric and two-way symmetric, is a reflection on the progress of Public Relation industry over the past two decades but yet, they still attract much criticism.

Two-way asymmetric and two-way symmetric are the most ideal models. However, the two-way symmetric triumphs over the others as it seeks equal benefits for both the company/organization as well as the public/targeted audiences.

Regarding SARS crisis by Mark Chong, I believe that Singapore did do a great job with the crisis handling and like Denise has mentioned, a point to note would be that Singapore is a small country which makes dissemination of information a lot easier.

The readings made me think and realize that the theory part of Public Relations is very important. These theories have provided some sort of frame work and guidance for all future Public Relations practitioners.