The Transformation of Public Relations in Ghana

ABSTRACT

According to Sriramesh (2009) are of the view that public relations (PR) has transformed in several areas and is gaining ground as a profession. Grunig (1992) adds that PR has moved from simply focusing on disseminating information without feedback to relationship building between organisations and their publics. This dissertation examined how media and economic liberalisation, as well as public relations education, have transformed public relations in Ghana. Public relations practitioners and public relations lecturers with a wealth of experience in the field were interviewed for the study. The findings showed that media liberalisation has created avenues for public relations practitioners to disseminate information. Unfortunately, the numerous media options have also created a budgetary challenge for certain PR departments in organisations which were already cash-strapped. Other findings indicated that economic liberalisation had opened several doors for PR because it led to the expansion of the private sector which had created more jobs for practitioners. The private sector also understood PR better than those in the public sector so it allowed for a lot of PR functions to be explored without restrictions. Other findings indicate that PR education had improved with the increasing number of schools which teach public relations courses but a lot more work needed to be done to ensure that only qualified lecturers were allowed to teach, preferably personnel who possessed ample experience from both PR practice and academia. The study recommended that it was important for public relations practitioners to practice good media relations in order to take advantage of the available media options. There was also the need for public relations lecturers to give students a practical feel of public relations so that they can fit into the available public relations jobs which Ghana’s economic liberalisation is creating.