Public Interest Communications

Foundation, Influence, and Importance

Brigitta R. Brunner, Kelly Chernin

• Publisher: Bloomsbury Academic
• Year: 2025
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9798216260035
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• Subtopic: Public Relations
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

This edited volume assembled by Brigitta R. Brunner and Kelly Chernin serves as an introduction to the emerging field of public interest communications (PIC) and establishes a solid vision for the interdisciplinary field by identifying its foundations, practical uses, and lasting importance.
PIC began on the heels of monumental movements toward societal change for the public good in the U.S., including the Civil Rights Movement, the Stonewall Riots, and the establishment of the Environmental Protection Agency. Contributors provide essential historic context alongside contemporary examples such as COVID-19 misinformation and book bans to emphasize how PIC, with its primary goal of fostering effective communication between public and private stakeholders, is not only relevant but necessary as our society continues to grapple with astronomical issues including climate change, economic and racial inequality, and the rise of authoritarianism.
Although PIC is rooted within strategic communication, contributors from disciplines as diverse as journalism, business, and even biology demonstrate the necessity of utilizing interdisciplinary approaches and methods toward establishing ongoing operative strategies that improve the human condition and, crucially, last beyond a single campaign.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half Title
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Dedication
• Contents
• Contributors
• Introduction: Situating Public Interest Communications Foundation, Application, and Practice
• Section I: Intersections and Foundations
• Chapter 1: From Public Relations to Public Interest Communications: A Continuum Tracing the Location of the Public Interest in Communications Practice
• Chapter 2: Going Beyond “Mainstream” Versus “Activist” Journalism: Re-conceptualizing Journalism Through a Public Interest Communications Lens
• Chapter 3: “The Government Cannot Create Hurricanes”: Addressing Contemporary Public Information Communications Challenges Through Rhetoric
• Chapter 4: Ethics in Public Interest Communications: Theories, Challenges, and Case Studies
• Chapter 5: Can We Do It Differently? Political Communications Through the Lens of the Public Interest
• Chapter 6: Language and Culture: Situating Meaning in Context for Public Interest Communications
• Section II: Application of Public Interest Communication Tenets
• Chapter 7: “Hey! Dr. Kat, Epidemiologist”: Self-Identified Experts Efforts to Correct Covid-19 Misinformation and Disinformation Campaigns on Social Media
• Chapter 8: Privacy, Politics, and Public Interest Communications: Higher-Education Student Data and FOIA
• Chapter 9: Social Justice, Business, and Public Interest Communications
• Chapter 10: Crystallizing Public Malcontent: Examining the Use of Grassroots Strategic Communications to Facilitate and Challe ge Book Bans in the United States
• Chapter 11: Danger or Asset?—On the Importance of CEO Sociopolitical Advocacy to Public Interest Communications
• Chapter 12: The Cost of Marriage
• Chapter 13: The Role of PIC in Today’s Increasingly Turbulent Globalized World
• Section III: Research, Practice, and an Emerging Field
• Chapter 14: A Brief History of Public Interest Communications: PIC’s Early Development and Influence of Its Founding Figures
• Chapter 15: Bridging Academic Silos for Better Science Communication: The Importance of Collaborative Research in Public Interest Communications
• Chapter 16: The Essential Role of Practitioners in Public Interest Communications
• Chapter 17: Expectations of Public Interest Communications Practitioners
• Conclusion: Sustaining Ourselves Through Sustainable Work: Cody Hays, Kelly Chernin, and Brigitta R. Brunner
• Index