| Chapter 1: | Introduction—Surveying the Cyberterrain of Developing Country Head of State Web Sites |
|
|
This is a limited free preview of this book. Please buy full access.
These variables have affected the symmetry of public relations practice, according to Culbertson (1996), who described how the governments of many countries in the region are asserting their will through asymmetrical public relations:
Governments have been widely studied in Asia in relation to public relations practice. As Al-Enad (1990) notes, public relations in many nations, particularly developing countries, serves as the information infrastructure within a ministry or intergovernmental agency. This is true in Malaysia and Singapore, where Van Leuven and Pratt (1996) theorized that public relations was a response to the fractious concept of multicultural nations after colonial powers departed. To this end, the authors suggest the function of public relations was to achieve political stability and national unity. This functionality again straddles the semantic fence of propaganda, similar to Chen and Culbertson’s (1992) conclusion that the Chinese government practices both symmetric public relations and “old time propaganda, press agentry, and image building plus modern market strategy” (p. 36).
Asia offers perhaps the best test of Western theories because of the perceived differences in culture between East and West. Literature examining public relations in Asia often recognizes cultural difference, but the number of studies that add or subtract from Western-based theories has ostensibly limited the possibility for indigenous theory development.
Africa
Literature pertaining to public relations practice in Africa invariably centers on two primary themes: the continent’s poor image internationally (Rensburg, 2002; Tsehai, 2002) and the challenges associated with public relations practice on a continent rife with famine, economic woes, and stagnant development (Van Leuven & Pratt, 1996).