Learn more about The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the confederation of the world’s major PR and communication management associations, organizations and institutions, here.
Despite growing divisions in the United States and worldwide, there is broad agreement on the harmful impact of misinformation and disinformation, posing a significant challenge for both the communications profession and society at large.
On July 24, members of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, including PRSA CEO Linda Thomas Brooks and CFO Philip T. Bonaventura, attended a meeting at the United Nations with Melissa Fleming, the undersecretary-general for global communications, and other U.N. officials to discuss this growing threat.
After the meeting, Justin Green, president and CEO of the Global Alliance since 2019, and founder and CEO of Wide Awake Communications in Dublin, Ireland, talked with PRsay about pressing challenges and trends impacting global communicators worldwide. (Ed Note: The following interview has been edited for length and clarity.)
How did the visit to the United Nations on July 24 come about?
Last September, we wrote to the United Nations Secretary-General, calling on him to add “Responsible Communication” as the UN’s 18th Sustainable Development Goal. On July 24, we held a face-to-face meeting with the United Nations. They were very responsive and enthusiastic.
The Global Alliance, because of our reach across 126 countries worldwide, with over 360,000 members, can help amplify the messages of the United Nations when it comes to responsible communication. There has never been a more important time in our humanity or the world than now for responsible communication. It was exposed with the COVID-19 pandemic.
But it’s not just a major concern for public relations practitioners. It’s a major concern for our communities, governments and countries all around the world.
What does responsible communication entail?
Responsible communication would entail combatting misinformation and seeking truth, trust, and honesty. We want to do it in a way that is understandable, not hidden. We are calling on all practitioners around the world to act and fulfill their ethics.
What are your views on the role of artificial intelligence in the PR/comms profession?
When AI came along, everyone felt a huge need to control its ethics. But if you look at each association’s ethics around the world, AI is already incorporated into them. When organizations — be it domestic associations, public relations associations, universities or any of our members around the world — join Global Alliance, they also sign up for our ethics.
Organizations are coming to grips with artificial intelligence. A number of years ago, when mobile phones, faxes and computers first came out, everyone kind of ran scared. But technology is good for the industry. How you use it is the issue. Again, that goes back to individuals’ ethics and how they operate.
There was a big concern about whether there would be jobs lost at the lower level of public relations, but we haven’t really seen that across the world. What we have seen with the newer technology in AI is that there’s top-level thinking and strategic thinking that can only be done by a human with experience. And more time is being put into that creativeness — that the technology can’t do. Nobody can beat a practitioner’s experience and level of skill set.
What significant global trends in PR/comms are you observing?
Global Alliance produced its “Approaching the Future” report last year, with a new edition coming later this year. The research gave us insight into trends regarding reputation and asset management. We see that sustainability and ESG are number one, along with responsible leadership, corporate reputation, corporate communication, digitalization and cyber security, corporate purpose, the future of work, corporate brand, corporate governance and the climate emergency.
However, the climate emergency has dropped in the ratings a little this year, and sustainability and ESG have increased. Responsible leadership is key, year after year.
We also see the future of work. Obviously, since COVID, that’s changed. PR practitioners are now deciding what they want to work on. That’s a huge change in the mindset.
There are people around the world on different continents who will not work on specific projects because of the climate emergency; they will not work for certain clients. And some companies will respect that.
You have to admire the people who, for their own integrity, believe in not working on a project. But you also have to respect the company for acknowledging that. I think that’s a significant change, and I think we’ll see a lot of it over the coming years.
What else can you share about the Global Alliance?
The biggest event for Global Alliance this year will be our World Public Relations Forum in November in Bali. We’ll have approximately 600-700 people from all over the world exchanging ideas there, and we’re looking forward to it.
It’s an incredible organization, and I’m very proud to be president.
To me, Global Alliance is the definition of diversity because we have every race, religion, color and background. It’s a pleasure to work with all the different cultures. We all have a common goal, and that is to take public relations to the next level.
[Illustration credit: rainister]
