Journalism and Corporate Communications. A Nigerian Case Study E-Book

Felix Ale

• Herausgeber: GRIN Verlag
• Sprache: Englisch

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2015

Beschreibung

Research Paper (postgraduate) from the year 2014 in the subject Communications - Journalism, Journalism Professions, grade: A, ( Atlantic International University ), course: PhD JOURNALISM, language: English, abstract: The role of the media can not be underestimated in any society. Hence the press is regarded as the forth estate of the realm and watchdog of any society. The media contributes to the economy through development and education agenda of the citizens. Corporate communications just like the media also have a crucial role to play in the progress and development of any organization. The ability to use the media can influence a series of issues at the national and organizational level. Journalism plays a big role in informing the public about major organizational change. And countries that are considered to be democratic are characterized by the freedom of the press. This paper is a vivid account of Journalism and corporate communications with a focus on Nigeria, the largest economy in Africa.

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

The Concept and Relationship of Journalism and Corporate Communication

Journalism and Corporate Image

Journalism and Corporate Reputation

The Responsibilities of Journalists and Corporate Communicators in a Constantly Evolving Environment-Nigerian Case Study

Ethical Issues in Journalism and Corporate Communications

Conclusion

References

Journalism and Corporate Communication – Nigeria Case study

Introduction

The role of the media cannot be underestimated in any nation. The media contributes to the economy through development and education agenda of the citizens. Corporate communications just like the media have a crucial role to play in the development agenda of an organization. Media can influence action, change and even destroy (Nkechi & Onwuka, 2013, p. 14). For instance, the Rwanda genocide was one of the world’s worst genocides that used the media as the major arsenal to spread hatred among ethnic groups. However, corporate journalism and communication plays an essential role in enhancing stakeholders’ understanding of organizations progress, operations and development.

A United Nations leader who led peace intervention was blamed for the inability to destroy the radio used to spread hate messages among the ethnic groups. The ability to use the media can influence a series of issues at the national and organizational level. Journalism plays a big role in informing the public about major organizational issues. Countries that are considered to be democratic are characterized by the freedom of the media.

Media freedom, in this case, means the ability of the media to report on governmental and economic matters that are both positive and negative in nature. Media is assumed to be the eye of the people in monitoring and reporting the activities of government. In his research Raufu described the role of the mass media as; the educational role, information role, and the entertainment role. He further described the media as the agents of mobilization of the society and active participants in steering the community development agenda. They are the voice of the voiceless in matters of political administration. They are engaged in the activities of influencing the culture band unique educators of the society (Raufu, 2003). The focus of the paper is to explore the role of journalism in corporate communication, exploring their intersections taking Nigeria as the case study.

Corporate communication

The history of corporate communications dates back to the early 1930s during the industrial revolution. In this early period,the need for companies to manage their growth and keep contact with the society was of great concern to every organization. The various organizations of the early years took much of their time to communicate to customers in terms of product promotion, sales promotion, and publicity. The industrial revolutions led to a series of industries and a rise in competition among the companies and harsh economic factors also led to the rethinking of their new communication strategies (Cornellisen, 2004).

However,the continued need for development in various countries led to a rise on the need for effective management of organizational activities. The activities that needed proper management included the marketing activities and the employee management activities. The need, for maintaining a positive image of the organization, was emphasized by each company seeking to acquire new customers and maintaining the loyalty of the existing customers. By the early 1980s, organizations had fully established departments that were responsible for maintaining and ensuring the communication activities that were well managed within the organization. One challenge that existed at that time was the difficulty to establish the role of corporate managers. The name of communicators in most organizations,then was the public relations manager. The industry was saddled with the responsibilities of managing the communications, branding of organization’s products and meeting the general communication needs.

Professionals at that time had no clear definition of their responsibilities, and all they needed to do included the activities of a secretary. With the continued rise in the competition, organizations were forced to design new ways of approaching and maintaining their corporate image. The competitions led to the development of the corporate communications department in most of the organizations. But,yet, there was no clear way to distinguish the roles of a corporate communicator from the roles of public relations personnel. They all share roles and their names vary from one organization to the other.

The ability of organizations to convince their customers for patronage is based on the mode of communication used to reach the customers.Then, the mode and the message were the major issues to be considered when delivering messages to the public. There is no gainsaying the fact that,sales promotion and sales marketing activities entirely rely on corporate communications. In essence, corporate communication involves all those activities both external and internal with the aim of giving a clear perspective of the organization to the stakeholders (Argenti, 2009).

Stakeholders in this sense include employees, partners, customers and the general public. Cornelissen described corporate communication as: