The following slide is a poster for the CPRS Educators Sunday Poster Session at the Canadian Public Relations Society national conference in Saint John, New Brunswick. www.cprs.ca

1. Diane Bégin MA APR completed her graduate studies at the University of Alberta with a final
project on why people are shifting their trust to bloggers when they once solely turned to
traditional news sources. In 2010, she also completed her accreditation in public relations (APR),
with a work sample that received a CPRS National Gold Award of Excellence for Social Media.
She is an active volunteer with her local CPRS board and the national social media taskforce.
BLOG: wheretobegin.ca TWITTER: @dibegin LINKEDIN: ca.linkedin.com/in/dibegin PORTFOLIO: behance.net/dibegin
Public relations practitioners must understand their audience and whom their audience trusts.
After “America’s most trusted man” Walter Cronkite passed on in 2009, it was suggested that the word trust
should have been buried with him, as there were no obvious heirs to his role. (Poniewozik)
Understanding trust and its impact on public relations
Brogan and Smith outline “why we trust people is the same, it’s only in the way we come to trust
people that is changing and that’s because communication is changing.” (2009, p. 260) With the internet, “Public relations is the strategic management communications planning, but can no longer be
4. Application to PR
bloggers changed the game and humanized media relationships by changing the way people came to trust. of relationships between an organisation and viewed in a linear format.
I examined how this new media landscape makes Grunig’s two-way symmetric model more its diverse publics through the use of Of the three ways to secure human
relevant and why Marston’s RACE formula can no longer be used in a linear format. communication to achieve mutual cooperation (power, purchase, persuasion),
Learning from the past and present, the understanding, realize organizational goals, this model was based on persuasion
Most of our normal conceptual system is
3. Results
1. Introduction
following elements are part of a PR and serve the public interest.” (Flynn, Gregory Planned persuasive communications with
metaphorically structured and that “we
practitioner’s job respectively: & Valin, 2008) significant publics; Era of mass persuasion
understand and experience one thing in terms of
Developed in a time when most audience
another.” (Lakoff and Johnson, 2003, p. 5)
Old Metaphor Most present-day PR is based on a Grunig’s members were only receivers unless they got
Processes and tools, Controlled messages two-way symmetric model that is planned “sufficiently excited” to write a letter or make
The Media Landscape
Business copy for media releases with the right through Marston’s RACE formula. a phone call
Past: Love-hate relationship between traditional
media and PR practitioners key messages, Indirect access to audience, Key A few final thoughts on the praxis of PR
5. Conclusions
spokespeople, Mass consumption While developed years ago, the two-way
Present: Awkward threesome between PR practitioners:
New Game symmetric model remains relevant.
practitioners, traditional media and bloggers 1. Trust Persuasion; Trust = Truth
Trusting relationships, Change is a constant, Mutual understanding
2. Tools changed; way we trust changed
New tools being explored, Givers get, Audience Two-way; balanced effects
In both cases, audiences turn to the sources they 3. Shift from persuasion to power in securing
known in person, Multiple faces of the Group <-> Group
trust. human cooperation; power to uncover truth
organization, Tailored communications Formative; evaluative of understanding
4. PR practitioners are always RACE-ing, not
necessarily in that order
Also developed years ago, the RACE formula
A qualitative case study of a trust survey created by Stephen Trust is built in two types of 5. Complexity of the current environment;
2. Method
(Research, Analysis/Action, Communication,
blogger was used to explore M.R. Covey at whotrustsyou.com. systems: simplicity in trust
Evaluation) includes all the elements of
what could be applied to a PR 1. Open: user is constantly
practitioner’s praxis. guessing and allowing for a To know a trust agent is to be a trust agent.
margin of error
References
“Trust impacts us 24/7, 365 2. Closed: system is fully Brogan, C., & Smith, J. (2009). Trust agents: Using the web to build
days a year. It undergirds and understood influence, improve reputation, and earn trust. Hoboken, New Jersey:
John Wiley & Sons Inc.
affects the quality of every Covey, S. M. R. (2008). The speed of trust: The one thing that changes
relationship, every This particular blogger operates everything. New York, NY: Free Press.
in an open system with the Flynn, T., Gregory, F. & Valin, J. (2008). PR definition. Retrieved April 1,
communication, every work 2010, from http://www.cprs.ca/uploads/PR_Definition.pdf
project, every business venture, following strongest traits: Grunig, J.E. & Hunt, T. (1984). Managing Public Relations. Belmont, CA:
every effort in which we are What Makes this Source Trusted? • Making her own game; Wadsworth Publishing Company.
Lakoff, G., & Johnson, M. (2003). Metaphors we live by. Chicago, Illinois:
engaged.” (Covey, 2008, p. 1) Brogan and Smith’s elements of a passion for life hacking The University of Chicago Press.
trust agent were used as a checklist: • Being an agent zero and Marston, J.E. (1963). The Nature of Public Relations. McGraw-Hill Book
Company, Inc.
Is this Source Trusted? building an army; often at Poniewozik, J. (2009, July 17). Walter Cronkite: The man with
To determine if a particular Make your own game, One of us, the core of creating a sense of America's trust. TIME, Retrieved from http://www.time.com/
community; go-to subject time/nation/article/0,8599,1911501,00.html
blogger was trusted, members Archimedes effect, Agent zero,
of her audience completed the Human artist, Build an army matter expert