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During the last ten years of working as a lecturer and consultant, Sandra Veinberg, Ph.D., an Associate Professor living in Sweden, has extensively studied the theory and practice of public relations and these studies have been published in a monograph “Public Relations. Theory and Practice”, the most comprehensive original publication about the phenomenon of public relations (PR), in the Latvian language.
Sandra Veinberg is familiar with this topic both in theory and in practice; moreover, she sees it from different angles, which adds to the significance of this study, thus making it particularly unique. There are few researchers with such a range of research and practical work experience both in media and journalism, as well as public relations.
The first part of the book is devoted to an extensive study of theoretical approaches and historical development of PR, but the second part deals more with the practical aspects of PR, which is based on the experience of Ms. Veinberg as a lecturer, giving unique courses to PR specialists.
Sandra Veinberg is a professional journalist, a graduate from the Journalism Department of the Universityof Latvia, who defended her doctoral thesis that was on a German television programme and magazines in the Universityof Moscow,and has made researches on Swedish mass media both in Stockholmand GothenburgUniversities.
In LatviaSandra Veinberg is also known as a popular journalist, publicist and writer. Her career as a journalist started in the music section of Latvian Radio, and continued in the department of musical programmes for Latvian Television. After receiving her academic degree, she spent several years working as a lecturer and Associate Professor in the Journalism Department of the Universityof Latvia.
In addition, during the time Sandra Veinberg has been working and living in Sweden, she has collaborated with Latvian media (Latvian Television, national daily newspaper “Neatkarīgā Rīta Avīze”, radio SWH) as a reporter and an observer.
Her monograph examines the place of PR in modern communicative processes, following the main theoretical approach and leading manifestations of flow in practice.
"What is this thing called PR and what can it do for us – the general public?" – is the main subject of this book.
This work does not focus on the "how-to-do", or practical applications, or a listing thereof, of the concept of PR, but rather examines the concept of PR on a much wider scale, employing an exploratory cross-sectional approach.
Initially encountering PR formulations and explanations in the English, German, and Latvian languages, it has been concluded that none of the currently used concepts, including the magical abbreviation "PR", satisfy the majority of researchers, or reflect the essence of the subject under scrutiny, if we wish to examine public relations over as wide a spectrum as possible.
Among research specialists (British, American, German, Austrian), there is no unity regarding a singular interpretation of the history of the development of PR, its place and role within the process of social development, and other questions, which, taken as a whole, proves the somewhat delayed development of PR as an interdisciplinary science. At the same time, significant questions within this specific sphere have become very topical within the past few years, and the growing number of scientific works dedicated to public relations verifies that this particular field is growing in significance not only in Western Europe, but also in Eastern Europe and Asia.
Looking at it from a historical perspective, one may conclude that the development of PR has flowed in two distinct directions up until now. The first is the tradition established in the USA; the second- the European, or continental school, which is represented by the Germans. The first school is more familiar, and widespread, whereas the second is, in comparison, much older and, from an academic point of view, offers a very solid and interesting theoretical basis, which has been, until recently, analyzed much less within the wider scope of scientific PR forums. |