includes index

Cover; Half Title; Title Page; Copyright Page; Table of Contents; List of tables; List of contributors; Acknowledgements; Public Interest Communication: Critical Debates and Global Contexts: An introduction; Chapter run down; In conclusion; References; PART I: Critical debates; 1. Public interest communication: A framework for systematic inquiry; Introduction; Public interest --
a political idea; Public interest and communication: foundations; 'The phantom public', 'The Public' and 'many publics'; Deliberative praxis and the public interest; Public interest and public relations Power, communication and the public interestDefining and analysing public interest communication; Emerging themes; Note; References; 2. Terministic dialectics of individual and community agency: Co-creating and co-enacting public interest; Introduction; Public interest as dialectical tensions; Public interest's critical legitimacy debates; Hydrocarbons as public interest political discourse; Environmental discourse: public interest communication; Discourse arenas: public interest battlegrounds; Resisting resistance: dialectics of individual/public interest; Scientific interpretation God's willWatchdogs of the discourse arena; Conclusions; References; 3. Communicating public engagement, public interest and participation: Culturally centring community voices; Introduction; Critically interrogating engagement; Power, control, and communicative inversion; Consolidating organisational reach; Erasures in listening to the margins; Culture-centred approach to listening; Listening and new ways of organising; Listening and the role of the communicator; Conclusion; Note; References; 4. Climate change and the public interest: Science, legitimacy and diversity; Introduction The depoliticisation of climate changeThe hidden politics of climate change; Ecological modernisation: scientific construction of the public interest; Renewable energy; Climate justice; The importance of dissensus; Conclusions; References; 5. Commercial media platforms and the challenges to public expression and scrutiny; Introduction; Public culture as an engineering problem; Media platforms and digital democracy; Public communication is participation in training machines; Public communication is participation in experiments; Media engineering and the public interest; References PART II: Global contexts6. Articulating national identity in postcolonial democracies: Defining relations and interests through competing publics; Introduction; Africa and the aftermath of colonialism; Postcolonial Ghana; Postcolonial Mozambique; Articulation theory; Identity crisis: public relations and the public interest; Articulating a national identity: public relations and public interest; References; 7. In whose interests?: Media, political communication and First Nations Australians; Introduction; Media and managing perceptions; Whiteness and critical theory

Communication has become the technology of public interest, demanding a re-examination of the key concept of public in both public relations and communication theory. This book defines a new concept of public interest communication, combining the conflict, negotiation and adaptation inherent in public interest, with a critical approach to communication management and public relations. Combining conceptual discussions about public theories of language with the tension between the public and private interests for public relations professionals, the book uses case studies to explore the negotiation of conflicting interests and the construction of the public interest within systems of governance at local, national and international levels. Public interest communication is identified within social and cultural contexts that resonate globally - health, community, media and the environment - each representing interest conflicts within the changing global environment. Addressing the forces of fragmentation, inequality and individualisation that characterize the modern world, this thought-provoking volume will be of great interest to researchers and advanced students of communication, public relations, environmental communication, public communication, and public policy.

In english