Cholera remains a threat to public health in many developing countries, including Mozambique. Although the disease is easily preventable by practices of hygiene and sanitation, cases are reported in the country every year, as for example in the Lago district in 2015. This qualitative research project set out to explore in what ways the promotion of hygiene and sanitation practices on district level in Mozambique is carried out. Therefore, actors, messages and channels involved in these communication processes were explored via a field study in Lago and a review of relevant literature. Subsequently, the results of the field study and literature review were analysed by applying the concepts of one-way and two-way communication which are part of public relations theory. This analytical framework allowed the researchers to fill a gap identified in the existing literature about hygiene and sanitation promotion, which did not seem to include communication theories linked to public relation practices when it came to hygiene and sanitation promotion in developing countries as a method to prevent cholera. It has been found that the one-way communication approach towards the public was successful in handling the recent cholera outbreak of 2015, however, the approach is not substantial and should be improved into a two-way communication approach, which would allow the local population to express their needs in hygiene and sanitation, as well as their capabilities to implement change in these matters. Simultaneously, a lack of resources within the district authorities involved in hygiene and sanitation promotion seems to encourage one-way communication towards the public from their side, as two-way communication would demand further resources for research into the above mentioned needs and capabilities of communities.

The Australian Federal government has well-defined guidelines for undertaking program evaluations. Advertising and Public Relations campaigns support program aims, and are subject to the same guidelines. However, an examination of actual practice in the Australian Federal government, as observed by the Office of Government Information and Advertising in Canberra, suggests that there are significant differences in the extent to which Public Relations campaigns, as opposed to advertising campaigns, are systematically evaluated. Evaluation theory, Public Relations theory, strategic planning theory, and public administration theory provide insights into methods of managing and reporting on communication campaigns designed to forward government objectives. A literature review and an assessment of existing models of Public Relations evaluation were undertaken, and a synthesis of several theoretical and practical approaches led to the construction of a model of Public Relations evaluation which could be applied to Australian government communication campaigns.

This study presents the results of an external communication audit of the National Tropical Botanical Garden (NTBG), a congressionally chartered nonprofit organization dedicated to the conservation of tropical plant diversity. Information was gathered during the communication audit through interviews with NTBG's key decision makers, content analyses of NTBG's primary publications, and a questionnaire measuring the public-organization relationship. The audit assesses NTBG's external communication policies, practices, capabilities, and needs in the context of systems theory and external relations strategic planning theories. The findings of the audit identify who NTBG considers its target publics and how well they are reaching certain audiences. The results also indicate in which areas NTBG's current communication system is meeting or not meeting the objectives of the organization. The study concludes with a series of recommendations for how NTBG can improve its external communication system.

xviii, 197 p. / Whistleblowing has been a topic of media interest since the Vietnam War, and it continues to resonate strongly with the public. Several well-publicized whistleblowers have done much more than catch the attention of the world media. They arguably have changed the world. Whistleblowing refers to the reporting of illegal, wasteful, or unethical activities (i.e., wrongdoing) by current and former employees of an organization. Triggered by several highly publicized corporate financial failures, the Sarbanes-Oxley Act of 2002 requires publicly traded companies to provide an anonymous channel for employees to report financial wrongdoing and provides protection for those who do. Using resource dependence perspective and relationship management theory, this study uses e-mail to distribute an online survey to top-ranking public relations executives in the Fortune 1000 corporations to identify what role public relations executives have played in developing and publicizing anonymous whistleblowing channels, their knowledge of wrongdoing in their own organizations and elsewhere, their attitudes and actions related to the wrongdoing, the consequences of their actions, and their relationships with their organizations. The study finds that only one-fifth of respondents helped develop the required anonymous communication channel, but two-thirds helped publicize it; almost one-half of respondents are aware of wrongdoing in their corporations or in other organizations, and two-thirds of those report such activities; those who report wrongdoing do so through internal channels within the corporation, with one exception; few who report wrongdoing suffer retaliation; and the vast majority enjoy positive relationships with their organizations. However, a small number of respondents experienced retaliation, and the research points to a broader exploration of this topic among public relations personnel within Fortune 1000 corporations to determine to what extent status, relationships, and benefits such as the "golden handcuffs" influence whistleblowing. Future research on whistleblowing and ethics in public relations is warranted. / Committee in charge: Dr. Patricia A. Curtin, Co-Chairperson; Dr. H. Leslie Steeves, Co-Chairperson; Dr. James K. Van Leuven, Member; Dr. Michael Russo, Member; Dr. Anne Parmigiani, Outside Member