Pitfalls and promises of transparency in the digital age

Marina Vujnović · Dean Kruckeberg

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Public Relations and Crisis Communication Rhetoric and Communication Studies Media and Communication Studies

Abstract

This article re-examines transparency as it is conceptualized in communication, particularly in public relations, and it introduces the concept of pseudo-transparency. Transparency in the public relations literature is rarely examined from a critical perspective. We conclude from our re-examination that transparency is a product of modernism and neoliberalism; as such, we argue that the concept is used by organizations, that is, governments, civil society organizations, and corporations, to reproduce and to maintain a status quo to be accepted without interrogation or critical inquiry. Based on this re-examination, we advocate that public relations practitioners must be at the forefront in resolving ethical issues that are related to transparency and to pseudo-transparency in contemporary global society.

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References

2005A Brief History of Neoliberalism 1992The image : a guide to pseudo-events in America 1979Communication and the Evolution of Society 1972Trust and Managerial Problem Solving 2000Audit Cultures: Anthropological Studies in Accountability, Ethics and the Academy 2004Consumer Perceptions of Iconicity and Indexicality and Their Influence on Assessments of Authentic Market Offerings 2008Give the Emperor a Mirror: Toward Developing a Stakeholder Measurement of Organizational Transparency 1997The tyranny of light

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