|
Donn James Tilson
As Latin America approaches the 21st century, a confluence of forces are converging upon the region that are at once changing and further entrenching certain aspects of societal culture. The development of free-market economies, the proliferation of mass media outlets and an increase in promotional activities have combined to radically commercialise society while, at the same time, providing opportunities for particular cultural behaviours to flourish at the expense of the common good. These are developments that do not bode well for the future welfare of Latin American society.
It has been argued that societal culture influences individual and organisational behaviour (Hall, 1959; Hofstede, 1980; Tayeb, 1988; Sriramesh and White, 1992). According to Gudykunst et al. (1996), ‘when individuals are socialized, they learn... patterns of interaction... based on the norms, rules, and values of their culture’ (1996: 510). Others contend that ‘cultural differences... may help explain organizational structure {and} managerial philosophy’ (Vercic, Grunig and Grunig, 1996: 47).
Societal culture, for example, may influence presuppositions about ‘morality {and} ethics’ that shape the worldview and activities of communication professionals (Grunig and White, 1992: 32) inasmuch as they (the presuppositions) ‘are part of the social structure and culture that integrates the organization’ (1992: 42). As Sriramesh and White (1992) contend, ‘societies with greater power distance in relationships [and that display higher levels of authoritarianism] will tend to be more elitist and... harbour asymmetrical worldviews... public relations practitioners... in these societies... are also more likely to have authoritarian tendencies’ (1992: 610). Such practitioners will often use communication ‘to manipulate publics for the benefit of the organization’ (Grunig, 1989: 18), which ‘steers... practitioners toward actions that are unethical... [and] socially irresponsible’ (Grunig and White, 1992: 40). Such organisations ‘can wreak havoc on their publics when their fundamental values and assumptions... suggest that it is ethical for the organization to “exercise dominion” over that environment’ (Grunig and White, 1992: 42). As evidenced in Latin America, acts of ‘dominion’ may run the gamut from corporate-political bribes to instutionalised violence.
In the case of Spanish-speaking Latin America, the societal culture is largely a product of its Iberian roots. Spain, which colonised the region, was ruled by an absolutist monarchy, and Spanish conquistadors ‘had little, if any, previous experience of self-government... Power went from the top to the bottom under the Spaniards, not from the bottom to the top’ (Gunther, 1966: 111, 134-135). Early Spanish immigrants came to Latin America expressly ‘to exploit, get rich, and return home... they were not seeking... religious freedom and representative government’ (1966: 111).
Such a cultural development favours neither democracy nor the common good. As Harrison (1996) notes:
You cannot expect democratic... institutions to function if the values of the people who operate within those institutions are not congenial to them... traditional Iberian culture focuses on the individual and the family to the detriment of the broader society and does not stress
such values as... merit, community and fair play. These cultural patterns are at the root of Latin America's authoritarian political traditions... the corruption of its institutions and its extreme social injustice (1996: 1l, 6l).
Even when democratic institutions emerge in the region, they are often used by the ruling elite to maintain power. As Gunther (1966) notes, ‘democracy... has been the traditional handmaiden of the oligarchy which, by manipulating elections and controlling parliaments, has managed to retain its feudal privileges while ruling within an ostensibly democratic frame’ (1966: 525). For example, even though Argentine President Carlos Menem and Peruvian President Alberto Fujimori are elected by popular vote, they have been intent upon changing their country's constitution to permit their election to a third term of office. Such manipulation of the democratic process engenders popular distrust of institutions rather than the faith to build a participative society. A 1998 Latinobarometro poll shows that 78% of Latin Americans distrust others and concludes that the ‘first common trait of Latin American culture... was the low level of trust among the people’ (Oppenheimer, 1998d: 6a). Not surprisingly, a March 1998 Latinobarometro poll shows that only 64% of Latin Americans prefer democracy to other forms of government (Oppenheimer, 1998b).
Such ‘top-down’ societies further provide an illustration of the concentric circle theory (Roper, 1954), which postulates the effect that inner ‘circles’ of opinion leaders have upon ideas and social/professional behaviour in the general public as represented by ‘circles’ of publics farther distant from the epicentre of decision-makers. According to Roper, the process of public opinion formation moves forward from such a centre via the mass media as well as the ‘interaction of neighbour upon neighbour’, with the members of one circle influencing others in their circle and those in the adjoining circle (1954: 25, 31). Whatever behaviour is considered appropriate by the opinion leaders - who, in the case of Latin American society, also exercise political and economic control - is generalised throughout society. Moreover, as Latin America interacts with outside forces seeking to penetrate its markets, many of these behaviours - institutional corruption, authoritarian managerial and communication styles - are encouraged by outer circles of influence who share the same values.
Commodification of the Americas
Since the mid-1980s when Chile, Mexico and Argentina began privatising state-run industries and implementing free-market measures, Latin America has embraced economic reform. By the end of 1997 mergers and acquisitions in Latin America doubled from 1996 to a record $70.9 billion, the fastest growth in the world (Mergers nearly doubled in Latin America, 1998).
The commercialisation, or ‘commodification’ (Wernick, 1991), of Latin American society has furthered the development of the mass media and the promotional sector (advertising, public relations), accelerating the region's consumer culture (Tilson, 1996). From 1970 to 1988 the number of television stations in the region multiplied from 205 to 1,459 as countries and media conglomerates set up satellite and cable networks (Martín-Barbero, 1995). Time, Newsweek, Fortune, and The Wall Street Journal, among others, now have a Latin American edition, increasing the number of outlets for promotional communication (Luer and Tilson, 1996). According to a United Nations study, Latin American nations ‘are among those that spend the most on advertising revenues relative to their economy’ (Oppenheimer, 1998d: 6a); Colombia spends 2.6% of its gross national product (GNP) on advertising - the most of any nation in the world - and Venezuela (1.4%) and Brazil (1.2%) are among the 10 top advertising nations (Oppenheimer, 1998d).
Advertising agencies - the majority of the top firms are US-based consultancies - and their public relations counterparts, many of which are corporate cousins such as Young & Rubicam Advertising and Burson-Marsteller, are transforming local consumption habits as transnational companies strive to create homogeneous markets for their products. Transnational advertising focuses on promoting nonessential or light consumer goods - top advertisers in most countries generally include department stores, soft drinks, tobacco, beer, and personal care products, which generate high profit levels for companies (Janus, 1986; House Calls, 1996). In Brazil, for example, in 1996 the fashion and cosmetics industry increased ad spending by 25%, and toiletry and cosmetics sales totaled $4.5 billion (Face-lift, 1997).
Such commercialisation, however, has exacerbated economic conditions and furthered the concentration of wealth. In Argentina, more than 150,000 workers lost their jobs in the early 1990s when state-run industries were sold (Ellison, 1996). Since taking office in 1990, President Fujimori has privatised scores of firms, firing 500,000 people from public payrolls in Peru (Johnson, 1997).
In most cases, thousands of ageing, unskilled workers were thrown into a stagnant labour market with little retraining or other measures by government or industry to provide for their welfare. According to one estimate, 60 million more Latin Americans live in poverty now than a decade ago (Byrne and Spencer, 1997) and 150 million, or 33% of the total population, live in poverty, and one-half of them in extreme poverty (Johnson, 1998b). A 1998 World Bank report notes that ‘the relation in income between the top 20% of Latin America's population to the bottom 20% is 16 to 1 (Oppenheimer, 1998a: 4a). According to a study by Strategy Research, the percentage of income earned by the middle class fell in Chile, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and Venezuela from 1992 to 1996; only 22% of Latin America can be considered middle class (Some getting richer but not in the middle, 1998).
Meanwhile, 16 Latin American billionaires - with a combined wealth of $53.4 billion - were listed among the world's 200 richest people in 1998 (Mexican tops list of Latin billionaires, 1998). In particular, the
number of Mexican billionaires increased from two in 1991 to 24 in 1994, as many garnered the winning bids in the sale of government industries through their association with the Salinas presidential family and the ruling Institutional Revolutionary Party (Oppenheimer and Ellison, 1996).
Corruption - from within and without
Corruption in Latin America has been encouraged by the increase in business opportunities that a free-market economy offers. As Dean Klitgaard of the Rand Graduate School noted at an international forum on corruption in April 1998, ‘privatization in many countries has been the foremost source of corrupt payments’ (Bussey, 1998a: 3c). Corrupt government officials, as in the case of Mexico noted above, have given privatisation deals and other business contracts to associates. Such ‘crony capitalism’, as a 1998 World Bank study notes, imposes ‘massive costs on countries, by, among other things, discouraging foreign and domestic investments’, virtually assuring that the benefits of free-market reforms do not filter down to society (Oppenheimer, 1998c: 6a).
A 1998 survey by Transparency International ranks eight Latin American countries - Argentina, Nicaragua, Bolivia, Ecuador, Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras and Paraguay - among the 25 nations perceived globally as the most corrupt by business leaders (Survey says Denmark least corrupt; US tied for 17th, 1998). Graft has prompted hemispheric conferences to discuss solutions, such as the one held in Caracas in February 1996, attended by various Latin heads of state and sponsored by the Organization of American States. In what may prove to be an important step forward, Argentina and Brazil agreed in 1998 to join with the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, which includes the world's largest industrialized nations, in adopting legislation to make foreign bribery payments a criminal offence (Bussey, 1998b).
Few officials, however, have taken concrete measures directly to curb corruption, and, more often, have been on the receiving end. In a review of The Miami Herald from January to September 1998, news stories have cited corruption charges against a host of former Latin American politicians - Ecuadorean ex-Presidents Fabian Alarcón and Abdala Bucaram, Interior Minister Cesar Verduga, Foreign Minister Diego Paredes, presidential adviser Eduardo Sierra, and former Venezuelan President Carlos Andrés Perez. Impeached in 1993 for misusing $17 million in government funds while president of Venezuela, Perez was arrested in April 1998 on a new corruption charge of illegal enrichment while in office.
In Ecuador, Alarcón admitted his administration spent about $5 million of secret reserve funds on domestic security problems despite public protests over the use of such reserves by Bucaram (Johnson, 1998a). Bucaram, forced from office in February 1997 to a safe haven in Panama, reportedly robbed government accounts of $300 million, and was ordered by his country's Supreme Court to stand trial for alleged misappropriation of public funds. During his administration, the Supreme Court ordered the arrest of his press secretary, Enrique Proaño, for using government funds to buy a radio station and Vice President Alberto Dahik for embezzlement, bribery and illicit enrichment; Dahik escaped to Costa Rica. Verduga is accused of misspending $5.3 million from a government slush fund and is in Miami with Bucaram's former chief of staff and a party deputy, accused of stealing millions from the government in a purchasing fraud case.
The Supreme Court has sentenced Paredes to 18 months in prison for embezzlement during Bucaram's regime. Sierra, who fled to Panama, is accused of pressuring US and other companies holding state contracts to donate money to buy clothing for thousands of Ecuadoreans left homeless by El Niño flooding. The money allegedly went to pay Miami firms to ship containers of clothing donated by merchants. The clothing later was discovered being sold in stores in Guayaquil (Reyes and Johnson, 1998).
These truant officials have been joined in hiding by two current and two former IBM executives linked to alleged kickbacks in a case involving Banco de la Nación, Argentina's state-owned, largest commercial bank. In 1995 Argentine tax inspectors ‘found $21 million funnelled through an IBM subcontractor to a third company’ that led to ‘charges that the money was an IBM payoff to Argentine officials to secure a $249 million contract to modernize the bank's computer system’ (Bussey, 1998b: 1f). Argentine Federal Judge Adolfo Bagnasco asked the US Justice Department in June 1998 to extradite the IBM executives. Former IBM Argentina President Ricardo Martorana, who has been charged with bribery and fraud, insists the four knew about the deal, and bank officials admit to having received the payments (Bussey, 1998b). The US Justice Department and Securities and Exchange Commission have been investigating since late 1995 to determine whether IBM violated the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, which prohibits US firms from bribing foreign officials (Luxner, 1998).
In October 1998, the brother of a senior aide to President Carlos Menem, who ‘knew the final beneficiaries of these commissions’, was found dead; police ruled the death a suicide but the media is questioning the unusual circumstances (Oppenheimer, 1998e: 16a). Meanwhile, a second probe of IBM is underway in Argentina, regarding a deal with the state's tax collecting agency, as is an investigation in Mexico City of a $27 million IBM contract for a police computer system, which officials say was not won in a competitive bid (Bussey, 1998b).
In cases of corruption in Latin America, dishonesty may involve unethical behaviour on both sides of the business deal. A 1997 survey of 1,300 US workers revealed that, in the past year, nearly half engaged in unethical and/or illegal acts, from covering up incidents to deceiving customers. Some 56% reported pressure to act unethically or illegally (Report shows honesty's not the corporate policy, 1997). A George Washington University study reveals that over the past 10 years two-thirds of the largest US corporations have been involved in some form of illegal behaviour (Credible communication must come from the soul, 1996).
As a heightened level of business activity invites more official and corporate corruption, unethical and illegal behaviour has extended itself to the promotional sector and the mass media. Traditionally, journalists are poorly paid, and often work for several media outlets (Strenski, 1996) or for government/political and corporate clients. It is not uncommon for corporations to ‘hire licensed journalists for the preparation of news releases, and licensed public relations professionals to handle other public relations activities’ (Sharpe, 1992: 104). When such ‘hired guns’ submit stories the media ‘generally accept that material without change or question because to offer such a challenge would be an affront to another licensed journalist’ (Sharpe and Simoes, 1996: 288). In some cases, a journalist actually may hold two jobs - one with a media outlet and another with a corporation. In 1998 one of HBO Latin America's contracted events co-ordinators in Argentina also worked for a television station in Buenos Aires, something that corporate headquarters was uncomfortable with (Toledo, personal interview, January 14, 1998).
In Mexico, journalists commonly accept ‘gifts’ from officials or businesses and write articles which are essentially paid political announcements for such sources (Heuvel and Dennis, 1995). In Argentina "journalists... are susceptible to bribes... from business interests that want positive coverage... [or ] for one or another political or economic leader... Large companies... [who] fear being implicated in scandal... try to influence journalists with money or pressure a paper to run or not to run a story by holding out the carrot of ad money’ (Heuvel and Dennis, 1995: 132). Companies report that ‘more often than not, there is a direct relationship between the amount of advertising run and editorial space provided’ (Strenski, 1995: 15). Also, ‘the common practice of government agencies buying advertising space to convey information to the public... [has made] newspapers... dependent on the government for financial support’ (Sharpe and Simoes, 1996: 287), often stifling reporting of government abuses.
Institutionalised violence - the circles turn crimson
Corporate-political circles, of course, may need to advance their interests even if that means resorting to violence as the suspicious IBM death underscores. As with corruption, the convergence of external and indigenous interests is fuelling a heightened level of violence in the region.
The Inter American Press Association reports that 191 journalists have been murdered in the hemisphere in the past decade. Officials eager to curb investigative reporting of corruption and drug dealing routinely bring criminal charges of defamation against journalists to silence them. Many are killed by paramilitary death squads in collusion with government intelligence personnel as recent reports of a 1992 massacre of nine students and a professor in Peru have revealed (Reyes, 1998). The Peruvian reporter, who broke that story and others about murder, torture, and wiretapping by government forces, fled to Miami; the government seized the television station where he worked and turned it over to more loyal supporters.
According to a 1998 Amnesty International report, Peru has the most political prisoners in Latin America (about 1,100) after Cuba (Vargas Llosa, 1997). The US Congress recently pressured Peru to abandon a government campaign that forcibly sterilised more than 150,000 poor women in rural areas since 1995 (Briscoe, 1998; Morrison, 1998). Such news would seem to counter publicity campaigns by PromPeru, a government public relations agency created by President Fujimori, to promote an image of ‘peace, safety and stability’ to foreign investors, tourists, and the media through videos, brochures and Web pages (Freitag, 1997: 11-12).
US public relations firms have had a long and controversial history as counsellors for some of the most violent regimes in Latin America. Hill & Knowlton represented Haiti under Duvalier. Norman Wolfson of Norman, Lawrence, Patterson & Farrell served as public relations counsellor for the late Nicaraguan dictator General Anastasio Somoza. Ruder, Finn & Rotman represented the government of El Salvador during its bloodiest civil war years and was severely criticised by the Council on Hemispheric Studies for doing so. Burson-Marsteller earned $800,000 a year and the criticism of Amnesty International as advocate for Argentina during its ‘dirty war’ against suspected dissidents in the 1970s (Wilcox, Ault and Agee, 1992), a war that ended when democracy was restored in 1983; some 9,000 people died at the hands of Argentine military and police.
In March 1998, a Spanish court began investigations into reports that Ford Motor Company's Argentine subsidiary helped the military round up employees suspected of subversive ties and detain them in Ford factories north of Buenos Aires until they were taken away in company vehicles (Spain broadens its probe of Argentina's Dirty War, 1998). France, Italy, Germany and the US are preparing civil or criminal charges against former Argentine military leaders for their ‘dirty war’ actions against nationals (Ellison, 1998b). In Chile, during the early 1970s, soon after General Augusto Pinochet overthrew elected President Salvador Allende in a bloody, US-backed coup, the new administration hired a New York public relations firm to ‘improve its image and... to prevent public pressure on the [Nixon] administration to change its supportive policy’ (Gilboa, 1998: 15). Pinochet presided over one of the most violent periods in Chile's history as security forces killed or ‘disappeared’ nearly 3,200 people. He remained in office until 1990 when Chileans voted to restore democracy (Ellison, 1998a).
The influence of public relations lobbyists was underscored in August 1998 when President Clinton lifted a US ban on sales of sophisticated weapons to Latin America imposed by President Carter in 1977. The move came after US arms contractors participated in a Rio trade show in May 1998 and ‘after a full-court press by defence lobbyists’ for the firms who ‘made nearly $11 million in campaign contributions in 1996’ (Marquis, 1997: 23a). Chile wants to buy more than $500 million worth of US-made fighter planes; Lockheed-Martin and Boeing have bid on the project. Brazil plans to purchase $2 billion worth of fighters and is considering both Lockheed and Boeing. Argentina, which bought 36 US Skyhawk A-4 planes in 1994, opposed the lifting of the ban, but, after meeting with US lobbyists, endorsed it and is considering an upgrade of its armed forces. Colombia has expressed interest in buying attack helicopters for its anti-drug and anti-guerrilla campaigns.
Contractors defend the sales on various grounds. McDonnell Douglas explains that ‘selling 24 air planes would probably keep your assembly line open for a year’, and Lockheed-Martin argues that such deals could lead to contracts on ports, airports and other civilian projects (Marquis, 1997: 23a). While selling weapons could create thousands of US jobs, Latin American nations with shaky democracies and economies, and in desperate need of social services for millions of citizens, can ill afford to spend precious resources on arms. At a Miami conference in September 1998 former Costa Rican President Oscar Arias condemned the sales, arguing that ‘developing countries need more schools and health clinics not... F-16 fighter planes... arms sales to... countries with records of human rights abuses’ should be banned (Bussey, 1998c: 16a).
Toward a new morality
As the world approaches the millennium, those who are re-shaping Latin American society into the image and likeness of the god of commodification must pause to reflect upon the long-term consequences of their actions. Are the new commercial enterprises, communications technologies, and free-market reforms serving the common good or are they increasing the social, political and economic inequities in society? If such developments are not addressing basic social needs, what is the future of democracy in the region? We would do well to consider that a basic moral test of society is the welfare of its most vulnerable members and that a community of conscience is required to orient public and private life toward the fundamental dignity of all human beings.
That imperative requires those advocating an issue or product to consider more than just their employer's or client's self-interests - whether a Latin American government, US military contractor or multinational - and to ‘acknowledge that ethics has a social dimension’ with ‘obligations within society’ (Martinson, 1996: 12, 14) that necessitate a conscious effort to include the common good in all decisions (Schindler, 1989). An ethic of self-interest, multiple responsibility, and social vision, as suggested by McCoy (cited in Logsdon and Palmer, 1988) also requires all interests to refrain from promoting institutional violence, economically exploiting a people through commercial culture, and allowing citizens to participate in government. It has been suggested that ‘reducing corruption is directly linked to reducing absolutist power’ and that, if corruption is to end and financial and political stability return to Indonesia and elsewhere, the international community and business must ‘rethink their allergy to human rights’ and ‘get behind... people who are trying to gain control over their own government’ (Bussey, 1998a: 3c).
In the final analysis, the circles of influence in society return to the individual, the epicentre of each sphere. While ‘the virtuous individual needs a virtuous environment’ (Schindler, 1989: 162), the will to be virtuous must begin within each person. That may well mean practising the classical virtues of Aristotle - prudence or practical wisdom that makes the right choice, justice that includes fairness and honesty, fortitude or courage in pursuing the right path despite great risks, and temperance that requires self-discipline in all things. In embracing these virtues in our professional and personal lives, we will develop the moral character necessary to transform our society and our world into communities that are civil, ethical and equitable for all peoples.
References
Briscoe, D. (1998, February 27). Pressured by US, Peru's government alters its sterilization policy. The Miami Herald, 24a.
Bussey, J. (1998a, April 3). Anti-corruption summit seeks solutions. The Miami Herald, 3c.
Bussey, J. (1998b, July 12). Corruption Scandal Helps Spur Reforms. The Miami Herald, 1f.
Bussey, J. (1998c, September 22). Limit Weapons Sales, Costa Rica's Arias Urges. The Miami Herald, 16a.
Byrne, H. & Spencer, B. (1997, May 4). Democracy could falter if economic inequities persist. The Miami Herald, 1l.
Credible communication ‘must come from the soul’. (1996, August 12). pr reporter, 1.
Ellison, K. (1996, September 15). Latin economies leaner, also meaner. The Miami Herald, 1a.
Ellison, K. (1998a, March 11). End of an era: Pinochet quits as army chief. The Miami Herald, 1a.
Ellison, K. (1998b, July 24). Protests Recall Argentina's 'Dirty War'. The Miami Herald, 8a.
Face-lift. (1997, March 3). Business Latin America, 6.
Freitag, A. (1997, August). Fujimori Puts the "PR" in Peru and PromPeru Leads the Way: How the President is Projecting His Administration's Neoliberal Policies. Paper presented to the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Chicago.
Gilboa, E. (1998, February). Diplomacy in the Television Age. Paper presented to the Intercultural Communication Conference, Miami.
Grunig, J. (1989). Symmetrical presuppositions as a framework for public relations theory. In C. Botan & V. Hazelton (Eds.), Public Relations Theory (pp. 17-44). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Grunig, J. & White, J. (1992). The effects of worldviews on public relations theory and practice. In J. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 31-64). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Gudykunst, W., Matsumoto, Y., Ting-Toomey, S., Nishida, T., Kim, K., & Heyman, S. (1996). The Influence of Cultural Individualism-Collectivism, Self-Construals, and Individual Values on Communication Styles Across Cultures. Human Research Communication, 22, 510-543.
Gunther, J. (1966). Inside South America. New York: Harper & Row.
Hall, E. (1959). The silent language. Garden City, NY: Doubleday.
Harrison, L. (1996, November 17). Latin America looks inward for cause of its troubles. The Miami Herald, 1l.
Heuvel, J. & Dennis, E. (1995). Changing Patterns: Latin America's Vital Media. New York: The Freedom Forum Media Studies Center. Hofstede, G. (1980). Culture's Consequences: International differences in work related values. Beverly Hills, CA:Sage Publications.
House calls. (1996, June 10). Business Latin America, 6.
Janus, N. (1986). Transnational advertising: Some considerations on the impact on peripheral societies. In R. Atwood & E. McAnany (Eds.), Communication and Latin American Society (pp. 127-142). Madison: The University of Wisconsin Press.
Johnson, T. (1997, January 12). In Peru, Fujimori seeks economic teeth for ‘Andean puma’. The Miami Herald, 1a.
Johnson, T. (1998a, March 9). Corruption charges swirl around Ecuador's president. The Miami Herald, 1a.
Johnson, T. (1998b, March 17). Latin poverty worsens amid growth, official says. The Miami Herald, 7b.
Liebman, S. (1976). Exploring the Latin American Mind. Chicago: Nelson Hall.
Logsdon, J. & Palmer, D. (1988). Issues management and ethics. Journal of Business Ethics, 7, 191-198.
Luer, C. & Tilson, D. (1996). Latin american public relations in the age of telecommunications, JC Penney and CNN. Public Relations Quarterly, 41, 25-27.
Luxner, L. (1998, March 16). Boom feeds endemic corruption. The Miami Herald Business Monday, 13.
Marquis, C. (1997, June 6). US looks ready to sell war jets to Latin
nations. The Miami Herald, 1a.
Martín-Barbero, J. (1995). Communicación e imaginarios de la integración. Taller de Comunicaicón.
Martinson, D. (1996, August). Thomas Schindler and the Social Dimension of Ethics: Serious Questions for the Public Relations ‘Culture’. Paper presented to the public relations division, Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Anaheim.
Mergers nearly doubled in Latin America. (1998, February 23). The Miami Herald, 3c.
Mexican tops list of Latin billionaires. (1998, June 23). The Miami Herald, 9b.
Morrison, D. (1998, March 8). 'Family planning' whether they want it or not? Our Sunday Visitor, 6.
Oppenheimer, A. (1998a, June 29). Poor, Rich Still Moving Further Apart. The Miami Herald, 4a.
Oppenheimer, A. (1998b, July 6). Democracy: Rise or Fall? The Miami Herald, 8a.
Oppenheimer, A. (1998c, July 13). Lenders Weigh Tougher Rules. The Miami Herald, 6a.
Oppenheimer, A. (1998d, September 14). Low Trust Among Latins. The Miami Herald, 6a.
Oppenheimer, A. (1998e, October 15). Wave of Suicides Stuns Argentina. The Miami Herald, 16a.
Oppenheimer, A. & Ellison, K. (1996, August 17). Awaiting broader shift to private enterprise, Latin America frets over pitfalls of the past. The Miami Herald, 1a.
Report shows honesty's not the corporate policy. (1997, April 5). The Miami Herald, 1c.
Reyes, G. (1998, March 19). Ex-agent tells of torture, wiretaps in Peru. The Miami Herald, 16a.
Reyes, G. & Johnson, T. (1998, March 9). Donations for storm relief are scrutinized. The Miami Herald, 6a.
Roper, E. (1954). Who tells the storytellers? The Saturday Review, 37, 25-32.
Schindler, T. (1989). Ethics: The Social Dimension. Wilmington, DE: Michael Glazier.
Sharpe, M. (1992). The impact of social and cultural conditioning on global public relations. Public Relations Review, 18, 103-107.
Sharpe, M. & Simoes, R. (1996). Public relations performance in South and Central America. In H. Culbertson & N. Chen (Eds.), International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis (pp. 273-297). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Assoc.
Some getting richer but not in the middle. (1998, May 4). The Miami Herald Business Monday, 13.
Spain broadens its probe of Argentina's Dirty War. (1998, March 18). The Miami Herald, 12a.
Sriramesh, K. & White, J. (1992). Societal culture and public relations. In J. Grunig (Ed.), Excellence in public relations and communication management (pp. 597-614). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Strenski, J. (1995). Public relations in the Americas: An Overview. Unpublished paper. Public Communications, Inc.
Strenski, J. (1996). The evolving practice of public relations in North and South America. Public Relations Quarterly, 41, 27-28.
Survey says Denmark least corrupt; US tied for 17th. (1998, September 23). The Miami Herald, 8a.
Tayeb, M. (1988). Organizations and national culture: A comparative analysis. London: Sage.
Tilson, D. (1996). The commodification of Latin America: a confluence of telecommunications, the media and promotion. World Communication, 25, 133-141.
Vargas Llosa, A. (1997, January 19). Bad reforms imperil free market in Latin America. The Miami Herald, 1l.
Vercic, D., Grunig, L. & Grunig, J. (1996). Global and specific principles of public relations: Evidence from Slovenia. In H. Culbertson & N. Chen (Eds.), International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis (pp. 31-65). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Wernick, A. (1991). Promotional Culture: Advertising, Ideology and Symbolic Expression. London: Sage Publications, Ltd.
Wilcox, D., Ault, P. & Agee, W. (1992). Public Relations Strategies and Tactics. New York: HarperCollins Publishers, Inc.
Donn James Tilson is Assistant Professor of Public Relations at the University of Miami, USA, and a former public relations manager on the state headquarters staff for Southern Bell in Florida. A graduate of the University of Stirling with the first doctorate in public relations in Europe, he recently was inducted into the Public Relations Society of America's College of Fellows in New York City.
|
