Public Relations and Their Importance in the Growth of Civil Society Organizations in Macedonia

Marina Tuneva; Dejan Andonov

doi:10.32015/JIBM/2019-11-1-6

Assist. Prof. Dr. Marina Tuneva The Council of Media Ethics of Macedonia, Mitropolit Teodosij Gologanov, 54/2, 1000 Skopje, North Macedonia
Dejan Andonov, MA Institute of Communication Studies, Jurij Gagarin 17-1/1, 1000 Skopje, Macedonia

DOI: https://doi.org/10.32015/JIBM/2019-11-1-6

Keywords: public relations, CSOs, strategic communication, image and reputation building

Abstract

The article examines the ways in which civil society and citizens can get connected through the communication practices of CSOs. The purpose is to explore how CSOs perceive, organize and coordinate their strategic communication and PR, to identify problems they encountered and to recommend ways of improving their communication practice. The article found out that two-way communication with the public is achieved by organizing different types of events, media relations and online campaigning. Still, there is an insufficient understanding of the importance of strategic communication and ‘ad hoc’ approach is usually used. The reasons are lack of human resources and finances. The implications of these findings are discussed in detail in the article.

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