Public Interest Communications

Brigitta R. Brunner is Professor in the School of Communication & Journalism at Auburn University, USA.Kelly Chernin is Associate Professor in the Department of Communication at Appalachian State University, USA.

Public Interest Communication: Foundation, Influence, and Importance provides a long-awaited option for professors, students, scholars, and practitioners who are hoping to understand or explain public interest communications (PIC), its relation to other areas like journalism or public relations, and examples of PIC in action. The editors have gathered an outstanding list of authors, and are outstanding authors themselves, on this important topic.

• About the ContributorsIntroduction: Situating public interest communication foundation, application, and practice Brigitta R. Brunner (Auburn University, USA) and Kelly Chernin (Appalachian State University, USA)Intersections and Foundations 1. From public relations to public interest communication: A continuum tracing the location of the public interest in Communication practiceBrigitta R. Brunner and Amber M. K. Smallwood 2. Going beyond “mainstream” versus “activist” journalism: Re-conceptualizing journalism through a public interest communication lensSummer Harlow (University of Texas at Austin, USA), Andrea Otáñez (University of Washington, USA), and Gina Baleria (Sonoma State University, USA)3. “The government cannot create hurricanes:” Addressing contemporary public information communication challenges through rhetoricAshli Q. Stokes (University of North Carolina at Charlotte, USA)4. Ethics in public interest communication: Theories, challenges, and case studiesTor Bang (BI Norwegian Business School, Norway)5. Can we do it differently? Political communication through the lens of the public interest Barbara Myslik (Sacramento State University, USA)6. Language and culture: Situating meaning in context for public interest communicationJoseph Radice (University of Florida, USA)Application of Public Interest Communication Tenets7. “Hey! Dr. Kat, epidemiologist:” Self-identified experts’ efforts to correct COVD-19 misinformation and disinformation campaigns on social mediaCarrie Reif-Stice (Augusta University, USA) and Sarah Smith-Frigerio (University of Tampa, USA)8. Privacy, politics, and public interest communication: The case of the removal of higher-education student data from Virginia’s FOIA Corey A. Hickerson (James Madison University, USA)9. Social justice, business, and public interest communicationCandice L. Edrington (University of South Carolina, USA), Ajia Meux (University of Florida, Howard University, University of Oklahoma, USA), and Natalie T. J. Tindall (University of Texas at Austin, USA) 10. Crystallizing public malcontent: Examining the use of grassroots strategic communication to facilitate and challenge book bans in the United States Christopher J. McCollough (Jacksonville State University, USA) 11. Danger or asset? On the importance of CEO sociopolitical advocacy to public interest communication Anja Fessmann (Universität of Passau, Germany) and Jasper Fessmann (University of Memphis, USA)12. The cost of marriage Dean Mundy (University of Oregon, USA)13. The role of PIC in today’s increasingly turbulent globalized world Marina Vujnovic (Monmouth University, USA) and Dean Kruckeberg (University of North Carolina Charlotte, USA) Research, practice, and an emerging field 14. A brief history of public interest communication: PIC’s early development and influence of its founding figures Jasper Fessmann, Brigitta R. Brunner, and Anja Fessmann15. Bridging academic silos for better science communication: The importance of collaborative research in public interest communicationKelly Chernin and Mitchell Chernin (Bucknell University, USA)16. The essential role of practitioners in public communicationsCody Hays (Arizona State University, USA) 17. The responsibilities of public interest communication practitionersCody Hays (Arizona State University, USA) Conclusion: Sustaining ourselves through sustainable work Kelly Chernin, Cody Hays, and Brigitta R. Brunner Index