Pitfalls and promises of transparency in the digital age

Vujnović, Marina; Kruckeberg, Dean

doi:10.1177/2046147x16635227

Cited by 17 publications

(12 citation statements)

References 55 publications

(69 reference statements)

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“…Raaz and Wehmeier (2016) query the extent to which dialogue between stakeholders and corporations is facilitated by the transparency that is apparently offered by digital media. In a similar vein, Vujnovic and Kruckeberg (2016: 122) warn us to be critical of what they call organisations’ practices of ‘pseudo-transparency’ which are designed to foster the appearance that an organisation is following principles of transparency without delivering genuine openness. They argue that narrow definitions can problematically frame transparency ‘as a tool, rather than as a value’ and call for more attention to the ethics involved in conceiving and practicing transparency (Vujnovic and Kruckeberg, 2016: 128).…”

Section: Transparencymentioning

confidence: 99%

The secrecy−transparency dynamic: A sociological reframing of secrecy and transparency for public relations research

Cronin

2020

Public Relations Inquiry

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This article offers a sociological account of how we might analyse the relationship between contemporary practices and discourses of secrecy on the one hand, and those of transparency on the other hand. While secrecy is often framed in popular and political discourses as the antithesis of transparency, in reality, their relationship is more complex and co-constitutive than may initially appear. The article argues that understanding the interface between secrecy and transparency as a socially embedded dynamic can offer public relations scholarship productive avenues for both theoretically oriented research and empirical studies. In its role in the management of the secrecy−transparency dynamic, PR plays a significant role in actively creating social relations. This article aims to provide resources for assessing the strength of this dynamic in acting to structure social, political and economic relations, and offers new perspectives on how techniques employed to manage the secrecy–transparency dynamic – including public relations – are both embedded in such relations and act to shape them.

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Section: Transparencymentioning

confidence: 99%

The secrecy−transparency dynamic: A sociological reframing of secrecy and transparency for public relations research

Cronin

2020

Public Relations Inquiry

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“…Companies in this industry offer tools with familiar aesthetics-dashboards, report cards, and credit ratings-to help clients learn about their digital presence with the ultimate goal of removing items flagged as "risk factors." Industries including public relations and journalism have adopted radical transparency as a strategy for establishing authenticity and building trust with their publics (Birchall, 2014;Vujnovic & Kruckeberg, 2016). Whereas Clare Birchall (2014) describes transparency as an effort to minimize the impulse to engage in forms of narrative construction-such as gossip and conspiracy theorizing-by providing information in a far less narratively seductive form, she argues radical transparency considers how citizen involvement in determining the scope and scale of information disclosure might create more meaningful revelations.…”

Section: Metaphors and The Solutions They Offermentioning

confidence: 99%

Metaphors of Visibility: Rhetorical Practices in the Normalization of Individual Online Image Management

Draper

2020

American Behavioral Scientist

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Online image management has become a routine component of contemporary self-presentation. While popular media have concentrated on covering issues related to privacy, individuals in a social environment that prizes visibility face a more implicit mandate to balance concerns about overexposure against the perceived dangers of invisibility. A new class of promotional intermediaries, those that sell personal online reputation management services, have emerged to help individuals navigate the inevitability of “being seen” online with the urgency of image management. These companies apply strategies familiar in advertising and public relations to online self-presentation. This article explores how industry efforts to sell image management as an individual imperative draw on metaphors—including digital tattoo, digital footprint, and digital doppelgänger—to foster anxieties about how our digital identities are constructed, encountered, and interpreted. It argues these metaphors, which warn of the dangers of both visibility and invisibility, reveal a tension that informs popular discourse around digital self-presentation. Ultimately, this article considers how “strategic transparency” is offered to assuage fears, thereby generating a market for personal image management services.

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“…They may also use public relations to mitigate the impact of the whistleblower’s disclosures. These organizations may disseminate information that is not truthful (Vujnovic & Kruckeberg, 2016). In addition, organizations may implement internal “whistleblowing” programs to prevent external disclosure, but not necessarily to maintain legal compliance or avoid external whistleblowing.…”

Section: The Whistleblower: a Conceptual Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Ethical Algorithm: Journalist/Whistleblower Relationships Explored Through the Lens of Social Exchange

Waters

2020

Journalism & Communication Monographs

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This study examined the ethical and professional judgments journalists consider when deciding to trust a whistleblower and determined how whistleblowers influence ethical and newsgathering processes. With a qualitative study, this research uncovered common ethical and procedural considerations journalists, who are influenced by gatekeeping forces, make when presented with information from a whistleblower, with the goal to create a conceptual model—an “ethical algorithm”—that journalists employ when deciding to publish whistleblower disclosures. In addition, the decision to build a trust relationship with a whistleblower is examined from the frameworks of ethical considerations, professional standards, and ethics codes. Finally, the journalist–whistleblower relationship is considered as a form of social exchange, a negotiated relationship in which parties determine trust as a result of an exchange of mutually beneficial acts.

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Pitfalls and promises of transparency in the digital age

Cited by 17 publications

References 55 publications

The secrecy−transparency dynamic: A sociological reframing of secrecy and transparency for public relations research

The secrecy−transparency dynamic: A sociological reframing of secrecy and transparency for public relations research

Metaphors of Visibility: Rhetorical Practices in the Normalization of Individual Online Image Management

The Ethical Algorithm: Journalist/Whistleblower Relationships Explored Through the Lens of Social Exchange

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