Through the journey...

Studying Public Relations Certificate IV has been a fulfilling experience for me. Between the hands on experience and theory work I have been able to get a taste for what the PR world is like. It has made me look forward to seeing more of the PR world next year in the Diploma class.

From the start we learnt that public relations is about developing and maintaing relationships between an organisation and it's publics. But as the course went on I discovered that a simple definition of public relations doesn't really cover what the job is. With the opportunity to listen to several people in the industry speak on what their job is like I have discovered that every PR position is different, depending on where you work. However, they all had a few things in common. In their position relationships are important. I have learnt that it is important to make friends with everyone that you meet because some day they may be useful for you in your career.

It has been a common used phrase for many years now that "there is no such thing as bad publicity." Studying what it takes to be a public relations practitioner, I have come to understand that this is not at all true. In fact there is little worse for an organisation than bad publicity. More importantly, if there is bad publicity and it is poorly handled a company can lose its reputation and risk never getting it back. This showed me that you have to be upfront about any bad situations within an organisation because the truth will all come out in the end.

The company's brand is very important to a company because this is how the public see the company. I have learnt that a public relations practitioner plays a very important part in maintaining or developing a good brand image for a company. With this I have also found that a company should be consistent in both all their messages. This can be carried through with consistency in livery and colour schemes for the organisation. Producing document in public relations is slightly more complex than just knowing how to use Microsoft products effectively. I have learnt how document in public relations need to be set out in particular ways that make them more effective for their intended purpose.

What I have learnt over this 6 month period could fill a text book, that's why we have text books for this course. I think writing it all would bore most readers. Mostly I have learnt that you need to be every one's friend, that image is everything, and that I can be creative if I try.

As far as my personal growth, well, I've discovered that I can stick to something for long enough to get the course completed. I have found that there are 24 good hours in every day and you can utilise every one of them if you need to. Finally , I have come to realise that I can be confident in anything that I believe, even if people disagree. Oh and that friends are the most important and most effective motivator in the world. *Blah, yuck, eew!*

Presumed consent isn't consent

So the Western Australian government wants us to Opt-Out of donating our organs and if we don't then we are presumed to be a registered organ donor?

The reasoning behind this new system is that the government feels that people don't register to be an organ donor because of indifference or complacency or perhaps a lack of awareness. So why are they just presuming that by not opting out of donating people are consenting to donate? Perhaps there is another solution.

In Queensland a similar system was proposed but rejected and more education on the matter was funded instead saying that "presumed consent was not likely to be effective".

The issue with presumed consent is that it is easily objected by families and loved ones. At the end of the day your loved ones will be able to communicate your  wishes with the doctor and if they had no clue that you wanted to be an organ donor then they would be fairly likely to object to you being one. Furthermore when there is an "opt-out" system in place it is highly likely that there will be less priority put on raising awareness to the necessity of organ donations and most people would be presumed to be registered to donate and therefore don't need to be informed on the importance of this. A lack of education on this could again cause confusion within families as to whether or not a person is willing to be an organ donor. However if there is more education and awareness on how to register to become an organ donor a person would be likely to discuss this with their family before they register and more people involved would be aware of their wishes.

On the flip side of this reduced education we need to think about those who do object to donating their organs, be it for religious or personal reasons. It is easy for the government to fund awareness programs for registering to donate because they know that there 1,700 Australians waiting for an organ transplant and this pushes them to encourage people to donate their organs. However there is no such push for the government to educate people on how to opt out of being an organ donor. Of course it is a great gift to give an organ but that doesn't mean that those who don't wish to do so should be forgotten. It is easy to say that those people who have a strong enough objection to donating their organs will just look into opting out but looking down the track will it really be that strongly shown how one can do this? It's highly doubtful.

There are certainly good intentions behind the "opt-out" system and with only 680,000 registered donors in Western Australia we really need to improve the numbers. Unfortunately the absence of an objection isn't consent enough to count a person as a registered donor. There are other things that need to be improved first. Plus wouldn't your family feel better about giving away your organs and saving someone's life because of you if they knew for absolute certain that it is what you wanted.

Much ado about sabotage?

Or not, as Qantas has assured us. 

In two days two Qantas planes flying from Singapore suffered engine failure. This happening just one day before Qantas' milestone 90th birthday has caused a few cynical onlookers to cry sabotage. Chief Executive Alan Joyce said the airline was still unsure what had caused the engine failure but "[they] do not believe it to be sabotage. It looks like a mechanical failure." Qantas assures the public that their flights are still some of the safest in the world.

With an incident like this Qantas risks losing customers who fear for their safety. In this article Qantas addresses this by highlighting their previous safety record and the quality of the maintenance that is carried out on their vehicles.

The article questions the effect that something like this would have on Qantas' brand giving the opportunity to highlight just how important safety is to Qantas. They also point out that some of the people who were on the affected flight would still chose to fly Qantas.

In all Qantas is still its shining example of aircraft safety it has always been and are very good at dealing with the media when an issue such as this presents itself. Of course the article wouldn't have been complete without a plug for John Travolta's appearance at the 90th birthday celebration.