PUBLIC RELATIONS IN THE UAE

 

american university in emirates

By: Ghanem Ahmed

Introduction

Public relation gives importance to the spread of information on an individual, government agencies, and organizations deliberately managed and controlled by internal or external agencies of different organizations. This study will make a discussion on the PR programs in the UAE.

Public Relation in the UAE in Different Ages

Through the adoption of the PAL system in the year 1972 in Abu Dhabi and Dubai expanded the way for the private advertising agencies to develop public relations. In the 19th century, the PD department in the UAE faced pushes for the expansion of the PR industry through the entrance of the international PR organizations in the market of the UAE such as Bain Euro RSCG, Gulf PR, Gulf Hill, and Knowlton, and so on. In the 1980s involvement of the government organizations and other organizations in the PR activities reached 63% which gave importance to the development of different PR debarments for the organizations.

In the 20th and 21st century the UAR become the center of the international PR service provider where organizations like Al-Aqaria, CNBC, Al-Arabia, CNN, MBC, and so on started their operation. These organizations took control over the 3.3 million mobile lines, 1.1 million fixed-line telephones, and more than 332000 internet service users for promoting the PR programs. In the year 2005, the government of the UAE invested US$900 which helped in a huge revolution in the PR industry in the UAE (Al-Kandari et al. 2019). 

Educations and Training Centers in Public Relation

The PR industry became a huge source for the economic development of the UAE. Hence, a nonprofit association, MEPRA was launched in aiming to educate people about PR and minimize the misconception about PR, ensuring the maintenance of the ethical code, recognizing the PR activity as the economic activity, and so on (Michael & Gorpe, 2017). 

Professional Associations in Public Relation

The public sector of the UAE gave importance toward developing a healthy environment for prompting PR activity. On the other hand, 60% of the PR industry was lead by private agencies. In the new environment, the PR activity is not only used to promote or highlight the story of any individual or organization it is used to promote works related t social work.

Conclusion

Information technology, civil society, globalization, democracy all need to promote ethical and professional use of the PR activity. In the future, the fast-changing and expanding market of the UAE urge for the adoption of the PR activity as a profession at a higher rate.

References

Al-Kandari, A. A., Gaither, T. K., Alfahad, M. M., Dashti, A. A., & Alsaber, A. R. (2019). An Arab perspective on social media: How banks in Kuwait use Instagram for public relations. Public Relations Review, 45(3), 101774. Retrueved from: https://e-tarjome.com/storage/panel/fileuploads/2019-09-17/1568714463_E13504-e-tarjome.pdf

Michael, N., & Gorpe, T. S. (2017). Public relations for the next generation: Middle East Public Relations Association (MEPRA)’s engagement with students. Learning and Teaching in Higher Education: Gulf Perspectives, 14(2). Retrieved from: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Noela_Michael2/publication/322164218_Public_relations_for_the_next_generation_Middle_East_Public_Relations_Association_MEPRA's_engagement_with_students/links/5b58fc42458515c4b248c08e/Public-relations-for-the-next-generation-Middle-East-Public-Relations-Association-MEPRAs-engagement-with-students.pdf