INDUSTRY INTERNSHIP 1 3531LHS

Critical Reflective Essay: Stage Addiction Internship

Student: Hannah RavellStudent number: s5009652

Tutor: Elizabeth EganLecture/ Workshop: 3pm Tuesday, G02_1.24 – Gold Coast Campus

Due Date: 23rd January 2019 Word Count: min. 1000

Reflective Essay

In this essay I will reflect upon my internship at Stage Addiction, my experiences, and how I

utilised theoretical concepts learnt throughout my degree to produce professional artefacts.

Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed my internship and the experience of applying my theoretical

knowledge of PR in a real-world professional setting. By so doing I have experienced the

benefits of applying theories for superior results, as demonstrated below, and will continue to

do so in my professional career.

Due to learning that anyone who publishes material online becomes legally liable for the

content, in reflection, I used my knowledge of media laws to guide my work and proceeded

with caution in my tasks to avoid legal ramifications for myself, Stage Addiction and their

clients from copyright and IP breaches (Digital Media Law Project 2018). I abided by both

the MEAA Code of Ethics guideline, item 10: ‘Do not plagiarise’ in regard to IP protection of

“creations of the mind, including … images” (Pearson & Polden 2015, p.372), and the

Copyright Act 1968, which protects “the form of expression of a work such as an article or an

image) (Pearson & Polden 2015, p.372). My knowledge of such laws and application of

mindful practice, by stopping and reflecting on potential ethical and legal implications of my

work, allowed me to complete all my tasks legally and professionally (Pearson & Polden

2015, p. 29). This is evidenced by my encounter with media law issues when tasked with

finding photos for clients to post on their Instagram’s and social medias. Thus, I proceeded

with caution to not violate copyright and IP laws when finding the images for clients, and

raised this issue with Ben (my supervisor). When tasked with finding photos of each client

for Stage Addiction’s new Facebook banner, I persuaded Ben to act legally and only use

photos from their website and their clients Instagram’s, not random copyrighted images from

google. This task also allowed me exercise operating effectively as a team member due to the

short time limit we had. Consequently, Ben and I worked together to complete this task by

dividing the list of clients and each choosing images, whilst conversing with each other for

opinions. This task also demonstrated to me that everyone has a different worldview and

opinion, but if expressed respectfully and received open-mindedly, divergent views can come

together for superior results (Dutta, Ban & Pal 2012) (see appendix 1).

Throughout my internship I was tasked numerous times with monitoring client’s social media

cites and writing individualised social media plans accordingly to help improve their content.

Doing so I was able to apply the knowledge I’ve gained throughout my degree about the

importance of social media and news media monitoring, and then see its benefits first hand.

As one of their clients, Angie Kent is currently on I’m A Celebrity, I was tasked with

monitoring what news outlets and social media was saying about her. Whilst doing so the

reality of social media’s scale and quick reach was made apparent to me as we were able to

communicate with fans watching the show in real time and efficiently publicise Angie

(Herzberg & Steinberg 2012). Furthermore, researching and monitoring client’s social media

illustrated to me ‘vanity metrics’ and how likes do not always translate to engagement, which

is vital in successful use of social media (Kim 2016). Consequently, I applied Grunig and

Hunt’s four models of communications most effective two-way symmetrical communication

model by posting an image to Angie’s Instagram with a question as the caption (see appendix

2 & eportfolio) (Neilson & Leitch 1997, p.18). Resultantly, this stirred conversations in the

comment section and provided an opportunity to create dialogue and engagement with her

fans (Neilson & Leitch 1997, p.18). By applying the theories and knowledge my courses have

taught me, I was also equipped to impart this knowledge to their clients in my social media

plans and advice to Cosima De Vito, Melissa Tkautz and Melinda Schneider (showcased in

my eportfolio) when I expressed to them the importance of building relationships with their

fans through engagement in comment sections, Instagram stories and authenticity.

Additionally, in reflection of my advice, it is clear my use of Aristotle’s three means of

persuasion, in particular logos and ethos via persuading through credible facts and statistics to

make logical arguments, made my arguments more robust (Wrobel 2015). Furthermore, I also

used logos through applying the publicity test from virtue ethics theory when finding images

for them to post in my email attachments to their plans, as the photographs I chose and

recommended they post aligned with their personal branding and image, and ‘sent the right

message’ to the media (Parsons 2008). For example, choosing not to post inappropriate

images of Dean Wells at the Candy Shop Mansion party due to his desired image and not

wanting these highly publicized. Consequently, these persuasion tools helped me produce

professional and high-quality artefacts.

In reflection, I was enabled to achieve my task of writing a media release announcing Jarrod

Woodgate becoming an ambassador for White Caravan (see eportfolio) to an industry

standard by employing theoretical tools. These included utilising the inverted pyramid

structure journalist use, a professional template and relevant news values such as

celebrity/prominence, proximity, timeliness and human interest (Lamble 2013). I also

approached the task armed with knowledge taught in Media Relations about ‘why media

releases fail’, such as wordy and buried leads, long paragraphs and repetition; which I

avoided (St George 2018). Consequently, this task gave me an opportunity to apply media

writing theories in the ‘real-world’.

In analysing my experiences of writing biographies, I applied theories of intercultural

communication and ethics to write an ‘Italian centric’ bio for Cosima De Vito to send to

Italian festivals (see eportfolio). As my task was to heavily draw on Cosima’s Italian side, I

adapted my writing style and language to suit my target audience and accentuated the bio

with some simple Italian descriptive words throughout, such as ‘bellissimo voice’. I also

conducted research into Italian magazines who previously wrote articles on Cosima for

reference, as well as the festivals writing styles to ensure I hit the brief with cultural

sensitivity. Furthermore, in all of the bio’s I wrote, I applied an ethical standard of

accountability in my work to not ‘oversell’ the client’s achievements and kept my work in-

line to the professional standard set out in PRIA’s code of ethics, which states “members

shall not knowingly disseminate false or misleading information” (St George 2018), by fact-

checking all my claims about the clients.

Altogether, my real-world experiences gained from my internship and application of PR

theories, have facilitated me in understanding the role of a talent manager in PR and society,

and reaffirmed my decision to pursue this career. Moreover, my internship also gave me the

opportunity to practice industry ethical professionalism and understand my duties to myself

(competence), my client, employer and profession, through approaching all tasks with a

positive and determined attitude, and a will to succeed and learn; evidenced by the

professional and legal artefacts I produced.

Reference List

Digital Media Law Project 2018, Risks Associated With Publication, viewed 16 January

2019, < http://www.dmlp.org/legal-guide/risks-associated-publication>.

Dutta, M, Ban, Z & Pal, M 2012, ‘Engaging worldviews, cultures, and structures through

dialogue: The culture-centred approach to public relations’, PRism, vol. 9, issue 2, viewed 20

January 2019.

Herzberg, A & Steinberg, G 2012, ‘IHL 2.0: Is There a Role for Social Media in Monitoring

and Enforcement?’, Israel Law Review, vol. 45, issue 3, viewed 18 January 2019, <

https://search-proquest-com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/1143964395?https://

search.proquest.com/central&pq-origsite=summon>.

Kim, C 2016, Social Media Campaigns: Strategies for Public Relations and Marketing,

Routledge, New York and London.

Lamble, S 2013, News As It Happens, Oxford University Press, Melbourne, Australia.

Neilson, D & Leitch, S 1997, ‘Reframing public relations: new directions for theory and

practice’, Australian Journal of Communication, vol. 24, no. 2, viewed 19 January 2019,

<

http://search.informit.com.au.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/fullText;dn=980504624;res=IELAP

A>.

Parsons, P 2007, ‘Integrating ethics with strategy: analysing disease-branding’, Corporate

Communications: An International Journal, vol. 12, issue 3, viewed 18 January 2019,

<http://www.emeraldinsight.com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/doi/full/

10.1108/13563280710776860>.

Pearson, M & Polden, M 2015, The Journalist’s Guide to Media Law, 5th edn, Allen &

Unwin, Australia.

St George, J 2018, 2515LHS Media Relations: week 2 & 11 lecture, Trimester 1 2018,

Griffith University.

Wrobel, S 2015, ‘Logos, Ethos, Pathos. Classical Rhetoric Revisited’, Polish Sociological

Review, vol. 191, issue 3, viewed 18 January 2019, <https://search-proquest-

com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/docview/1722804529?pq-origsite=summon>.

Appendix

Appendix 1: Stage Addiction’s New Facebook Banner

Appendix 2: Angie Kent Instagram Post