Public Relations: the champion or slayer of democracy?

Has PR 'revived' democracy?

On PRiDA we talk a great deal about the role of social media in promoting democracy: stimulating public lobbying, raising awareness of issues and being the driving force behind much of the Arab Spring - eventually leading to some governments blocking Facebook and Twitter.

However this article by Kent (2013) (if you have UWE access) argues that PR practitioners fail to use these media to promote dialogue and democracy, and indeed their overuse of one-way comms could be stifling democracy. Kent claims that "connectivity to our "friends" on social media comes at the expense of isolation from our fellow human beings who live next door or down the hall".

Interestingly, Emily Bell on Radio 4 this week would argue the opposite.

I also argue that PR practioners even actively undermine democracy with private lobbying - using money and connections to have a quiet word in the ear of influential politicians... So obviously, social media are tools that could be used better by many mainstream practitioners, but charities and campaigning organisations may be much better at using social media for public lobbying and rebalancing the influence of the people with power and money - for instance campaigners such as Surfers Against Sewage using Facebook and this app.
So while social media may be great for the voice of the people, PR practioners could often be accused of doing the opposite, according to Kent.