•This study illuminated how AARP’s communication reflected public interest relations.•The townhalls emphasized life course milestones, featured trusted experts and organizations, and provided an ...avenue for engagement.•Although it appears public interest was highlighted, AARP’s townhalls ultimately prioritized the organizational voice.•The findings underscore the need to public interest to be integrated into organizational values and goals.•This research raised questions about how PIR can be ethically applied in practice and research.
Public interest relations (PIR) is an approach to public relations scholarship and practice that contributes to the social good by integrating the concept of public interest into organizational goals and values. The need for PIR was emphasized during the COVID-19 pandemic as publics looked to organizations for information about a variety of topics (e.g., symptoms, vaccines). AARP created a series of tele-town halls to communicate with its publics, who are considered to be members of a “vulnerable population” during the pandemic. In order to understand how AARP’s Coronavirus Tele-Town Halls reflected the practices of PIR, I completed a critical thematic analysis of 28 virtual sessions that were hosted in 2020–2021. The analysis, which was guided by the tenets of PIR, found that AARP’s communication (1) highlighted common life course milestones of its publics, (2) emphasized the quality of the information, and (3) provided avenues to engage with the organization and its experts. Based on these findings, I developed theoretical implications that reflect a critical perspective on PIR and suggest future research avenues that seek to build this ethical and socially meaningful approach to public relations.
Amid its rapidly increasing usage and immense public interest the subject of Bitcoin has raised profound economic and societal issues. In this paper we undertake economic and econometric modelling of ...Bitcoin prices. As with many asset classes we show that Bitcoin exhibits speculative bubbles. Further, we find empirical evidence that the fundamental price of Bitcoin is zero.
•The current market value of the bitcoin market is currently estimated to be around $3.3 billion.•Bitcoins prices contain a considerable speculative component.•Bitcoin markets are susceptible to bubbles.•The fundamental value of bitcoin is zero.
Public interest includes affairs that are beneficial to the people en masse. Building on the the right of every individual to file lawsuits as well as non-governmental organizations to do so on ...behalf of the people, public interest litigations play an important role in fulfilling justice and actualizing the rights of the public which might have been disregarded due to poverty, disabilities, illiteracy, negligence, etc. Consistent with Art. 156 of the Iranian Constitution (hereinafter the Constitution), the Judiciary Branch is held accountable for maintaining justice in the society. Paragraph (2) of the Art. exclusively stipulates that the very task of restoring public rights- which itself precipitates the restoration of justice- is entrusted with this branch. The Guidelines on the Supervision and Pursuit of Public Rights- developed based on Art. 156 of the Constitution- has specifically made the prosecuting attorney liable for the restoration of public rights. However, it has not so far been fulfilled properly mainly due to the many onerous supervisory and judicial responsibilities the prosecuting attorney is entrusted with. It, therefore, behooves the Legislature to formally acknowledge public interest litigation and the potential it carries in restoring public rights- and in effect social justice. Recruiting a descriptive-analytical method, the researchers have examined the body of laws and regulations in the Iranian as well as some foreign legal systems. It is concluded that the right of the individuals in filing public interest lawsuits has not been identified in the Iranian legal system which, it is recommended, shall be reconsideredt.
This article provides and tests a theoretical framework with a multilevel (country–city) nested model to analyze the relationship between national business regulations (NBRs) and city level ...entrepreneurship. While public interest theory predicts a positive relationship between NBR and city level entrepreneurship, public choice theory predicts the opposite, a negative relationship. Based on multilevel analysis for a matched country–city panel of 228 cities across 20 European countries for the years 2004 to 2009, the empirical evidence from panel data estimation explains how changes in NBRs influence changes in city level entrepreneurial activity over time.
The purpose of the article is to analyse how to balance public interests with the protection of privacy in the tax field. It has not been an easy task especially in the context of access to financial ...information.
In this area, the compromise to achieve transparency needs to pay regard to the principle of proportionality, as reinforced by recent case law of the ECJ, and align with specific legislation such as the EU General Data Protection Regulation and recently enacted EU Digital Services Act.
It is extremely important to investigate the possible consequences of acting against fundamental rights that are attributed to European citizens (and not only), such as the right to privacy and the protection of personal data. The paper aims to provide relevant and further insight to paths that lead to a fair way to handle such relevant information.
Every citizen, every academically inclined and dedicated individual, every public official, every judicial agent, must question whether the public interest can ever, or at least, recurrently, surpass a fundamental right to privacy, specially, in a sensible area as the financial information of an individual. Such actions can often lead, if mistakes are made along the way, to dangerous outcomes, such as public humiliation, and can even harm the person’s professional and personal life.
Methodology. In the course of the paper, an analysis is made of public decisions taken in cases across the European continent. Additionally, some considerations are made about the recent legislation that is produced by competent authorities, particularly the European Institutions.
Results of the research. The authors offer a personal insight regarding the information that has been gathered, confirming some significant concerns. What is of crucial importance, as stated in the title of this article, is a well established balance between the public interest and the protection of privacy, with explained and defined possible paths to follow.
In times where governments are increasingly unable to solve problems on their own, it is important to understand what motivates citizens to engage in co-production. Drawing on identity theory and on ...a sample of 966 citizens in Zurich, Switzerland, we analyze how public service motivation (PSM) is related to engagement in a digital co-production platform enabling citizens to support public service provision. As our dependent variable, effort intensity in platform use, is a behavioral outcome, we provide insights into the actual behavioral implications of PSM, going beyond self-reports. Using negative binomial regressions, we found a positive relationship between engagement and the PSM dimension "commitment to the public interest", and a negative one with the dimension "compassion". Additionally, social identification with the city moderates the relationship with engagement for certain PSM dimensions. In sum, our study contributes to a better understanding of what motivations drive citizens to collaborate with public organizations, which is an ongoing trend in many countries around the world.
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