The Power of PR Agencies and Their Impact on International Relations
On 8 October, 2024, the Geopolitical Observatory on Russia’s Key Issues (Center “G.O.R.K.I.” Saint Petersburg State University) hosted an open lecture “The Power of PR Agencies and Their Impact on International Relations” by the head of the Center, Professor Karin Kneissl. The lecture was attended by more than 80 people from among the students and scientific and pedagogical staff of SPbU. The topic of the lecture aroused great interest, because in today’s world PR-agencies create strategic narratives that influence public opinion and political decisions.
As Prof. Karin Kneissl noted, the modern world is a world of communication, where PR agencies not only play a key role in business, culture and marketing, but also become an integral part of diplomacy, international relations and public policy. Those principles of effective influence on the masses, which were formulated a hundred years ago by Edward Bernays in the book “Propaganda”, are now actively used by the media, international organizations and governments around the world.
After the lecture, the audience had the opportunity to ask questions both on the topic of the lecture and on a wider range of global issues. In her characteristic manner of friendly communication with the audience, Professor Karin Kneissl expressed her opinions on how Russia can strengthen its position in the information space, how the West and the East could “befriend”, and what the future of Europe looks like. Karin Kneissl also noted that Russian public diplomacy needs to act decisively, presenting Russia’s position in a way that is understandable to potential foreign audiences.
At the end of the event, Prof. Karin Kneissl gave the audience advice that is especially relevant in the current information war: to develop critical thinking and not to take any information on faith. She also recommended reading more classic literature, because there one can find answers to questions about the past, present and future of our world.