256 Modern Public Relations
256 现代公共关系
The rise of multinational corporations, global marketing, new communications technologies, and shrinking cultural differences have led to an unparalleled increase in global public relations or PR.
随着跨国公司增多，营销全球化，新通讯技术的发展和文化差异的缩小，全球公共关系有了前所未有的巨大增长。
Surprisingly,since modern PR was largely an American invention,the U.S.leader ship in public relations is being threatened by PR efforts in other countries.Ten years ago, for example, the world's top five public relations agencies were Americanowned. In 1991, only one was. The British in particular are becoming more sophisticated and creative. A recent survey found that more than half of all British companies include PR as part of their corporate planning activities, compared to about onethird of U.S. companies, It may not be long before London replaces New York as the capital of PR.
令人吃惊的是，现代公共关系原本主要是美国的发明，但是美国在公共关系领域的主导地位正被其他国家公共关系的发展所挑战。例如，十年前，世界排名前五位的公共关系机构都是美国的，但是到了1991年却只有一家是美国的了。在这方面，尤其是英国变得越来越老练，越来越有创新性。最近的一个调查发现，有一半以上的英国公司都把公共关系作为公司战略发展的一部分，与之相比只有三分之一的美国公司这么做。所以可能用不了多久，伦敦就会代替纽约成为公共关系的中心了。
Why is America lagging behind in the global PR race? First, Americans as a whole tend to be fairly provincial and take more of an interest in local affairs. Knowledge of world geography, for example, has never been strong in this country. Secondly, Americans lag behind their European and Asian counterparts in knowing a second language. Less than 5 percent of BursonMarshall's U.S. employees know two languages. Ogilvy and Mather has about the same percentage Conversely, some European firms have half or more of their enployees fluent in a second language. Finally, people involved in PR abroad tend to keep a closer eye on international affairs. In the financial PR area, for instance, most Americans read the Wall Street Journlal. Orerseas, their counterparts read the Journal as well as the Financial Times of London and The Economist, Pubications not often read in this country.
为什么美国会在全球公共关系的竞争中落后呢？第一个原因是，美国人总的说来地方色彩比较浓重，对当地的事务更感兴趣。比如说，美国人对世界地理知识总是知之甚少。第二个原因是，美国人在掌握第二语言方面不如欧洲和亚洲人。Burson-Mashall公司的美国雇员当中只有不到5%的人会两种语言，欧-玛公司的情况也大致相同。相反，在一些欧洲公司里，有一半甚至一半以上的员工能流利使用第二语言。还有一个原因是，国外的公共关系从业人员总会密切关注国际事务。比如在金融公关领域，大多数美国人只读《华尔街日报》，但是其他国家从事同样行业的人不只读《华尔街日报》，他们还读其他相关的一些报纸或杂志，比如伦敦的《金融时报》和《经济学家》杂志，而在美国人们并不经常读这些报刊。
Perhaps the PR industry might take a lesson from Ted Turner of CNN(Cable News Network). Turner recently announced that the work "foreign" would no longer be used on CNN news broadcasts. According to Turner, global communications have made the nations of the world so interdependant that there is no longer any such thing as foreign.
公共关系这个行业或许可以从CNN的泰德·特纳那里学到一些东西。特纳最近宣布说“国外”这个词将不再出现在CNN的广播中。在特纳看来，全球的交流使世界所有的国家都变得彼此依存，所以再不会有什么东西可以称作是“外国的”。