Activists playing a dual role: Identities, organizational goals, and public relations practices

This study explores the relationship among identities, goals, and public relations practices of an activist organization through in-depth interviews and document analysis. Findings suggest different levels of the participant organization's identity in communication with its different audiences. In playing its dual role (as a "public" to its target organizations and a "public communicator" to its own publics), the organization acts as an honest representative voice and a credible source of information to both parties, a process that requires a balance position compatible with its mission. Its public relations practices were found to be consistent with the identities it appropriates and the values it respects.