Public relations and ontology: rhetorical approaches in post-modern times

Rhetorical theory\u27s contemporary involvement with semiotics is overlooked in much current public relations scholarship. This paper aims to \u27make a difference\u27 in this respect. There is a need for this change of perspective in view of a call for a new direction in public relations theory. This call came in the final Public Relations Division session at the July, 2003 International Communication Association Convention in San Diego. That panel discussion was titled: \u27What Should be the Focus of Public Relations?\u27 The session concluded that a turn towards \u27rhetorical theory\u27 was needed. This paper argues that such a turn would pose interesting theoretical and political challenges for a field which has not fully caught up with post-modern ideas. It points out how involvement with the contemporary \u27rhetorical turn\u27 paradigm and this paradigm\u27s link to semiotics, would take public relations studies into interesting conceptual and political regions.