GENRE COLONIZATION AS A STRATEGY - A FRAMEWORK FOR RESEARCH AND PRACTICE

Discourse colonization has become a central public relations strategy in major national and international communication campaigns. The pract ical, theoretical and ethical implications of this strategy have, howe ver, yet to be worked through in the public relations literature. In t his article we outline a method for analyzing one form of discourse co lonization, which we term 'genre colonization'. We then apply this new method to a specific case in order to illustrate both the method in p ractice and the mechanisms used to effect genre colonization within di scourse. In the process, a framework for undertaking genre colonizatio n emerges. Some aspects of the ethics of employing this strategy are r aised but further research is required to support a full discussion. D r. Shirley Leitch is atl Associate Professor in the Department of Mana gement Communication at the University of Waikato in New Zealand. Juli et Roper is a Lecturer in the Department of Management Communication a t the University of Waikato.