Public Relations and Reputation Management of the Kenya Judiciary: a Case Study of the Judiciary Public Affairs and Communication Unit

Abstract

Public relations is very relevant in institutions today since it has become the most powerful tool to express the image of an institution to the public community. This study sought to assess the public relations activities by the Public Affairs and Communication Unit in reputation management of the Kenya Judiciary.. The study objectives were to: determine the public relations activities used by PACU in managing the reputation of the Kenya Judiciary; analyze the public relations message strategies used by the Public Affairs and Communication Unit in managing reputation of the Kenyan Judiciary; establish the perception and attitudes of Judges, clerks and advocates towards the public relations strategies employed by the Public Affairs and Communication Unit in managing reputation of the Kenyan Judiciary; and to assess the contributions of the Judicial officers and staff in managing the reputation of the Judiciary. The study was grounded on Excellence Theory and Legitimacy Theory This was a qualitative study focused on gaining opinions and perception of audiences on public relations and reputation management of the judiciary in Kenya. The target population was 12 employees at the Public Affairs and Communication Unit of the judiciary and 15 key informants drawn from Judges, clerks and advocates at the Milimani Law Courts. For the employees at the Public Affairs and Communications Unit, a census was used which entailed studying the whole population of 12, while for judges, clerks and advocates at the Milimani Law courts, purposive sampling was used to draw a sample of 15 key informants. Semi-structured interview guide was the main tool for collecting data. Narrative technique was used to analyze the data. The output was presented using themes and paragraphs, obtained from the inductive analysis of the information obtained from the interviews. The study found that key PR activities included publicity/press releases, good media relations, the use of judiciary emails and handles as well as Corporate Social Responsibility They study recommends that the PR office be properly structured and that they should strategize to engage more in proactive activities so as to help manage the Reputation of the Judiciary