In this paper I will study two incidents I experienced while working at a TV station.

The study makes use of the Actor-Network-Theory (ANT), developed by Bruno Latour, and this will help me investigate both the transmission of information and the formation of work groups. First, I will take a close look at the process of information transmission, with orders and information being passed down from the managerial level to the rest of the employees inside the news room. This process, according to ANT, can be classified as diffusion, as the information provided by the manager would often be distorted or unclear by the time it finally reached the lowest level of the employee hierarchy. Although the person providing the information had been very clear, the rest of the employees received uncertain and unclear orders as the messages were passed along. The reason for this lack of clarity is the nature of translation. Many intermediators, who are supposed to transport information without changing it (so that the initial input equals the final output), tend to play the role of mediators. According to ANT, the mediators change, modify, and transform the meaning to provide an unexpected output. An example of this kind of behavior often occurred when a correspondent failed to properly cover a news event, at which point they would receive orders, from the producers in charge, to focus on a specific angle of the story. These orders apparently originated with the general manager, yet in the end, when the story was broadcast on TV, the general manager said that the changes made to the coverage were not what he

wanted. It was clear that the original meaning of his message had been transformed and modified. In order to avoid such diffusion, the organization should have an organized process for communication. This form of translation, according to Latour, should assure accurate communication standards, with everybody in the organization clearly informed about the necessary issues related to their work. Careful attention must be paid to both facts and language during the communication process. For instance, they could use emails, instead of oral communication, for important announcements or work orders to reach everyone with the same original language. Indeed, the communication process will directly reflect on the image of the organization in the eyes of the public, as the stations broadcast productions are their first tool in terms of public relations. Studying an organization from the ANT prospective provides effective analysis, especially when employing the five types of controversies. For instance, if I take the first source of uncertainty, which Latour called the nature of groups, I can describe many obvious mistakes that occurred during my time at the station. In some cases, the teams chosen by the station to handle specific work assignments were not successful, as they were unable to accomplish their goals. One important reason for this failure is that members for these teams were often chosen randomly. This style of group formation, in many situations, led to incoherent groups. For example, the news room manager chose five producers to cover the Egyptian elections. Three of these producers were new and unfamiliar with this kind of assignment, and in the

end the group couldnt achieve its goals, despite spending a lot of time developing a plan and attempting to implement it. The channel realized afterward that this group was not formed as it should have been. After this, they tended to replace members of the groups, taking into consideration the experience and ability of the new members, in the hopes that they could merge coherently with the rest of the group. An organization should give group formation careful consideration, and develop effective procedures for such a formation process. Poor communication and group formation will affect what the station puts on the screen, and this is important because the broadcasts are their first, and most important, public relations tools. Because of this, any mistake behind the camera can alter the image of the TV station. Therefore, avoiding this kind of mistake is crucial.

References Ihlen, ., Fredriksson, M., & Ruler, B. V. (2009). Public relations and social theory: key figures and concepts. New York: Routledge.