Two-way communication, symmetry, negative spaces, and dialogue

This paper challenges four assumptions in the public relations literature about dialogue: first, that dialogue means two-way communication; second, that dialogue is the same as two-way symmetry; third, that dialogue is the right answer to any troubled communication situation, and finally, fourth, the assumption that everyone agrees dialogue is a specific form of communication characterized by particular tenets, and with a long and distinguished ancestry reaching back to Ancient Greece. The four assumptions mean that over the last decade, dialogue has been implicitly and explicitly treated as both a panacea for public relations, and a practice that is impractical and too difficult to use. This article attempts to reconcile the various dialogic perspectives by specifying the tenets of dialogue, and using them to explain why two-way communication and two-way symmetry are not dialogue. We then challenge the normative bias in current conceptualizations of dialogue in public relations by identifying the existence of what we call “negative spaces,” or contexts, where dialogue is not possible or appropriate.