1. Chapter 12 PUBLIC RELATIONS And the Politics of Manipulation

2. Central Questions  What do we mean by public relations?  How did modern public relations develop?  What are the primary PR strategies?  What defines the relationship between journalism and PR?

3. What is the definition of public relations?  The careful crafting of an image for a corporation, individual, service, or institution  The manipulation of such an image through fabrication and deceptive practices

4. How did modern public relations develop?  Created with the Industrial Era and the shift to a consumer-oriented society

5. PR as a profession (19th century)  early press agents promoted and publicized clients  promoters used stunts and a variety of existing media channels to shape myths  railroads used government lobbyists and bribed reporters for good publicity  utility companies used questionable publicity tactics to mislead the public

6. IVY LEDBETTER LEE  founder of modern PR  advocated honesty and directness  BUT realized that facts could be manipulated  “Since crowds do not reason, they can only be organized and stimulated through symbols and phrases.”

7. EDWARD BERNAYS  former journalist and nephew of Freud; applied psychology and sociology to PR  developed propaganda during WWI  clients included major corporations (GE, GM, P&G, RCA, American Tobacco)  Famous for staging pseudo-events to promote clients’ image and products  master at engineering public opinion

8. What constitutes a PSEUDO-EVENT?  It’s any circumstance created for the purpose of gaining media coverage  interviews  press conferences  talk shows  rallies  parades  special events (or stunts)

9. Primary PR Strategies: Writing and Editing  preparing press releases to distribute to the news media  preparing video news releases (VNRs)  preparing public service announcements (PSAs)  creating brochures, newsletters and annual reports

10. Primary PR Strategies: Government Relations  Lobbying: the process of attempting to influence the votes of lawmakers to support a client’s best interests  maintaining good relationships with regulatory agencies  monitoring of legislation issues through relationships with legislators

11. Primary PR Strategies: Media Relations  media relations = securing favorable coverage in the news media for a client or organization  arranging publicity  damage control/crisis management  paid advertising

12. What defines the relationship between PR and journalism?  mutually dependent  antagonistic