Edited for
posting; some in-
class content is
not included
here.
Public Relations
Tuesday, October 27

Outline
• Background on PR
• Critiques of PR
2

What is PR?
• PR is…
• Response to “muckraking”
• Defend public image
•
3

PR Pioneers
• World War I: Committee on Public Information
• George Creel & Edward Bernays
• Bernays’ definition of PR:
• Lead public to see things from client’s perspective
•
4

Today’s PR Industry
• Dominated by large firms; consolidation
• Globalization
•
5

PR Situations
• Corporate relations: company image
• Financial relations: stocks, SEC
•
6

PR Planning
• Goals: what to accomplish?
• Research
• Target publics
• Messages
•
7

PR Tasks
• Strategy: overarching plan
• Tactics:
•
8

PR vs. Advertising
• How are these fields different?
• Different techniques (e.g., press releases vs. paid
radio ads)
•
9

Journalism and PR
• Controversy: relationship between
journalism and PR

Newsroom Challenges and PR
Profit? Time?
Research?
Photo by Flickr user victoriapeckham
11
VNR editing? Disclaimer?

Quality Reporting?
Columbia Journalism Review
analysis
111 stories from WSJ
Over half: info solely from press releases
32 stories: almost verbatim from press release
21 stories: only a little more reporting
Quality journalism?
Photo by Flickr user gisarah 12

PR and Government
Dept. of Agriculture:
$3.2 million/year:
Received
Broadcast & Media
$240K to
Technology Center
promote
90-sec. mission
NCLB on
messages for local TV
radio, TV
news
US Dept. of
Education:
$700K on PR for the
NCLB Act
13

PR and
Government
• In a democracy, is it
right for the
government to use
PR agencies to
influence citizens’
beliefs, decisions?
14

Toxic Sludge: Questions
• What are some of the key techniques of
influence used by PR professionals?
• Why is material produced by PR firms used
by journalists?
• How much news/information is actually
produced by PR professionals who hope to
influence our perceptions of their client
(government, corporation, or individual)?
• How can news consumers recognize “real
news”?
15

“Toxic Sludge”
• http://video.google.com/videoplay?
docid=-3579911499802972602#