In 2005 omnicom group’s ketchum pr agency received unwanted attention due to what circumstance?

This is PR

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This is PR Eleventh

EditionPUBLIC RELATIONS

Doug Newsom Professor Emerita, Texas Christian University

Judy VanSlyke Turk Virginia Commonwealth University

Dean Kruckeberg University of North Carolina at Charlotte

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To our students, from whose questions, observations and insights we continue to learn, and to our colleagues, academics and practitioners, who explore with their research and share with their publications and conversations.

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About the Authors

Doug Newsom, Ph.D, APR, Fellow PRSA, is a Texas Christian University pro- fessor emerita of journalism and the senior coauthor of This is PR and Public Relations Writing. She has also written two other books, has co-authored three more and has written four current book chapters. She is a former member of the Commission on Public Relations Education, former chair of PRSA’s College of Fellows and is a past chair of the Accrediting Committee for the Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communications. She has been president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communica- tion, Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas Public Relations Association and both the Dallas and Fort Worth chapters of PRSA. Dr. Newsom has been the national faculty advisor to PRSSA. She has been head of the PR Division of AEJMC and has served as chair of its former division heads. Awards include the Institute for Public Relations’ Pathfinder, PRSA Outstanding Educator, Public Relations Foundation of Texas’s Educator of the Year Award, Texas Public Relations Association’s Golden Spur, the Asso- ciation for Women in Communications’ Headliner and in 2010 she was named to the Hall of Excellence of TCU’s Schieffer School of Journalism. She has served Fulbright teaching appointments in India and Singapore, presented workshops in South Africa, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and Vanuatu and taught in Latvia and England. She has been chair of the Fulbright discipline committee, served 18 years on a gas research institute’s advisory council and was one of the first women to be elected to the board of a publicly held company, where she served 24 years until reaching mandatory retirement age. Currently her volunteer public relations work is for Rotary International.

Judy VanSlyke Turk, APR, Fellow PRSA, professor in the School of Mass Communications at Virginia Commonwealth University, served as its director from March 2002 to 2010. Previously, she was founding dean of the College of Communications and Media Sciences at Zayed University in the United Arab Emirates, dean of the College of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of South Carolina, director of the journalism and mass communication program at Kent State University and a faculty member at the University of Oklahoma, Louisiana State University and Syracuse University. She is president of the Arab-U.S. Association of Communication Educators and is a member of the Accrediting Committee of the Accrediting Council on Education inJournalism and Mass Communications (ACEJMC). VanSlyke Turk is past president of the Association of Schools of Journalism and Mass Communication (ASJMC) and of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication (AEJMC). In 2006, AEJMC recognized her as its Outstanding Woman inJournalism Educa- tion. She has been chair of AEJMC’s teaching standards committee, Council of Divisions and the Public Relations Division. VanSlyke Turk is a member of the Arthur W. Page Society and past chair of the College of Fellows of the Public Relations Society of America’s College of Fellows. She was named Outstanding Public Relations Educator of PRSA in 1992 and in 2005 shared with This is PR co-author Doug Newsom the Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Rela- tions for her lifetime contributions of research. She is associate editor of Journalism Studies and is a member of the editorial advisory boards of the Journal of Public Relations Research, Public Relations JournalPublic Relations Review and Journalism

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About the AuthorsVIII

and Mass Communications Quarterly. In addition to This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations, she is co-editor of a collection of international case studies that was pub- lished by the Institute for Public Relations.

Dean Kruckeberg, Ph.D., APR, Fellow PRSA, is executive director of the Center for Global Public Relations and a professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Previously he was a public relations professor in the Department of Communication Studies at the University of Northern Iowa and coordinator of the Public Relations Degree Program and of the Mass Communication Division. He is a charter member of the Commission on Global Public Relations Research and a senior fellow of the Society for New Communications Research. Since 1997, Kruckeberg has been co- chair of the Commission on Public Relations Education. He served for two years on the national board of the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), has been chair of the Educator’s Section (now Academy), was Midwest district chair of PRSA and was co-chair PRSA’s Educational Affairs Committee, of which he remains a member. He is the former national faculty advisor of the Public Rela- tions Student Society of America and a former advisor to Forum, the national newspaper of PRSSA. He is a past chair of the public relations division of the International Communication Association, former head of the public relations division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication and former chair of the public relations division of the National Communication Association. Awards include PRSA’s outstanding educator in 1995, the Jackson Jackson & Wagner Behavioral Research Prize in 2006, the Pathfinder Award from the Institute for Public Relations in 1997, the 1997 State of Iowa Regents Faculty Excellence Award and the 1998 Wartburg College Alumni Citation. In fall 2011, he was presented with the Infinity Award, the top award for public relations professionals presented by the Charlotte Chapter of PRSA.

In addition to This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations, Kruckeberg is co-author of the book Public Relations and Community: A Reconstructed Theory.

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Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins 1 PR Roles and Responsibilities 1 2 PR's Origins and Evolution 23

Research for PR

3 Research: Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating 57 4 Stakeholders and Interactions 87

Theory, Ethics and Laws Affecting PR Practice

5 Theoretical Underpinnings for PR 109 6 PR Ethics and Responsibilities 141 7 PR and the Law 169

PR in Action

8 Strategic Management in PR Practice 205 9 Communication Channels and Media 223

10 Tactics and Techniques: Details that Make PR Strategy Work 253 11 Campaigns 297 12 Crisis and Credibility 313

Notes 335 Index 355

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Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

1 PR Roles and Responsibilities 1 International Consistency of PR Practice 2 What Does Public Relations Practice Involve? 2 Role and Function for Organizations: 10 Basic Principles 4 m Why the Need to Know This About PR? 6 The Job of the PR Practitioner 6 m The Function of Public Relations in Business and Society 13

2 PR's Origins and Evolution 23 Seeking the PR “Source Spring” 24 m The Beginnings of PR in the USA, 1600-1799 27 Communicatmg/Initiating: The Era of Press Agentry and Publicity, 1800-1899 29 m Reacting/Responding: The Time of Reporters-in-Residence, 1900-1939 32 m Planning/Preventing: The Growth of PR as a Management Function, 1940-1979 37 m Professionalism: PR in the Era of Global Communication, 1980-Present 44

Part Two

Research for PR

3 Research: Planning, Monitoring and Evaluating 57 The Basics: Record Keeping and Retrieving 58 m Finding and Using Research Resources 59 m Using Research for Planning and Monitoring 61 m Using Research to Plan and to Evaluate Outcomes 65 m Informal Research 65 m Formal Research 70 m Audience Information 77 Research and Problem Solving 82

4 Stakeholders and Interactions 87 Identifying and Describing Publics 88 m Issues: Identification, Monitoring, Evaluation and Management 93 Issues and the Role of the PR Practitioner 95 m Perceptions and Public Opinion 99 Public Opinion Research and Public Relations 101

Theory, Ethics and Laws Affecting PR Practice

5 Theoretical Underpinnings for PR 109 Origins in Sociology and Psychology 110 m Organizational Theory 111 u Communication Theories 112 Persuasion and Change 114 m A Way to Look at Media: Source, Message, Source + Message, Media, Receivers 122

6 PR Ethics and Responsibilities 141 Complexities in Ethical Decision Making 144 Responsibility in Advertising and Sponsorships 154 u Responsibility in Publicity 158 m Individual Responsibilities 163

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Detailed ContentsXII

7 PR and the Law 169 The Liabilities of Practicing PR 170 m Government Regulations 175 u Court Rulings and Legal Responsibilities 185 u Revisiting the Hypotheticals 200

PR in Action

8 Strategic Management in PR Practice 205 PR’s Role in the Organizational Structure as Part of the Management Team 205 u Issue Monitoring and Managing for Organizations 211 u Planning and Managing PR Work 212

9 Communication Channels and Media 223 Choosing the Medium 224 m Choosing the Message—Advertising and Publicity 225 m Traditional Hybrid: Direct Mail 244 m Developing Hybrids 245

10 Tactics and Techniques: Details that Make PR Strategy Work 253 Advertising 253 u Publicity and Publications 258 u Publicity Through the Mass Media 271 On the Job with Media People 284 u Goofs and Glitches 291 u Talking Back and Correcting 291

11 Campaigns 297 Types of Campaigns 297 u Characteristics of Successful Campaigns 298 u Planning a Campaign 300 u Implementing the Campaign 302 u Evaluating the Campaign 303 u Campaign Outline 305 Changing Behavior 305 m Government Campaigns 309

12 Crisis and Credibility 313 Anticipating a Crisis 314 m Dealing with a Crisis 321 u Recovery and Evaluation 331

Notes 335 u Index 355

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^Jublic relations will always be in a state of flux due to swift changes in publics/stakeholders, communication technology and cultural choices in the ways that people choose to communicate. Thus, much of the content of this text has to change with each edition. Our goal, however, is always to present the foundational consistencies of public relations while examining the impact of change.

Now that PR functions in a global environment, laws of all countries and their interpretation, such as privacy, have made for considerable additions to the law chap- ter. Instructors and their students may want to take more than one week to consider all of this material in a classroom setting. Sensitivities to customs in a global context can create miscommunications and may even generate crises. Therefore, the following chapters have been expanded: Chapter 3: Research: Planning, Processes and Techni- ques; Chapter 4: Stakeholders and Interactions; Chapter 8: Strategic Management in PR Practice; and Chapter 12: Crisis and Credibility.

The globalization of public relations is also responsible for a new orientation for the text. The approach of the book follows the practice: everything is global, and the only predictable trend is “change.” Thus, we have removed the global inserts in each chap- ter as well as the chapters on a worldwide view of PR practice and on trends to incor- porate the global oudook on PR throughout the book.

New guidance for strategic communication and counsel in practice and in education comes from the 2010 Stockholm Accords. This historic document, which was pro- duced by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, offers more assurance of greater global commonalities in a field striving for profes- sionalism across borders. The Instructor’s Resource Manual for this text includes video interviews with several officers and board members of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management—a supplement unique to this text.

Additional Resources

Resources for Instructors Instructor Companion Website. The instructor companion site contains rich online resources, including test banks, and an online version of the Instructor’s Resource Manual, both chapter-by-chapter and in its entirety. Chapter-specific PowerPoint slides that highlight chapter highlights are available for download from this text’s website www.cengagebrain.com.

Online Instructor's Resource Manual. The Instructor’s Resource Manual contains resources designed to streamline and maximize the effectiveness of instructors’ course preparation. This helpful manual includes suggestions for developing a course syllabus, chapter objectives and assessment tests. Each chapter includes a chapter outline, sug- gestions for class activities and discussions, supplemental readings and true/false and multiple-choice test items. The activities provide innovative ways to present relevant concepts in each chapter; they include group projects, out-of-class assignments, role plays, lecture ideas and audiovisual suggestions.

PowerLecture CD-ROM.This disc contains an electronic version of the Instructor’s Resource Manual, ExamView computerized testing and ready-to-use Microsoft PowerPoint® presentations that correspond with the text. This all-in-one lecture tool makes it easy for instructors to assemble, edit, publish and present custom lectures for their courses. More information about ExamView follows.

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xiv Preface

ExamView® Computerized Testing. ExamView enables instructors to create, deliver and customize tests and study guides (both print and online) in minutes, using the test bank questions from the Instructor’s Resource Manual. ExamView offers both a Quick Test Wizard and an Online Test Wizard that guide instructors step-by-step through the process of creating tests, while it’s “what you see is what you get” interface allows instructors to see the test you are creating onscreen exacdy as it will print or display online. Instructors can build tests of up to 250 questions, using up to 12 question types. With the complete word processing capabilities of ExamView, instructors can enter an unlimited number of new questions or edit existing ones.

Acknowledgments We would like to thank the team at Cengage Learning that helped us develop and produce this edition: Michael Rosenberg, publisher; Rebecca Donahue, editorial assis- tant; and Erin Bosco, assistant editor.

And of course we owe much to our academic and professional colleagues, whose scholarship and practice inspire and inform our updates.

We gready appreciated the suggestions from the following reviewers as we worked on the book:

Daniel Jorgensen, Augsburg College Tom Branigan, Marquette University

Lisa Fall, University of Tennessee at Knoxville Tamara Gillis, Elizabethtown College

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To understand the role and responsibilities of public relations-in public and private companies, nonprofit organizations, agencies and firms. To recognize the difference between strategic planning and execution that relies only on tactics and techniques. To appreciate the value of public relations in solving problems and making policy. To understand why individuals as well as institutional credibility are critical to public relations practice. To appreciate the international scope of public relations practice.

o you realize that public relations is an international occupation? It is, even if you never physically leave

your country. Technology now enables public relations practitioners to have an instant interconnectedness that is an asset with increased responsibility. What you do is electronically borderless, and differences in practice worldwide are diminishing.

Relationships among public relations practitioners around the world have been building through the years by joint projects, shared research and educational opportunities.

Associations for groups, such as the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management and a number of associations for individual practitioners as well as research and educational efforts by many institutions have strengthened international ties.

At least a decade ago, seventy countries formed the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management to examine how public relations is practiced in different parts of the world and how practitioners can share information and learn from each other. The out- come of this worldwide collaboration is “The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Manage- ment Accords Analysis.” (See www.stockholmaccords.org for updates, and visit www.globalalliancepr.org.)

The Accords, “a product of collaboration between public relations and communication management industry leaders

“All public relations should exist to pre- serve a consistent reputation and build relationships.”

—Robert I. Wakefield

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2 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

on every continent,” was endorsed June 15, 2010, in Stockholm at the World Public Relations Forum of the Global Alliance.2 It is “a global call to action on the role of public relations in the evolving digital society,” according to John Paluszek, APR, Fellow PRSA, chair of the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, senior counsel at Ketchum (New York and Washington, D.C.) and representative to the United Nations (UN) for the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).3

The six major points of the Accords are agreement on the role of public relations in organizational sustainability, governance at the highest level of organizational responsibility for two-way strategic communication, practice of public relations as a management function, oversight of organizational internal communications policies and action, oversight of organizational external policies and action and coordination of internal and external communication. (See the Accords document for details and explication.) Looking at the dimensions of the each of these six points in the following discussion will give you an idea of what public relations practice is today.

The eventual direction for the Accords is to develop an international core curriculum for public relations education, says Paluszek, a member of the Accrediting Council on Education in Journalism and Mass Communications as well as the Commission on Public Relations Education; the latter published guidelines specifically for the USA that have been adopted and used by other countries.

The idea of a global core curriculum is not new. In 2008, the Global Alliance started a collaborative study of PR education coordinated by the U.S.-based Commission on Public Relations Education and funded by the Public Relations Society of America Foundation. (Visit http://www.prsafoundation.org/ research.html.) The effort is a topic supported by Bruce Berger, a member of the International Public Relations Association (IPRA). In an article for the organization’s online journal, Berger details a 2009

survey conducted by the European Public Relations Education and Research Association (EUPRERA) that looked at educational programs in mostly Western European countries and another in 2008 that examined Eastern European countries.4

Why all of this concern about what public relations students the world over are being taught? Hie situation is best explained by the international desire for consistency in practice and the question of professionalism.

International Consistency of PR Practice

Some consistency of the practice, despite differences in the social, economic and political climates in vari- ous parts of the world can be traced to the growing body of knowledge about and the general acceptance of what public relations is. The creator of public relations’ international code of ethics, Lucien Matrat, offers these thoughts:

Text not available due to copyright restrictions

This means developing a communications policy that can establish and maintain a relationship of mutual confidence with an organization’s multiple publics.

What Does Public Relations Practice Involve?

The public relations (PR) practitioner serves as an intermediary between the organization that he or she represents and all of that organization’s stakeholders/ publics.

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 3

Consequently, the PR practitioner has responsi- bilities both to the institution and to its various pub- lics. He or she helps set organizational policies that will affect its stakeholders and distributes informa- tion that enables the institution’s publics to under- stand the policies, which may then be adjusted in response to feedback from those stakeholders.

Public relations involves research on all stake- holders: receiving information from them, advising management of their attitudes and responses, helping to set policies that demonstrate responsible attention to them and constantly evaluating the effectiveness of all PR programs. This inclusive role embraces all activities connected with ascertaining and influenc- ing the opinions of individuals and groups of people. But that is just the communications aspect. As a man- agement function, public relations involves responsibility and responsiveness in policy and information to the best interests of the organization and its publics.

The First World Assembly of Public Relations Associations, held in Mexico City in August 1978, defined the practice of public relations as “the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counseling organizational lead- ers, and implementing planned programs of action which will serve both the organization and the public interest.”

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) defines public relations as a management function that involves anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues; counseling management at all levels with regard to policy deci- sions, courses of action and communication and tak- ing into consideration public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities; researching, conducting and evaluating on a continu- ing basis and being involved in strategic planning for the organization. Yet another definition of public relations as “reputation management” has gained currency as expressed by the British Institute of Public Relations (IPR):

and then solving it. In the long run, the best PR is evidence of an active social conscience. The various practitioner organizations have codes of ethics, even though there isn’t now a truly international code of ethics, as Matrat recommended.

The move toward a universal educational core would direct the practice of public relations more toward what is generally considered a profession.

Career, Job (Field) or Profession? Some commentators argue that the very fact that any- one would question whether PR is a profession proves that public relations is not a profession. Another clue that PR may not be a profession is the lack of practi- tioners’ commitment to continuing education.

One criterion of a profession is that its practitioners have command over a body of knowledge. Although the PRSA has developed a body of knowledge, it is for the USA only and has been criticized by the International Public Relations Association for its parochialism. The Institute for Public Relations’ Commission on Global Public Relations is attempting to catalog and codify public relations literature globally. An additional cri- terion of a profession is general acceptance of a stan- dard educational curriculum. Although this exists to some degree in the USA, what is being taught in the USA is not necessarily what is being taught elsewhere, where the availability of specialized education in pub- lic relations is growing at an explosive pace—thus, the emphasis in the Global Alliance to move in that direction.

Another criterion of a profession is control over entry and exit to the field, and public relations, at least in the USA, lacks any such control. One aspect of that control consists of PRSA’s requirement of continuing education of all practitioners to maintain standards of practice by ensuring that practitioners learn new developments and update skills. But that is not a requirement for practicing public relations. In fact, there are no educational requirements that would preclude anyone from saying he or she is a public relations practitioner.

Although practitioners refer to professional stan- dards and encourage educational experiences, per- haps it is a mark of honesty that PRSA’s bylaws, with a slogan that reads: “Advancing the Profession and the Professional,” identify the organization thusly: “The Society is organized and shall be oper- ated as a not-for-profit trade association ...” (See PRSA.org/AboutPRSA/Govemance/.)

Public relations is about reputation—the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public Relations Practice is the discipline which looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behaviour.6

As a practical matter, good public relations involves confronting a problem openly and honestly

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Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins4

3. Because the public relations practitioner must go to the public to seek support for programs and policies, public interest is the central crite- rion by which he or she should select these programs and policies. (PR practitioners must have the guts to say “no” to a client or to refuse a deceptive program.)

4. Because the public relations practitioner reaches many publics through mass media, which are the public channels of communication, the integrity of these channels must be preserved. (PR practitioners should never He to the news media, either outright or by implication.)

Role and Function for Organizations: 10 Basic Principles

As the definitions for public relations suggest, the result of public relations efforts must be the real behavior of the organization and perceptions of that behavior by its publics/stakeholders. Therefore, among the various titles now being used for the role of the public relations function are communications management (or sometimes strategic communications management or just strategic communications), repu- tation management and relationship management.

5. Because PR practitioners are in the middle between an organization and its publics, they must be effective communicators

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onveymg information back and forth until understanding and (ideally) consensus are reached. (The PR practitioner probably was the original ombuds- man or ombudswoman.)

We can describe the function and role of public relations practice by stating 10 basic principles:

1. Public relations deals with reality, not false fronts. Conscientiously planned programs that put the public interest in the forefront are the basis of sound public relations policy. (Transla- tion.; PR deals with facts, not fiction.)

2. Public relations is a service-oriented occupa- tion in which public interest, not personal reward, should be the primary consideration. (PR is a public, not personal, service.)

6. To expedite two-way communication and to be responsible communicators, public relations practitioners must use scientific public opinion research extensively. (PR cannot afford to be a guessing game.)

7. To understand what their publics are saying and to reach them effectively, public relations

In attempting to agree on what public relations is, many researchers have wrestled with a definition that seems suitable and internationally acceptable. When some in the UK began to call public relations “reputation management,” that caught on in the USA. The U.S. notion of “branding” that came from integrated marketing communications likewise caught on in Europe. In working on the European body of knowledge, researchers struggled for a paradigm that would cover private relationships, not just those in the public sphere, and broader social issues that public relations should address. This is not new to the social responsibility concept of public relations: being responsible first to a broader public welfare and then to the organization it represents.

Although that is understood, European researchers urge a reflective approach that looks at society’s changing standards and values and then adjusts the organization’s standards accordingly.

In terms of how public relations practitioners themselves define the discipline globally, a model emerges that involves education, government, business and cultural norms and values—religion- based or not.

Read “On the Definition of Public Relations: A European View,” by Dejan Vercic, Betteke van Ruler, Gerhard Butschi and Bertil Flodin in Public Relations Review, 27 (2002), pp. 373-87. Look at the Practice Matrix for the Cultural-Economic Model of International Public Relations Practice (Table 10-1) in Patricia A. Curtin and T. Kenn Gaither’s International Public Relations (2007) and Bridging Gaps in Global Communication (2007) by Doug Newsom.I

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 5

practitioners must employ the social sciences— psychology, sociology, social psychology—and the literature of public opinion, communica- tion and semantics. (Intuition is not enough.)

8. Because a lot of people do PR research, the PR person must adapt the work of other, related disciplines, including learning theory and other psychology theories, sociology, political science, economics and history. (The PR field requires multidisciplinary applications.)

9. Public relations practitioners are obligated to explain problems to the public before these problems become crises. (PR practitioners should alert and advise, so people won’t be taken by surprise.)

10. A public relations practitioner should be measured by only one standard: ethical perfor- mance.

Instead of “public relations,” particularly in some educational institutions in the USA, the term used is “strategic communications.” The reason for that becomes clearer when you consider the levels within the six areas under “The Value of Public Relations and Communication Management” in Sections Two and Three of the Stockholm Accords (abridged here). 1. Sustainability. The organization’s sustainability

depends on balancing today’s demands with the ability to meet future needs, so the role for PR and communication managers is to involve and engage stakeholders in sustainability policies and programs; to interpret societal expectations for sound economic, social and environmental com- mitments that yield a return to the organization and society; to ensure stakeholder participation to identify information that should be regularly, transparently and authentically reported; and to promote and support efforts to reach an ongoing integrated reporting of financial, social, economic and environmental information.

2. Governance: The stakeholder governance model empowers leaders—board members and elected officials—to be directly responsible for deciding and implementing stakeholder relationship pol- icies, so the role of the PR and communication managers is to participate in defining organiza- tional values, principles, strategies, policies and processes; to apply social networking, research skills and tools to interpret stakeholders’ and

society’s expectations as a basis for decisions; and to deliver timely analysis and recommenda- tions for an effective governance of stakeholder relationships by enhancing transparency, trust- worthy behavior and authentic and verifiable representation, thus sustaining the organiza- tion’s “license to operate.” Management: The quality and effectiveness of an organization’s decisions are increasingly deter- mined by their time of implementation. This requires a high priority for listening before stra- tegic and operational decisions, so the role of the PR and communication managers is to inform and shape the organization’s overall two-way communication abilities; to communi- cate the value of the organization’s products/ services and relationships with stakeholders thereby creating, consolidating and developing its financial, legal, relational and operational, capital; and to participate in the solution of organizational issues as well as lead those specif- ically focused on stakeholder relationships. Internal Communication: Organizational internal communication enhances recruitment, reten- tion, development of common interests and commitment to organizational goals by an increasingly diverse, extended and segmented set of “internal” publics that include everyone who works there at any time, retirees, consul- tants, suppliers, agents, distributors and volun- teers. The role of the public relations and communication managers is to seek constant feedback for a mutual understanding of how frontline people comprehend, accept and achieve the organization’s strategy; how and how well organizational leaders collaborate and communi- cate with stakeholders; how knowledge and policy are being shared; how processes and struc- tures are identified, developed and enhanced; and, most importantly, how the organization’s reputation depends largely on the actions taken by internal stakeholders. External Communication: As the network society expands and accelerates, organizations must review and adjust their policies, actions and communications behavior to improve relation- ships with increasingly influential stakeholders as well as with society at large, so public rela- tions and communication managers have to bring the organization’s “voice” and interests

3.

4.

5.

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6 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

into stakeholder deliberations and decisions; to assist all organizational functions in crafting and delivering effective communication; and to con- tribute to the development and promotion of products, services or processes that strengthen arand loyalty and equity.

6. Coordination of Internal and External Communi- cations-. Organizational communication is often a multifaceted, multistakeholder, interrelational enterprise, engaging several value networks con- currently and often involving diverse legal frameworks. That means public relations and communication managers have to oversee the development and implementation of internal and external communications to assure consis- tency of content and accurate presentation of the organization’s identity; to research, develop, monitor and adjust the organization’s communi- cative behavior; to create and nurture a knowl- edge base that includes social and behavioral sciences; and to manage and apply research to implement evaluation and measurement pro- grams for continued improvement.

The Job of the PR Practitioner

The instant and interactive global communication climate have changed the demands on the practi- tioner and the way the practitioner carries out his or her duties, and technology will continue to change these responsibilities and skills. There is more call for depth and breadth in knowledge needed to func- tion at a global level. There is more accountability for public relations actions and greater damage if risk management and crisis communication are mis- handled. There’s less tolerance for “hype” and more pressure for transparency. The interconnectedness of the world and the diversity within many nations, including in the USA, now demands greater sensitiv- ity to multiculturalism.

But some things have not changed.

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The retrieval emphasis implies reportorial skills, including knowledge of research techniques.

Other skills Wylie stresses include thinking (first and foremost), writing of all types, speaking, being persuasive, understanding and appreciating media, knowing graphics and photography, respecting dead- fines and developing an ability to deal with and solve multiple PR problems at one time.9

Why the Need to Know This About PR?

Three Basie Roles The way a PR person applies his or her special skills depends on the role he or she plays in an organiza- tion. The three main roles are those of organiza- tional staff member, agency employee and independent PR practitioner, who might from time to time func- tion as a PR counselor. We will consider each of these roles separately.

If you are reading this book to find out what public relations is and what its practitioners do, you need to understand the role and function of public relations in society because it affects you all day, every day. It is persuasive communication, and, at its best, is respon- sible communication—listening before responding and changing behavior that is harmful.

If you are reading this book because you plan to enter or are entering public relations as a career, you might be wondering where you would fit, where your talents would be appreciated and what you need to know. Unless you understand the signifi- cance to an organization of the public relations and communication management function, you can’t fit your talent successfully into the overall picture. You have to understand the strategic goal of the commu- nication effort for your organization before you can develop the tactics to accomplish the task designed to meet a goal and then create the techniques that will be most effective.

Staff Member Staff public relations practitioners are employees of commercial or nonprofit organizations or of divisions of government such as local, state and federal agencies. They perform highly specialized tasks in their organizations, but they get a paycheck just as other employees do, and they share the same corporate or institutional identity. Specific needs of the organiza- tion usually determine a staff member’s job description.

Staff positions within small organizations often include responsibility for all public relations functions.

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 7

In the case of a small nonprofit organization, the PR person typically works either with volunteers who provide professional expertise of various kinds or with outside suppliers whose services may be bought on a limited basis or donated.

Staff positions with larger organizations depend upon the level of management for an employee. Senior positions involve all of the responsibilities detailed previously in the Accords for communications func- tions, including participating at the highest level in the management team. Large organizations may buy services for some areas of expertise such as in-depth research—communication audits or media monitor-ing, or media distribution or for technical production of audiovisuals—everything from employee training videos to video news releases and commercials. Long reports such as an environmental report or an annual report may be contracted to outside suppliers. In a major crisis, an outside firm may be called in to advise and assist the internal crisis management team. Out- sourcing of special public relations services is increas- ing as companies cut back on their total number of in-house employees. However, budget cutbacks have also pushed internal public relations staff to learn more skills and carry a heavier workload. Commercial and Large Nonprofit Organizations Public relations people in institutions—whether commercial or nonprofit—may have skills jobs in a PR or communication department, may be middle managers of specialized PR activity such as commu- nity relations or employee relations or may function as general professional staff. Increased use of com- puter technology has decreased the number of prac- titioners working at the lower-level jobs, but has demanded a higher level of technical expertise. The number working at middle managerial levels has increased slightly. The small number of positions at the most senior level of policy making remains rather consistent, but held only by practitioners with a high-level skills set, including technology. Government Job descriptions for PR positions in government vary dramatically. Some people who are called “public information officers” are really publicists handling information but probably making no policy decisions. Others, often called “public affairs officers,” mayhave all the responsibilitiesof a corporatevice pres- ident for PR or communication management.

or CEO of the firm shares in handling accounts, as do the account executives (AEs), who are also expected to bring in new business. A firm may employ a bookkeeper who handles billings, a secre- tary/receptionist, publicity writer(s), a design (adver- tising or graphics) specialist, an artist and technology experts), also likely to be responsible for general interactive media. Postings, including blogs, and responses for clients are usually handled by the AE. In some instances, the writer may prepare both pub- licity and advertising copy, and the artist may be responsible for illustrations and layout. The online expert suggests software to buy, handles technical problems and may monitor online media also.

Large firms have copywriters and copy editors, media specialists, website designers, several artists and a production facility. Most firms, even the larg- est ones, arrange contracts for high-level production needs. Digital publishing makes the jobs of writers and artists more efficient and easier to coordinate. Computer software makes graphics and almost instantaneous page makeup possible in-house. These systems usually make the writer the produc- tion person as well, because the writer actually devel- ops the final format, often including generic artwork that is available digitally. However, an artist usually provides original designs and artwork.

Independent Practitioners/Counselor The independent public relations practitioner is usually hired to accom- plish a specific task—one that is ordinarily (but not always) predetermined. Payment may take the form of a flat fee, a fee plus expenses or a base fee plus hourly charges and expenses. The less experienced the inde- pendent practitioner is, the more often he or she will have to work for a flat fee.

Although some experienced independents prefer to bill for actual costs, they price a job based on the hours required to complete it multiplied by an hourly rate. They then increase these costs by a certain percentage to cover overhead and profit. Independent public relations practitioners sometimes function as PR counselors. Indeed, some inde- pendent practitioners work almost exclusively as counselors.

A PR counselor is called in at an advisory level and works for a consultant’s fee, which he or she sets, with hours and expenses added. The counselor studies and researches a situation, interviews the peo- ple involved, oudines recommendations and makes a formal presentation of these recommendations.

Firm/Agency Employees Each agency or firm has its own internal structure, but generally, the president

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Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins8

Although the U.S. government is the world’s largest employer of public relations practitioners, the government uses the term public affairs, not public relations. The reason for that is an Oct. 22, 1913, act of Congress that is often interpreted as precluding governmental use of public relations practitioners. The last paragraph of the Interstate Commerce Commission statute reads: “Appropriated funds may not be used to pay a publicity expert unless specifically appropriated for that purpose.” Because this was an amendment to a bill introduced by Representative Frederick H. Gillett (R .-Mass.), it is often called the Gillett Amendment in PR literature.

The intent was to be sure publicity was not used to propagandize U.S. citizens. PR people have tried a number of times to repeal this amendment, but not recently. Additionally, the 1948 Smith- Mundt Act’s ban on domestic exposure to public diplomacy related to geographic boundaries.

As a result, the term public affairs is widely used in government to mean public relations. To make matters more confusing, the same title is used in commercial and nonprofit organizations for the per- son working on the organization’s relationships with government at all levels.

Federal wire services carrying public relations news releases and announcements are not new. The services date to 1954, but what is new is the cultural and international expansion of the services so that news is released to ethnic wire services and may be distributed in different languages too. The U.S. Department of State has a Bureau of International Information (IIP) that operates the America.gov websites, successor to the USINFO website , although some languages are available only from USINFO.

What is obvious from this is that the Internet has changed the whole role of government in the USA. As indicated above, information prepared for international audiences, which has been going on for decades, is accessible now to domestic audiences. The IIP, which goes to 140 countries, is "the principal international strategic communication community. IIP designs, develops, and imple- ments Internet and print publications, traveling and electronically transmitted speaker programs, and information are created strictly for key international audiences....”

Another change inside the USA and internationally is a demand for transparency in government. Attempting to restrict what the government is communicating to other countries seems to hamper such an effort. (For a thorough discussion of this aspect, see the Lawrence Erlbaum publication, Com- munication Law and Policy, Vol. 11, No. 1 (2006, Winter) for the article by Allen W. Palmer and Edward L. Carter, “The Smith-Mundt Act’s Ban on Domestic Propaganda: An Analysis of the Cold War Statute Limiting Access to Public Diplomacy,” pp. 1-34. For some historical background on the U.S. government’s role in communication, see Elsevier’s Public Relations Review, Vol. 32 (2009) for Mordecai Lee’s “The Rise and Fall of the Institute for Government Public Relations Research,” pp. 118-124.)

The program is then implemented by other PR work- ers at the organization or at an agency. (See Chapter 8 for details of billings.) Counselors may work indepen- dently, or they may be associated with a firm as senior members. Some independent PR practitioners do various PR jobs, but some are stricdy counselors.

Some counselors are sensitive about their roles because people tend to view them as behind- the-scenes influence peddlers. Another misconception

is that counselors are simply unemployed would- be senior staffers. Public confusion is understand- able, however, because counselors are advisers who possess special areas of expertise, most of it gained in agency or corporate work. Their value resides in their experience, in the people they know and are able to call upon and in their skill as researchers, analysts, communicators and persuaders.

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 9

Some counselors develop reputations for helping institutions prepare for and handle crisis communi- cation. Others are known for their ability to help institutions establish and maintain good govern- ment relations (at all levels, but primarily at the federal level). Still, others are called on for their ability to help with internal problems, typically ones involving employee relations. Counselors, as senior practitioners, often develop staffs that include younger people who have particular strengths or specializations.

in the areas of economic and social development, human rights, welfare and emergency relief,” and now “uses the term civil society organizations or CSOs to refer to the wide array of nongovernmental and not-for-profit organizations that have a presence in public life, expressing the interests and values of their members or others, based on ethical, cultural, scientific, religious or philanthropic considerations. Nevertheless, the term NGO in more casual usage still is applied to any nonprofit organization that is independent of government. These are typically values-based organizations that depend, at least in part, on charitable donations and voluntary service. Organizations that get some government funding are called GONGOs. Nonprofits all over the world include museums, hospitals, social service and health care groups, professional associations of all kinds as well as activists groups, often known as private voluntary organizations or PVOs, such as Greenpeace and Oxfam.

»10

Specific Areas of PR Specialization The breadth of PR services gives individuals a variety of career choices. Many practitioners are experienced in more than one area.

Nonprofit Organizations Nonprofit organizations of- fer a practitioner several advantages and opportu- nities, although the compensation is often less than in other areas. The structure of these organizations (a small production staff answerable to a volunteer board of directors) means that the nonprofit PR per- son generally has a great deal of freedom in design- ing a program. An attractive program that does not require a large bankroll probably will be accepted.

This kind of PR work usually entails a consider- able amount of promotional activity and some- times also fundraising and seeking grants from foundations.

A particular plus, however, is the reception given to publicity materials by news media representatives, who are more likely to use information from non- profit institutions than from for-profit organizations as long as the preparation is professional. Even non- profit advertising gets a break, with nonprofit special rates. The only drawback other than a smaller bud- get is frequent dependence on volunteer support in many areas. Responsibility for training volunteers usually falls on the PR people, and they must recog- nize that volunteers’ interest in and enthusiasm for the organization can be stimulated and sustained only by a viable program.

Outside the USA, nonprofit organizations may be called nongovernmental organizations (NGOs), although the World Bank notes that “there has been a deliberate shift away in the last few years from use of the term NGO, which refers more nar- rowly to professional, intermediary and non-profit organizations which advocate and/or provide services

Educational Institutions Educational institutions are usually nonprofit organizations as well, but they may be either public or private. The private institu- tions generally conform to the nonprofit organiza- tional pattern. Although they have significant dealings with government, their work is quite unlike that of public institutions, which, being a part of gov- ernment, are more open to the scrutiny of taxpayers and the whims of politicians. The type of PR prac- ticed in state educational institutions is often suited to a person who enjoys dealing with the government.

PR people in all educational institutions are likely to be involved in development, which includes fund- raising. The functions of PR and of development are separate, but the two groups must work closely together. In fact, the two functions are often lumped together under the umbrella term institutional advancement (a term used by CASE, the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education).

The title “vice president for development” or “director of university relations” is commonly assigned to the individual who supervises both the PR and the fundraising functions. Sports information may be included under public relations or kept sepa- rate from it in an athletic department; in the latter case, the person responsible for it reports to the ath- letic director, who in turn reports to the president. However, this arrangement can cause problems because university sports can be involved in contro- versies that affect university relations.

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10 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

Fundraising or Donor Relations Although many public relations people will tell you that they “don’t do fundraising”—just as many others say that they “don’t do advertising”—those who do it well are in great demand.

Fundraising is sometimes called donor relations. First and foremost, the fundraiser must identify sources of potential support through research. Then he or she must inform those sources of the value of the organization so that they will consider making a gift to it. In the case of individual donors, this usually means cultivating a relationship between that person and the organization over a period of time. If the source is a foundation, the informational task means writing a grant proposal that explains the value of the organization seeking the funds and iden- tifies it closely with the mission of the foundation.

The third aspect of donor relations—the actual solicitation—takes many forms. It may involve an elaborate presentation book prepared just for that individual, or it may employ a PowerPoint presen- tation or a DVD that can be used repeatedly in combination with personally directed appeals. It gen- erally involves a series of letters requesting funds, and in broader appeals it may include brochures and occasionally, phone solicitations, such as the text- ing to mobile phones that raised funds for Haiti after the 2010 earthquake. Face-to-face meetings also are used for the personal appeal, and these can be one- on-one or one to a group of potential donors. In the case of large gifts, a strong tie is usually built between the institution (some element or some person in it) and the donor.

Once a gift is announced, appropriate recognition of the donor is expected that reflects the size of the gift and the nature of the appeal. (Nothing is more upset- ting to a donor than getting an expensive “reward,” because this signals that a good portion of the money raised is being spent on thank-yous instead of on the primary mission of the organization.)

Finally, the donor’s relationship to the organiza- tion must be sustained in a way that is mutually sat- isfying. The fundraiser wants the donor to give again, especially if the organization has annual fund- raising events (as public television stations do, for example). Even if the gift was substantial and there is no reason to expect another, the fundraiser still wants the donor to have an ongoing relationship with the organization and to feel good about having given. Donors often attract other donors, but only when they feel good about their experience.

Research: Trend Analysis, Issues Management and Public Opinion Evaluation Some PR practitioners specialize in research that focuses on capturing information to help organizations plan better by anticipating rents of change. Some engage in analyzing trends to enable their organization to detect, adapt to and even take advantage of emerging changes. Issues management is centrally concerned with watching the horizons for change through many types of research. By determining in advance what develop- ments are likely to become important to one or more of its publics, an organization can plan to meet the challenge, rather than be taken by surprise. Much of the research underlying trend analysis and issue anticipation consists of monitoring public opinion and evaluating the consequences of attitude changes to the organization and its publics. Interactive media monitoring of blogs and social networks is increas- ingly being used for analysis.

Detection of emerging issues and surveillance of social and economic trends continue to be important PR functions. These skills cast PR people in the role of social scientist. Information and intelligent analy- sis of issues and trends can help restore public confi- dence. The challenge facing PR practitioners is to provide leadership in developing creative, pragmatic communication programs that provide their publics with complete, candid, factual and understandable information. Furthermore, PR workers must pioneer new skills to use in maintaining good relations with their publics.

cur-

International PR for Organizations and Firms The globalization of news media, global economic depen- dence among countries and the emergence of multi- national companies have helped expand this area of public relations. International PR is not limited to businesses, however, because many nonprofit organi- zations and associations are international in scope. PR firms often have offices abroad to represent both domestic and foreign clients. Corporate PR people abroad function just as their counterparts do at home, working with community leaders, govern- ment officials and media. They provide a crucial link between the branch organization and the home office.

International PR requires extra sensitivity to public opinion because practitioners deal with people whose languages, experiences and worldviews differ from their own. Areas of special concern are language (and knowledge of its nuances); customs

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 11

General Business or Retail PR This area is somewhat broader than the term retail implies. It involves working with government regulatory bodies, employees, the community, competitors and, generally, the full com- plement of publics both inside and outside the company. Consumers represent an increasingly significant external public because they talk to politicians, blog, post opinions on interactive sites of all kinds and can arouse public opinion against a business. Product promotion—of a service or of goods—is another com-mon aspect of general business. For that reason, the busi- ness setting is a likely place to find the marketing/public relations, integrated marketing communications (IMC) or just integrated communication (IC) designation.

Government The four areas in this category all have the same focus, but their internal workings vary.

Federal, State or Local Government Employment Although the federal government is prohibited from labelingPR activities as such, it (like state and local gov- ernments) uses PR talent under a variety of titles: public information officer, public affairs officer or departmen- tal assistant or aide and, in some other countries, infor- mation minister for a government unit. Nongovernmental Organizations’ Government Relations The term public affairs is also used by institutions to designate the working area of staff members who deal with governments. Most institu- tions, whether commercial or nonprofit, have spe- cialists who handle their relations with relevant departments of government on federal, state and local levels. In this context, public affairs work con- sists of dealing with problems that come under the jurisdiction of elected or appointed public officials. Political Public Relations Political PR involves working with candidates for office—and often con- tinuing to work with them after their election to han- dle problems, strategies and activities such as speech writing or publicity. Many PR practitioners will not support a cause or person they cannot conscien- tiously endorse. Others see PR advice as being like legal counsel and offer their services to anyone who is willing to pay for them.

For government, public affairs and politics, a strong background in government and history is use- ful. Political PR, like other areas of public relations, can be high pressure, especially since the 1967 Freedom of Information Act has made govern- ment secrets more generally discoverable. In addition,

affecting attitudes toward media, products/services and symbols that stem from customs; and laws. The last area is particularly significant, because incompat- ibilities between one country’s laws and another’s may make harmonious relationships difficult.

Financial PR or Investor Relations This area includes such activities as preparing material for securities ana- lysts to study, developing an annual report that is acceptable to auditors and intelligible to stockholders and knowing when and to whom to issue a news release that could affect corporate stock values. What this meansin the USAis complying with the regulations for corporate disclosure of the Securities and Exchange Commission.Filingof theappropriate forms is usuallya function for the chief financial officer (CFO) and the in-house attorney, but writing the accompanying news release and distributingit is the roleof investor relations (IR). IR is a rather hazardous occupation because a wrong move can have such grave repercussions. In turn, it is exciting, remunerative and challenging. A related function is writing, editing and sometimes also producing environmental reports, prepared by practi- tioners who must be given sensitive internal documents on compliance and ratings, as well as on customer experiences. These reports are very time-consuming and often need to be prepared in several languages, preferably all commanded by the writer because auto- matic translations are seldom sensitive to nuances.

Industry Public relations for industry also requires a good feel for political PR-public affairs because so much of industry is regulated by government. A per- son working for a company that handles government contracts must develop a high tolerance for bureau- cratic delay. One PR staffer for a defense contractor has said that the average time required to get an “original” release—one with all new material— cleared for dissemination to the news media is 23 days. Because much of the emphasis in industry relations is on internal PR, and in particular on labor relations, a strong background in the social sciences and business helps.

Despite the trend toward deregulation in the util- ities industry, PR practitioners still must work with both the government and consumers. They must also know financial PR and investor relations, because most utilities are publicly held. Finally, industry’s PR practitioners may be involved in product promo- tion, which requires an understanding and apprecia- tion of marketing and advertising activities.

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12 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

restrictions on campaign financing mean that PR people must be even more judicious in collecting, reporting and spending money. State and federal laws must be obeyed to the letter. Furthermore, when information is stored electronically in any for- mat, it can be leaked and easily made available globally.

Lobbying Many lobbyists are not public relations specialists at all (many are former government offi- cials). But many public relations practitioners get involved in lobbying activities through their jobs with corporations or utilities. Some PR practitioners become professional lobbyists, at which point they generally represent a particular industry (such as oil and gas) or special interest (such as senior citizens or health care organizations). Lobbyists work closely

with the staffs of federal and/or state representatives and senators, who depend on them to explain the intricacies and implications of proposed legislation. Lobbyists draw on information furnished by their sponsors to try to persuade lawmakers to adopt a particular point of view. Health Care Health maintenance organizations (HMOs), hospitals, other health care agencies (such as nursing home corporations), pharmaceutical com- panies, medical clinics, health-science centers and nonprofit health agencies (for example, those com- bating heart disease, cancer and birth defects) all employ public relations personnel. The demand in this field is for PR practitioners who either know or have the educational background to learn about medical science to translate that information

Some people resist considering lobbying a part of public relations, but it is. Sometimes, it is difficult to decide what is lobbying and what is just public affairs practice. Public affairs is a public relations function that involves working with legislative and regulatory units of government or working for gov- ernment in conducting campaigns. When a public affairs person is working outside of government, that person is employed either for a company or nonprofit or for a firm that represents an organiza- tion as a client.

A good example of a public affairs campaign is the work that was done to get legislation that would permit airline pilots to carry guns in the cockpit, a post-9/11 issue. The PR firm that represents the Allied Pilots Association, Shirley and Banister Public Affairs, launched a campaign that involved talking to people in government who favored the idea to get them to introduce the legislation, a lobby- ing function. This is usually the way such campaigns begin, and the practice of pairing public affairs and lobbying is increasing. The reason is to find in government “ball carriers” who can move the idea forward, and then give them information that will support the proposed legislation. The idea has to be advanced to the public, too, through traditional and nontraditional media. Because the news media cover government, it is easier to get one of the supporters to lead off with the idea and get it covered by television and print news media.

The work only starts there. The staffs of government legislators and affected government regula- tory groups have to be educated too. The public affairs people work with the actual contact persons, lobbyists, to be sure the knowledge is there to support the idea and to counter arguments. In working for their clients, public affairs firms write op-ed pieces for newspapers, and these often stimulate let- ters to the editor, so the idea gets into public discourse.

Often, media outside of Washington, D.C., have to be approached with a local angle to get coverage; sometimes, the legislator’s home state is an opening, or the community where the client is based.

Efforts such as this involve research, especially polling. Such campaigns involve lining up specia- lists to add credibility to arguments. They may involve advertising. All messages from whatever source must support the goal. This is strategic public relations at the most fundamental level, and the mea- surable outcome is getting policy adopted and implemented.

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 13

accurately for the organization’s publics. A heavy marketing component also exists in this area, which means that the PR person needs to have good adver- tising and public relations skills.

function of public relations is to achieve mutually beneficial relationships among all the publics that an institution has, by fostering harmonious interchanges among an institution’s various publics (including such groups as employees, consumers, suppliers and producers).Sports Before sports became big business, the term

public relations was sometimes used to describe a job that actually combined press agentry (planning activ- ities or staging events that attract attention) and publicity.

Today, however, business enterprises in profes- sional sports are of such size and scope that the PR title is legitimate. Professional teams have intricate relations with investors, their own players, competing teams and players, stadium owners, transportation and housing facilities (at home and on the road), commu- nity supporters, media (with regard both to publicity and to contractual obligations, as in live coverage) and other important publics. Most professional sports organizations employ full-time staff PR people, and they contract for special PR activities as well. Sports are also increasingly important to colleges and univer- sities. Sports information officers in these institutions handle relations with media and fans.

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The three traditional views of PR are each discernible in the history of public relations (see Chapter 2). Greyser’s manipulative model describes public relations during the era of communicating and initiating. His service model describes practices that predominated during the era of reacting and re- sponding. His transactional model describes public relations during the era of planning and presenting.

The current era of professionalism has seen prac- titioners beginning to control PR’s development, use and practice. This concept of the uniqueness of pub- lic relations is not new and was well expressed in the following words of the late Philip Lesly:

Leisure Time The leisure-time market includes all recreation-related industries. It covers real estate promotion for resort locations; public park develop- ment; resorts and hotels; travel agencies; airlines and other mass transportation systems; sports, hobbies and crafts; and some educational, entertainment and cultural activities. The focus of PR activity in this market is promotion, and the only real hazard is the somewhat erratic international economy. Crea- tive and inventive public relations generalists can function here quite comfortably.

Public relations people have the role of being always in the middle— pivoted between their clients/employers and their publics. ... This role “in the middle ” does not apply to any other group that deals with the cli- mate of attitudes. Experts in other fields—journalists, sociologists, psychologists, politicians, etc.—are oriented in the direction of their specialties} 2

Text not available due to copyright restrictionsThe Function of Public Relations in Business and Society

Another way of talking about the different approaches to PR is from the standpoint of practi- tioner self-description.

Traditionally, three functions have been ascribed to public relations. According to one point of view, public relations serves to control publics, by directing what people think or do to satisfy the needs or desires of an institution. According to a second point of view, PR’s function is to respond to publics— reacting to developments, problems or the initiatives of others. According to a third point of view, the

Text not available due to copyright restrictions Self-described roles,

largely the conceptual work of Glen M. Broom and George D. Smith,15 include expert prescriber, an authoritarian and prescriptive model; communica- tion technician, a supportive, skills-oriented model;

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Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins14

communication facilitator, a liaison model; problem- solving process facilitator, a confrontational model; and acceptant legitimizer, a yes-person model. Acharya examined these descriptions in terms of “perceived environmental uncertainty” for the prac- titioner and concluded that a public relations prac- titioner (as an individual) may play a number of these roles, depending on the environment in which he or she functions in any given case.

Actually, these self-described roles may be tele- scoped into only two: manager (who supervises tech- nical staff and participates in planning and policy making as counsel to management) and technician (who performs the skills jobs that PR demands).

change might be among the most significant contri- butions a practitioner could make. In any case, Ryan suggests that “public relations persons would do well to seek out participative environments and to avoid authoritative environments.

Although most public relations practitioners accept the idea of there being distinct technician and manager roles due to the variety of activities that public relations incorporates, in reality public relations practitioners juggle the two roles most of the time. The delineation might best be used to describe which role occupies most of the practi- tioner’s time.

»19

Typologies Aside These typologies are very useful; however, they often do not grasp the full range of factors affecting public relations practice. It makes a great deal of difference, for example, who is actually doing the PR. In many cases, public relations functions have been delegated to people from other fields: lawyers without any back- ground in public relations or even communications, former media personnel who have been on the receiv- ing end of public relations material but have no theo- retical background and/or management-trained executives whose business school education did not include any courses in public relations or marketing experts who have no knowledge of the overall com- munications components. If management doesn’t know what the public relations function should be— and many do not—the function becomes what the person doing the job knows how to do best In other words, the corporate communications environment, the education of the individuals doing the job, the type of organization and the culture in which they function all significandy affect what actually happens under the name of public relations.

Internationally, much of what is called public rela- tions really isn’t. Often, it is publicity, promotion or press agentry—all technical activities often included in public relations efforts. In some nations, you’ll find something called “developmental public rela- tions,” and this is usually government-generated information or campaigns designed to get citizen compliance with or without prior consultation about the goals or objectives. The Stockholm Accords, mentioned earlier, are an effort to neutral- ize this tendency to give real public relations and communication management more traction. A com- mon tool found in the USA as well as abroad is what

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If the roles really are more diverse, as the earlier descriptive work suggests, the particular roles chosen may depend on the degree of encouragement or discouragement for individual initiative present in the public relations practitioner’s own environment.

Acharya’s work describes practitioner behavior primarily in terms of the external environment of public opinion, but internal environments (such as open or closed communication systems) also can affect practitioner behavior. In fact, some research indicates that PR practitioners who work in partici- pative environments (where employees make job- related suggestions and generally take a more active role in determining their work environment) see themselves as less constrained than those who work in authoritarian environments (where employee input is strongly discouraged). It may be that the self-described “technician” doesn’t have the option of being a manager because of authoritarian top management and a closed communication environ- ment. Michael Ryan, who has investigated participa- tive versus authoritative environments, observes:

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Although Ryan recognizes that the task of trans- forming an organization from authoritative to partic- ipative might not be included in a PR person’s job description, he notes that accomplishing such a

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 15

James E. Grunig has called “asymmetrical public relations practice,” which means that feedback is used only to find out the best ways to persuade peo- ple and get compliance. Business firms in highly competitive markets use this. Internationally, compa- nies may change products to meet consumer tastes and desires, evidence of the two-way symmetrical model of PR.

Grunig holds up a two-way symmetrical model as the ideal because it involves negotiation with an organization’s various publics to arrive at some mutually acceptable and beneficial policies and ways of doing business. One fortunate outcome of the instant international communication on the Internet is the shift in a balance of power to those outside the organization. All organizations have had to deal with information on the Internet that has created diffi- culty, even a crisis. In some countries, the reaction is not to improve communication, but to attempt to block various sites on the Internet.

Countries attempting to use the two-way symmet- ric model for best practices often find culture gets in the way of equalizing relationships. The two-way concept involves developing mutual understandings so that even when a public may not agree with man- agement, at least there is an understanding of why management is saying or doing what it is. This can occur only if the public affected appreciates manage- ment’s position, and if the culture is not too hierar- chical to permit such practice.

add new contacts and develop new skills. You will also be trying to find balance to protect your health and your personal relationships. Both men and women face these issues, but for women, expectations of their role in their families often causes additional stress. Some women have gone into business for them- selves in an effort to have more control over their time. Others have used an integrative approach to incorpo- rate the various components into their lifestyle.

The rewards, though, are that you will always be learning, are not likely to be bored, and will be con- stantly challenged to higher levels of professionalism and expertise. Another reward is the contribution of public relations to commerce, public policy and discourse.

The Value of Public Relations The lack of consistency in PR practice is due to its rapid growth and its need to develop within the cul- tural, religious, socioeconomic and political context in which it is being practiced. The reason for its growth globally, though, is because it does have value to governments, commercial entities and non- profit organizations.

Public relations can represent the needs, interests and desires of the organization’s various publics/ stakeholders to management and then back from management to them, explaining management’s perspectives. It opens a dialogue between an orga- nization and the publics it affects.

The dialogue can encourage mutual adjust- ments between an organization and the society it serves. Public relations focuses on society in the broadest sense and should work in the greater interest of society, rather than the narrow interests of the organizations it serves. In working toward the best interest of society, public relations has the opportunity to improve cooperation of an organization with its publics and perhaps avoid any arbitrary or coercive action on the part of government PR provides useful information to people about various aspects of their fives. Although PR people cannot be a conscience to an organization whose leadership has none, their role is to raise issues and concerns and remind man- agement of ethical responsibilities.

Realities of Working in PR You will be called on to master new technology immediately and craft creative uses for it.

You will be expected to have a comprehensive knowledge of stakeholders, their expectations and their values, and how best to reach them with effective communication. You will have to know who the “influentials” are in every area—social, political and economic. You will facing an ever-shifting level of “trust” among publics and exposure to more confron- tational and highly propagandized criticism. You will have to offer proof that your efforts achieved desig- nated goals, and be prepared to defend areas in which you have failed.This is not to advise against risk-taking. There is something to be said in favor of “No risk, no gain,” but be prepared to defend your decisions.

You will have to deal with attempting to find bal- ance in your workload itself to do some of the “downtime” required to gather more information,

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16 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

U.S. ethics are anything but globally universal, so it is easy to run into trouble practicing public rela- tions abroad where ethical standards and practices are different. The opening of China to international public relations firms, U.S. professors teaching public relations in Chinese universities and increased flow of public relations material into China due to improvement in trade relations have exposed West- ern PR practitioners to something called guanxi.

Like many words from other languages, this word has no English equivalent, although networking is frequently used. It isn’t networking as the term is used in the USA. It isn’t even social networking, as most Westerners would understand it. Nor is it just a special interpersonal connection that Ameri- cans would equate with being “well connected” or having “strong connections” within an organization. The Chinese who attempt to explain it to Westerners say it means a personal relationship with some- one in power who can not only pave the way for what a PR person (or any other) wants to happen but who can actually get it accomplished by that person’s power, status and access. Reciprocity is involved. But this is different from a Western understanding of “doing a favor” and “expecting a favor,” often expressed by “Okay, you owe me one” when someone accomplishes something for another. It’s also more than pulling strings, a term used to mean that you got something to happen because of a person in power, but that is close. Although reciprocity is usually expected in any of these Western contexts, in guanxi, it means the return has to be greater than the deed.

Guanxi is common not just in China, but in many places where a majority or a significant financial component of the population is Chinese. The practice comes from Confucian principles, so it is culture-bound. The Chinese are likely to believe that their Confucian values are superior to Western values. In turn, many Westerners exposed to guanxi often worry about what seems to them to be eth- ical issues, because this is not what they would consider to be a “straightforward” transaction. To them, it appears almost like unethical influence peddling.

PR helps management formulate, advocate and teach objectives that are more sound. The principles of public relations reflect the basic cooperative natures of people, and thus, PR peo- ple earn their reputation as problem solvers. Being socially responsible means upholding these obligations.

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Not only does such behavior justify public pres- sure for government intervention as the only way to achieve needed changes—just what business does not want—but it also undermines a company’s credibil- ity. First, the behavior is reactive, as the late William A. Durbin, former chairman of Hill & Knowlton, pointed out. Second, it is defensive, suggesting that there is a fundamental conflict between public wel- fare and industry. Third, the posture business takes in explaining how it is a victim of circumstances evi- dences a preference for quantification (as in talking about “nonproductive dollars”) when the public is focused on something qualitative like “clean air.” Fourth, the pattern of response concentrates on the means and ignores the end—an end that business might actually support, like clean air.21

PR as Counsel for Social Responsibility Management must be responsible and responsive to its publics; otherwise, it will have to combat a hostile environment. Unfortunately, the pattern of action has often been just the opposite,

Text not available due to copyright restrictions

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 17

All large institutions, not only businesses, are challenged these days: governments, schools and col- leges, professional sports, religious institutions, health care organizations, fundraising groups and mediated news media. One major source of chal- lenges is information on the Internet A study by the public relations firm Burson-Marsteller of 158 corporate messages by 16 Financial Times Global Companies showed a 48 percent gap between what messages corporations present with what bloggers convey. Furthermore, news releases are being re- printed extensively and everywhere, so any effort to control the audience for them is lost.22

With the prevalence of such crises in public confi- dence, the role of the PR practitioner becomes critical. Probably the biggest obstacles to “ideal” public relations, as media scholars David Clark and William Blankenburg observe, are economics and human nature:

Many examples of the problems of accountability can be found. How can a profit-and-loss statement be made to reveal on the credit ledger the good a company does when its personnel advise minority businesspeople struggling to succeed in a ghetto? How can the installa- tion of pollution control devices at a factory be calcu- lated as a positive accomplishment, rather than as a drag on productivity? How can the expense of hiring high school dropouts and putting them through company- financed training programs be manifested as a credit rather than as a debit? Conversely, how can the “bad” a company does (by polluting, using discriminatoryhir- ingpracticesand the like) be measured and reflected as a negative factor in the company’s performance? The “goinggreen” movement to protect the global environ- ment that started in the 1990s became a popular mantra in the 2009-2010 era, until economic issues produced a sizeable share of critics about increased costs and loss of productivity.

Despite these problems, social responsibility is widely recognized today as an essential part of doing business in the USA and globally. Note the responsibility emphasis in the Accords. The interna- tional agreement also includes an emphasis that pub- lic relations has had to expand its role as (1) a problem finder and problem solver or preventer and (2) an inter- preter—a communication link. Let’s consider these two requirements individually.

The plain fact isthat managersare hired to make money for owners, and that a conscience can cost money. In the long run, it is money well spent, but many stockholders and managers fix their vision on the short run. Then, too, an abrupt change in corporate policy amounts to a public confession of past misbehavior—or so it seems to many executives. The natural temptation is to play up the good, and to let it go at that.

PR as Problem Finder, Solver and Preventer PR people have to be problem finders and solvers and preferably, problem preventers. Such work involves identifying issues and understanding what images are projected and how these are interpreted by global publics.

Now, in this 21st Century, words from as long ago as 1965 by the late PR practitioner Philip Lesfy remain valid.

Unfortunately, this continues, but the concept of social responsibility and transparency are building. A start in this direction began in the 1970s when a whole “new math” entered the corporate structure. Executives committed to being responsive and respon- sible attempted to explain social costs to chief financial officers, securities analysts and stockholders. The Wall Street Journal called it “the Arithmetic of Quality”:

Text not available due to copyright restrictions These most “intangible, immeasurable,

and unpredictable of all elements affecting business problems” that Lesly noted (that may also apply to large nonprofit institutions) were:

The social critics of business are making headway. Increasingly, corporations are being held to account not just for their profitability but also for what they do about an endless agenda of social problems. For business execu- tives,it'sa whole new ball game.Now they’re struggling to come up with a new way to keep score.24 1. The main problem in production is no longer

how to increase the efficiency of factories and plants, but how to deal with the attitudes of peo- ple whose jobs will be changed or eliminated by the introduction of more efficient methods.

2. The principal problem of growth through innovation is not how to organize and admin- ister development programs, but how to deal

The first round of downsizing and restructuring began in the 1980s, continued into the 21st Century and was stepped up by the major recession in 2008 that began in the USA and spread globally. The job of practicing social responsibility became increas- ingly more difficult.

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Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins18

with the reactions to the product of intended customers and dealers.

3. The personnel problem is not how to project a firm’s staff needs and standards, but how to per- suade the best people to work for the company— and then to stay and do their best work.

4. The financing problem is not how to plan for the company’s funding, but how to deal with the attitudes of investors.

5. The problem in advertising is not how to ana- lyze in minute detail the media, timing and costs, but how to reach the minds and hearts of the audience.

6. The problem of business acceptance is no longer how to demonstrate that an institution is operat- ing in the public interest, but how to get people to understand that its array of activities works better when it has a minimum of restraints.

communication fink between an organization and its publics. Lesly added,

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In 1972, David Finn, cofounder of the PR firm of Ruder & Finn, wrote:

Twenty years ago public relations had its eye on the social sciences, with the full expectation that new dis- coveries would soon be made which would elevate the art of mass communications into a responsible profes- sion. Ten years ago some of us thought computer tech- nology was going to do the trick and the phrase “opinion management” emerged as a possible successor to the long-abandoned “engineering of consent. ” As things turned out, it is not the technique of public rela- tions which has changed so much as the subject matter with which we are concerned.

Each problem Lesly isolated suggests a need for awareness of and sensitivity to what is going on in the minds of publics that now are global. No longer primarily a communicator, today’s PR practitioner tries to prevent crises and, once they occur, tries to keep them from getting out of hand. The measure of performance is not only how effectively the client’s message gets across but also whether a flare-up that might injure a client’s business can be avoided. Often, these flare-ups are electronic, instant and global. One major obligation is to help clients conduct their busi- nesses in a way that responds to the new demands made by concerned scientists, environmentalists, con- sumerists, minority leaders, employees and under- privileged segments of the community.

The most valuable type of public relations activity involves anticipating problems, planning to prevent problems or at least trying to solve them while they are still small.

Emphasizing PR’s role as a communication link, Finn focused on four developments that he held to be true of the job: (1) resolving conflicts may require modifying many opinions, including those held by the public relations consultant and the client; (2) pat- terns of communication in the future may revolve increasingly around smaller groups; (3) the random benefits of public relations activities not directly tied to corporate interests will increase; and (4) new methods of research now being developed will be especially relevant to situations where opinions change rapidly.28

His words were prophetic of the instant global communication system in which PR practitioners and communication managers now work.

PR as Interpreter and Communication Link Philip Lesly observed that institutions must function in a human cli- mate and thoughtful managers recognize that they don’t have the expertise to deal with this element unaided.As human patterns become more complicated, they demand greater expertise and experience. Conse- quently, Lesly said, “Communications sense and skills, which have been vital and have always been scarce, are becoming more vital and scarcer still.”

This is where the PR practitioner comes in, of course. He or she must act as an interpreter or

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In other words, PR cannot fabricate a corporate image; it must start with reality and seek to match the image to the truth. Many people wrongly assume that public relations is preoccupied with image-making in the sense of creating a false

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 19

Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson 'toj ‘miiD WE

few 0C>, AND NJJNfi T CJO Tut BtSY ic JOB WSStBlE . I

\

f&L

Although humorous, the cartoon makes the point that many people think of PR as spin. Public relations professional Thomas J. Madden called his 1997 book Spin Man, and Larry Tye named his 1998 biography of Edward L. Bemays The Father of Spin. In today’s world of pervasive media, spinning is likely to bring counter information and undesired publicity. CALVIN AND HOBBES © Watterson. Reprinted with permission of Universal Press Syndicate. All rights reserved.

front or cover-up. Unfortunately, this misperception of public relations is reinforced by periodic reports of just such behavior on the part of individuals identi- fied as public relations specialists. For example, the term spin doctor, which suggests media manipulation through “doctored” (that is, deceptive) accounts or interpretations of events, was introduced in the late 1980s and gained currency in the 1990s.30

3. What tactics, techniques and roles are suggested by PR’s various specialties?

4. What field of public relations interests you most? Why?

Points to Remember The practice of PR is now global, but some basic principles apply to it regardless of the culture and the geopolitical area where it is practiced. At least a decade ago, 70 countries formed a Global Alliance for Public Relations and Commu- nication Management to examine how public rela- tions is practiced in different parts of the world and how practitioners can share information and learn from each other. The outcome is something called “The Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management Stockholm Accords Analysis.” The six major points of the Stockholm Accords are agreement on the role of public relations in organi- zational sustainability, governance at the highest level of organizational responsibility for two-way strategic communication, practice of public rela- tions as a management function, oversight of orga- nizational internal communications policies and action, oversight of organizational external policies and action and coordination of internal and external communication.

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What public relations and communicator man- agers today know is that what is really going on within an organization is likely to go global in sec- onds. If an organization is doing its best to be responsible to all of its stakeholders, the message you need to be prepared for is one that not only goes global, but becomes viral, is a misunderstanding or misrepresentation, intentional or not, about an organization’s irresponsibility from a real or dis- guised source that may not be discovered quickly. Your best allies are electronic friends who will help you regain credibility.

Discussion Questions 1. Why is public relations a management function?

What makes it strategic? 2. How will the Stockholm Accords help

strengthen and standardize PR practice around the world?

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20 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

The outcome of implementing the Stockholm Accords—which has already been signed by profes- sional associations on each continent is tostandard- ize the practice of public relations, to a large extent, and to lead to a standardization of educational curricula around the world. The result of implementing the Accords would improve the movement of public relations beyond professionalism to meeting the criteria for a profession. Because a PR person has only credibility to offer, he or she is only as good as his or her deserved reputation. The organization’s credibility is always at stake, too, hence the term reputation management. PR involves responsibility and responsiveness in policy and information to the best interests of the organization and its publics. Demonstrating an active social conscience is the best PR. Whatever the title for the public relations or com- munications management role, whether it be rep- utation management or relationship management, it is a strategic management function. The public relations function has an impact on the organization’s policy. The term public affairs is used by government gen- erally to represent the public relations function, but other organizations use this term for commu- nication managers who work with government at all levels. PR practitioner roles include being a staff mem- ber in a variety of institutional settings, being an agency or firm employee or being an independent PR practitioner. Public relations lacks the three major ingredients that qualify a field of activity as a profession: body of knowledge, standard educational curriculum and control over entry and exit. Specific areas of PR specialization include non- profit organizations, educational institutions, fundraising or donor relations, research, interna- tional, investor relations, industry, general busi- ness, government, health care, sports and leisure time.

The three traditional interpretations of the func- tion of public relations—controlling publics, responding to publics and achieving mutually beneficial relationships among all publics—corre-spond to the manipulative, service and transac- tional models of PR. The Internet has shifted the balance of power between organizations and their publics/stake- holders to almost assure symmetric two-way communication. Various typologies attempt to describe what pub- lic relations people do. However, who is doing the job, in what kind of communications environ- ment, in what type of organization and in what culture all determine what is being done in the name of public relations. PR offers at least eight measurable values to soci- ety and the institutions it serves, most of them centering on PR’s role in working out institu- tional and social relationships. Social responsibility is considered an essential “cost” of doing business, and all organizations are being pushed by the demand for transparency. PR people have to be interpreters, functioning as a communication link between an institution and all of its publics. Many people wrongly assume that public relations means image-making in the sense of creating a false front, cover-up or “spinning” facts.

Related Websites to Review Professional associations:

Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communica- tion Management

http://www.globalalhancepr.org Public Relations Society of America

http://www.prsa.org International Public Relations Association

http://www.ipra.org International Association of Business Communicators

http://www.iabc.com National Investor Relations Institute

http://www.niri.org

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Chapter 1 / PR Roles and Responsibilities 21

Sources for information about PR: Institute for Public Relations

http://www.instituteforpr.com PR Newswire

http://www.prnewswire.com PR Museum

http://www.prmuseum.com About Public Relations

http://advertising.about.com/od/ publicrelationsresources/

Digital Media sites: EC=MC (Every Company Is a Media Company)

http://everycompanyisamediacompany.com Mashable

http://mashable.com PaidContent

http://paidcontent.org ReadWriteWeb

http://readwriteweb.com Social Media Today

http://socialmediatoday.com

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To appreciate that public relations in some form has been a part of societies throughout the history of humankind. To recognize how public relations practice has influenced how society has evolved throughout history. To understand the critical importance of public relations in a free and democratic society. To develop a sensitivity about why public relations evolved, not just in business, but also in government and in a wide range of nongovernmental organizations. To create a heightened awareness of how public relations has matured as a professional occupation. To understand how communication technology is changing the contemporary practice of public relations.

PR’s Origins and Evolution

ublic relations may have manynames, such as integrated communication, corporate communication and strate-

gic communication. However, some argue that not all communicators who

use public relations tactics and techniques are relations practitioners.” They argue, and rightly so, that using “public relations” in a title should be reserved only for management positions that involve strategic planning and communicating. And because public relations is more a profession than just an occupation, only professionals should hold these management positions.

But because this profession continues to have difficulty defining itself, it should be no surprise that historians and practitioners disagree about where and when public relations started and how it got its name. Some historians credit Thomas Jefferson with first combining the words public and relations into public relations in 1807. Others say that the term was coined by lawyer Dorman Eaton in an address to the Yale graduating class of 1882. Regardless, public relations was not used in its modem sense until 1897, when it appeared in the Association of American Railroads’ Yearbook of Railway Literature.3 The widespread recognition of the term can be credited to Edward L. Bernays, whom Irwin Ross calls “the first and doubtless the leading ideologue of public relations.”4

P “It’s now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury.” “public —Jo Moore,1 former Labour Party media adviser to

Britain’s transport secretary, in an email to colleagues an hour after the first hijacked airplane crashed into the World Trade Center in New York on Sept. 11, 2001

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24 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

Bernays was the first to call his service “public relations counsel,” which he did in 1921. Two years later, he wrote the first book on the subject, Crystallizing Public Opinion,5 and taught the first college course on PR at New York University. Thus, it was at about the turn of the 20th Century that PR came into being as a term, as an occupation and as an academic discipline.

Like his uncle Sigmund Freud, Bernays devoted his career to the study of the human mind. His specialty was mass psychology—how the opinions of large numbers of people can be influenced effectively and honorably. When he arrived on the scene, public opinion was considered the province of philosophy. Sociology was in its infancy, and Walter Lippmann had just begun to define what Bernays called “the American tribal consciousness.” Bemays’s approach to psychology is exemplified in the advice he gave the Procter & Gamble Company when it came to him with a problem: a boycott of its products by black people. Bernays advised Procter & Gamble to eliminate its racist advertising campaign, to hire blacks in white-collar jobs and to invite black people to open-house gatherings at the plant.

The Bernays style was often subde. For example, he helped the Beech-Nut Packing Company sell bacon not by promoting bacon itself, but by promoting what all America could respond to—a nutritious breakfast. In 1918, Bernays even changed the course of history by convincing Tomas Masaryk, the founder of Czechoslovakia, to delay the announcement of that country’s independence by a day in order to get better press coverage.

Bernays, who died in 1995 at the age of 103, adamandy believed that public relations is more than mere press agentry. He was not, however, above staging events. In 1924, he helped President Coolidge counteract his aloof image by staging a White House breakfast, to which A1 Jolson and several other movie stars were invited. In 1929, he publicized the 50th anniversary of the electric light

bulb by having Thomas Edison reenact its discovery in the presence of President Hoover.

On the other hand, Bernays turned down an appeal through an intermediary to provide PR assistance to Adolf Hider in 1933, just before Hider came to power. A correspondent for the Hearst newspapers told Bernays, however, that—during an interview with Joseph Goebbels, Hider’s minister of propaganda, some years later—he saw Bemays’s 1923 book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, on Goebbels’s desk.6

Seeking the PR "Source Spring"

For all his influence on the field of public relations, Bernays is not its “founder.” In fact, some authori- ties say Bernays learned public relations while serving on George Creel’s Committee on Public Information, which was dedicated to gaining popu- lar support for the U.S. war effort during World War I.

Public relations probably has no single founder, but many public relations practitioners in the USA see Ivy Lee as the first practitioner of a modern-style public relations practice. Most of Lee’s early efforts were stricdy publicity, but later, he and others work- ing in this early era were called for some “media relations” assistance when a crisis occurred. More strategic planning and counsel developed in the Bernays’s era.

Without a doubt, public relations developed faster in the USA than in other countries.7 Historian Alan R. Raucher attributes this to the nation’s social, political, cultural and economic climate, as well as to the power of its media to render all large public institutions vulnerable to public opinion.8 Public relations practice also has become an important ser- vice globally, as other nations have adopted or adapted U.S. practices and have developed their own versions of the practice.

Public relations as a concept has no central, iden- tifying founder, national origin or founding date because it focuses on efforts to influence not only opinions but behavior. This very element has created the greatest criticism of public relations. Historians who view public relations as a significant positive influence regard it as a broker for public support of

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 25

ideas, institutions and people. Others, however, con- tend that this role entails the sacrifice of individual freedom, which is usurped by majority decision, that is, “the tyranny of the majority.” Of course, the same trade-off is central to the nature of democracy itself; but this does not dispose of the problem that public relations and attempts to influence public opinion can be misused (see Chapter 6).

between the 4th Century B.C. and the establishment of the Byzantine Empire in the 6th Century A.D., the beginning of the Dark Ages.9

Lustig cites as an example Philip II of Macedonia. By 338 B.C., Philip had subjugated all the city-states of the Hellenic peninsula under his dominion. Gold and ivory statues of Philip adorned temples along with those of the gods. Philip was thus a good role model for his son, Alexander the Great. In the 13 years of Alexander’s reign and conquests (336-323 B.C.), he managed to erect idealized images of him- self across Africa, Asia Minor and India. According to Lustig, these image-making lessons were not lost on the first Roman emperor, Augustus.

All Roman emperors, from Augustus on, made use of the ultimate promotion campaign: They pro- claimed themselves gods and required the people to worship them.10 Augustus also had Virgil’s Aeneid published for propaganda purposes. This epic poem glorified the origin of the Roman people and, by implication, the house of Caesar.

PR Functions Throughout History Because the effort to persuade underlies all public relations activity, we can say that the general endeavor of public relations is as old as civilization itself. For society to exist, people must achieve some minimum level of agreement, and this agreement is usually reached through interpersonal and group communication. But reaching agreement often requires more than the simple act of sharing infor- mation; it demands a strong element of persuasion on the part of all parties involved in the decision- making process. Today, persuasion is still the driving force of public relations, and many of the tactics that modem PR people use to persuade have been used by those having power and those seeking power and influence in society for thousands of years.

Monuments and other art forms of the ancient world reflect early efforts at persuasion. Pyramids, statues, temples, tombs, paintings and early forms of writing announce the divinity of mlers, whose power derived from the religious convictions of the public. Ancient art and literature also celebrated the heroic deeds of leaders and rulers, who were consid- ered gods or godlike. Speeches by the powerful or those seeking power used what could be called insti- tutionalized rhetoric (artificial or inflated language) as a principal device for persuasion.

Looking at some of the early techniques and tools used in persuasion can help put today’s PR activities in perspective. Certainly, such an overview will reveal that, in the process of its development, PR has amalgamated various persuasive techniques that have proved their utility and effectiveness through the centuries.

As Theodore Lustig, a retired professor and for- mer Sun Chemical Corporation communications manager, points out:

PR Uses and Strategies Throughout History Throughout history, PR has been used to promote wars, to lobby for political causes, to support political parties, to promote religions, to sell products, to raise money and to publicize events and people. Indeed, most of the uses modern society has found for public relations are not new, and modem PR practitioners have learned a lot by studying the strategies employed by earlier experts.

In 1095, Pope Urban II promoted war against the Muslim caliphate to the east. He sent word through his information network—cardinals, archbishops, bishops and parish priests—that to fight in this holy war was to serve God and to earn forgiveness of sins.

It also gave Christians a once-in-a-lifetime chance to visit the holy shrines. The response was over- whelming, even though the Cmsades were not an unqualified success.

In 1215, Stephen Langton, Archbishop of Canter- bury, used promotion tactics to lobby for a political cause. He mobilized an influential group of barons to stand up for their rights against KingJohn, and these men ultimately forced the king to agree to the terms of the Magna Carta—a document that has been used as a political banner ever since by people combating political oppression and control. In the 15th Century, Niccolo Machiavelli, an Italian statesman

The ancients had to make do with what they had. Two media, sculpture and coins, were particularly effective, and their use for political ends was refined

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26 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

PR’s Early Best Sellers St. Paul wrote his Epistles to encourage membership growth and to boost the morale of the early Christian churches, which were spread about the Roman Empire. His PR campaign was a great suc- cess, and his slogans and words of encouragement are still quoted.

The Islamic prophet Mohammed would seclude himself briefly during certain periods of social con- flict or crisis and emerge with suras (verses) attributed to divine authorship that offered arguments pointing toward a particular resolution of the controversy at hand. These and various more meditative suras became the text of the collection known as the Koran.

Dante Alighieri wrote his Divine Comedy in Italian rather than in Latin to reach a wider local audience. In the book, Dante, a political activist, eloquently put forth his moral, political and intellectual views.

William Shakespeare’s historical plays contained poetry and ideas for the intellectuals and jokes and violence for the rest of the audience. But they also appealed to those in power by glorifying and reinterpreting the War of the Roses to justify the Tudor regime.

John Milton spent much of his career writing pamphlets for the Puritans. He also wrote for the Cromwell government. His greatest work, Paradise Lost, is a beautiful and influential statement of Puritan religious views.

and political philosopher, used his talents as a publicist to support a political party in power. His The Prince and Discourses are essentially treatises on how to govern people firmly and effectively. Machiavelli’s political psychology seems quite modem. His work for Cesare Borgia relied heavily on propaganda and attempts to influence public opinion—techniques that can be associated today with “issues management.”

PR-related activities have been used to promote religion throughout the ages. In 1622, Pope Gregory XV established the Congregatio de propaganda fide, the Congregation for Propagating the Faith, to handle missionary activity. From that institution we have retained the word propaganda. In 1351, John Wycliffe called for reform of the Catholic Church and, in par- ticular, for an English translation of the Bible to give the word of God more directly to more people. Wycliffe took his campaign to the people themselves, addressing them on the streets and in public places. Although it was forbidden, he and his followers also distributed books, tracts and broadsides.

Public relations scholars are aware, however, that a “battle/kings” approach to the history of famous people and remarkable events cannot totally explain the evolution of public relations; insights into societal developments are required for such understanding.

PR Tactics Throughout History Various functions and uses of public relations have certainly existed throughout civilized history. The same cannot be said, however, for many of the tactics of 20th and 21st Century PR, because these often depend on relatively recent inventions. For example, much of modern PR relies on electronic or digital communication—the Internet, telephone, fax and satellites—and on electronic mass media—movies, radio and television. PR also has been radically affected by the rise of the computer, especially with the advent of the Internet and its new social media as well as internal intranets.

Of course, not all tactics of modem PR are of recent origin. PR still uses rhetoric, which is as old as human speech; symbols, which have been around as long as the human imagination; and slogans, which date back to people’s first consciousness of themselves as groups.

Before the Industrial Revolution, the most signif- icant period in the development of PR tactics was a 100-year period beginning about 1450. During that time the Renaissance reached its height, the Protes- tant Reformation began and the European rediscov- ery of the New World occurred. These events gave people a new view of themselves, of one another and of their environment.

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 27

To truly understand public relations practice, it is necessary to view the practice from a global per- spective. Many Americans think that professional public relations practice began in the USA, and it is true that the USA has contributed greatly to public relations theory and practice. However, other coun- tries and regions also have had a long tradition of public relations practice, although sometimes in different forms or with different tactics. Van Ruler and VerCiC report that European public relations has existed for more than a century, with the Krupp Company establishing a press relations depart- ment in 1870; the beginning of the practice in England was in the 1920s, and the first departments appeared in the Netherlands at the beginning of the 20th Century. The Dutch have the oldest public relations professional association in the world, established in 1946.1 Some Arab-Muslim public rela- tions scholars argue that Mohammed was the first public relations practitioner in their culture, although in the Arab world, public relations and advertising reportedly date back to the 1930s.2 Hung says that public relations in China started thousands of years ago.3 Anantachart says that in Thailand, the evolution of public relations began in 1283, when the king developed the first Thai alphabet and governed in a style in which public relations techniques were used.4 He established a two-way com- munication system with his people by setting up a big bell in front of his palace. Citizens could ring the bell, and the king would judge, help or otherwise solve people’s problems. Some of the tactics and techniques from around the world and throughout time might seem strange to today’s practitioners, but in many ways the goals and objectives of public relations have remained much the same.

1Betteke van Ruler and Dejan Vercic, The Bled Manifesto (Ljubljana, Slovenia: Pristop Communications, 2002). 2Badran A. Badran, Judy VanSlyke Turk and Timothy N. Walters, “Transformations: Public Relations and the United Arab Emirates Come of Age,” in The Global Public Relations Handbook: Theory, Research and Practice, ed. Krishnamerthy Sriramesh and Dejan Vercic (Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc., 2003). 3Chun-ju Flora Hung, “Public Relations in China.” Paper presented at the pre-conference workshop of the conference of the International Communication Association, Seoul, Korea, July 2002. 4Saravudh Anantachart, “Understanding Public Relations in Thailand: Its Development and Current Status.” Paper presented at the pre-conference workshop of the conference of the International Communication Association, Seoul, Korea, July 2002.

The period also marked the beginning of the age of mass media. In about 1450, Johann Gutenberg invented printing from movable type, and the press was bom. Few other inventions have had so pro- found an effect on human culture, at least until the birth of primitive forms of electronic communication at the end of the 19th Century, the birth of the Internet and the World Wide Web in the late 20th Century and the success of the new social media and such devices as “droid” smartphones in the 21st Century. Spinoffs of movable type in print- ing have been used by PR practitioners ever since in books, advertising posters, releases, party publications, newspapers, Web pages and blogs.

The Beginnings of PR in the USA, 1600-1799 As Figure 2.1 indicates, the USA has witnessed sev- eral periods or stages in the development of public relations.

During the early colonization of America, PR was used to sell real estate. The Virginia Company in 1620 issued a broadside in England offering 50 acres of free land to anyone who brought a new settler to America before 1625. In 1643, PR was used in the colonies to raise money. Harvard College solicited funds by issuing a public relations brochure titled “New England’s First Fruits.

handbills, publicity »n Another

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28 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

Capsule History of PR in the United States 1600-1799In the USA the development of PR has gone through

five distinct stages: 1. Preliminary period—an era of development of

the channels of communication and exercise of PR tactics (publicity, promotion and press agentry)

2. Communicating/initiating—a time primarily of publicists, press agents, promoters and propagandists

3. Reacting/responding—a period of writers hired to be spokespeople for special interests

4. Planning/preventing—a maturing of PR as it began to be incorporated into the management function

5. Professionalism—an effort by PR practitioners to control PR’s development, use and practice on an international level

These stages of evolution are marked by particular periods in U.S. history, which fall into the following divisions:

Initial Colonization, American Revolution

1800-1899 Civil War, Western Expansion, Industrial Revolution

1900-1939 Progressive Era/Muckrakers, World War I, Roaring Twenties, Depression 1940-1979 World War II, Cold War of the 1950s, Consumer Movement

1980-Present Global Communication

college was the first to use a publicity release in the New World to publicize an event. King’s College (now Columbia University) sent an announcement of its 1758 commencement to various newspapers, where the item was printed as news.12 Even sports sponsorship is not new. The first recorded intercol- legiate competition was an 1852 rowing match between Harvard and Yale, sponsored by the Boston, Concord and Montreal Railroads.

By the time of the American Revolution, substan- tial advances had been made in public relations uses and tactics. Although public relations as such did not exist in 1776, many of PR’s functions, uses and tac- tics were already well developed by that time. The patriots who promoted the American Revolution overlooked no opportunity to use PR tactics in their efforts to persuade—that is, to boost the war effort and to rally support for their new political plans. To this end they employed a wide variety of PR tools—newsletters, newspapers, heroes, slogans, symbols, rhetoric, organizations, press agentry and publicity—as well as rallies, parades, exhibitions, cel- ebrations, poetry, songs, cartoons, fireworks, effigies and even crude lantern slides.

American patriots made the most of heroes (George Washington, Ethan Allen), legends (Yankee Doodle, the Spirit of ’76), slogans (“Give me liberty or give me death!”), symbols (the Liberty Tree) and

rhetoric (the speeches of John Adams and the writ- ings of Thomas Jefferson, including the Declaration of Independence). They founded public-spirited organizations (the Sons of Liberty, the Committees of Correspondence). They grabbed every opportu- nity to interpret events in a light most favorable to their cause: A brawl on March 5, 1770, in which five unruly Bostonians were shot, was billed by the revo- lutionary press as the “Boston Massacre” and denounced as an atrocity to inflame passions against the British.

When there was no event to exploit, the patriots didn’t hesitate to create one. On December 16, 1773, a group of them put on war paint and feathers, boarded a British ship and tossed its cargo of tea leaves overboard. The Boston Tea Party, the main function of which was to attract attention, has been called an early example of American press agentry. Historian Richard Bissell states, “Of all the crazy hooligan stunts pulled off by the colonies against England, the Boston Tea Party was the wildest.

Following independence, another massive effort at persuasion was necessary to push for reform of the short-lived Articles of Confederation. The men who drafted the Constitution conducted an intense PR campaign to sell the document to their colleagues and to the American people. Their propaganda took the form of 85 letters written to newspapers.

»13

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 29

These letters, by Alexander Hamilton, James Madi- son and John Jay, became known as the Federalist Papers, and they did much to shape the political opi- nions of citizens of the young nation. The Bill of Rights, a propaganda piece supported by that spectac- ular campaigner Patrick Henry, guaranteed citizens numerous rights against the federal government, including freedom of the press. The resulting climate of free interchange encouraged the evolution of pub- lic relations into a fall-fledged practice. If the Bill of Rights, especially with the provisions of the First Amendment, had not been adopted, public relations would never have become what it is today.

showed a growing sophistication in its use. First, far greater use was made of the press—newspapers, pamphlets, fliers and the first official campaign press bureau—during that election year. The political cam- paign grew even more sophisticated during the 1896 race between Bryan and McKinley.16 Both parties established campaign headquarters and flooded the nation with propaganda. Campaign trains and public opinion polls were also used extensively.17

Politicians were not the only ones to sell their ideas through PR. Agitators of many persuasions dis- covered that publicity could help change the nation’s thinking. By relying mainly on appeals to public sen- timent, groups such as the antivivisectionists, the American Peace Party and the Women’s Christian Temperance Union met with varying degrees of suc- cess. Leaders of the women’s suffrage movement publicized their cause at the 1876 centennial celebra- tion in Philadelphia; on July 4, Elizabeth Cady Stan- ton, Susan B. Anthony and Matilda Joslyn Gage staged a demonstration to dramatize that their rights as citizens had not yet been won.18

The most compelling protest movement of the 19th Century movement, which consisted of many allied organiza- tions. These organizations found that their cause was helped not only by news releases and press agentry stunts, but also by getting public figures and news- paper editors to endorse their efforts and ideas. Forming an editorial alliance with a mass medium extended the reach of their message and gave it pres- tige and credibility.

Harriet Beecher Stowe used the partisan press to publicize the antislavery cause. Her best known work, Uncle Tom's Cabin, or Life Among the Lowly, was first published in serial form in an abolitionist journal. When the novel appeared as a book in 1852, some 300,000 copies were sold above the Mason-Dixon fine, the cultural boundary between the northern and southern states.

The fund drive, a very successful PR practice first used to raise money for military purposes, came into existence during the Civil War. During that war, the Treasury Department put Jay Cooke, a banker, in charge of selling war bonds to the public. Not only did the bonds finance the army, but the mass sales effort also roused public opinion in support of the Union cause.19 Similar fundraising programs were later used to finance war efforts during World Wars I and II.

Communicating/Initiating: The Era of Press Agentry and Publicity, 1800-1899 Although PR tactics were initially used in the USA for political purposes, as the nation developed and the 19th Century progressed, all aspects of fife fell under the influence of two PR tools: press agentry and publicity.

the abolitionist or antislaverywas

Government and Activists In the 1830s, political sophistication got a boost from the PR innovations of Amos Kendall, the first person to function (although without the title) as a presiden- tial press secretary—to Andrew Jackson. Kendall, an ex-newspaper reporter, held the official position of fourth auditor of the treasury,14 but in fact he wrote speeches and pamphlets, prepared strategy, con- ducted polls, counseled the president on his public image, coordinated the efforts of the executive branch with other branches of government and with the public and constantly publicized Jackson in a favorable light.

PR techniques were also important in the heyday of the political machine. By the late 1850s, theTammany Hall organization of New York was using interviews to gather information about the public mood. This marked the beginning of polling by special interest groups for strategic planning and publicity.15

Although public relations had always been employed in political campaigns in an effort to per- suade, the 1888 Harrison-Cleveland presidential race

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30 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

learned that Knickerbocker had left a manuscript, which the hotel’s owner offered to sell to cover the cost of the unpaid bill. Later, the publishing house of Inskeep & Bradford announced in the same newspa- per that they were publishing the manuscript, titled Knickerbocker’s History of New York. The whole story was a hoax, a publicity campaign conducted by the book’s real author, Washington Irving.21

In the field of education, the value of PR was rec- ognized even before the Revolution. In the 19th Century, the trend continued. In 1899, Yale Univer- sity established a PR and alumni office, showing that even the most established institutions were ready to enlist the budding profession to help them create favorable public opinion. In 1900, Harvard Univer- sity hired the Publicity Bureau—the nation’s first PR firm, formed in Boston in 1900—but refused to pay the bureau’s fees after about 1902. Nevertheless, the bureau continued to service the client for the result- ing prestige.

National Development PR also was an important factor in the westward development of the USA. The Western frontier was sold like real estate by the forerunners of mod- ern PR practitioners, who made the most of legends and heroes. As early as 1784, for example, John Filson promoted land deals by making a legendary figure out of Daniel Boone, an unschooled, wandering hunter and trapper. Almost a century later, George Armstrong Custer was likewise made into a hero—partly to justify U.S. policy toward the Native Amer- icans, partly to promote the setding of the West and pardy to sell newspapers and dime novels.

In the 1840s, various publicists actively encour- aged interest in the West. Perhaps, the most effective publicist of Westward expansion was New York Tri- bune publisher Horace Greeley, whose editorial “Go West, Young Man, and Grow Up with the Country” changed the fives of many people and the demo- graphics of the entire nation.

But if the West was sold by PR techniques, it also was exploited by some of those same techniques. Press agent Matthew St. Clair Clarke brought Davy Crockett, the frontier hero, to the public’s attention in the 1830s and used Crockett’s glory to win politi- cal support away from AndrewJackson. Two genera- tions later, the adventures of Western personalities such as Buffalo Bill, Wyatt Earp, Calamity Jane and Wild Bill Hickock were blown out of all proportion (to the benefit of their promoters in the Eastern press) to give people a glamorous picture of the American frontier. Even oudaws like Jesse James became adept at using the press for glory—and to mislead the authorities.

Business and Industry The development of industry during the 1800s brought about the most significant changes in the history of PR. The technological advances of the Industrial Revolution changed and modernized the tac- tics and techniques of PR. Steam power and inventions such as the Linotype, a “hot metal” type fine-casting machine, made newspapers a truly democratic, nation- wide mass medium.

Although the early industrialists used advertising to sell their wares and services to a growing market, they were not very interested in the public or public relations. The prevailing attitude of the “robber bar- ons” of the latter half of the 19th Century was summed up by William Henry Vanderbilt, head of the New York Central Railroad: “The public be damned.

Entertainment and Culture The role of PR in the growth of America’s entertain- ment industry was substantial. In fact, the PR tactic of press agentry grew up with the entertainment business in the 19th Century, a flamboyant era of road shows and circuses. P. T. Barnum was one of many circus show people who employed press agentry.

Publicity stunts were even used occasionally to attract attention to books and their authors. For example, in 1809, the New York Evening Post ran a story about the mysterious disappearance of one Diedrich Knickerbocker from his residence in the Columbian Hotel. In follow-up stories, readers

»23 J. P. Morgan, another railroad tycoon, echoed this sentiment when he said, “I don’t owe the public anything.” During the years between the Civil War and the turn of the century, industrial profit and power controlled and reshaped American fife. Industrial magnates seemed answerable to no one and immune to pressure from government, labor or public opinion.

An example of the corporate attitude at that time was the behavior of steel tycoon Andrew Carnegie during the Homestead Strike of 1892. When labor problems in his steel plant erupted into violence, Carnegie retired to his lodge in Scotland, 35 miles

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 31

Phineas Taylor Barnum (1810-1891) The most famous and successful of 19th Century press agents was P. T. Barnum, who created, promoted and exploited the careers of many celebrities, including the midget General Tom Thumb, singer Jenny Lind and Chang and Eng, the original Siamese twins. Early in his career, in 1835, Barnum exhibited a black slave named Joice Heth, claiming that she had nursed George Washington 100 years before. Newspapers fell for the story, intrigued by its historical angle. Then, when public interest in Joice Heth began to die down, Barnum kept the story alive by writing letters to the editor under assumed names, debating her authenticity. Barnum didn’t care what the papers said, as long as he got space. When Heth died, an autopsy revealed her age to be about 80. With the fraud exposed, Barnum claimed that he also had been duped.1 Was this true? Why not? After all, “There’s a sucker born every minute.”

The great circus showman was himself often the center of public attention, for which he credited his own press agent, Richard F. “Tody” Hamilton.2 However, the term press agent ms first formally used by another circus. In 1868, the roster of John Robinson’s Circus carried the name W. W. Duran with the title “press agent.”3

Barnum’s circus museum in Bridgeport, Conn., celebrated its centennial in 1993.4

Edward L. Bernays, Public Relations (Norman: University of Oklahoma Press, 1952), pp. 38-39. 2Dexter W. Fellows and Andrew A. Freeman, This Way to the Big Show (New York: Viking Press, 1936), p. 193. 3Will Irwin, “The Press Agent: His Rise and Decline,” Colliers, 48 (Dec. 2, 1911), pp. 24-25. 4Craig Wilson, “These Days Life Is but a Scheme,” USA Today (August 31 , 1993).

from the nearest railroad or telegraph. Carnegie wanted to be known as a cultured philanthropist, and he let the London press know that he remained aloof from the labor struggle only to protect his company from his own generosity. But profes- sionally, he had not amassed a fortune of $400 mil- lion by worrying about the working or living conditions of his poorly paid employees, and he was content to have his right-hand man, Henry Clay Frick, crush their strike and their union with the help of the state militia.24

Nonetheless, even in the 1800s, a few large cor- porations recognized that in the long run they would have to woo the public’s favor. In 1858, the Borden Company, a producer of dairy products, set a PR precedent by issuing a financial report to its stock- holders.25 In 1883, an even more important prece- dent was set by Theodore N. Vail, general manager of the American Bell Telephone Company. Vail wrote to the managers of local exchanges, urging them to reexamine the services they were offering and the prices they were charging.26 His letter is sig- nificant because it shows concern for the consumer

and an interest in improving relations between the telephone company and the public.

In 1877, Jay Gould opened a “literary bureau” for the Union Pacific Railroad, for the purpose of attracting immigrants to the West.27 In about 1888, the Mutual Life Insurance Company hired an out- side consultant, Charles J. Smith, to write press

^Qreleases and articles to boost the company’s image. In 1889, the Westinghouse Corporation established, under the directorship of ex-newspaperman E. H. Heinrichs, what was essentially the first in-house publicity department in the USA.29

This was also the period when department stores first appeared in the USA. The originator of the con- cept, John Wanamaker, was also the best in the busi- ness at public relations. When his Philadelphia store opened in 1876, Wanamaker used publicity to gen- erate interest in the new idea of a store that covered a fall 2 acres. He gave visitors copies of a self-printed 16-page “souvenir booklet” that explained the store’s departments, hiring policies and dedication to cus- tomer service. Salespeople were instructed in how to capture quotes from visitors that could later be

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32 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

incorporated into news releases.30 Wanamaker also founded the Farm Journal, which he published for years, and he began publishing the Ladies Home Jour- nal to sell ladies’ fashions.31 Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s, Lord & Taylor and Marshall Field’s quickly caught

and began publishing their own magazines and souvenir books.32

the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about.”33

Lee’s career spans the earlier era of communicat- ing/initiating and the subsequent era of reacting/ responding (1900-1939). At the dawn of the 20th Century, PR’s incubation period had drawn to a close. America was now a powerful, industrialized nation with sophisticated mass media and a well- informed public. The time was right for a model of practice that would synthesize and coordinate the various talents—publicity, promotion, propaganda and press agentry—that had developed in tandem with the nation’s growth.

on

Press Agents and Publicists It has often been said that 20th Century public rela- tions primarily grew out of 19th-Century press agentry. In some ways, this is true. Certainly, many early PR practitioners got their start as press agents. Although few of these PR pioneers were as flamboy- ant as the great showman P. T. Bamum, many were publicity writers whose main target had always been the press. The greatest of the publicity consultants was Ivy Ledbetter Lee.

Press Agentry Press agentry really began in about 1830, with the birth of the penny press. When news- paper prices dropped to a penny each, circulation and readership boomed, but so did the price of news- paper advertising. To reach the huge new audience without paying for the opportunity, promoters and publicity people developed a talent for “making news.” The object was simply to break into print, often at the expense of truth or dignity. Press agents exploited “freaks” to publicize circuses, invented legends to promote politicians, told outrageous lies to gain attention and generally provided plenty of popular entertainment if not much real news.

The cardinal virtue of press agentry was its promptness. Indeed, it was often so prompt that its practitioners spent practically no time verifying the accuracy or news value of its content. But ultimately the effectiveness of a press release depended on its creator’s imagination, and imagination remains a necessary talent for effective PR today.

Publicity Many early publicists were no more care- ful with the facts than their press agent contemporar- ies; neither were many journalists of that day. Most publicists continually tried to “plant” stories in news- papers, hiding their sources. In that respect, Ivy Lee represented a new kind of publicist. Perhaps, the essential difference can be found in Lee’s “Declara- tion of Principles” (1906), in which he defined the important ideals of public relations, his new profes- sion: “Our plan is, frankly and openly ... to supply

Reacting/Responding: The Time of Reporters-in-Residence, 1900-1939 Public relations developed significantly in the first four decades of the 20th Century, as publicists became spokespersons for organizations. As the age of unchecked industrial growth ended, industry faced new challenges to its established way of doing busi- ness. The new century began with a cry of protest from the “muckrakers”—investigative journalists who exposed scandals associated with power capital- ism and government corruption. The term muck- raker is a metaphor taken from John Bunyan’s Pilgrim’s Progress. It was first used in its modern sense by Theodore Roosevelt, who applied it pejora- tively to journalists who attacked the New York Police Department in 1897, while he was commis- sioner. Later, as president, with a consumer protec- tion platform and a trust-busting program, Roosevelt came to appreciate the muckrakers.3

The Turn of the Century Perhaps, the first of the muckrakers was Joseph Pulit- zer, whose editorials supported labor in the Home- stead strike of 1892. “The public be informed,” his slogan for an earlier campaign in support of labor, parodied the contemptuous attitude of William H. Vanderbilt.35 But the great age of muckraking jour- nalism began in the 20th Century.36

Lincoln Steffens, staff writer for McClure’s maga- zine, wrote articles and books exposing corruption in municipal politics. Frank Norris, who covered the

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 33

Ivy Ledbetter Lee (1877-1934): “The Father of Public Relations” After graduating from Princeton, Ivy Lee became a reporter in New York City, but soon gave that up to become a political publicist. Then, in 1904, he and George F. Parker formed the nation’s third publicity bureau. By 1906, he was the most inspiring success in the young field of PR and found himself repre- senting George F. Baer and his associates (who were allied with the J. P. Morgan financial empire) in a public controversy over an anthracite coal strike. Lee tried a radical approach: Frankly announcing himself as a publicity consultant, he invited the press to ask questions, handed out news releases and presented his client as cooperative and communicative.

Lee’s “Declaration of Principles,” issued in 1906 to city editors all over the country, won respect for public relations (and didn’t hurt the Baer bunch either). That same year, Lee represented the Penn- sylvania Railroad when an accident occurred on the main line. Instead of hushing up the incident, Lee invited the press to come, at company expense, to the scene of the accident, where he made every effort to supply reporters with facts and to help photographers. As a result, the Pennsylvania Railroad and the railroad industry got their first favorable press coverage in years.2

Lee’s remarkable, straightforward style came from his frank admiration of industry and capitalism, and he made it his goal to get big business to communicate its story to the public. By the time he was 30, Lee had sired a profession, chiefly by introducing and promoting its first code of ethics.

Lee’s career continued to be successful, if not so influenced by high ideals. He began working for the Rockefeller family in 1913, when he presented the “facts” about a coal strike in Colorado that resulted in an incident known as the Ludlow Massacre. Lee later admitted that the “facts” he handed out about the bloody affair were the facts as management saw them, and that he had not checked them for accuracy.3

Lee’s many later clients included the American Russian Chamber of Commerce and the German Dye Trust, from whom he earned $25,000 a year and a sticky PR problem of his own—how to defend his work for a Nazi organization. He was also heavily criticized for his support of Stalin-era Soviet Russia and his encouragement of U.S.-Soviet ties.

Lee once wrote, “The relationship of a company to the people ... involves far more than saying—\t involves doing.” 4 Nevertheless, it is perhaps an example of Ivy Lee’s public relations talent that he is now remembered not so much for what he did at the height of his career as for what he said when he was still in his twenties.5

1

Trank Luther Mott, American Journalism (New York: Macmillan, 1950), pp. 179-180. 2lrwin Ross, The Image Merchants (Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday, 1959), p. 31. 3lbid. 4lbid., p. 32. Tor a defense of Lee’s often-criticized international activities, see the letter to the editor of PR Review, 13(3) (Fall 1987), pp. 12-13, by James W. Lee, his son.

mainly of interviews with former Rockefeller employees, exposed the company’s corruption and its unfair competition with smaller companies. In 1906, Upton Sinclair described the unsavory condi- tions that existed in the meat-packing industry in his

Spanish-American War for McClure’s, took on the railroads and the wheat traders in his novels The Octopus (1901) and The Pit (1903). Ida Tarbell’s The History of the Standard Oil Company (1904), which began as a series for McClure’s in 1902 and consisted

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34 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

novel The Jungle. These articles and books resulted in social legislation that remains the law of the land today.

Big business also was under fire from the government. President Theodore Roosevelt con- sidered it the federal government’s job to uphold the public interest in the battles that flared among management, labor and consumers. Using the Sherman Antitrust Act of 1890, he challenged big business—including U.S. Steel, Standard Oil and the Pennsylvania Railroad—to respond to popular displeasure.

An era of social consciousness was dawning. Proof that the former “public be damned” attitude was giv- ing way came in 1899 with the founding of the first national consumer group, the National Consumers League (NCL), which was formed from state con- sumer leagues by Florence Kelley and Dr. John Gra- ham Brooks.37 The fledgling NCL supported the work of Harvey W. Wiley, a Department of Agricul- ture chemist who for more than 20 years had gath- ered information to prove the need for a federal food and drug law. The first Pure Food and Drug Act was passed in 1906.

Industry had to respond. It could no longer afford simply to ignore the public and the press. Threaten- ing to withhold advertising from uncomplimentary media did not have the desired effect. No longer could the railroads placate the press by giving free passes to reporters. No longer would the public buy statements like that of coal industrialist George F. Baer, who in 1902 told labor to put its trust in “the Christian men whom God in His infinite wisdom has given control of the property interests of the country.”38 When the coal industry came under fire again in 1906, the coal owners had learned their les- son. Instead of relying on puffery and rhetoric, they enlisted the talents of the young ex-newspaper reporter, Ivy Lee.

It is no coincidence that most of the first generation of public relations specialists came from newspapers. Newspaper advertising had long been the only way that many companies communicated with their markets. Newspapers also were the medium in which many companies were being attacked. And newspaper coverage had been the main goal of 19th Century press agents, whose leg- acy inspired the first publicity agencies of the 20th Century

The first publicity firm, the Publicity Bureau formed in Boston in 1900.39 The idea of publicity

caught on quickly, and soon several such firms— composed largely of ex-newspaper people—had appeared, including the firm of William Wolf Smith in Washington, D.C., which specialized in publicity aimed at influencing legislators.40 From a historical standpoint, however, the most important publicity bureau during this period was the one operated by George F. Parker and Ivy Lee. Although that company lasted only four years, it launched the career of Ivy Lee.

Before long, publicity had become a standard and necessary tool for many businesses, individuals and organizations. Big businesses especially, such as com- munication companies, railroads and the automobile industry, found that publicity agencies and in-house publicity bureaus improved their relations with both the public and the government. In 1904, two major universities—the University of Pennsylvania and the University of Wisconsin—set up publicity bureaus.41

Publicity also proved valuable for public service organizations. The Young Men’s Christian Associa- tion (YMCA) employed a full-time publicist to call attention to its fund drive in 1905.4 The National Tuberculosis Association started a publicity program in 1908, and the American Red Cross followed suit the same year.43 The U.S. Marine Corps established a publicity bureau in 1907 in Chicago.44 In 1909, the Trinity Episcopal Church in New York City hired Pendleton Dudley as a public relations counsel to help combat criticism of its ownership of slum tene- ments 45 Three years later, the Seventh-Day Advent- ist Church established a formal publicity bureau to answer complaints about its opposition to Sunday closing laws.46

Publicity in support of a product was used by National Cash Register founders John and Frank Patterson, who employed newsletters, brochures and flyers in the world’s first direct-mail campaign.

Many useful tactics and techniques were developed during this early period. One PR pioneer who contrib- uted a number of new ideas was Samuel Insull, public- ity expert for the Chicago Edison Company 47 Insull had a demonstration electric cottage constructed in 1902 to show how convenient the new technology was. In 1903, he communicated with the company’s customers via bill stuffers and a house publication that was distributed to the community. In 1909, Insull became the first person to make PR-related movies. (This was appropriate, because Thomas Edison him- self was one of the first movie tycoons.)

Larger organizations, such as the Ford Motor Company, helped broaden business’ interest in the

48

, was

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 35

public relations function. In 1908 Ford established a house publication, Ford Times?9 In 1912, the com- pany began using public opinion surveys for market research.50 And in 1914, Ford established the first corporate film department.51

The first formally designated press bureau in the federal government was founded in 1905 by the U.S. Forest Service.52 The aggressiveness of its promo- tions is said to have been one of the elements leading to the 1913 federal ban on hiring public relations people.53 However, Walter Lippmann’s concern over the infiltration of German propaganda into American newspapers in the years immediately pre- ceding World War I was another contributing factor, as was the growing resentment by newspaper repor- ters and editors of publicists.54

greatest example of the government’s salesmanship, however, was the Liberty Loan Drive, which financed the war.

The genius behind America’s wartime public rela- tions effort was George Creel, a former newspaper reporter whom President Wilson appointed as chair- man of the newly formed Committee on Public Information. The success of the Liberty Loan Drive and the effectiveness of U.S. wartime propa- ganda at home and abroad were both attributable to the Creel Committee.

The committee also created a legacy for the PR profession. Many members of the committee who learned their craft in wartime went on to practice it in peacetime. Included among these were Edward L. Bernays57 and Carl Byoir.58 As assistant chairman of the Creel Committee, Byoir publicized the draft and was in charge of distributing the Red White and Blue Textbooks, which described the goals of the war. He went on to become one of America’s most successful public relations practitioners.

Making the World Safe for Democracy By the time the USA entered World War I in 1917, the war had been going on for several years (since 1914), and PR had proven itself an effective weapon of persuasion for Europeans. The British, in particu- lar, directed a “hands across the sea” propaganda campaign at the U.S. government and people, urging them to join the fight. They publicized the Allies’ view of the Lusitania incident, for example, charac- terizing the Germans (whose submarine had sunk the ocean liner) as vicious “Huns.” When President Wil- son finally gave up his policy of peacemaking and neutrality, the USA entered the war with money, military might and a massive public relations effort. This PR effort was seen as essential to gain popular support in a country with many German immigrants and first generation German-Americans.

In selling the war as one destined “to make the world safe for democracy,” the U.S. government soli- cited cooperation from many sources. The govern- ment convinced AT&T that the government needed control of the phone company for the war effort.55 The press was persuaded to exercise self-censorship and to contribute free advertising space for the war effort.56 Academics served too. College professors acted as a force of Four-Minute Men, meaning that they were prepared to speak for that length of time on propaganda topics relating to the war. The world, not just the classroom, was their forum.

The government also solicited cooperation directly from the public: Herbert Hoover’s Food Administration persuaded American citizens to conserve food during this time of emergency. The

The Roaring Twenties Public relations as well as advertising grew in scope and in stature during the 1920s. Books and courses were offered on the subject, and social scientists began to take notice. Among them was Walter Lipp- mann, a former adviser to President Wilson, who expressed concern over the implications of public opinion molding. In Public Opinion (1922), he wrote that the public no longer formed its own opinions, particularly about government policy; instead, peo- ple’s opinions, like their knowledge, were fed to them by the media in the form of slogans and stereo- types.59 He pointed out, however, that opinion molding is a two-way street. Society contains “innu- merable large and small corporations and institu- tions, voluntary and semi-voluntary associations, national, provincial, urban and neighborhood group- ings, which often as not make the decisions that the political body registers.

Social scientists’ interest in public opinion was shared by industry. Many companies, including AT&T, had learned from their experiences in World War I that social responsibility was good for public relations and hence good for business.61 Thus, the field of opinion research grew as companies developed tactics for finding out what their stock- holders, their markets and the general community wanted. AT&T’s cooperation with the government

»60

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36 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

during the war had earned it the confidence of the government and of the pro-war public. When Arthur W. Page joined the company in 1927 as vice presi- dent and in-house public relations expert, he stressed several opinions that have affected modern PR ever since: that business begins with the public’s permis- sion and survives because of its approval; that busi- nesses should have public relations departments with real influence in top management; and that compa- nies should find out what the public wants and make public commitments that will work as “hostages to performance.” Page insisted that PR is built by per- formance, not by publicity.62

Another significant development during the 1930s was the institution of the Gallup Poll, which gave a boost to the sophistication and credibility of opinion research.65

The Increasing Influence of U.S. Presidents as Opinion Makers The management of news by U.S. presidents goes back to George Washington, who leaked his Farewell Address to a favored publisher who he knew would give it a good display. When Thomas Jefferson was in Washington’s cabinet, he put a newspaper reporter on the federal payroll to establish a party newspaper that would represent Jefferson’s point of view; later, when he became president, he relied heavily on his “party press” and limited other newspapers’ access to him.

Abraham Lincoln sought out newspaper editors who he believed might convey his ideas sympatheti- cally to the people and thus, help win their support for his policies. The significance he placed on public opinion is apparent in his famous statement, “Public sentiment is everything. With public sentiment, nothing can fail; without it, nothing can succeed. Consequently, he who molds public sentiment goes deeper than he who enacts statutes or pronounces decisions.”

Theodore Roosevelt developed the “trial balloon” device, calling favorite reporters to the White House to get their reaction to his ideas before trying them out on the public. He was sensitive to media coverage and once waited to sign a Thanksgiving Proclamation until the Associated Press photogra- pher arrived.66

However, Calvin Coolidge is credited with having arranged the first pure photo opportunity, some 20 years later, on the occasion of his 55th birthday. The taciturn president liked photo sessions because he didn’t have to talk during them.67

Woodrow Wilson developed the first regular for- mal press conferences, although he later regretted the idea, for he was a reserved man and never won popularity with the press. He also complained that the press was interested in the personal and the triv- ial rather than in principles and policies—to which the press responded that presidents just want jour- nalists to print what they tell them, not what the public wants to know.

Franklin Roosevelt’s candor and geniality de- lighted reporters, but even he sometimes regretted

The New Deal The mood of the 1930s differed drastically from that of the 1920s. Following the stock market crash of 1929, the U.S. economy plunged into a depression from which it did not fully recover for 10 years. Pub- lic relations during this time faced many challenges, as industry was forced to defend itself against public distrust, a discontented labor force and strict regula- tion by the Roosevelt administration. The greatest challenge to PR, however, was the job of selling good cheer to a confused and frightened populace. The challenge was felt by government, and succes- sive presidents responded by trying to convince the country that a return to prosperity was just around the corner and that the only thing to fear was fear itself. The challenge was also felt by industry, and in 1938 the National Association of Manufacturers and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce conducted a com- prehensive campaign based on the slogan “What helps business helps you.”63

PR continued to develop as a field of practice dur- ing the 1930s. The National Association of Accre- dited Publicity Directors was founded in 1936. The American Association of Industrial Editors, founded two years later, was an indirect descendant of earlier groups, including the Association of House Organ Editors, which had been formed in 1915. The Amer- ican Council on Public Relations (ACPR) founded in 1939 by Rex Harlow,64 but it had no chapters. The National Association of Accredited Publicity Directors, which changed its name in 1944 to the National Association of Public Relations Counsel, had chapters and requirements for profes- sional experience. This group merged with Harlow’s ACPR in 1948 to form the Public Relations Society of America.

was

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 37

Planning/Preventing: The Growth of PR as a Management Function, 1940-1979

holding press conferences; once, in a pique, he said that he would like to award a Nazi Iron Cross to a news reporter whose stories he felt had earned it. Roosevelt staged a great many photo sessions so that photographers wouldn’t take candid pictures that called attention to his paralysis.68

Roosevelt, more than any of his predecessors, used public relations tactics to sway public opinion, and the development of mass media technology dur- ing the 1930s enhanced his efforts. In the decades following his death, he drew increased retrospective criticism for “managing news,” as have more recent presidents and their spokespeople. There may be some justification for this criticism, because the exec- utive branch can end most independent reportorial investigations into its affairs by claiming “executive privilege.” No one expects to find out too much from the judiciary branch, because of restrictions on what can be discussed, in keeping with the Amer- ican Bar Association’s code of judicial conduct; but, in the legislative branch, what one party won’t tell, the other will.

With the advent of the 1940s, the nation’s mood changed again. The country was soon at war, and, as in World War I, the most conspicuous public rela- tions efforts either served the war effort direcdy or were obvious byproducts of a wartime economy.

World War II When the USA entered World War II, PR firms quickly seized the opportunity to enlist in the cause. Hill & Knowlton, for example, firmly established itself by representing war industry groups such as the Avia- tion Corporation of America, the American Ship- building Council and the Aeronautical Chamber of Commerce.69 Overall, the PR effort during World War II was much more sophisticated, coordinated and integrated than the one during World War I.

PR at AT&T—A Long History In 1938, Arthur Wilson Page, first vice president for public relations of the American Telephone and Telegraphy Company (AT&T), told an international management congress that “the task which busi- ness has, and which it has always had, is of fitting itself to the patterns of public desires.” A familiar saying of the PR pioneer was that in a democratic society no business could exist without public per- mission nor long succeed without public approval. Page also helped to popularize opinion survey techniques. In doing so, Page was following through on the philosophy of a predecessor who was very conscious of public opinion: Theodore Vail, AT&T president in the early 1900s, had sent a series of questions about service to Bell telephone exchange managers to inquire about how well Bell was serving its customers. He understood the power of public opinion, noting that it was based on infor- mation and belief. When public opinion was wrong, it was because of wrong information, and Vail said it was “not only the right, but the obligation of all individuals .. . who come before the public, to see the public have full and correct information.” The long history of PR at AT&T makes even more amazing the public support of the 1982 consent decree that separated individual Bell companies from each other and from AT&T. Page’s philosophy and views of public relations are kept alive today by members of the Arthur Page Society, a professional membership organization founded by Bell pub- lic relations practitioners.

Sources: E. M. Block, “Arthur Page and the Uses of Knowledge,” Inaugural Lecture, Arthur Page Lecture and Awards Program, College of Communication, University of Texas at Austin, April 22, 1982. Reprinted with permission of E. M. Block.

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38 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

Communications scholar Charles Steinberg believes that World War II caused public relations to develop into a “full-fledged profession. 1947, Boston University established the first full school of public relations,71 now part of the College of Communication. By 1949, more than 100 colleges and universities across the nation were offering courses in PR.

Two significant events in government affected the future of public relations. One was the appointment of former newscaster Elmer Davis as director of the Office of War Information (OWI)—the forerunner of the agency that would become the U.S. Informa- tion Agency that was disbanded in October 1999. Davis’ program was even larger than George Creel’s had been, but it was focused exclusively on the task of disseminating information worldwide. Unlike Creel, Davis was not an advisor to the president. At OWI, evidence of government-planted disinforma- tion began to appear.

The second event to affect PR practice was the creation of a War Advertising Council, which han- dled war-related public service announcements and created slogans like “Loose Bps sink ships.” The two organizations were tremendously successful in winning support for the USA at home and abroad, in helping to sell war bonds and in winning coopera- tion from the public, from industry and from labor.

The use of films for PR purposes expanded gready during this period. In 1943, for example, Frank Capra made a documentary film for the U.S. Signal Corps to inspire patriotism and build morale.72 The government was not alone in using film for PR, however; Hollywood also made count- less movies glorifying American fighting forces. The persuasive power of film was not lost on industry officials. In 1948, filmmaker Robert Flaherty made the documentary Louisiana Story73 for Standard Oil.

Individual companies adapted to the war in differ- ent ways, often with the help of PR. Because of war- time ink shortages, the American Tobacco Company had to change the color of the Lucky Strike package from green to white. Thanks to PR, the change caused the company only a moment’s regret. It launched a new campaign promoting a new slogan: “Lucky Strike Green Has Gone to War.” Lucky Strike smokers everywhere were proud of their new white package because it signified that their brand was doing its part for America.

For Standard Oil of New Jersey, the war created a public relations crisis. At hearings of Senator Harry Truman’s Committee on National Defense, Assistant Attorney General Thurman Arnold charged Standard Oil with “acting against American intent, charge involved a deal that Standard Oil had made with a German company many years earlier. In

”70 In

»74 The

PR Stands for President Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt used every possible public relations technique to sell the radical reforms of his New Deal to the American people. Advised by PR expert Louis McHenry Howe, FDR projected an image of self-confidence and happiness—just what the American public wanted to believe in. He talked to them on the radio. He smiled for the cameras. He was mentioned in popular songs. He even allowed himself to be one of the main characters in a Rodgers and Hart musical comedy (played by George M. Cohan, America’s favorite Yankee Doodle Dandy). Of course, FDR’s public image didn’t succeed with everybody. But in general, the American people liked FDR, and they showed it by putting him in the White House four times.

Louis McHenry Howe also encouraged First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt to expand her public activities. Mrs. Roosevelt had joined the National Consumers League as an 18-year-old volunteer and was very interested in public issues. With Howe’s help, she developed news conferences for women reporters only—“news hens,” they came to be called. Nevertheless, they got exclusives from Mrs. Roosevelt, despite being excluded from most other news meetings because of their gender.

Source: L. L. L. Golden, Only by Public Consent. Copyright © 1968 by L. L. L. Golden. Used by permission of Dutton, a division of Penguin Group (USA) Inc.

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 39

response, the oil company’s marketing director, Robert T. Haslan, mounted a public opinion cam- paign, sending letters to customers and stockholders and hiring Earl Newsom as outside PR counsel. Even- tually, Standard Oil beat the charges and came out of it with public support.73

In 1945, the same public relations fervor that helped sell the war effort contributed to the postwar industrial recovery. In that year, Henry Ford II, the new president of Ford Motor Company, hired Earl Newsom as a PR consultant. Newsom helped Ford compose a letter to the United Automotive Workers (UAW) during a strike at General Motors, urging the union to be reasonable and fair. He also helped Ford with his speech to the Society of Automotive Engineers in January 1946 and with an important antilabor address to the Commonwealth Club in San Francisco the following month. With Newsom’s help, young Ford became a public figure—a re- spected and publicized spokesperson for responsible business management.76

most years represent about 85 countries. Many public relations organizations in other countries also trace their founding to the period from 1955 to 1960.

By the end of the 1950s, a number of women had entered the field, including several who ranked among the nation’s top PR people: Doris E. Fleischman Bemays, early PR pioneer; Denny Griswold, former editor and publisher of Public Relations News-, Jane Stewart, then president of Group Attitudes Corporation; and Leone Baxter, former president of Whitaker and Baxter International in San Francisco.78 In 1957, President Eisenhower appointed Anne Wil- liams Wheaton his associate press secretary, drawing nationwide attention to PR as a potential career for

79women. The affluence of the 1950s encouraged businesses

to find new uses for their money, and one job of public relations was to help them reinvest it in society—not only in tax-sheltering foundations, but also in health and community interest campaigns, public service drives and educational seminars. By encouraging corporate investment in society, PR gained greater respect and increased its own influ- ence within corporations.

Television, which had conquered America in the 1950s, had an enormous effect on the growth of pub- lic relations. This powerful medium’s capacity for persuasion was evident from the start. Social scien- tists criticized television’s pervasive control over pub- lic opinion, and it soon became clear that TV could create harmful as well as helpful PR. For example, Joseph McCarthy’s credibility was weakened when his hectoring manner and his beard’s five o’clock shadow were exposed to the scrutiny of viewers across the nation. The Revlon Company first enjoyed favorable support for Its PR from its spon- sorship of the nation’s most popular TV program, but when the “$64,000 Question” was exposed as a fraud, Revlon suffered acute embarrassment and a wave of public criticism for its failure to meet its social responsibility.

Honesty in public relations became a serious issue during the 1950s and led to PRSA’s first code of ethics, a very brief statement in 1954. In 1959, PRSA adopted a Declaration of Principles and a more developed code of ethical behavior.80 To avoid being accused of creating a paper tiger, PRSA established a grievance board in 1962 to conduct hearings whenever a PRSA member suspected another member of violating the code.81 This was disbanded in October 2000, when the new code

The Fabulous Fifties and the Military-Industrial Complex During the 1950s, America again experienced a booming economy, this time based largely on rising production of consumer goods. The population was growing faster than ever, and more and more people were getting good educations and entering the white-collar workforce. Technology progressed on all fronts: television, satellites, atomic energy and the mainframe computer. Industry, despite “labor pains,” continued to grow at home and abroad. Yet the mood of the nation reflected fear—of Commu- nists, Russians, the atomic bomb, McCarthyism, technology, juvenile delinquency and mass confor- mity, to name a few. In 1955, Sloan Wilson exam- ined society and described the American white-collar worker in his best-selling novel, The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit. The hero, Tom Rath, was an in-house PR person for a large broadcasting corporation.

Public relations grew with the economy. That Wilson’s typical businessperson was a PR practi- tioner shows how well established public relations had become. In 1953, the International Chamber of Commerce set up a commission on public relations, and in 1954 the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) developed its first code of ethics.77 A year later, the International Public Relations Association was founded. Its approximately 800 individual members

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40 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

included no enforcement provisions. In 1964, PRSA approved a voluntary accreditation program open to all members of the society. This was simultaneously the first step in recognizing a level of professional accomplishment in public relations and the first step toward establishing and policing standards of behavior among practitioners. In 1998, PRSA joined with eight other professional associations to form the Universal Accreditation Board.

The nation seemed to divide on one point after another: civil rights, disarmament, the space pro- gram, the Vietnam War and the peace movement, conservation, farm labor, women’s liberation, nuclear energy, the Watergate affair and on and on. In the debate over each of these issues, public relations was important to all sides. For example, PR professionals conducted seminars to train people within the power structure in how to respond direcdy to activists and how to answer them indirecdy through news media and other public channels of communication. But the activists used PR just as effectively, capturing public attention with demonstrations, organizations and powerful rhetoric. Conservatives charged that the Chicago riots of 1968 smacked of press agentry. Radicals retorted that the same could be said of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, in which the North Viet- namese ostensibly attacked an American ship.

Transition in the Turbulent Sixties and Seventies The 1960s and early 1970s were years of great crisis and change in the USA. Public relations talent was called on to cope with the drama and the trauma. Modem PR practitioners needed a broad knowledge of the social sciences, as well as communication and management skills. In addition, nonmarketing problems received new emphasis, more attention was given to the worldwide consumer movement, corporate-government relationships were scruti- nized, PR people gained increasing responsibility within the corporate structure, a more demanding role emerged for PR in multinational companies, and cries for help came from all sectors in dealing with dissident youth and minorities. Communication satellites, the awesome power of nuclear weaponry and the emergence of electronic information storage for data processing had made the globe smaller, but had not diminished its problems.

One fundamental change in the USA actually began in the 1950s, signaled by the U.S. Supreme Court’s landmark school desegregation decision of 1954, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, and involved a reassessment and legal reform of black- white race relations. During the 1950s in Montgom- ery, Ala., Martin Luther King, Jr. began expressing his vision of what U.S. society could achieve if racism were ended. He used many public relations tech- niques to gain support for his cause, and he was skill- ful in working with the news media. His “I Have a Dream” speech and other eloquent sermons and addresses, as well as his adoption of nonviolent pro- test patterned on the approach developed by Mahatma Gandhi, helped launch a civil rights move- ment that produced many social changes, especially in the 1960s. King’s assassination in April 1968 shocked the nation and made his name a rallying cry for supporters of the continuing movement to achieve racial equality in the USA.

The Rise of Consumerism In the USA, the consumer movement produced much criticism of institutions. Because of its increased visibility, many people assumed that the movement was new. It wasn’t. The first national con- sumer group, the National Consumers League, had been founded from 90 state affiliates in 1899. Early issues it supported were minimum wage laws, improved working hours, occupational safety, aboli- tion of sweatshops and child labor and improved working conditions for migrant farm workers. In supporting the 1906 Pine Food and Drug Act, the league formed food committees that set standards for food manufacture, inspected food manufacturing establishments and certified their safe working con- ditions by affixing a “White Label” to products.

Another organization that has been a longtime consumer advocate is the Consumers Union of the United States. It began as part of Consumers’ Research, Inc., the first product-testing organization supported by consumers, and was established as a separate entity in 1936. Consumers Union is an independent, nonprofit organization that tests and evaluates such products as appliances, automobiles and packaged food. Since its founding, it has pub- fished the results of its tests in a monthly magazine, Consumer Reports, along with articles designed to help consumers spend their money more wisely and to make them aware of current consumer problems. The organization has always pressed for increased consumer protection by calling attention to what it

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 41

believes are unsafe products. It has also concerned itself with weaknesses in consumer legislation and with the reluctance or failure of government regula- tory agencies to act on behalf of consumers.

Sarah Newman, executive director of the National Consumers League from 1962 to 1975, pointed out the major tactical differences between consumer- oriented organizations of earlier periods and those of the 1970s. For one thing, consumer advocates in the 1970s were more program-oriented. Consumer advocates during earlier periods did not resort to militancy. They also had to do much of the watchdog work themselves, because no regulatory agency was responsible for ensuring the safety of most consumer products. By the late 1970s, Newman’s own group was involved in supporting such reforms as equal credit, no-fault insurance and uniform beef grading. The NCL also pushed for creation of an agency for consumer advocacy.

Consumerism has been called “buyer’s rights, “a cause or movement that advances the rights and interests of the consumer”83 or a movement “seeking to increase the rights and powers of buyers in rela- tion to sellers.”84 Whatever its title and definition, the essence of consumerism was clearly expressed by the late Margot Sherman, a former senior vice president of McCann Erickson (a New York agency), who had been in charge of setting up the agency’s division of consumerism:

Nelson advised two presidents and Congress on con- sumer matters and was California’s first governor- appointed consumer advocate, from 1959 to 1966.87 In July 2010, President Obama created the Con- sumer Financial Protection Bureau to protect consu- mers who have mortgages, credit cards or other financial services.

The Sentiment Behind Consumerism The sentiment behind the consumer movement was best defined by Ralph Nader:

Indeed the quality of life is deteriorating in so many ways that the traditional measurements of the “stan- dard of living” according to personal income, housing, ownership of cars and appliances, etc., have come to sound increasingly phony.88

The sentiment was in fact a reaction to a “hostile environment.” And the movement’s character at any particular point in time, according to Edgar Chas- teen, depended on the behavior of the “enemy,” as defined by the movement.

The enemy was business. In bewilderment, busi- ness looked on as a generation of consumers whose basic needs had been satisfied reacted adversely to old methods of persuasion. Evidently, the techniques that sold products also created expectations that could not be satisfied. A gap materialized between reality and the anticipation of rewards. In addition, consumer dissatisfaction was both the cause and the effect of another wave of investigative (or muckrak- ing) journalism.90

To measure the intensity of consumer satisfac- tion/dissatisfaction, business used five common tech- niques: (1) statistics such as sales, profits and market share; (2) behavioral measures such as repeat purchases, acceptance of other products in the same fine and favorable word-of-mouth publicity; (3) direct observation; (4) dissatisfaction indices such as recorded complaint data; and (5) surveys and interviews to unearth reticent respondents. The hazards of using these techniques and the difficulties involved in measuring consumer satisfaction and dissatisfaction are legion.91

A thorough look at the activist requires a look at the adversary as well. Ralph Nader has said that the prin- cipal concern of the consumer movement has always been the “involuntary subeconomy”—unwritten price- fixing for goods and services and inflationary agree- ments with labor and suppliers. These factors force

»>82

89

On this business of consumerism, I suppose as a concept it was probably bom in March 1962, when President Kennedy declared, “Every consumer has four basic rights—the right to be informed, the right to safety, the right to choose, and the right to be heard!"

Helping to craft those four rights was consumer advocate Helen Nelson, who produced a video doc- umentary in 1995 chronicling the history of the movement, Change Makers: The Struggle for Consumer Rights. Accompanying the video, which took her three years to write, was a teacher’s guide of edited conversations with 35 consumer leaders interviewed for the video.85 President Kennedy had identified consumers as the only important group in contem- porary society that was not effectively organized. He then appointed 10 private citizens to serve on a Con- sumer Advisory Council, including Nelson. Also, he placed a consumer adviser, Esther Peterson, on his staff. Every U.S. president since Kennedy has fol- lowed his lead in having a staff consumer advisor.86

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42 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

up the costs of consumer goods and services, and the higher costs must be accepted because no other sources of the goods or services exist. Because there are no controls and no choices, the system is “involuntary”; because it underlies the economic structure, it constitutes a “subeconomy.” Writing in 1973, Nader noted that the consumer movement had had limited success in improving regulatory action and encouraging private litigation. Its main achievement had been to create an awareness among consumers that they were being cheated and endangered. Nader conceded that the consumer movement had yet to devise an economic and policy-making framework to counterbalance or deplete the power of corporations to impose invol- untary expenditures:92

Speed), the consumer movement did not become for- midable until the early 1970s.99 In 1972 and 1973, however, the Public Relations Society of America appointed a task force to examine the impact of con- sumerism on business.100 By this time, class action suits were being filed, pressure was being brought to bear on regulatory agencies to enact stricter crite- ria and to enforce them, stockholders’ meetings were losing their predictability because minor share- holders were appearing and demanding social accountability and employees were more likely to become litigants than loyalists.

By 1967, President Lyndon Johnson had decided that consumer complaints were so politically signifi- cant that he appointed Betty Furness as his consumer advisory counsel.102 By 1971, there were four national consumer organizations: the Consumer Federation of America, the Nader Organization and the two older associations, the National Consumers League and the Consumers Union.

101

To some extent, consumerism as we know it was bom of public frustration during a period of social turmoil, which saw unrest over civil rights issues and a divisive war in Southeast Asia. We entered a strobe-light exis- tence, and with every blink of the flashing light, soci- ety had changed a little more before our very eyes! In short, the storm of the 1960s blew away many of the road signs that had helped us find our way comfortably along in the more predictable decades that came before.93

103

Communication Problems and Public Opinion The consumer movement clearly demonstrated some lack of communication between business and consu- mers, a deficiency that the following statement makes clear:

The consumerism movement not only mirrors the inability of the business sector to discern what fac- tors of inherent consumer motivations promulgate (dissatisfaction, but also reflects a growing concern for the “quality of life, ” which seems to be a popular cause, as well as a goal to collectively attain.

The Impact of Consumerism Most consumer activists of the 1960s and 1970s were members of what has been called the “silent generation.” This generation was proportionally small because its members were Depression or post-Depression babies.94 For it, qual- ity of life was understood in terms of a standard of

But not until confronted with the hostile accusations of the “antimaterialistic” younger gener- ation of the 1960s did the silent generation recognize two salient questions: (1) At whose expense does a better living come? and (2) What is the real value of all this? Robert Glessing has perceptively com- mented that “the unpreparedness of the silent gener- ation was at least part of the cause of the student„07protest movements.

But after taking a careful and critical look at its own lot, the silent generation began borrowing tac- tics from the youth revolt. Suddenly meat boycotts were being staged by matrons who were definitely over 40.98 Although Rachel Carson’s Silent Spring was published in 1962 and Ralph Nader’s consumer statistics tips to Congress began appearing in 1960 (even before his 1965 publication Unsafe at Any

104

In commenting on a 1977 Louis Harris survey, the late financial columnist Sylvia Porter asked how closely the views of senior business managers, consumer acti- vists and government regulators matched the views of the general public. The answer was “not closely,” with senior management “less in touch with public opinion than are any of the other groups.” As Porter said:

95, 96living.

Consumer activists would prefer to concentrate on elec- tric utilities, the advertising industry, nuclear power plants and banks.

Business executives want reforms in hospitals, the medical profession, garages, home building and the legal profession.

Only one common perception is shared by every group surveyed: mistrust of the honesty and accuracy of advertising.105

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 43

The Harris survey had found that more than one- third of all adults were bothered by poor quality or dangerous products that failed to live up to advertis- ing claims. They were distressed at the failure of companies to show legitimate concern for the con- sumer. They were bothered by poor after-sales ser- vice and repairs and by misleading packaging or labeling. More than half of the respondents thought they were receiving a worse bargain in the market- place than they had been getting ten years earlier. Moreover, consumers expected things to get worse in three areas: product durability, product repair and the reliability of manufacturers’ claims for prod- ucts. Although the public expressed a desire for more information about subjects relevant to consumers, the poll found little public confidence in the accuracy and reliability of media news.

the expectations of those hiring PR talent gave the role new dimensions. But the new demands also cre- ated a crisis of confidence inside and outside public relations. In 1968, the Public Relations Student Soci- ety of America was formed, and, as public rela- tions continued to gain status as an academic discipline, the field for the first time became domi- nated by people specially trained for the job.

In 1973, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a decision that fundamentally changed the role of the PR practitioner. In the Texas Gulf Sulphur case, the Supreme Court upheld a 1968 decision of the U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in New York requiring immediate disclosure of any information that may affect the market value of stock in publicly held cor- porations.108 This ruling meant that PR had to con- centrate more on dealing with public information and less on selecting what information to make pub- lic. The Supreme Court also ruled that PR practi- tioners involved in such cases were “insiders” and therefore were subject to the same trading restric- tions as other members of the corporation whose knowledge of special circumstances prohibited them from buying or selling stock.109 The insider trading scandals of the 1980s severely tested the Securities and Exchange Commission’s (SEC’s) ability to enforce insider trading rules.

The Scope of the Problem The word corporate, as used in the consumer movement, should be interpreted in its broadest sense. Under fire, in addition to busi- nesses, were all large institutions—hospitals, fund- raising public health associations, major-league sports teams, public and private educational institu- tions at all levels and religious groups. The biggest guns of all were leveled at government administra- tors. The news media suffered from adverse public opinion, too, as did newsmakers themselves, due to lawsuits, public attacks and threats of government intervention.

The harsh realities are clearly set forth by mass media scholars David Clark and William Blankenburg:

The Growth of Public Skepticism Between 1966 and 1977, public confidence in corporate leadership dropped by 31 percentage points. While many executives besieged by negative public opinion hun- kered down or toyed with the idea of resigning, one public relations officer decided to take the offensive. Mobil Oil’s Herb Schmertz, a lawyer, began running Mobil’s issue advertising in 1970. Following the oil shortages of the 1970s and the price acceleration they caused, Schmertz expanded Mobil’s aggressive ad program and sought favorable opinion by con- vincing the corporation to sponsor public television’s Masterpiece Theatre.

Pulling together as many communication devices as possible to influence public opinion was a response to deepening public disaffection and distrust, includ- ing the beginnings of widespread genuine mistrust of government. This development was not without foundation. Throughout the 1960s and 1970s valid grounds for public skepticism existed. Although, the term disinformation didn’t gain currency until the 1980s, the U.S. government was giving its citizens a good bit of it all along.

The sturdiest obstacles to “ideal” public relations are economics and human nature. The plain fact is that managers are hired to make money for owners, and that a conscience can cost money. In the long run, it is money well spent, but many stockholders and man- agers fix their vision on the short run. Then, too, an abrupt change in corporate policy amounts to a public confession of past misbehavior—or so it seems to many executives. The natural temptation is to play up the good, and to let it go at that.106

The Impact of the Sixties and Seventies on Public Relations The urgency of the problems that PR practitioners handled during the crises of the 1960s and 1970s and

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Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins44

The Seventies in Summary The Middle East garnered a great deal of attention in the USA in the 1970s. The effects of the oil shortage created by policies of the coa- lition of oil-producing nations (OPEC—the Organiza- tion of Petroleum Exporting Countries) began to be felt asworld demand for oil outstripped the supplyfrom non-OPEC sources. In Iran, the Ayatollah Khomeini and his fundamentalist Islamic followers overthrew the U.S.-backed Shah. Soon thereafter, on November 4, 1979, the American Embassy in Tehran was seized and its staff held hostage by “revolutionary guards” whose exact relationship to the new Iranian govern- ment was never satisfactorily clarified. Some former hostages said in the summer of 2005 that they recog- nized Iran’s new president-elect as one of their captors, a claim that was denied. Other acts of terrorism in the region suggested that the U.S. government was unable to defend its interests in that part of the world.

Problems in the Middle East added to a loss of confidence in the U.S. government at home. Another contributing factor was double-digit infla- tion, which eroded the economy and caused a serious decline in the standard of living. The nation’s first military defeat, in Vietnam, drained people’s feelings of nationalism, although the 1976 bicentennial helped revive these to some extent.

During the 1970s, the cultural monopoly of the tra- ditional American family disappeared. More couples lived together outside marriage, and some were of the same sex. Married couples divorced at high rates, and after the 1950s “baby boom,” fewer children were bom each year, especially to white couples, ethnic mix in America changed as the black and His- panic populations, respectively, grew at twice and six times the rate of the white population. The Hispanic community was enlarged by numerous political and economic refugees from Latin America. Southeast Asian refugees, fleeing their homelands in the wake of communist victories there, added another ethnic piece to the American mosaic.

Although consumerism and environmentalism both made great strides during the decade, the main social movement of the 1970s was the women’s move- ment. Opponents succeeded in blocking modification of the Equal Rights Amendment to the Constitution, but the movement helped bring about some funda- mental changes in society. Women began to view themselves as equals to men and demanded equal treatment in the workplace. Of the 3 million new people in the workforce, 2 million were women; almost half of all married women were employed,

one-fourth of them with children younger than the age of six. Women’s wages, though, were only 60 per- cent of men’s. Women in legal careers doubled. Women getting medical degrees accounted for 22 percent of all those who sought such degrees in traditional medicine and 23 percent in veterinary medicine. The percentage of financial officers who were women rose from 18 percent to 30 percent in the decade, and women economists increased from 11 percent to 23 percent. Women in operations sys- tem research and analysis more than doubled, and women entered the public relations field in unprece- dented numbers. The late Betsy Plank became the first woman president of the Public Relations Society of America in 1973, and she was the first person to receive PRSA’s two top professional honors: the Gold Anvil as the nation’s outstanding professional in 1977 and the Lund Award for exemplary civic and community service in 1989. At Ameritech (formerly Illinois Bell), she became the first female to head a company department, external affairs, directing a staff of 102. She died in May 2010 at age 86.

Professionalism: PR in the Era of Global Communication, 1980-Present

The 1960s were a time of tremendous social and eco- nomic upheaval. The 1970s was a decade of uncer- tainty. Most Americans worried about economic problems and shortages of natural resources, espe- cially energy. Many people also lacked confidence in American institutions. These concerns continued into the 1980s, giving impetus to planning based on predictions of internal company development and external social, political and economic conditions.

The confrontations, challenges and turbulence of the 1960s and 1970s led to polarization in the 1980s. This polarization crossed every imaginable social and political boundary. The resulting struggles increased global as well as national tensions between funda- mentalists and secularists. At the same time, the cen- trist position narrowed dramatically.

no The

The Reagan Eighties President Ronald Reagan’s deputy press secretary, Pete Roussel, said he faithfully adhered to what he

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 45

called the “Press Secretary’s Prayer”: “Oh, Lord, let me utter words sweet and gende, for tomorrow, I may have to eat them, eral public opinion-sensitive specialists on President Reagan’s staff. President Reagan came to be called “the Great Communicator.” Recognizing that some people who didn’t like what President Reagan said nonetheless continued to like him, Colorado Con- gresswoman Pat Schroeder nicknamed him the “Teflon” president: Nothing unpopular that his administration did seemed to stick to him personally. President Reagan’s administration also employed pollster Richard Beal, whose job was to look at public views on questions likely to arise as issues in the future.

then to direct public relations for a major brokerage firm—Speakes acknowledged he had “made up” quotes that he attributed to President Reagan!

The Reagan presidency was one of the most con- trolled in the history of the office. One indication of this was the number of orchestrated photo opportu-

In addition, during the Reagan administra- tion, the U.S. Information Agency (USIA) and its companion U.S. Information Service (USIS) in other countries grew in power and influence.

But USIA was disbanded in October 1999, with many of its functions being absorbed by the U.S. Department of State. Since 1994, the International Broadcasting Bureau (IBB) has provided administra- tive and engineering support for U.S. government- funded nonmilitary international broadcast services, including Worldnet Television and Film Service. Originally part of USIA, the IBB was formed by the 1994 International Broadcasting Act, and the IBB was established as an independent federal gov- ernment entity.

» i i i Roussel was one of sev-

114nines.

In doing this, President Reagan was following a trend that started with John F. Kennedy’s use of polling, according to Sidney Blumenthal, author of The Permanent Campaign}u Blumenthal called Pres- ident Reagan “Communicator in Chief’ and made this observation:

Reagan is governing America by a new doctrine—the permanent campaign. He is applying in the White House the most sophisticated team of pollsters, media masters and tacticians ever to work there. They have helped him to transcend entrenched institutions like the Congress and the Washington press corps to appeal directly to the people }n

Concern about Worldnet was expressed in 1987 by Florida Congressman Dan Mica, who observed that it had an “untapped and unlimited potential. ” The Congressman was concerned “that a particular administration could use Worldnet as its private propaganda vehicle. »115

In addition to filling the administration’s major public relations posts with experienced professionals, President Reagan appointed PR pros to many posi- tions not traditionally considered public relations jobs. Of the three top advisers to the president, two were lawyers and one, Michael Deaver, was a public relations professional. Deaver was indicted for influ- ence peddling after he left the White House, and Bernard Kalb of the State Department left in protest when the government got involved in a disinforma- tion campaign.

After press secretary Jim Brady was severely injured in the assassination attempt on President Reagan March 30, 1981, Larry Speakes became act- ing press secretary. Speakes sometimes felt that he wasn’t sufficiently informed by other administration officials, and some news people agreed. However, Speakes said, not knowing is the lesser of the two sins of a press secretary; lying was a “cardinal sin” and unforgivable. After he left the administration— first to work for a large public relations firm and

Integrated Communication Trend Begins Beginning in the late 1970s and early 1980s, several large public relations firms were acquired by advertising agencies. In one transaction, J. Walter Thompson acquired Hill & Knowlton for $28 million. In another important merger, Dudley-Anderson-Yutzy, a PR firm, became a part of Ogilvy & Mather, an adver- tising firm, which was renamed the Ogilvy Group. Then, in 1989, the Ogilvy Group and J. Walter Thompson merged, through a hostile takeover, into the British-owned WPP Group. WPP grew even faster than its chief competitor at the time (also British), Saatchi & Saatchi PLC. In addition to owning what was then the world’s largest PR firm, Hill & Knowlton, WPP got the largest custom market research company, Research International, and the largest direct marketing company, Ogilvy & Mather Direct116

Mergers also created giant communications operations with advertising and public relations capa- bilities. For instance, Young and Rubicam bought

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46 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

credibility.117 To put this phenomenal global growth of public relations into perspective, we must look at the social and political environment in which it occurred.

Burson-Marsteller and Marsteller, Inc., for about $20 million, and Benton and Bowles acquired Man- ning, Selvage and Lee for $2 million. The first big merger (1978) was of Carl Byoir & Associates (one of the oldest PR firms) with Foote, Cone & Belding.

Many advertising agencies moved into related fields: public relations, specialized advertising to and for select groups (doctors, for example), merchandising (including package design), direct marketing and/or sales promotion. Some agencies bought successful companies to put under a corpo- rate umbrella. Others created their own divisions. Some integrated the various units into a super team. Others operated the units separately and inde- pendendy, but found an advantage in presenting themselves as a “full-service” agency. The late PR counselor Philip Lesly expressed a fear that the trend could limit PR to a narrow communications role, subservient to marketing and stripped of its counseling role. Although some agencies used PR mostly for product/service support, others allowed PR free rein to pursue its full range of functions.

The intertwining function that these mergers produced was recognized by some colleges and universities, which combined the academic programs of advertising and PR, sometimes calling them integrated communication or integrated marketing communication.

Historical Developments in the 1980s and 1990s The interconnectedness and shared experience of our global society were demonstrated in interna- tional reactions to everything from natural events such as the return of Halley’s comet (1985-1986) to calamities like the Chernobyl nuclear power plant accident in the Ukraine (April 25, 1986) to the world stock market disaster of Black Monday (October 19, 1987), which was precipitated by a drop of 508 points in the Dow Jones industrial aver- age. Individual investors fled the marketplace and complained bitterly about the havoc wreaked by the speculators. In 1989 the “Big Board” in the USA ini- tiated a major public information campaign aimed at the 47 million Americans who owned stocks or shares in mutual funds. By 1991, there was some evi- dence that individual investors had returned to the stock market.

Discoveries of a supernova and of a superconduct- ing substance, as well as breakthroughs in genetic coding research, revitalized American confidence in its ability to understand and shape the world. But the proliferation of the deadly virally induced condition AIDS (acquired immunodeficiency syndrome) was humbling and defied explanation and control. Both in the USA and abroad, advertising and public rela- tions programs were undertaken to educate the pub- lic about AIDS and to impede its progress into a pandemic.

Faith in U.S. institutions was severely shaken in 1986 by a series of events. The first of these was the January 28 explosion of the Challenger space shuttle, which temporarily ended human space explorations by the USA. NASA returned in 1989 with the launches of the Magellan and Galileo space probes and the brilliant success of Voyager 2' s flyby of Neptune at the conclusion of its 12-year journey. Then, there followed the first-ever pictures of the surface of Venus. Despite these successes, however, NASA was forced by the national budget crunch to

sometimes to the detriment of its

Global Impact on Public Relations Practice and Education in the 1980s and 1990s The growth and evolution of public relations prac- tice and of education for public relations internation- ally continued at an even faster pace during the 1980s and 1990s. Technology connected the world as never before, and this emphasized the need for and use of communication. Cultural awareness became increasingly important—not only in interna- tional communication, but also within nations—as political and economic disruptions the world over created a tide of refugees. Natural disasters added to the displacement of people from their homelands.

The formal integration of advertising and public relations tactics that began in the 1970s increased. The results were greater emphasis on “strategic plan- ning” to coordinate the integrated communication elements and greater awareness of the need to inte- grate an organization’s different “voices” to ensure consistency of message statements and to enhance

economize, projects. Nothing typifies the agency’s mixture of tri- umph and fallibility better than the launch of the Hubble telescope in 1990. A simple mathematical

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Chapter 2 / PR's Origins and Evolution 47

error produced a flawed lens shape, which for a time prevented the remarkable telescope from transmit- ting the exquisite views of the heavens it had been expected to provide. Subsequent delicate (and expen- sive) maneuvers in space brought the telescope to its full operational capacity.

Falling oil prices in 1986 caused such economic chaos in the Sunbelt states that more banks failed that year than ever before in the nation’s history. The drop in oil prices hurt not only the banks them- selves and U.S. oil-producing states, but also Latin American countries that had used their petroleum assets as collateral for loans from U.S. banks that they suddenly had no means of repaying.

Worldwide television audiences witnessed the exposure of an unelected subgovernment in the USA during the Iran-Contra hearings, which inves- tigated unauthorized sales of overpriced arms to Iran, supposedly in exchange for American hostages held in Lebanon, with some of the profits from the sales going to the Nicaraguan Contras. President Ronald Reagan claimed to have been unaware of these activ- ities, and U.S. Marine Corps. Lt. Col. Oliver North of the National Security Council enjoyed a brief career as a national hero before being indicted and sentenced in 1989. (His convictions were later over- turned when an appeals court decided that the evi- dence proving his guilt had not been sufficiendy insulated from testimony North gave to Congress under a grant of immunity from prosecution. North pronounced himself “totally exonerated” by this ruling and ran [unsuccessfully] for the Senate in 1994.) Before the dust from the Iran-Contra debacle had settled, a new (but lesser) scandal involving Pentagon defense contracts further eroded public confidence in government.

Television audiences also watched the downfall of TV evangelists Jim and Tammy Bakker and Jimmy Swaggart and the collapse of the Bakkers’ organiza- tion, an event that indirectly led to Jerry Falwell’s resignation as head of Moral Majority, the leading fundamentalist religious organization in the USA.

In the face of falling U.S. prestige, Soviet Prime Minister Mikhail Gorbachev introduced a new cli- mate of glasnost (openness) in the USSR. He sent young, effective communicators to represent his nation in preliminary peace talks and agreed to many U.S. positioning statements, much to the dismay of U.S. diplomats. In 1987, he came to the USA and showed that he, too, knew how to handle a media event. But by 1991, Gorbachev was in serious trouble

at home, trying to keep the USSR glued together as one state after another voted for independence. By year’s end, the Soviet Union was defunct, and Gorbachev was head of a Russian “think tank.”

The USA hosted another important world leader in 1987, Pope John Paul II, who found his followers in a restive mood as he refused to modify his conser- vative views on the issues of marriage for priests and nuns, abortion, birth control and homosexuality. The world of public relations got directly involved in that issue because the United States Catholic Con- ference (USCC) asked Hill & Knowlton to represent it in a public antiabortion campaign. Robert L. Dilenschneider, then president and CEO of Hill & Knowlton, agreed to take the account, but he didn’t anticipate that USCC would announce that fact before he had a chance to tell employees about it. Many of his staffers were quite upset, and some even quit Dilenschneider later conceded that the internal handling of the affair was not ideal, but he defended his decision to accept the account as a first amendment issue—a rather problematic line of argu- ment because it implies that, much like lawyers, PR practitioners have a societal duty to provide their ser- vices to anyone who wants (and can pay for) profes- sional help in framing and disseminating ideas, regardless of how repugnant those ideas may be. Taken to an extreme, this reasoning would find an obligation to provide PR services to hate groups, on the theory that the First Amendment guarantees them not merely the right to free speech, but the right to effective speech. In the fall of 1991, Dilenschneider resigned, citing loss of control to the parent company, WPP Group PLC.

Hill & Knowlton also had the account of the Citi- zens for a Free Kuwait, which it obtained shortly after U.S. troops started their campaign to recapture that country on Jan. 16, 1991. The Desert Storm war, perhaps because of its brevity, success and mul- tinational force, restored a strong feeling of patriot- ism to U.S. citizens. However, the war’s aftermath, especially the Kurdish refugee situation, reminded the international community of the lingering horrors of war. The war also left a substantial number of Kuwaiti oil fields on fire (the last of these fires was put out some six months later) and an oil- drenched, ecologically damaged Persian Gulf. Cynicism replaced patriotism in some quarters after the war, as people became more aware that the “real- ity” of the coverage they had been exposed to more nearly resembled managed news. The backlash

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48 Part One / Public Relations: Role, Practice and Origins

among media personnel against PR control of war information was strong.

The 1987 stock market collapse on Black Monday represented a frightening but graphic example of imagery and public opinion. The lingering weakness of the market was attributable in part to global dis- comfort at the U.S. debt, which had reached trillions of dollars, and at the deadlock between the Reagan administration and Congress over how to deal with it. The friction in philosophies between the executive and legislative branches was apparent in the Iran- Contra hearings, the budget negotiations and most dramatically in the Senate’s refusal to confirm strict constructionist Robert Bork to the Supreme Court Opposition to his nomination revived the activism of civil rights and feminist constituencies. Four years later, the nomination of Clarence Thomas to replace Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court opened a rift within the black community when law professor Anita Hill’s allegations of sexual harassment by Thomas created a national furor over the nature and prevalence of this previously ignored type of crime. Both were African American. Although many people found Hill’s testimony at the resulting hearing both plausible and compelling, the U.S. Senate’s 98 men and two women narrowly voted to confirm Thomas’ appointment to the court.

The most dramatic historical development of the late 1980s was the downfall of Communist regimes in Eastern Europe. In the spring of 1989, with neigh- boring borders relaxed, East Germans began leaving the state in droves. Then, in November, the East German government resigned en masse, and on November 10 the Berlin wall began to come down. Pieces of the wall sold as souvenirs in U.S. depart- ment stores at prices from $15 to $25. By 1990, the USIA had opened the first “American University Bookstore” in East Berlin. The two Germanys were united in October 1990. Another notable develop- ment in November 1989 was Hungary’s withdrawal from the Warsaw Pact; and later in the same month, Hungarians voted in their first free election in 42 years. In Czechoslovakia, voters elected promi- nent dissident playwright Vaclav Havel president in 1989. But within four years, the national government gave in, reluctantly but peacefully, to the secession of Slovakia from the union with the subsequently renamed Czech Republic in 1993. The Solidarity trade-union leader Lech Walesa was chosen premier of Poland in August 1989. By 1990, the Voice of America had opened its first Polish office, in

Warsaw. Meanwhile, in Bulgaria, seeing the tide of change in 1989, Communist party leader Todor Zhivkov resigned.

The most dramatic climax may have been in Romania. In December 1989, after his Communist government had collapsed, Nicolae Ceausescu was captured, tried in secret and, along with his wife, executed by a firing squad on Christmas Day. Mass graves of suspected government opponents were exhumed, and U.S. families began to adopt orphaned and abandoned Romanian children. This turned out to be a problem by 1991, when it became clear that many private adoption homes in Romania were plac- ing children who had been relinquished (either aban- doned or sold) by poor families. The U.S. State Department responded by refusing for a time to grant adopting parents visas for the children.

In the Western hemisphere, Fidel Castro began issuing visas that permitted some people to leave Cuba legally for the first time under Castro’s regime.

With restraints loosening in much of the Com- munist world, the Western world was shocked to watch on television as Chinese students participating in a pro-democracy movement were attacked by armed troops and tanks near Beijing’s Tiananmen Square. Especially apprehensive were the Chinese citizens of Hong Kong, because that island city would revert to China in 1997. Many of the students who weren’t captured in the subsequent crackdown escaped with the help of an underground movement operating out of Hong Kong.

Two unique elements in the tragic event point out the globalization of today’s world. First, the students in revolt were receiving fax messages from Chinese students and sympathizers abroad; second, the authorities later used television footage to identify the students and track them down. Some received lengthy prison sentences. This led some U.S. citizens to push for revoking China’s “most favored nation” trading status, but President George H. W. Bush opposed this measure and committed the administra- tion to a policy of keeping the market open. The subsequent Democratic administration of Bill Clin- ton did not reverse the Bush policy on China.

The mosdy nonviolent revolutions of Eastern Europe were followed in 1991 by the disintegration of the Soviet Union into its constituent republics (loosely allied as the Commonwealth of Indepen- dent States). A destructive secessionist movement occurred in Yugoslavia, where 45 years of cooperative

Copyright 2012 Cengage Learning. All Rights Reserved. May not be copied, scanned, or duplicated, in whole or in pan. Due to electronic rights, some third party content may be suppressed from the eBook and/or eChapter(s). Editorial review has deemed that any suppressed content does not materially affect the overall learning experience. Cengage Learning reserves the right to remove additional content at any time if subsequent rights restrictions require it.