Exam Review: The Practice of Public Relations – 10th Edition 50 questions Chapter 1-5: Chapter 1: 4 MC, 4 TF •PR differs from publicity, advertising, and propaganda. •Definition of Public Relations – 1st class notes oPublic Relations is the management of communication with in an organization and its partners/publics. •RACE – research, action, communication, evaluation •ROSIE- •RPIE- research, planning, implementation, evaluation. Public Relations as Management Interpreter •Leon Hess did not believe or have a public relations department but now it is necessary for businesses to have them. Must interpret the philosophies, policies, programs, and practices of their management to the public. •They must convey the attitudes of the public to their management. Public Relations as Public Interpreter •Interpreting the public to management means finding out what the public really thinks about the firm and letting management know. •Ralph Nader spread a rumor about GM that their car was “unsafe at any speed. ” •Mobil Oil bought the parent of the Montgomery Ward department store chain, the company was publicly battered for failing to cut its prices. Ronald Regan was good at interpreting…Bush was not. The Publics of Public Relations •There is no general public, it could be seen as publics relations or relations with the publics. •Internally, managers must deal directly with various levels of subordinates as well as with cross-relationships that arise when subordinates interact with one another. •Externally, managers must deal with a system that includes government regulatory agencies, labor unions, subcontractors, consumer groups, and many other independent but often related organizations. Internal publics- are inside the organization: supervisors, clerks, managers, stockholders, and the board of directors •External publics- are those not directly connected with the organization: the press, government, educators, customers, suppliers, and the community. •Primary publics can mostly help or hinder the organization’s efforts •Secondary publics are less important •Marginal publics are the least important of all. •Employees and current customers are traditional publics. •Students and potential customers are future ones. •Segmentation separates consumers into 8 distinct categories: 1.

Actualizers are those with the most wealth and power 2. Fullfilleds have high resources and are principle-oriented professionals or retirees 3. Believers are fulfilleds without the resources 4. Achievers have high resources and are status oriented 5. Strivers lack the resources of Achievers but are equally status oriented 6. Experiencers have high resources, are action oriented, and are disposed toward taking risks 7. Makers also are action oriented but have low resources 8. Strugglers have the lowest resources •Marketing and Advertising promote a product or a service. •Public relations promotes an entire organization Functions associated with public relations work: 1. Writing 2. Media relations 3. Planning 4. Counseling 5. Researching 6. Publicity 7. Marketing communications 8. Community relations 9. Consumer relations 10. Employee relations 11. Government affairs 12. Investor relations 13. Special publics relations 14. Public affairs and issues management 15. Web site development and web interface •Spinning the facts is not related to PR, it is seen unethical in the PR world. •Heyman Associates reported seven areas that characterize a successful public relations career: 1. Diversity of experience 2. Performance 3.

Communications skills 4. Relationship building 5. Proactivity and passion 6. Teamliness 7. Intangibles, such as personality, likeability, and chemistry •The work of public relations translates from one group to another. •We sell memories, images, and ideas. •Attitudes and opinions cannot be changed easily / overnight. •Internal vs. External publics oInternal – investors, partners etc. oExternal – outside of the organization •Public Relations needs to be practiced continuously oNot just during crisis time. oNot a temporary defensive measure Chapter 2: •Five trends are related to the evolution of public relations: 1.

Growth of big institutions 2. Heightened public awareness and media sophistication 3. Increasing incidence of societal change, conflict, and confrontation 4. Growing power of global media, public opinion, and democracy 5. Dominance of the internet •Who was the first public relations educator and PR course? oEdward Bernays – talented PR person, in 1913 he started working for cigarette company called lucky stripe, he talked to woman about smoking and the image and got woman to start smoking. Arguably the father of PR oAuthor of Crystallizing Public Opinion oRecruited first distinguished female practicioner, his wife Doris E.

Fleischman oHim and his wife built the Edward. L. Bernays Counsel on Public Relations •First Consultant / advisor or counselor in the world? oIvy Lee – worked for Rockefeller family – father of public relations oWorked for Rockafeller and encouraged him to create a joint labor-management board to mediate all workers’ grievances on wages, hours, and working conditions after the Ludlow tragedy. oDubbed the name “poison ivy” for having been apart of the German Dye Trust which was led by Adolf Hitler oBegan to distinguish “publicity” and “press agentry” from “public relations” based on honesty and candor •P.

T. Barnum- the “public be fooled”, not liked by people, ran a circus •First authentic Presidential Press Secretary oAmos Kendall – one of Andrew Jackson’s assistants, developed The Globe, Jackson administrations own newspaper. •Robber Barrons – cared little about society oRockerfellers – oil oCarnegies oVanderbilt – railroads – “public be damned” oHenry Clay Frick oJ. P. Morgan •Who are the Muckrakers oJournalists who criticized the robber barrons oThe “muck” these reporters and editors “racked” is how they got their name oUpton Sinclair and Ida Tarbell were muckrackers What were the companies who organized 1st in house organization? oAT&T & GE •Paul Garrett and Arthur Page •D. Parke Gibson- one of earliest African American counselors. •Burson was named the most influential PR person of the 20th century •Hill & Knowlton / Burson-Marsteller – counseling industry •What were the 1st independent PR firms oHill and Knowlton •How far back can we trace? oAncient Greece •WW1 who was supposed to mobilize public relations oThe Creel Community – established by Woodrow Wilson, under leadership of journalist George Creel. a special U. S. ublic information committee, was formed to channel the patriotic sentiments of Americans in support of the U. S. role in the war. It was 1st government run and government organized group •During WW2 it was called the oOffice of War Information (OWI) –was established to convey the message of the United States at home and abroad. Under the directorship of Elmer Davis, it laid the foundations for the U. S. Information Agency as America’s voice around the world. •Ronald Regan – “the great communicator” •Do PR people like to trace public relations to Barnum? oNO The nation’s first PR firm – the Publicity Bureau •William Wolff Smith- started 1st Washington DC agency Communication / Communication Theory •Father of the communication satellite – Arthur C. Clarke – “Clarke Orbit” •Why do we talk about communication in general? What are typical communication goals? 1. To inform 2. To persuade 3. To motivate 4. To build mutual understanding •Two-step flow theory- stated that an organization would beam a message first to the mass media, which would then deliver that message to the great mass of readers, listeners, and viewers for their response.

This theory may have given the mass media too much credit. People today are influenced by a variety of factors, of which the media may be one but is not necessarily the dominant one. •The concentric-circle theory – developed by pollster Elmo Roper, assumed that ideas evolve gradually to the public at large, moving in centric circles from great thinkers to great disciples to great disseminators to lesser disseminators to the politically active to the politically inert. This theory suggests that people pick up and accept ideas from leaders, whose impact on public opinion may be greater than that of the mass media.

The overall study of how communication is used for direction and control is called cybernetics. •Pat Jackson – emphasized “systematic investigation-setting clear strategic goals and identifying key stakeholders” 1. 5 step process to stimulate behavioral change: 1. building awareness 2. developing a latent readiness 3. triggering event 4. intermediate behavior 5. behavioral change •Attitudes > opinions > actions •Moslow’s hierarchy of needs theory 1. Physiological needs – food, water, sleep, sex 2. Safety needs- security, protections 3. Love needs – acceptance, belonging, love 4.

Esteem – recognitions and prestige, confidence and leadership 5. Self-actualization – achieving a goal for the purposes of challenge and accomplishment •Elaboration likelihood model – which posits that there are essentially two ways that people get persuaded: 1. When we are interested and focused enough on a message to take a direct “central route” to decision making, 2. When we are not particularly engaged on a message and need to take a more “peripheral” route. •Information Model / Theory 1. Source, Coding, channel, decoded, source > feedback 2. What each element is / does •What are the two types of noise . External – everything outside of the 2. Internal – comes from inside of you 3. Coding – 1. If you are working as a speech writer what element of this element are you? •Cognitive Dissonance Theory – discussed by Leon Festinger 1. State of mind, state of psychological disbalance – believed that individuals tend to avoid information that is dissonant or opposed to their own points of view and tend to seek out information that is consonant with, or in support of, their own attitudes •Social judgment theory – suggests that people may have a range of opinions on a certain subject, anchored by a clear attitude.

It is hard to change this anchor position, communicators can work within this range, called a person’s “latitude of acceptance,” to modify a person’s opinion. •Human Attitudes are Resistant to Change 1. 4 barriers against incoming information 1. Selective exposure 2. Selective Attention 3. Selective Comprehension 4. Selective Retention •AIDA Theory 1. Comes from the area of marketing 1. Attention – Agenda Setting ( put it in their agenda before they consider doing anything) 2. Interest 3. Desire 4. Action 2. We cannot tell people what to think, we can only tell them what to think about. We work with words in PR, they have meaning and symbolize something. We are careful with selecting these words – Semantics (is the branch of science for the meaning of words) •2 Step Flow Theory 1. Organization / Companies to Opinion Leaders to Public •Gate Keeping 1. Journalists are the proverbial gate keepers •Know and love your journalists •Social Judgement Theory 1. Latitude of Acceptance 1. Statements are accepted. 2. Latitude of Rejection 3. Anchor Position 1. Can be moved through slow and careful messages 4. Hi Involvement Issues 1.

Latitude of Acceptance is very small. 5. Low Involvement Issues 1. Latitude of Acceptance is very large. •Handouts 1. What is good for one way communication for sports and propaganda? 1. Press Agentry •Spectrum of Opinion •Management by Objectives 1. Defining the problem or opportunity 2. Programming 3. Action 4. Evaluation 5. Do they clearly describe the end result expected? 6. Are they understandable to everyone in the organization? 7. Do they list a firm completion date? 8. Are they realistic, attainable, and measurable? 9. Are they consistent with management’s objectives? Department may have different names – MBO and MBR •How do we call the 2nd name for government relations? 1. Lobbying / Lobbyists •Boundary Managers 1. Boundary role- function at the edge of an organization as a liaison between the organization and its external and internal publics 2. Regulate the information going over the external boundaries of the organization 3. You are regulating the flow of information from the organization to the environment •Consider the relationship of the environment 1. Exxon Mobil Example •Public Relations Objectives 1.

Firm Completion Date 2. Measurable •Public Opinion 1. 66-67 pgs. 2. Definition of Opinion – is the expression of an attitude on a particular topic. 3. Seven properties of how attitudes are shaped: 1. Personal 2. Cultural 3. Educational 4. Familial 5. Religious 6. Social class 7. Race •Informed Public •No such thing as General Public •Public Opinion is sensitive to Big Events •Environment > Business objectives > public relations objectives and strategies > public relations programs •The public relations management process involves four steps: 1.

Defining the problem or opportunity 2. Programming 3. Action 4. Evaluation •Reputation managers – help to manage and organizations reputation, that is its brand, position, goodwill, and image. Rational and emotional 1. persuading consumers to recommend and buy their products 2. persuading investors to invest 3. persuading competent job seekers to enlist as employees 4. persuading other strong organizations to joint venture with them 5. persuading people to support the organization when it is attacked