From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This article does not cite any references or sources. (July 2007) Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources. Unverifiable material may be challenged and removed.

This article may require cleanup to meet Wikipedia's quality standards. Please improve this article if you can. (May 2007)

Topics in journalism
Professional issues
News • Reportage • Writing • Ethics • Objectivity • Values • Attribution • Defamation • Editorial independence • Education • Other topics
Fields
Arts • Business • Environment • Fashion • Music • Science • Sports • Trade • Video games • Weather
Genres
Advocacy journalism Citizen journalism Civic journalism Gonzo journalism Investigative journalism Literary journalism Narrative journalism New Journalism Visual journalism Watchdog journalism
Social impact
Fourth Estate Freedom of the press Infotainment Media bias News propaganda Public relations Yellow journalism
News media
Newspapers Magazines News agencies Broadcast journalism Online journalism Photojournalism Alternative media
Roles
Journalist • Reporter • Editor • Columnist • Commentator • Photographer • News presenter • Meteorologist
This box: view • talk • edit

Contents 1 Definition 2 The industry today 3 Methods, tools, and tactics 3.1 Audience targeting 3.2 Press releases 3.3 Lobby groups 3.4 Spin 3.4.1 Spin doctor 3.5 Other 4 Politics and civil society 4.1 Defining the opponent 4.2 Managing language 5 Front groups 6 Notes 7 See also 8 External links

Dictionary.com describes public relations as the art, technique or profession of promoting such goodwill, that is exactly what a public relations firm does. It is a company that specializes in promoting news. A PR firm could do this for another company, brand or individual.

The term Public Relations was first used by the US President Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807 (in this use, however, the intended meaning seems to be closer to "policy" than the implication of communications central to the contemporary definition).

^[1]

One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."(see history of public relations).

Today "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations). Essentially it is a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.

There is a school of public relations that holds that it is about relationship management. Phillips, explored this concept in his paper "Towards relationship management: Public relations at the core of organisational development" paper in 2006 which lists a range of academics and practitioners who support this view.

Modern public relations evaluates a product or individuals public perception through market research. Once data is collected and challenges are identified, solutions are presented in a campaign strategy to meet goals. Techniques may vary from campaign to campaign but some standard tools used are; press releases, press kits, satellite feeds, pod casts, web casts, wire service distribution of information and internet placement. Others include entertainment product placement (television, events, celebrity), product launches, press conferences, media seminars, producing events, speechwriting, establishing partnerships and more is often required.

. According to Don Sheelen,

"Examples of the knowledge that may be required in the professional practice of public relations include communication arts, psychology, social psychology, sociology, political science, economics, and the principles of management and ethics. Technical knowledge and skills are required for opinion research, public issues analysis, media relations, direct mail, institutional advertising, publications, film/video productions, special events, speeches, and presentations."

Although public relations professionals are stereotypically seen as corporate servants, the reality is that almost any organization that has a stake in how it is portrayed in the public arena employs at least one PR manager. Large organizations may even have dedicated communications departments. Government agencies, trade associations, and other non-profit organizations commonly carry out PR activities.

Public relations is an important management function in any organization. An effective communication, or public relations, plan for an organization is developed to communicate to an audience (whether internal or external publics) in such a way the message coincides with organizational goals and seeks to benefit mutual interests whenever possible.

As industry consolidation becomes more prevalent, many organizations and individuals are choosing to retain "boutique" firms as opposed to so-called "global" communications firms. These smaller firms typically specialize in only a couple of practice areas and thus, often have a greater understanding of their client's business. And because they deal with certain journalists with greater frequency, specialty firms often have stronger media contacts in the areas that matter most to their clients. Added benefits of smaller, specialty firms include more personal attention and accountability and as well, cost savings. This is not to say that smaller is always better, but there is a growing consensus that specialty firms offer more than once considered.

Organizations that cater to specialized or "boutique" practices include specific subgenres such as "Broadcast PR", and include firms like Medialink, WestGlen, DS Simon, kelly fogelman group and Mediahitman. These groups use traditional PR techniques but devote most of their efforts towards gaining exposure via broadcast and cable television news outlets. As newspapers downsize across the country due to the impact of Internet news, television has become an important vehicle in establishing customer acquisition. Reputable firms, create solid stories for broadcast which appear on talk shows like Oprah, Good Morning America or news broadcast etc.. Questionable public relation firms create "spin." which is slanted stories to serve their cleint's interest. Recent pressure from watchgroups like the Center for Media and Democracy has resulted in Federal review of "spin" practices.

A number of specialties exist within the field of public relations, including:

• product placement
• product launches
• broadcast public relations
• reputation management
• issue management
• investor relations and labor relations
• grassroots PR (sometimes referred to as "astroturf PR")
• crisis management

Public relations and publicity are not synonymous. Publicity is the spreading of information to gain public awareness in a product, service, candidate, etc. It is just one technique of public relations as listed here.

A fundamental technique used in public relations is to identify the target audience, and to tailor every message to appeal to that audience. It can be a general, nationwide or worldwide audience, but it is more often a segment of a population. Marketers often refer to economy-driven "demographics," such as "white males 18-49," but in public relations an audience is more fluid, being whoever someone wants to reach. For example, recent political audiences include "soccer moms" and "NASCAR dads."

In addition to audiences, there are usually stakeholders, literally people who have a "stake" in a given issue. All audiences are stakeholders (or presumptive stakeholders), but not all stakeholders are audiences. For example, a charity commissions a PR agency to create an advertising campaign to raise money to find a cure for a disease. The charity and the people with the disease are stakeholders, but the audience is anyone who is likely to donate money.

Sometimes the interests of differing audiences and stakeholders common to a PR effort necessitate the creation of several distinct but still complementary messages. This is not always easy to do, and sometimes – especially in politics – a spokesperson or client says something to one audience that angers another audience or group of stakeholders.

PR firms cater to a very broad range of audiences on a daily basis. Some go into details about their “specializations” offered to companies. Ketchum, a PR company based in New York, mentions how it only does PR in six fields: brand marketing, food and nutrition, technology, healthcare, corporate and specialties. At a closer inspection, it is obvious that with such a broad range of markets given, Ketchum can work with a very diverse selection of companies or products. Them categorizing their specialties in more general categories may make them seem extremely specialized and more apt to a potential client. This still allows them to target the audience they want and what audience will be most beneficial to their company.

Main article: Press release

A press release is a written statement distributed to the media. It is a fundamental tool of public relations. Press releases are usually communicated by a newswire service to various news media and journalists may use them as they see fit. Very often the information in a press release finds its way verbatim, or minimally altered, to print and broadcast reports. If a media outlet reports that "John Smith said in a statement today that...", the "statement" usually originated in a press release, or a direct quote from an interview with a John Smith.

The text of a release is usually (but not always) written in the style of a news story, with an eye-catching headline and text written standard journalistic inverted pyramid style. This style of news writing makes it easier for reporters to quickly grasp the message. Journalists are free to use the information verbatim, or alter it as they see fit. PR practitioners research and write releases that encourage as much "lifting" as possible.

Many journalists believe it is unethical to copy from a press release—they believe it is a lapse of good judgement (for instance, a direct quote, as in: Senator Smith said, "This is the most fiscally irresponsible bill that the Congress has passed since the Buy Everyone A Mercedes Act." In this case, a journalist may copy the quote verbatim into the story, although ethical reporters prefer to try soliciting an individual quote from the speaker before filing their story). Public relations professionals believe that press releases and other collateral material aid a journalist's job, and it is the job of the journalist to decide whether or not reprinting material verbatim tells the real story.

Since press releases reflect their issuer's preferred interpretation or positive packaging of a story, journalists are often skeptical of their contents. The level of skepticism depends on what the story is and who's telling it. Newsrooms receive so many press releases that, unless it is a story that the media are already paying attention to, a press release alone often isn't enough to catch a journalist's attention.

With the advent of modern electronic media and new technology, press releases now have equivalents in these media_video news releases and audio news releases. However, many television stations are hesitant to use VNR's that appear canned and are not newsworthy. Most press releases today are optimized for internet release, given the immediacy of communication the medium allows. Many companies are also beginning to use 'social media releases', a next-generation press release format distinctive for tying together various copy elements (e.g., headline, key messages, quotes), multimedia elements and social sharing options (e.g., social bookmarks, web feeds) in one place. This enables the journalist (or anyone else) to view easily and/or “re-mix” story elements and share the story with others.

Lobby groups are established to influence government policy, corporate policy, or public opinion. These groups claim to represent a particular interest. When a lobby group hides its true purpose and support base it is known as a front group.

In public relations, spin is a sometimes pejorative term signifying a heavily biased portrayal in one's own favor of an event or situation. While traditional public relations may also rely on creative presentation of the facts, "spin" often, though not always, implies disingenuous, deceptive and/or highly manipulative tactics. Politicians are often accused of spin by commentators and political opponents, when they produce a counter argument or position.

The techniques of "spin" include:

• Selectively presenting facts and quotes that support one's position (cherry picking)
• Non-denial denial
• Phrasing in a way that assumes unproven truths
• Euphemisms to disguise or promote one's agenda
• Ambiguity
• Skirting
• Rejecting the validity of hypotheticals
• Appealing to internal policies

Another spin technique involves careful choice of timing in the release of certain news so it can take advantage of prominent events in the news. A famous reference to this practice occurred when British Government press officer Jo Moore used the phrase It's now a very good day to get out anything we want to bury, (widely paraphrased or misquoted as "It's a good day to bury bad news"), in an email sent on September 11, 2001. The furor caused when this email was reported in the press eventually caused her to resign.

Skilled practitioners of spin are sometimes called "spin doctors", though probably not to their faces unless it is said facetiously. It is the PR equivalent of calling a writer a "hack". Perhaps the most well-known person in the UK often described as a "spin doctor" is Alastair Campbell, who was involved with Tony Blair's public relations between 1994 and 2003, and also played a controversial role as press relations officer to the British and Irish Lions rugby union side during their 2005 tour of New Zealand.

State-run media in many countries also engage in spin by selectively allowing news stories that are favorable to the government while censoring anything that could be considered critical. They may also use propaganda to indoctrinate or actively influence citizens' opinions.

• Publicity events, pseudo-events, photo ops or publicity stunts
• The talk show circuit. A PR spokesperson (or his/her client) "does the circuit" by being interviewed on television and radio talk shows with audiences that the client wishes to reach.
• Books and other writings
• After a PR practitioner has been working in the field for a while, he or she accumulates a list of contacts in the media and elsewhere in the public affairs sphere. This "Rolodex" becomes a prized asset, and job announcements sometimes even ask for candidates with an existing Rolodex, especially those in the media relations area of PR.
• Direct communication (carrying messages directly to constituents, rather than through the mass media) with, e.g., newsletters – in print and e-letters.
• Collateral literature, traditionally in print and now predominantly as web sites.
• Speeches to constituent groups and professional organizations; receptions; seminars, and other events; personal appearances.
• The slang term for a PR practitioner or publicist is a "flack."

A tactic used in political campaigns is known as "defining one's opponent". Opponents can be candidates, organizations and other groups of people.

In the 2004 US presidential campaign, George W. Bush defined John Kerry as a "flip-flopper," among other characterizations, which were widely reported and repeated by the media, particularly the conservative media. Similarly, George H.W. Bush characterized Michael Dukakis as weak on crime (the Willie Horton ad) and as hopelessly liberal ("a card-carrying member of the ACLU"). In 1996, President Bill Clinton seized upon opponent Bob Dole's promise to take America back to a simpler time, promising in contrast to "build a bridge to the 21st century." This painted Dole as a person who was somehow opposed to progress.

In the debate over abortion, self-titled pro-choice groups, by virtue of their name, defined their opponents as "anti-choice", while self-titled pro-life groups refer to their opponents as "pro-abortion" or "anti-life". See Power word.

If a politician or organization can use an apt phrase in relation to an issue, such as in interviews or news releases, the news media will often repeat it verbatim, without questioning the aptness of the phrase. This perpetuates both the message and whatever preconceptions might underlie it.

"New Deal" became a description of President Franklin D. Roosevelt's anti-Depression economic plans, and "states' rights/state sovereignty" became near-code words for anti-civil rights legislation.

Recent examples include: "death tax" for estate tax, "affirmative action" for some types of discrimination, "racial preferences" for affirmative action, "faith-based" instead of religious, "climate change" for global warming, and "partial-birth abortion", a non-medical term used to describe the types of abortion performed late-term. The phrase "weapons of mass destruction" became extremely common in the lead-up the 2003 invasion of Iraq, often with little comment on what specific weapons those might be.

Many of the techniques used by PR firms are drawn from the institutions and practices of democracy itself. Persuasion, advocacy, and education are instruments through which individuals and organizations are entitled to express themselves in a free society, and many public relations practitioners are engaged in practices that are widely considered as beneficial, such as publicizing scientific research, promoting charities, raising awareness of public health concerns and other issues in civil society.

One of the most controversial practices in public relations is the use of front groups—organizations that purport to serve a public cause while actually serving the interests of a client whose sponsorship may be obscured or concealed. The creation of front groups is an example of what PR practitioners sometimes term the third party technique—the art of "putting your words in someone else's mouth." PR Watch, a non-profit organization that monitors PR activities it considers to be deceptive, has published numerous examples of this technique in practice. Critics of the public relations industry, such as PR Watch, have contended that Public Relations involves a "multi-billion dollar propaganda-for-hire industry" that "concoct[s] and spin[s] the news, organize[s] phoney 'grassroots' front groups, sp[ies] on citizens, and conspire[s] with lobbyists and politicians to thwart democracy." [2].

Instances of the use of front groups as a PR technique have been documented in many industries. Coal mining corporations have created environmental groups that contend that increased CO2 emissions and global warming will contribute to plant growth and will be beneficial, trade groups for bars have created and funded citizens' groups to attack anti-alcohol groups, tobacco companies have created and funded citizens' groups to advocate for tort reform and to attack personal injury lawyers, while trial lawyers have created "consumer advocacy" front groups to oppose tort reform.[3][4][5]

1. The articles of 'Entertainment and celebrity' and the 'Ethics' section of 'Public Relations' are written, researched, and contributed by Habib Dager and Rouba Saadeh (Beirut, Lebanon)
2. Scott M. Cutlip/ Allen H. Center/ Glen M. Broom, "Effective Public Relations," 7th Ed., Prentice-Hall, Inc. A Simon and Schuster Company, Englewood Cliffs, N.J. 07632, 1994, Figure 10-1
3. Center, Allen H. and Jackson, Patrick, "Public Relations Practices," 5th ed., Prentice Hall, Upper Saddle, N.J., 1995, pp. 14-15
4. Crifasi, Sheila C., "Everything's Coming Up Rosie," from Public Relations Tactics, September, 2000, Vol. 7, Issue 9, Public Relations Society of America, New York, 2000.
5. Kelly, Kathleen S., "Effective Fund Raising Management," Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Mahwah, N.J., 1998
6. Wilcox, D.L., Ault, P.H., Agee, W.K., & Cameron, G., "Public Relations Strategies and Tactics," 7th ed., Allyn & Bacon, Boston, MA, 2002
7. Hiaasen, Carl, "Native Tongue," 2002; When the precious blue-tongued mango voles at the Amazing Kingdom of Thrills on North Key Largo are stolen by heartless, ruthless thugs, Joe Winder wants to uncover why, and find the voles. Joe is lately a PR man for the Amazing Kingdom theme park, but now that the voles are gone, Winder is dragged along in their wake through a series of weird and lethal events...

• Media related to public relations
• Chief Communications Officer
• Marketing and Advertising
• Promotion (marketing)
• Publicity
• Spin (public relations)
• Interactive PR

v • d • e Propaganda techniques
Bandwagon effect · Buzzword · Card stacking · Code word · Dog-whistle politics · Doublespeak · Framing · Glittering generality · Power word · Lesser of two evils principle · Loaded language · Newspeak · Public relations · Plain folks · Testimonial · Weasel word

• Public Relations on Open Directory, a page with links to many PR websites

• Press Release 365

About the industry

• The Museum of Public Relations, a look at some of the industry's historical figures
• Using market research for Public Relations, white paper from ICR
• A History of Public Relations, from The Institute for Public Relations

Industry publications

• PR Week , a PR trade weekly with both a US and UK edition
• O'Dwyer's PR Daily, another trade publication, occasionally featuring critical essays and investigative journalism about the industry
• PR News, online and offline publication that also issues PR awards, webinars and guidebooks
• A N Consultants, The Consulting Firm, which changed the way lobbying was done

Industry associations and institutes

• The Canadian Public Relations Society, Inc., The CPRS works to advance the professional stature of public relations and regulates its practice for the benefit and protection of the public interest.
• Chartered Institute of Public Relations, the UK’s leading public relations industry professional body and the largest public relations institute in Europe
• Council of Public Relations Firms U.S. trade association for public relations firms
• The Global Alliance, an international peak organisation with a mission to enhance the public relations profession and its practitioners throughout the world.
• The Institute for Public Relations is focused on the science beneath the art of public relations
• International Association of Business Communicators, an international association of 15,000 communicators, with many members from the PR profession
• League of American Communications Professionals recognizes and promotes best practices within the communications industry. Resources include a free monthly newsletter; templates and how-to guides available to members; evaluation services; and competitions highlighting the best communications materials and campaigns within the industry.
• PR Syndicate Association for PR professionals and media people in India with hundreds of professionals participating in initiatives
• Public Relations Institute of Australia, Institute for the public relations profession in Australia.
• Public Relations Institute of New Zealand Institute for the public relations profession in New Zealand, advancing learning, promoting professional development and working towards a greater understanding of public relations in the wider community.
• Public Relations Society of America, a professional association of public relations practitioners
• Public Relations Society of India, a professional body of public relations practitioners in India

Watchdogs and critics

• SourceWatch.org Provides background on PR agencies and practitioners. Focuses mostly on conservative and right-wing PR
• PR Watch, critiques deceptive PR campaigns
• Spinwatch, a page which monitors public relations and propaganda
• CorporateWatch, a critical overview of the public relations and lobbying industry
• Annenberg Political Fact Check A nonpartisan, nonprofit consumer advocate which monitors the factual accuracy of statements by political players