THE
PRACTICE OF
PUBLIC
RELATIONS
ELEVENTH EDITION
Fraser P. Seitel
Managing Partner, Emerald Partners
Senior Counselor, Burson-Marsteller
Adjunct Professor, New York University
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Visiting Professor, Florida International University
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The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Seitel, Fraser P.
The practice of public relations / Fraser P. Seitel.—11th ed.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN-13: 978-0-13-608890-5 (pbk.)
ISBN-10: 0-13-608890-2 (pbk.)
1. Public relations—United States. I. Title.
HM1221.S45 2011
659.2—dc22
2009044076
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
ISBN 10:
0-13-608890-2
ISBN 13: 978-0-13-608890-5
Part 1
Evolution (Chapters 1, 2)
Part 2
Preparation/Process (Chapters 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8)
Part 3
Part 4
The Publics (Chapters 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14)
Execution (Chapters 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20)
Chapter
1
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What Is Public
Relations, Anyway?
The face of the practice of public relations in the
final years of the first decade of the 21st century
could be found beneath the faux-blue and
yellow Mohawk hairdo, lovingly displayed here
(Figure 1-1).
In 2007, Sanjaya Malakar, a 17-year-old aspiring,
ahem, “singer” from Seattle burst onto the national
spotlight as a semifinalist on season six of the
nation’s hottest TV show, American Idol. According
to the judges, Sanjaya’s singing was, well, “horrible.”
But that didn’t stop the ever-upbeat performer from
moving steadily up the Idol charts.1
Sanjaya’s ascent was largely due to the confluence
of emerging social media with traditional public
relations techniques. Specifically, his underdog cause
was championed by radio commentators, cable TV
pundits, and newspaper reporters, generating a tidal
wave of publicity. This was followed by perpetual
Internet chatter and ultimately, enough Net-recorded
public votes to enable him to advance to seventh
place, despite being pilloried by the on-air judges,
particularly the repugnant Simon Cowell.
Sanjaya’s unlikely national celebrity was a crystal
clear illustration of the potential power of marrying
social media with public relations.
In the 21st century, few societal forces are more
powerful than either social media—the agglomeration of instant messages, email, cell phone photos,
blogs, wikis, Web casting, RSS feeds, and all the
other emerging technologies of the World Wide
Web—or the practice of public relations.
Together, the combination of the two—social
media and public relations—has revolutionized the
FIGURE 1-1 Social media idol. Sanjaya Malakar, 21st
century offspring of the marriage of social media and
public relations. (Photo: Newscom)
way organizations and individuals communicate to
their key constituent publics around the world.
Not convinced?
Well, how about asking Osama bin Laden
(Figure 1-2)?
In the fall of 2007, after a public absence of three
years (during which many thought he was dead!),
the world’s most wanted felon reemerged on the
Internet in a public relations video.
Abandoning his trademark Kalashnikov rifle
and camouflage military jacket and dyeing his beard
from grey to black, the leader of al-Qaeda presented
a new image to the world.
In a half-hour address released four days before
the sixth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on
the United States, bin Laden lurched between history
lesson and sermon, urging Americans to ditch capitalist democracy and embrace Islam if they wanted to
end the war in Iraq.2
Bin Laden’s address was memorable not only
because of the terrorist’s bizarre appearance, but also
because he chose to “stage his comeback” through a
public relations video on the Internet.
The speech itself sounded like more of a political
treatise than a call for annihilation of the infidels.
1
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
2
Part 1 Evolution
Bin Laden rambled across religion, history, domestic U.S. politics, and the wars in Iraq
and Afghanistan, throwing in climate change and even referring to the current crisis
over bad mortgage loans in the United States.
How bizarre.
The terrorist leader’s attempt to restyle himself as a civilian leader and ideologist,
rather than a zealous mass murderer, served as a prime example of using public relations
methods and techniques to recast an image. Indeed, al-Qaeda at the time was evolving from
a centrally controlled terrorist organization to a more loosely configured body of local operatives. So the al-Qaeda chief’s look and demeanor were meant to express this evolution.
The point is that in the 21st century, even terrorists understood the impact of public relations messages and the reach of the World Wide Web to deliver them.
But what is public relations, anyway?
That is the question asked even by many of the 200,000 plus people in the United
States and the thousands of others overseas who practice public relations.
In a society overwhelmed by communications—from traditional newspapers and
magazines, to 24/7 talk radio and television, to nontraditional instant messages, blogs,
podcasts, wikis, and assorted other Internet exotica—the public is bombarded with
nonstop messages of every variety. The challenge for a communicator is to cut through
this clutter to deliver an argument that is persuasive, believable, and actionable.
The answer, more often than not today, lies in public relations. Stated another way,
in the 21st century, the power, value, and influence of the practice of public relations
have never been greater.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
FIGURE 1-2 Social media madman. Osama bin Laden took to the
Internet on the anniversary of the terrorist attacks of September 11 to
reach his followers around the world, six years after the awful strikes
on America. (Photo: Newscom)
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 3
Prominence of Public Relations
In the initial decade of the 21st century, public relations as a field has grown immeasurably both in numbers and in respect. Today, the practice of public relations is clearly a
growth industry.
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In the United States alone, public relations is a multibillion-dollar business practiced by 158,000 professionals, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Furthermore, the Bureau says that “employment of public relations specialists
is expected to increase faster than the average for all occupations through 2012.
The need for good public relations in an increasingly competitive business
environment should spur demand for public relations specialists in organizations of all types and sizes.”3
Around the world, the practice of public relations has grown enormously. The
International Public Relations Association boasts a strong membership, and
the practice flourishes from Latin America to Africa and from Europe to Russia
to China.
In a 2005 study by the Council of the Public Relations Society of America and
Harris Interactive to assess the views of Fortune 1000 company executives on
public relations, 84 percent felt the practice helped “raise awareness about
important issues that the public might not know about,” and 81 percent felt
public relations helped “get the media to address issues that would otherwise
fail to receive the attention they deserve.”4
Approximately 250 colleges and universities in the United States and many
more overseas offer a public relations sequence or degree program. Many
more offer public relations courses. Undergraduate enrollments in public
relations programs at U.S. four-year colleges and universities are conservatively estimated to be well in excess of 20,000 majors.5 In the vast majority of
college journalism programs, public relations sequences rank first or second
in enrollment.
The U.S. government has thousands of communications professionals—
although none, as we will learn, are labeled public relations specialists—who
keep the public informed about the activities of government agencies and officials. The Department of Defense alone has 7,000 professional communicators
spread out among the Army, Navy, and Air Force.
The world’s largest public relations firms are all owned by media conglomerates—
among them Omnicom, The Interpublic Group, and WPP Group—which refuse
to divulge public relations revenues. The field is dominated by smaller, privately
held firms, many of them entrepreneurial operations. A typical public relations
agency has annual revenue of less than $1 million with less than 10 employees.
Nonetheless, the 7,000 U.S. public relations agencies record annual revenue of
more than $6 billion.6
The field’s primary trade associations have strong membership, with the
Public Relations Society of America encompassing nearly 20,000 members in
116 chapters and the International Association of Business Communicators
including 13,000 members in more than 60 countries.
In the 21st century, as all elements of society—companies, nonprofits, governments, religious institutions, sports teams and leagues, arts organizations, and all
others—wrestle with constant shifts in economic conditions and competition,
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
4
Part 1 Evolution
security concerns, and popular opinion, the public relations profession is expected
to thrive because increasing numbers of organizations are interested in communicating their stories.
Indeed, public relations people have already attained positions of prominence
in every aspect of society. Robert Gibbs, President Barack Obama’s Press Secretary (see
“From the Top,” Chapter 12), is quoted daily from his televised White House press
briefings. Karen Hughes, a public relations advisor to George W. Bush since his earliest
days in politics, moved from a Special Assistant to the President in the White House to
become, in 2005, Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy (see Case Study
Chapter 14), responsible primarily for changing attitudes internationally about the
United States (although she didn’t do very well!). That same year, the UPS Company
appointed communications professional Christine Owens to its management committee.
Said CEO Mike Eskew, “Communications is just too important not to be represented on the
management committee of this company.”7
Perhaps the most flattering aspect of the field’s heightened stature is that competition from other fields has become more intense. Today the profession finds itself
vulnerable to encroachment by people with non–public relations backgrounds, such as
lawyers, marketers, and general managers of every type, all eager to gain the management access and persuasive clout of the public relations professional.
The field’s strength stems from its roots: “a democratic society where people have
freedom to debate and to make decisions—in the community, the marketplace, the
home, the workplace, and the voting booth. Private and public organizations depend
on good relations with groups and individuals whose opinions, decisions, and actions
affect their vitality and survival.”8
What Is Public Relations?
Public relations is a planned process to influence public opinion, through sound character
and proper performance, based on mutually satisfactory two-way communication.
At least that’s what your author believes it is.
The fact is that there are many different definitions of public relations. American
historian Robert Heilbroner once described the field as “a brotherhood of some 100,000,
whose common bond is its profession and whose common woe is that no two of them can
ever quite agree on what that profession is.”9
In 1923, the late Edward Bernays described the function of his fledgling public
relations counseling business as one of providing
information given to the public, persuasion directed at the public to modify attitudes
and actions, and efforts to integrate attitudes and actions of an institution with its
publics and of publics with those of that institution.10
Public relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish
and maintain mutual lines of communications, understanding, acceptance, and
cooperation between an organization and its publics; involves the management
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Today, although a generally accepted definition of public relations still eludes
practitioners, there is a clearer understanding of the field. One of the most ambitious
searches for a universal definition was commissioned in 1975 by the Foundation for
Public Relations Research and Education. Sixty-five public relations leaders participated in the study, which analyzed 472 different definitions and offered the following
88-word sentence:
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 5
of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to
public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management
to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively
utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends;
and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its
principal tools.11
In 1988, the Public Relations Society of America formally adopted the following
definition of public relations:
Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.
The Public Relations Society noted that its definition implied the functions of
research, planning, communications dialogue, and evaluation, all essential in the practice of public relations.12
No matter which formal definition one settles on to describe the practice, in order
to be successful, public relations professionals must always engage in a planned process
to influence the attitudes and actions of their targets.
Planned Process to Influence Public Opinion
What is the process through which public relations might influence public opinion?
Communications professor John Marston suggested a four-step model based on specific
functions: (1) research, (2) action, (3) communication, and (4) evaluation.13 Whenever a
public relations professional is faced with an assignment—whether promoting a client’s
product or defending a client’s reputation—he or she should apply Marston’s R-A-C-E
approach:
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1. Research. Research attitudes about the issue at hand.
2. Action. Identify action of the client in the public interest.
3. Communication. Communicate that action to gain understanding, acceptance,
and support.
4. Evaluation. Evaluate the communication to see if opinion has been influenced.
The key to the process is the second step—action. You can’t have effective
communication or positive publicity without proper action. Stated another way, performance must precede publicity. Act first and communicate later. Indeed, some
might say that public relations—PR—really should stand for performance recognition.
In other words, positive action communicated straightforwardly will yield positive
results.
This is the essence of the R-A-C-E process of public relations.
Public relations professor Sheila Clough Crifasi has proposed extending the R-A-C-E
formula into the five-part R-O-S-I-E to encompass a more managerial approach to the
field. R-O-S-I-E prescribes sandwiching the functions of objectives, strategies, and implementation between research and evaluation. Indeed, setting clear objectives, working
from set strategies, and implementing a predetermined plan is a key to sound public
relations practice.
Still others suggest a process called R-P-I-E for research, planning, implementation,
and evaluation, which emphasizes the element of planning as a necessary step preceding the activation of a communications initiative.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
6
Part 1 Evolution
All three approaches, R-A-C-E, R-O-S-I-E, and R-P-I-E, echo one of the most
widely repeated definitions of public relations, developed by the late Denny Griswold,
who founded a public relations newsletter.
Public relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes,
identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the
public interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.14
The key words in this definition are management and action. Public relations, if it
is to serve the organization properly, must report to top management. Public relations
must serve as an honest broker to management, unimpeded by any other group. For
public relations to work, its advice to management must be unfiltered, uncensored,
and unexpurgated. This is often easier said than done because many public relations
departments report through marketing, advertising, or even legal departments.
Nor can public relations take place without appropriate action. As noted, no
amount of communications—regardless of its persuasive content—can save an organization whose performance is substandard. In other words, if the action is flawed or the
performance rotten, no amount of communicating or backtracking or post facto posturing will change the reality. (Don’t believe me? Check out the Don Imus Case Study at
the end of this chapter!) Stated another way, it is axiomatic in public relations that
”You can’t pour perfume on a skunk.”
The process of public relations, then, as Professor Melvin Sharpe has put it,
”harmonizes long-term relationships among individuals and organizations in society.”15 To
“harmonize,” Professor Sharpe applies five principles to the public relations process:
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Honest communication for credibility
Openness and consistency of actions for confidence
Fairness of actions for reciprocity and goodwill
Continuous two-way communication to prevent alienation and to build
relationships
Environmental research and evaluation to determine the actions or adjustments
needed for social harmony
And if that doesn’t yet give you a feel for what precisely the practice of public relations is, then consider public relations Professor Janice Sherline Jenny’s description as
”the management of communications between an organization and all entities that have a
direct or indirect relationship with the organization, i.e., its publics.”
No matter what definition one may choose to explain the practice, few would
argue that the goal of effective public relations is to harmonize internal and external
relationships so that an organization can enjoy not only the goodwill of all of its publics
but also stability and long life.
Public Relations as Management Interpreter
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The late Leon Hess, who ran one of the nation’s largest oil companies and the New York Jets
football team, used to pride himself on not having a public relations department. Mr. Hess,
a very private individual, abhorred the limelight for himself and for his company.
But times have changed.
Today, the CEO who thunders, ”I don’t need public relations!” is a fool. He or she
doesn’t have a choice. Every organization has public relations whether it wants it or
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 7
not. The trick is to establish good public relations. That’s what this book is all about—
professional public relations, the kind you must work at.
Public relations affects almost everyone who has contact with other human beings.
All of us, in one way or another, practice public relations daily. For an organization,
every phone call, every letter, every face-to-face encounter, is a public relations event.
Public relations professionals, then, are really the organization’s interpreters.
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On the one hand, they must interpret the philosophies, policies, programs, and
practices of their management to the public.
On the other hand, they must convey the attitudes of the public to their
management.
Let’s consider management first.
Before public relations professionals can gain attention, understanding, acceptance, and ultimately action from target publics, they have to know what management is
thinking.
Good public relations can’t be practiced in a vacuum. No matter what the size of the
organization, a public relations department is only as good as its access to management.
For example, it’s useless for a senator’s press secretary to explain the reasoning behind
an important decision without first knowing what the senator had in mind. So, too, an
organization’s public relations staff is impotent without firsthand knowledge of the
reasons for management’s decisions and the rationale for organizational policy.
The public relations department in any organization can counsel management. It
can advise management. It can even exhort management to take action. But it is
management who must call the shots on organizational policy.
It is the role of the public relations practitioner, once policy is established by
management, to communicate these ideas accurately and candidly to the public.
Anything less can lead to major problems.
Public Relations as Public Interpreter
Now let’s consider the flip side of the coin—the public.
Interpreting the public to management means finding out what the public really
thinks about the firm and letting management know. Regrettably, history is filled with
examples of powerful institutions—and their public relations departments—failing to
anticipate the true sentiments of the public.
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In the 1960s, General Motors paid little attention to an unknown consumer
activist named Ralph Nader, who spread the message that General Motors’
Corvair was “unsafe at any speed.” When Nader’s assault began to be believed,
the automaker assigned professional detectives to trail him. In short order,
General Motors was forced to acknowledge its act of paranoia, and the Corvair
was eventually sacked at great expense to the company.
In the 1970s, as both gasoline prices and oil company profits rose rapidly, the
oil companies were besieged by an irate gas-consuming public. When, at
the height of the criticism, Mobil Oil spent millions in excess cash to purchase
the parent of the Montgomery Ward department store chain, the company was
publicly battered for failing to cut its prices.
In the 1980s, President Ronald Reagan rode to power on the strength of his ability to interpret what was on the minds of the electorate. But his successor in the
early 1990s, George H. W. Bush, a lesser communicator than Reagan, failed to
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Part 1 Evolution
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“read” the nation’s economic concerns. After leading America to a victory over
Iraq in the Gulf War, President Bush failed to heed the admonition, “It’s the economy, stupid,” and lost the election to upstart Arkansas Governor Bill Clinton.
As the 20th century ended, President Clinton forgot the candid communication
skills that earned him the White House and lied to the American public about his
affair with an intern. The subsequent scandal, ending in impeachment hearings
before the U.S. Congress, tarnished Clinton’s administration, and ruined his legacy.
In the first decade of the 21st century, Clinton’s successor, George W. Bush,
earned great credit for strong actions and communications following the
September 11, 2001, attacks on the nation. The Bush administration’s public
relations then suffered when the ostensible reason for attacking Iraq—weapons
of mass destruction—failed to materialize. Bush’s failure to act promptly and
communicate frankly in subsequent crises, such as Hurricane Katrina, hurt his
personal credibility and irreparably tarnished his administration.
At the same time, CEOs of some of the nation’s mightiest corporations—among
them Enron, Arthur Andersen, Tyco, Sotheby’s, and WorldCom—were
dragged into court, and many imprisoned, for a variety of ethical violations
that misled the public and in many cases ruined their companies. As a consequence, tough new laws were passed to deal with corporate criminals.16
In the spring and summer of 2008, Senators Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama
waged a fierce and perpetual battle across the nation to win the Democratic
nomination for president. That battle was largely based on the power of public
relations (Figure 1-3). Obama emerged as the winner, and the new President
promptly named his chief rival, Secretary of State.
FIGURE 1-3 Sharing
the bench. In the spring
and summer of 2008,
Senators Hillary Clinton
and Barack Obama
staged a ferocious—but
mostly civil—public
relations battle for the
Democrat Party
presidential nomination.
The latter wound up as
President, and the
former as Secretary
of State. (White House
Photo by Pete Souza)
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The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 9
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The Obama Administration was met by a pervasive economic crisis, marked
by another round of CEOs from the nation’s largest companies—Citigroup,
AIG, Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Countrywide
Financial, and others—exposed before the American public as inept stewards
of the public trust.
PR Ethics
In the first decade of the 21st century then, the savviest individuals and institutions—
be they government, corporate, or nonprofit—understand the importance of effectively
interpreting their philosophies, policies, and practices to the public and, even more
important, interpreting back to management how the public views them and their
organization.
Mini-Case Shut Up, Dawg!
Duane “Dog” Chapman, a bounty hunting ex-convict known
for his long gold locks and brash behavior, was an instant
cable sensation on the A&E network (Figure 1-4).
Dog’s televised exploits, tracking down bail jumpers and
law violators of every stripe, attracted 1.2 million viewers—
most of them, young. His Dog The Bounty Hunter program
brought in $17.7 million in advertising revenue in the first half
of 2007 alone.
But then Dog’s off-screen language got him into hot water.
In November 2007, Mr. Chapman was recorded repeatedly
using a racial slur in an obscenity-laced telephone tirade with
his son, Tucker. Dog urged Tucker, one of his 12 children, to
break up with his African American girlfriend, who Mr. Chapman
feared might tell others about his frequent use of racist terms.
He needn’t have worried. The recording of the conversation popped up on the National Enquirer Web site, leaked evidently by Tucker. And advertisers began heading for the exits.
First, Yum Brands, Inc., owner of Taco Bell, KFC, and
Pizza Hut, pulled its ads, deploring Mr. Chapman’s “despicable” language. Other advertisers, among them such stalwarts
as Johnson & Johnson and Alltel, threatened to act similarly in
light of the perception of Dog as racist.
A&E didn’t have to be told what to do. Two days after the
phone call went public, the network released the following
statement:
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“In evaluating the circumstances of the last few days,
A&E has decided to take Dog The Bounty Hunter off the
network’s schedule for the foreseeable future. We hope
that Mr. Chapman continues the healing process that
he has begun.”
A&E stopped short of canceling outright the moneymaking program, shown in 10 countries. A&E hoped that, with
time, its advertisers would forgive and forget Dog’s ethical
lapse. Sure enough, with the power of Americans “to forgive
and forget,” A&E brought back Dog The Bounty Hunter to
bark another day.*
FIGURE 1-4 Shut up, Dawg! Dog the Bounty Hunter and
his lovely wife, Mrs. Dog. (Photo: Newscom)
Questions
1. What other options did A&E have beyond suspending
Chapman?
2. Should the network have taken him back? If so, under
what “conditions”?
*For further information, see Sam Schechner, “Bounty Hunter’s Slurs Halt A&E Show,” The Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2007, B4, and
Jaymes Song, “A&E Pulls Bounty Hunter from Schedule Because of Dog’s Tirade,” Associated Press, November 2, 2007.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Part 1 Evolution
The Publics of Public Relations
The term public relations is really a misnomer. Publics relations, or relations with the
publics, would be more to the point. Practitioners must communicate with many different publics—not just the general public—each having its own special needs and
requiring different types of communication. Often the lines that divide these publics
are thin, and the potential overlap is significant. Therefore, priorities, according to
organizational needs, must always be reconciled (Figure 1-5).
Technological change—particularly the Internet, cell phones, blogs, satellite links
for television, and the computer in general—has brought greater interdependence to
people and organizations, and there is growing concern in organizations today about
managing extensive webs of interrelationships. Indeed, managers have become interrelationship conscious.
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
FIGURE 1-5 Key
publics. Twenty of the
most important publics
of a typical multinational
corporation.
Employee
families
Clerical
employees
Managers/
supervisors
Board
of
directors
Media
Labor
unions
Stockholders
Academic
community
Investment
community
Regulatory
authorities
MULTINATIONAL
CORPORATION
Competitors
Federal,
state,
local
legislators
Suppliers
Special
interest
groups
Customers
Dealers/
distributors
Community
neighbors
Banks,
insurers
International
community
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Trade
associations
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 11
independent—but often related—organizations. The public relations challenge in all
of this is to manage effectively the communications between managers and the various
publics, which often pull organizations in different directions. Stated another way,
public relations professionals are very much mediators between client (management)
and public (all those key constituent groups on whom an organization depends).
Definitions differ on precisely what constitutes a public. One time-honored definition states that a public arises when a group of people (1) faces a similar indeterminate
situation, (2) recognizes what is indeterminate and problematic in that situation, and
(3) organizes to do something about the problem.17 In public relations, more specifically, a public is a group of people with a stake in an issue, organization, or idea.
Publics can also be classified into several overlapping categories:
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Internal and external. 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, secondary, and marginal. Primary publics can most help—or
hinder—the organization’s efforts. Secondary publics are less important, and
marginal publics are the least important of all. For example, members of the
Federal Reserve Board of Governors, who regulate banks, would be the primary public for a bank awaiting a regulatory ruling, whereas legislators and
the general public would be secondary. On the other hand, to the investing
public, interest rate pronouncements of the same Federal Reserve Board are of
primary importance.
Traditional and future. Employees and current customers are traditional
publics; students and potential customers are future ones. No organization can
afford to become complacent in dealing with its changing publics. Today, a firm’s
publics range from women to minorities to senior citizens to homosexuals. Each
might be important to the future success of the organization.
Proponents, opponents, and the uncommitted. An institution must deal
differently with those who support it and those who oppose it. For supporters,
communications that reinforce beliefs may be in order. But changing the opinions of skeptics calls for strong, persuasive communications. Often, particularly
in politics, the uncommitted public is crucial. Many a campaign has been decided
because the swing vote was won over by one of the candidates.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Another way of segmenting publics is on the basis of values and lifestyles. Such
segmentation is used regularly by marketers to focus product and service appeals on
particular socioeconomic levels. Segmentation separates consumers into eight distinct
categories:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
Actualizers are those with the most wealth and power.
Fulfilleds have high resources and are principle-oriented professionals or retirees.
Believers are Fulfilleds without the resources.
Achievers have high resources and are status oriented.
Strivers lack the resources of Achievers but are equally status oriented.
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.18
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
12
Part 1 Evolution
Applying such lifestyle characterizations to publics can help companies make
marketing and public relations decisions to effectively target key audiences.
The typical organization is faced with a myriad of critical publics with which it must
communicate on a frequent and direct basis. It must be sensitive to the self-interests,
desires, and concerns of each public. It must understand that self-interest groups today
are themselves more complex. Therefore, the harmonizing actions necessary to win and
maintain support among such groups should be arrived at in terms of public relations
consequences.19
Whereas management must always speak with one voice, its communications
inflection, delivery, and emphasis should be sensitive to all constituent publics.
The Functions of Public Relations
There is a fundamental difference between the functions of public relations and the
functions of marketing and advertising. Marketing and advertising promote a product
or a service. Public relations promotes an entire organization.
The functions associated with public relations work are numerous. Among them
are the following:
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The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
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Writing—the fundamental public relations skill, with written vehicles from
news releases to speeches and from brochures to advertisements falling within
the field’s purview.
Media relations—dealing with the press is another frontline public relations
function.
Planning—of special events, media events, management functions, and the like.
Counseling—in dealing with management and its interactions with key publics.
Researching—of attitudes and opinions that influence behavior and beliefs.
Publicity—the marketing-related function, most commonly misunderstood
as the “only” function of public relations, generating positive publicity for a
client or employer.
Marketing communications—other marketing-related functions, such as
creating brochures, sales literature, meeting displays, and promotions.
Community relations—positively putting forth the organization’s messages
and image within the community.
Consumer relations—interfacing with consumers through written and
verbal communications.
Employee relations—communicating with the all-important internal publics
of the organization, those managers and employees who work for the firm.
Government affairs—dealing with legislators, regulators, and local, state,
and federal officials—all of those who have governmental interface with the
organization.
Investor relations—for public companies, communicating with stockholders
and those who advise them.
Special publics relations—dealing with those publics uniquely critical to particular organizations, from African Americans to women to Asians to senior citizens.
Public affairs and issues—dealing with public policy and its impact on the
organization, as well as identifying and addressing issues of consequence that
affect the firm.
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 13
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Social media interface—creating what often is the organization’s principle
interface with the public: its Web site, as well as creating links with social media
options. Also important is monitoring the World Wide Web and responding,
when appropriate, to organizational challenge.
This is but a partial list of what public relations practitioners do. In sum, the public relations practitioner is manager/orchestrator/producer/director/writer/arranger
and all-around general communications counsel to management. It is for this reason,
then, that the process works best when the public relations director reports directly to
the CEO.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The Curse of “Spin”
So pervasive has the influence of public relations become in our society that some even
fear it as a pernicious force; they worry about the power of public relations to exercise
a kind of thought control over the American public.
Which brings us to spin.
In its most benign form, spin signifies the distinctive interpretation of an issue or
action to sway public opinion, as in putting a positive slant on a negative story. In its
most virulent form, spin means confusing an issue or distorting or obfuscating it or
even lying.
The propensity in recent years for presumably respected public figures to lie in an
attempt to deceive the public has led to the notion that “spinning the facts” is synonymous with public relations practice.
It isn’t.
Spinning an answer to hide what really happened—that is, lying, confusing, distorting, obfuscating, whatever you call it—is antithetical to the proper practice of
public relations. In public relations, if you lie once, you will never be trusted again—
particularly by the media.
Nonetheless, public relations spin has come to mean the twisting of messages and
statements of half-truths to create the appearance of performance, which may or may
not be true.
This association with spin has hurt the field. The New York Times headlined a critical
article on public relations practice, “Spinning Frenzy: P.R.’s Bad Press.”20 Other critics
admonish the field as “a huge, powerful, hidden medium available only to wealthy individuals, big corporations, governments, and government agencies because of its high cost.” 21
In recent years, the most high-profile government public relations operatives have
often fallen guilty to blatant spin techniques. In the Clinton administration, communications counselors, such as James Carville, Paul Begala, and Lanny Davis, eagerly spun
the tale that intern Monica Lewinsky was, in effect, delusional about an Oval Office
affair with the President. (She wasn’t!) In the Bush administration, high-level advisors
Karl Rove and Lewis Libby were implicated in a spinning campaign against former
Ambassador Joseph Wilson, who questioned the motives of the war in Iraq. In 2005,
Libby, Vice President Dick Cheney’s top aide, was convicted for “obstruction of justice,
false statement, and perjury” in the Wilson case.22
Faced with this era of spin and unrelenting questioning by the media and the public about the ethics of public relations, practitioners must always be sensitive to and
considerate of how their actions and their words will influence the public.
Above all—in defiance of charges of spinning—public relations practitioners must
consider as their cardinal rule: to never, ever lie.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
14
Part 1 Evolution
What Manner of Man or Woman?
What kind of individual does it take to become a competent public relations professional?
A 2004 study of agency, corporate, and nonprofit public relations leaders, sponsored by search firm Heyman Associates, reported seven areas in particular that
characterize a successful public relations career:
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
Diversity of experience
Performance
Communications skills
Relationship building
Proactivity and passion
Teamliness
Intangibles, such as personality, likeability, and chemistry23
Beyond these success-building areas, in order to make it, a public relations professional ought to possess a set of specific technical skills as well as an appreciation of the
proper attitudinal approach to the job. On the technical side, the following six skills
are important:
1. Knowledge of the field. The underpinnings of public relations—what it is,
what it does, and what it ought to stand for.
2. Communications knowledge. The media and the ways in which they work;
communications research; and, most important, how to write.
3. Technological knowledge. Familiarity with computers and associated technologies, as well as with the World Wide Web, are imperative.
4. Current events knowledge. Knowledge of what’s going on around you—daily
factors that influence society: history, literature, language, politics, economics,
and all the rest—from the Ming Dynasty to Yao Ming; from Ben Stein to bin
Laden; from Dr. Phil to Dr. Dre; from Three Penny Opera to 50 Cent; from Fat Joe
to J Lo to Ozomatli. A public relations professional must be, in the truest sense, a
Renaissance man or woman.
5. Business knowledge. How business works, a bottom-line orientation, and a
knowledge of your company and industry.
6. Management knowledge. How senior managers make decisions, how public
policy is shaped, and what pressures and responsibilities fall on managers.
In terms of the “attitude” that effective public relations practitioners must possess,
the following six requisites are imperative:
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
1. Pro communications. A bias toward disclosing rather than withholding information. Public relations professionals should want to communicate with the
public, not shy away from communicating. They should practice the belief that
the public has a right to know.
2. Advocacy. Public relations people must believe in their employers. They must
be advocates for their employers. They must stand up for what their employers
represent. Although they should never ever lie (Never, ever!) or distort or hide
facts, occasionally it may be in an organization’s best interest to avoid comment
on certain issues. If practitioners don’t believe in the integrity and credibility
of their employers, their most honorable course is to go to “Plan B”—find work
elsewhere.
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 15
3. Counseling orientation. A compelling desire to advise senior managers. Top
executives are used to dealing in tangibles, such as balance sheets, costs per
thousand, and cash flows. Public relations practitioners deal in intangibles,
such as public opinion, media influence, and communications messages.
Practitioners must be willing to support their beliefs—often in opposition to
lawyers or human resources executives. They must even be willing to disagree
with management at times. Far from being compliant, public relations practitioners must have the gumption to say no.
4. Ethics. The counsel that public relations professionals deliver must always be
ethical. The mantra of the public relations practitioner must be to do the right
thing.
5. Willingness to take risks. Most of the people you work for in public relations have no idea what you do. Sad but true. Consequently, it’s easy to be
overlooked as a public relations staff member. You therefore must be willing to
stick your neck out . . . stand up for what you believe in . . . take risks. Public
relations professionals must have the courage of their convictions and the personal confidence to proudly represent their curious—yet critical—role in any
organization.
6. Positive outlook. Public relations work occasionally is frustrating work. Management doesn’t always listen to your good counsel, preferring instead to follow attorneys and others into safer positions. No matter. A public relations professional, if
he or she is to perform at optimum effectiveness, must be positive. You can’t afford
to be a “sad sack.” You win some. You lose some. But in public relations, at least,
the most important thing is to keep on swinging and smiling.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Last Word
Spin, cover-up, distortion, and subterfuge are the
antitheses of good public relations.
Ethics, truth, credibility—these values are what
good public relations is all about.
To be sure, public relations is not yet a profession like law, accounting, or medicine, in which all
practitioners are trained, licensed, and supervised.
Nothing prevents someone with little or no formal
training from hanging out a shingle as a public
relations specialist. Such frauds embarrass professionals in the field and, thankfully, are becoming
harder to find.
Indeed, both the Public Relations Society
of America and the International Association of
Business Communicators have strong codes of ethics
that serve as the basis of their membership philosophies (Appendix A).
Meanwhile, the importance of the practice of
public relations in a less certain, more chaotic, overcommunicated, and competitive world cannot be
denied.
Despite its considerable problems—in attaining
leadership status, finding its proper role in society,
disavowing spin, and earning enduring respect—
the practice of public relations has never been more
prominent. In its first 100 years as a formal, integrated, strategic-thinking process, public relations
has become part of the fabric of modern society.
Here’s why.
As much as they need customers for their products, managers today also desperately need constituents for their beliefs and values. In the 21st
century, the role of public relations is vital in helping
guide management in framing its ideas and making its
commitments. The counsel that management needs
must come from advisers who understand public attitudes, moods, needs, and aspirations.
Contrary to what misinformed critics may
charge, “More often than not, public relations
strategies and tactics are the most effective and
valuable arrows in the quiver of the disaffected and
the powerless.”24 Civil rights leaders, labor leaders,
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
16
Part 1 Evolution
public advocates, and grassroots movements of
every stripe have been boosted by proven communications techniques to win attention and build
support and goodwill.
Winning this elusive goodwill takes time and
effort. Credibility can’t be won overnight, nor can it
be bought. If management policies aren’t in the public’s best interest, no amount of public relations effort
can obscure that reality. Public relations is not effective as a temporary defensive measure to compensate
for management misjudgment. If management errs
seriously, the best—and only—public relations
advice must be to get the truthful story out immediately. Indeed, working properly, the public relations
department of an organization often serves as the
firm’s “conscience.”
This is why the relationship between public
relations and other parts of the organization—
advertising and marketing, for example—is occasionally a strained one. The function of the public
relations department is distinctive from that of any
other internal area. Few others share the access to
management that public relations enjoys. Few others
share the potential for power that public relations
may exercise.
No less an authority than Abraham Lincoln
once said: “Public sentiment is everything . . . with
public sentiment, nothing can fail. Without it, nothing
can succeed. He who molds public sentiment goes
deeper than he who executes statutes or pronounces
decisions. He makes statutes or decisions possible or
impossible to execute.”25
Stated another way, no matter how you define
it, the practice of public relations has become an
essential element in the conduct of relationships for
a vast variety of organizations in the 21st century.
Discussion Starters
Top of
1. How prominent is the practice of public relations around the world in the 21st century?
2. How would you define the practice of public
relations?
3. Why is the practice of public relations generally
misunderstood by the public?
4. How would you describe the significance of the
planning aspect in public relations?
5. Within the R-A-C-E process of public relations,
what would you say is the most critical element?
6. In what ways does public relations differ from
advertising or marketing?
the Shelf
7. If you were the public relations director of the
local United Way, whom would you consider
your most important “publics” to be?
8. What are seven functions of public relations
practice?
9. How do professional public relations people
regard the aspect of “spin” as part of what
they do?
10. What are the technical and attitudinal requisites most important for public relations
success?
The New PR: An Insider’s Guide to Changing the Face
of Public Relations / Phil Hall, North Potomac, MD: Larstan
Publishing, 2007
takes the public relations industry to task for doing a poor job
in defining its own “strengths and opportunities with the
general public.”
Through examples and interviews, the book presents a
valid portrait of the state of the public relations business in the
first decade of the 21st century.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
This overview, which features real-life examples and interviews with real-life practitioners, was written by a former
editor of the newsletter PR News.
The author describes public relations practice in a positive, but realistic, manner. He talks about what public
relations can and can’t do, quoting numerous professionals
about “unrealistic expectations” of clients. The author also
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 17
Case Study
Ho Ho Ho – Out Goes the I-Man
In the spring of 2007, few radio personalities were more powerful
than Don Imus.
The I-Man, as his many influential guests called him, held
forth each drive-time morning on New York’s WFAN radio and
was simulcast nationally on MSNBC.
Imus was well known for mixing political commentary and
interviews—all the leading politicians regularly paid homage to
his program—with an irreverent, often close-to-the-edge style
of humor. Indeed, Imus and his studio cohorts regularly trashed
any interest group, regardless of age, sex, body type, political
affiliation, religion, and, until one fateful day in 2007, race.
One reason Imus got away with it was because he was charitable to a fault. Imus leavened his on-air insults by contributing
significantly to worthwhile causes, including his own cattle
ranch for children with cancer.
Imus, in fact, was an equal-opportunity offender. His combination of clout, cynicism, and charity made him seem impervious
to the criticisms that dogged lesser men.
Until the day the roof fell in April 2007.
Gone in 20 Seconds
That was the day that Imus and a radio sidekick described the
inspirational Rutgers University women’s basketball team as
“nappy-headed hoes.”
It was a throw-away discussion, typical of the politically
incorrect rants that made Imus, Imus. The colloquy with his
colleague lasted no more than 20 seconds. But it was the most
fateful 20 seconds of the I-Man’s 30-year radio career.
While few paid attention at the time, a liberal, Washington,
D.C.–based monitoring group, Media Matters, posted the video
and transcript on its Web site and sent an email blast to several
hundred reporters.
And Imus was toast.
Almost immediately, African American leaders interpreted
the unfortunate description as “racist.”
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The Rev. Al Sharpton led a campaign to rid the airwaves
of Imus.
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Rutgers Coach Vivian Stringer and her players held a
press conference to “show the world their true identity.”
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And long-term sponsors, from General Motors to Staples,
started having second thoughts about their affiliation with
the suddenly-radioactive broadcaster.
Most hurtful—and probably most surprising at least to Imus—
was that virtually every one of his regular guests, from late broadcaster Tim Russert to journalists Howard Fineman and Frank
Rich, from Senators Joe Biden and Chris Dodd to African
American political leader former Congressman Harold Ford,
headed for the exits, rather than support their “media friend.”
A Final Futile Attempt
Abandoned by those whose books and programs and personal
appearances he had flogged for years, Imus made a desperate
attempt at “damage control.”
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First, Imus apologized profusely on the air, painfully
explaining that he meant no harm, wasn’t a racist, and
deserved a second chance.
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Next, he traveled to New Jersey to meet with the Rutgers
team. The deal was brokered by New Jersey Governor
John Corzine, who, in an ominous omen for Imus, was
seriously injured in a car accident, while speeding to the
meeting at the Governor’s Mansion.
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Finally, in one last desperate maneuver, Imus made a pilgrimage to the radio home of the man leading the charge
against him. His appearance on the Rev. Al Sharpton Show
was an unmitigated disaster. The “ever-gracious” Rev.
Sharpton let Imus have it with both barrels. The Sharpton
on-air pummeling of the wounded Imus closed the lid on
any chance of resurrection (Figure 1-6).
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
FIGURE 1-6 Sharpton
shakedown. Don Imus
made a fatal public
relations blunder when
he visited the Rev. Al
Sharpton’s radio show,
looking for vindication
for his stupid remarks.
He was promptly
immolated by the
Rev. Al. (Photo: Newscom)
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
18
Part 1 Evolution
Shortly thereafter, their sponsors having spoken, both WFAN
and MSNBC removed Imus from the airwaves. The besmirched
broadcaster returned to his New Mexico ranch to lick his
wounds and ponder his future.
A “Second Act” for the I-Man
In America in the 21st century, not even comments attributed as
racist can put one under for good.
There is increasingly room for “second acts” in the most
forgiving, celebrity-crazed nation on earth. And Imus, an experienced broadcaster with an affluent audience, found himself the
subject of great attention from radio networks looking for star
attractions. With the radio industry reeling from consolidation,
true “stars” were few and far between. And a proven star—even
one as tarnished as Imus—became a coveted commodity.
And so, eight months after his on-air self-immolation, a chastened Don Imus was hired by Citadel Broadcasting to return to the
airwaves at rival WABC radio, once again drive-time host for a
cumulative weekly audience of nearly one million listeners. He also
was to be simulcast, not by the powerful peacock network’s
MSNBC, but rather by something called RFD (rural free delivery) TV.
(Later, Imus switched to the Fox Business Network.)
Many of his advertisers, having forsaken him for an “acceptable” period of time, returned to the Imus fold. And while The
National Association of Black Journalists objected to Imus’
return, the Rev. Sharpton—content to have made his headlines
and gone on to other “crusades”—said only that he would
“reserve the right to agitate with advertisers.”
The I-Man, himself, returned to the air a less-edgy, lessgutsy, more politically correct commentator, who had become
decidedly more knowledgeable about the perception of “standards” in American broadcasting. In addition to his loyal cast,
Imus had added two new regular comic commentators—one
male, one female, and both black. And, oh yes, he also returned
with a $5 million annual contract (Figure 1-7).
Nonetheless, even a watered-down Imus was not immune to
new brushes against political correctness. In the summer of 2008, a
throwaway remark about perpetually troubled NFL defensive back
Adam “Pac Man” Jones landed Mr. Imus right back in the soup, as
Net watchdogs pounced immediately. Mr. Jones, it seemed, would
not be the only one playing “defense” for the foreseeable future.
Questions
1. Had you been advising Imus, what would you have counseled
him to say/do after making his racial slur?
2. Had you been advising his employers, WFAN and MSNBC,
what would you have counseled them to do?
FIGURE 1-7 Return of the I-Man. In December 2007,
a chastened Don Imus returned to the airwaves, surrounded,
in part, by two new African American sidekicks.
(Photo: Newscom)
3. How would you have counseled Imus with respect to
Al Sharpton? Would you have gone on Sharpton’s radio show?
4. How do you explain Imus’ “radio friends” failing to stick up for
him in his hour of need?
5. How must Imus comport himself now on the air?
For further information, see Brooks Barnes, Emily Steel and Sarah McBride, “Behind the Fall of Imus, A Digital Brush Fire,” The Wall Street Journal, April 13,
2007, A1; Sarah McBride, “Imus Signs Deal with Citadel to Return to Radio,” The Wall Street Journal, November 2, 2007, B4; Fraser P. Seitel, “Requiem for
Imus,” odwyerpr.com, April 13, 2007; Jacques Steinberg, “All Forgiven, WIMUS-AM Is on a Roll,” New York Times, February 3, 2008; and Jacques
Steinberg, “Football Talk Soon Turns to Race on Imus’s Show,” New York Times, June 24, 2008, A19.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
From
Chapter 1 What Is Public Relations, Anyway? 19
the Top
An Interview with Harold Burson
Harold Burson is the
world’s most influential and
gentlemanly public relations practitioner. He has
spent more than a half
century serving as counselor to and confidante of
corporate CEOs, government leaders, and heads of
public sector institutions.
As founder and chairman of
Burson-Marsteller, he was
the architect of the largest
public relations agency in
the world. Mr. Burson,
widely cited as the standard
bearer of public relations
ethics, has received virtually every major honor awarded by
the profession, including the Harold Burson Chair in Public
Relations at Boston University’s College of Communication,
established in 2003.
How would you define public relations?
One of the shortest—and most precise—definitions of public
relations I know is “doing good and getting credit for it.” I like
this definition because it makes clear that public relations
embodies two principal elements. One is behavior, which
includes policy and attitude; the other is communications—the
dissemination of information. The first tends to be strategic,
the second tactical—although strategy plays a major role in
many, if not most, media relations programs.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
How has the business of public relations changed
over time?
Public relations has, over time, become more relevant as a
management function for all manner of institutions—public
and private sector, profit and not-for-profit. CEOs increasingly
recognize the need to communicate to achieve their organizational objectives. Similarly, they have come to recognize
public relations as a necessary component in the decisionmaking process. This has enhanced the role of public
relations both internally and for independent consultants.
How do ethics apply to the public relations function?
In a single word, pervasively. Ethical behavior is at the root
of what we do as public relations professionals. We
approach our calling with a commitment to serve the public
interest, knowing full well that the public interest lacks a
universal definition and knowing that one person’s view of
the public interest differs markedly from that of another.
We must therefore be consistent in our personal definition of
the public interest and be prepared to speak up for those
actions we take.
At the same time, we must recognize our roles as advocates for our clients or employers. It is our job to reconcile
client and employer objectives with the public interest. And we
must remember that while clients and employers are entitled
to have access to professional public relations counsel, you
and I individually are in no way obligated to provide such
counsel when we feel that doing so would compromise us in
any way.
What are the qualities that make up the ideal public
relations man or woman?
It is difficult to establish a set of specifications for all the kinds
of people wearing the public relations mantle. Generally, I feel
five primary characteristics apply to just about every successful public relations person I know.
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They’re smart—bright, intelligent people; quick studies. They ask the right questions. They have that
unique ability to establish credibility almost on sight.
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They know how to get along with people. They work
well with their bosses, their peers, their subordinates.
They work well with their clients and with third parties
like the press and suppliers.
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They are emotionally stable—even (especially) under
pressure. They use the pronoun “we” more than “I.”
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They are motivated, and part of that motivation
involves an ability to develop creative solutions. No
one needs to tell them what to do next; instinctively,
they know.
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They don’t fear starting with a blank sheet of paper. To
them, the blank sheet of paper equates with challenge
and opportunity. They can write; they can articulate
their thoughts in a persuasive manner.
What is the future of public relations?
More so than ever before, those responsible for large institutions whose existence depends on public acceptance and
support recognize the need for sound public relations input.
At all levels of society, public opinion has been brought to
bear in the conduct of affairs both in the public and private
sectors. Numerous CEOs of major corporations have been
deposed following initiatives undertaken by the media, by
public interest groups, by institutional stockholders—all
representing failures that stemmed from a lack of sensitivity to
public opinion. Accordingly, my view is that public relations is
playing and will continue to play a more pivotal role in the
decision-making process than ever before. The sources of
public relations counsel may well become less structured and
more diverse, simply because of the growing pervasive
understanding that public tolerance has become so important
in the achievement of any goals that have a recognizable
impact on society.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Part 1 Evolution
Public Relations Library
Cutlip, Scott M., Allen H. Center, and Glen M. Broom, Effective Public
Relations, 9th ed. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall, 2006. Still
the most comprehensive textbook in the field, including this one.
(But don’t tell my publisher!)
Ewen, Stuart, PR! A Social History of Spin. New York: Basic Books, 1996.
Heath, Robert L., Handbook of Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA:
Sage Publications, 2004.
Heath, Robert L., and W. Timothy Coombs, Today’s Public Relations An
Introduction. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, 2006. Two
eminent professors suggest that relationship building is “more than just
a buzzword,” and, rather, constitutes the essence of public relations.
Henslowe, Philip, Public Relations: A Practical Guide to the Basics.
Sterling, VA: Kogan Page, 2003. A British approach to the practice,
endorsed by the London-based Institute of Public Relations.
Lattimore, Dan (Ed.), Public Relations: The Practice and the Profession.
New York: McGraw-Hill College, 2003.
Marconi, Joe, Public Relations: The Complete Guide. Mason, OH:
Thomson South-Western, 2004. This comprehensive book traces
public relations from its earliest antecedents—the time of Edward
Bernays (see Chapter 2) in the 1930s to the present day. It covers, in
depth, most aspects of the field, including the role of the public
relations practitioner today.
Newsom, Doug, Judy Vanslyke Turk, and Dean Kruckeberg, This Is PR:
The Realities of Public Relations, 9th ed. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth
Publishing Company, 2007.
Pohl, Gayle M., No Mulligans Allowed: Strategically Plotting Your Public
Relations Course. Dubuque, IA: Kendall Hunt Publishers, 2005. A
fresh, creative, and useful perspective on charting a public relations
career, authored by one of the nation’s foremost public relations
educators.
Rampton, Sheldon, and John Stauber, Trust Us, We’re Experts: How
Industry Manipulates Science and Gambles with Your Future. New
York: J.P. Tarcher/Putnam, 2002. A super-cynical look at what public relations people do for a living, authored by two of the industry’s
most ardent—yet lovable—critics.
Ries, Al, and Laura Ries, The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR. New
York: Harperbusiness, 2004. An old ad hand and his daughter blow
the lid off the advertising profession.
Slater, Robert, No Such Thing as Over-Exposure: Inside the Life and
Celebrity of Donald Trump. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Financial
Times/Prentice-Hall, 2005. The story, if you can bear it, of Donald
Trump, in which the promotion-craving megalomaniac sat for
100 hours of private conversations.
Wilcox, Dennis (Ed.), Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics, 8th ed.
Boston: Allyn & Bacon, 2007.
Yaverbaum, Eric, Public Relations Kit for Dummies 2nd Edition. Foster
City, CA: IDG Books Worldwide, 2006. A tongue-in-cheek, but
useful, primer.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
Chapter
2
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The History
and Growth
of Public Relations
In the annals of the practice of public relations, no
day was probably more historic than December 22,
2007.
That was the day that Queen Elizabeth II
launched her own YouTube video site (see
Figure 2-1).
The 81-year-old British monarch included news
reel footage and film snippets of daily life to keep the
public informed about the ways of the Buckingham
Palace royals. Palace officials said the official Royal
Channel on YouTube would be the place to go to
keep up with the activities of the royal family.
Said the official royal news release, “The queen
always keeps abreast with new ways of communicating
with people. She has always been aware of reaching
more people and adapting the communication to
suit.”1
Good for Her Majesty, and not bad for a field
that’s been around, as a formal practice, for just
about one century.
Unlike accounting, economics, medicine, and
law, public relations is still a young field, approximately 100 years old.
Modern-day public relations is clearly a 20thcentury phenomenon. The impetus for its growth
might, in fact, be traced back to one man.
John D. Rockefeller Jr. (Figure 2-2) was widely
attacked in 1914 when the coal company he owned
in Ludlow, Colorado, was the scene of a bloody
FIGURE 2-1 Hip Majesty. Queen Elizabeth II joined
the public relations/social media revolution in 2007,
when she broadcast her annual Christmas message
on YouTube. (Photo: Newscom)
massacre staged by Colorado militiamen and company guards against evicted miners and their
families. When a dozen women and small children
were killed at the Ludlow massacre, one of those
Rockefeller called in to help him deal with the crisis
was a journalist named Ivy Ledbetter Lee.
Lee, whom we discuss later in this chapter,
would go on to become “the father of public relations.” His employer, John D. Rockefeller Jr.,
whose own legendary father had always adhered
to a strict policy of silence, would bear responsibility for the birth of a profession built on open
communications.
The relative youthfulness of the practice of
public relations means that the field is still evolving. It is also getting stronger and gaining more
respect every day. The professionals entering the
practice today are by and large superior in intellect,
training, and even experience to their counterparts
of decades ago (when nobody studied “public
relations”).
The strength of the practice of public relations
today is based on the enduring commitment of the
public to participate in a free and open democratic
21
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Part 1 Evolution
FIGURE 2-2 Pondering
a crisis. John D.
Rockefeller (center)
needed public relations
help in 1914, when the
Colorado coal company
he owned was the scene
of a massacre of women
and children. (Rockefeller
Archive Center)
society. Several trends abroad in society have influenced the evolution of public relations theory and practice:
1. Growth of big institutions. The days of small government, local media, momand-pop grocery stores, tiny community colleges, and small local banks have
largely disappeared. In their place have emerged massive political organizations,
worldwide media networks, Walmarts, Home Depots, statewide community
college systems, and nationwide banking networks. The public relations profession has evolved to interpret these large institutions to the publics they serve.
2. Heightened public awareness and media sophistication. First came the
invention of the printing press. Then came mass communications: the print
media, radio, and television. Later it was the development of cable, satellite,
videotape, videodisks, video typewriters, portable cameras, word processors,
fax machines, and cell phones. Then came the Internet, blogs, podcasts, wikis,
FaceBook, MySpace, YouTube, Twitter, and all the other communications technologies that have helped fragment audiences. Fifty years ago, McGill
University Professor Marshall McLuhan predicted the world would become a
“global village,” where people everywhere could witness events—no matter
where they occurred—in real time. In the 21st century, McLuhan’s prophesy
has become a reality.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
3. Increasing incidence of societal change, conflict, and confrontation.
Minority rights, women’s rights, senior citizens’ rights, gay rights, animal
rights, consumerism, environmental awareness, downsizings, layoffs, and
resultant unhappiness with large institutions all have become part of day-to-day
Chapter 2 The History and Growth of Public Relations
society. With the growth of the Web, activists have become increasingly more
daring, visible, and effective. Today, anyone who owns a computer can be a
publisher, a broadcaster, a motivator of others.
4. Globalization and the growing power of global media, public opinion,
and democratic capitalism. While institutions have grown in size and clout
in the 21st century, at the same time the world has gotten increasingly smaller
and more interrelated. Today, news of a cyclone that ravages Myanmar or an
earthquake that imperils China is broadcast within moments to every corner of
the globe. The outbreak of democracy and capitalism in China, Latin America,
Eastern Europe, the former Soviet Union, South Africa, and even, in recent
years, in nations like Afghanistan, Iraq, and Kosovo, has heightened the power
of public opinion in the world. The process has been energized by media that
span the globe, especially social media that instantaneously connect likeminded individuals. In China alone, there are 75 million blogs, often carrying
criticisms of the government. Public opinion is a powerful force not only in
democracies like the United States but also for oppressed peoples around the
world. Accordingly, the practice of public relations as a facilitator for understanding has increased in prominence.
5. Dominance of the Internet and growth of social media. Nearly 1.4 billion
of the world’s people today use the Internet.2 The extraordinary growth of the
Internet and the World Wide Web has made hundreds of millions of people
around the world not only “instant consumers” of communication but also, with
the advent of social media, “instant generators” of communication as well. The
profound change this continues to bring to society—and the importance it places
on communications—is monumental.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Ancient Beginnings
Although modern public relations is a 20th-century phenomenon, its roots are ancient.
Leaders in virtually every great society throughout history understood the importance
of influencing public opinion through persuasion. For example, archeologists have
found bulletins in Iraq, dating from as early as 1800 B.C., that told farmers of the latest
techniques of harvesting, sowing, and irrigating.3 The more food the farmers grew, the
better the citizenry ate and the wealthier the country became—a good example of
planned persuasion to reach a specific public for a particular purpose—in other words,
public relations.
The ancient Greeks also put a high premium on communication skills. The best
speakers, in fact, were generally elected to leadership positions. Occasionally, aspiring
Greek politicians enlisted the aid of sophists (individuals renowned for both their
reasoning and their rhetoric) to help fight verbal battles. Sophists gathered in the
amphitheaters of the day to extol the virtues of particular political candidates. Thus,
the sophists set the stage for today’s lobbyists, who attempt to influence legislation
through effective communications techniques. From the time of the sophists, the practice of public relations has been a battleground for questions of ethics. Should a sophist
or a lobbyist—or a public relations professional, for that matter—“sell” his or her
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
23
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Part 1 Evolution
PR Ethics
talents to the highest bidder, regardless of personal beliefs, values, and ideologies?
When modern-day public relations professionals agree to represent repressive governments, such as Iran or Zimbabwe or North Korea, or to defend the questionable actions
of troubled celebrities, from Britney Spears and Barry Bonds to Amy Winehouse and
O. J. Simpson, these ethical questions remain very much a focus of modern public
relations.
The Romans, particularly Julius Caesar, were also masters of persuasive techniques. When faced with an upcoming battle, Caesar would rally public support
through published pamphlets and staged events. Similarly, during World War I, a
special U.S. public information committee, the Creel Committee, was formed to channel
the patriotic sentiments of Americans in support of the U.S. role in the war. Stealing a
page from Caesar, the committee’s massive verbal and written communications effort
was successful in marshaling national pride behind the war effort. According to a
young member of the Creel Committee, Edward L. Bernays (later considered by many
to be the “father of public relations”), “This was the first time in U.S. history that information was used as a weapon of war.”4
Even the Catholic Church had a hand in the creation of public relations. In the
1600s, under the leadership of Pope Gregory XV, the church established a College of
Propaganda to “help propagate the faith.” In those days, the term propaganda did not
have a negative connotation; the church simply wanted to inform the public about the
advantages of Catholicism. Today, the pope and other religious leaders maintain
communications staffs to assist in relations with the public. Indeed, the chief communications official in the Vatican maintains the rank of Archbishop of the Church. It was
largely his role to deal with perhaps the most horrific scandal ever to face the Catholic
Church—the priest pedophile issue of 20025 (see PR Ethics Mini-Case).
Mini-Case The Pope’s Persuasive Public Relations
Pilgrimage
쏋
Even before he touched down in Washington, Pope
Benedict summoned reporters on his plane to address
and condemn the sex-abuse scandal.
By confronting the issue immediately and having it
reported even before his plane arrived, Benedict had seized
the agenda for the trip from anyone else, for example, Church
critics and the media, who might have wished to use the visit
for their own ends.
쏋
On the second day of his stay in D.C., Pope Benedict
held an unscheduled meeting with sex-abuse victims
from Boston.
Only a handful of bishops before him had ventured to meet
with victims. Indeed, the general feeling among Church hierarchy was that it was “beneath” the station of the princes of
the church to descend to the level of the victim.
Pope Benedict would have none of it.
His mantra, correctly, was that the underlying principle of
effective public relations was “Do the right thing.”
And in meeting with the victims and repudiating the baser
instincts of his associates, Pope Benedict did exactly that.
쏋
When Pope Benedict flew off to New York, people
wondered if this final leg of the trip might prove anticlimactic. Specifically, how could he ever top his stirring
performance in Washington?
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
In the spring of 2008, Pope Benedict XVI arrived in the United
States, a little-known figure.
Indeed, if a pope could be considered “shadowy,” the
former Joseph Ratzinger might well have qualified. As a former member of the Hitlerjugend—Hitler Youth—the new pope
had some explaining to do.
Moreover, following one of history’s most beloved pontiffs,
Pope John Paul II—the charismatic, personable, athletic
“Pope on a Slope”—Benedict, by comparison, seemed
formal, reclusive, and aloof.
In addition, the Catholic Church had recently experienced
its most damaging historic scandal involving pedophile
priests, and Pope Benedict had been largely silent on the
matter.
All-in-all, the new pope’s trip to America was fraught with
peril.
But in one whirlwind week, Pope Benedict proved himself
a master of public relations strategy, winning the admiration
of even the church’s staunchest critics (see Figure 2-3).
Here’s how he did it:
Chapter 2 The History and Growth of Public Relations
25
FIGURE 2-3 Out of the bullpen. Pope Benedict XVI arrives at Yankee Stadium for an historic mass, not to
mention a public relations victory, in the spring of 2008. (Photo: Newscom)
The answer came in his first day in the Big Apple, when
Pope Benedict XVI became the first pope to visit an American
synagogue—right in time for Passover. He even got some gift
matzo to munch on the flight back to Rome.
The net impact of the surprise synagogue stop, on top of the
public relations coup registered the day before in Washington,
convinced the headline writers that Pope Benedict was the real
deal. To wit:
쏋
“Pope Benedict and the Lasting Impact of His U.S. Trip.”
쏋
“Benedict Hits All the Right Notes.”
쏋
“Mazel Tov Pope B.”
In between all this, of course, Pope Benedict addressed
the United Nations, conducted a mass at Yankee Stadium,
and toured the Big Apple.
The public relations impression left by the new pope as he
left for home, matzo in hand, was one of complete victory.
Questions
1. What other public relations options did Pope Benedict
have on his first American trip?
2. What was the downside of using the trip to highlight the
Church’s pedophile scandal?
*For further information, see Fraser P. Seitel, “The Pope and the Polygamists,” odwyerpr.com, April 28, 2008.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Early American Experience
The American public relations experience dates back to the founding of the republic.
Influencing public opinion, managing communications, and persuading individuals at
the highest levels were at the core of the American Revolution. The colonists tried to
persuade King George III that they should be accorded the same rights as Englishmen.
Taxation without representation is tyranny became their public relations slogan to galvanize fellow countrymen.
When King George refused to accede to the colonists’ demands, they combined
the weaponry of sword and pen. Samuel Adams, for one, organized Committees of
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
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Part 1 Evolution
Correspondence as a kind of revolutionary Associated Press to disseminate antiBritish information throughout the colonies. He also staged events to build up
revolutionary fervor, such as the Boston Tea Party, in which colonists, masquerading as Indians, boarded British ships in Boston Harbor and pitched chests of
imported tea overboard—as impressive a media event as has ever been recorded
sans television.
Thomas Paine, another early practitioner of public relations, wrote periodic pamphlets and essays that urged the colonists to band together. In one essay contained in
his Crisis papers, Paine wrote poetically: “These are the times that try men’s souls. The
summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their
country.” The people listened, were persuaded, and took action—testifying to the
power of early American communicators.
Later American Experience
The creation of the most important document in America’s history, the Constitution,
also owed much to public relations. Federalists, who supported the Constitution, fought
tooth and nail with anti-Federalists, who opposed it. Their battle was waged in newspaper articles, pamphlets, and other organs of persuasion in an attempt to influence
public opinion. To advocate ratification of the Constitution, political leaders such as
Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay banded together, under the pseudonym Publius, to write letters to leading newspapers. Today those letters are bound in a
document called The Federalist Papers and are still used in the interpretation of the
Constitution.
After its ratification, the constitutional debate continued, particularly over the
document’s apparent failure to protect individual liberties against government
encroachment. Hailed as the father of the Constitution, Madison framed the Bill of
Rights in 1791, which ultimately became the first 10 amendments to the Constitution.
Fittingly, the first of those amendments safeguarded, among other things, the practice
of public relations:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting
the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press, or the
rights of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a
redress of grievances.
In other words, people were given the right to speak up for what they believed in
and the freedom to try to influence the opinions of others. Thus was the practice of
public relations ratified.6
Into the 1800s
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The practice of public relations continued to percolate in the 19th century. Among the
more prominent, yet negative, antecedents of modern public relations that took hold in
the 1800s was press agentry. Two of the better-known—some would say notorious—
practitioners of this art were Amos Kendall and Phineas T. Barnum.
In 1829, President Andrew Jackson selected Kendall, a Kentucky writer and editor,
to serve in his administration. Within weeks, Kendall became a member of Old
Hickory’s “kitchen cabinet” and eventually became one of Jackson’s most influential
assistants.
Chapter 2 The History and Growth of Public Relations
Kendall performed just about every White House public relations task. He wrote
speeches, state papers, and messages, and turned out press releases. He even conducted
basic opinion polls and is considered one of the earliest users of the “news leak.”
Although Kendall is generally credited with being the first authentic presidential press
secretary, his functions and role went far beyond that position.
Among Kendall’s most successful ventures in Jackson’s behalf was the development
of the administration’s own newspaper, the Globe. Although it was not uncommon for
the governing administration to publish its own national house organ, Kendall’s deft
editorial touch refined the process to increase its effectiveness. Kendall would pen a
Jackson news release, distribute it for publication to a local newspaper, and then
reprint the press clipping in the Globe to underscore Jackson’s nationwide popularity.
Indeed, that popularity continued unabated throughout Jackson’s years in office, with
much of the credit going to the president’s public relations adviser.*
Most public relations professionals would rather not talk about P. T. Barnum as an
industry pioneer. Barnum, some say, was a huckster whose motto might well have been
“The public be fooled.” Barnum’s defenders suggest that although the impresario may
have had his faults, he nonetheless was respected in his time as a user of written and
verbal public relations techniques to further his museum and circus.
Like him or not, Barnum was a master publicist. In the 1800s, as owner of a major
circus, Barnum generated article after article for his traveling show. He purposely gave
his star performers short names—for instance, Tom Thumb, the midget, and Jenny Lind,
the singer—so that they could easily fit into the headlines of narrow newspaper columns.
Barnum also staged bizarre events, such as the legal marriage of the fat lady to the thin
man, to drum up free newspaper exposure. And although today’s practitioners scoff at
Barnum’s methods, in this day of Paris Hilton, Lindsay Lohan, Star Jones, Donald Trump,
Al Sharpton, and on and on, there are still many press agents practicing the ringmaster’s
techniques. Indeed, when today’s public relations professionals bemoan the specter of
shysters and hucksters that still overhangs their field, they inevitably place the blame
squarely on the fertile mind and silver tongue of P. T. Barnum.
Emergence of the Robber Barons
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
The American Industrial Revolution ushered in many things at the turn of the century,
not the least of which was the growth of public relations. The 20th century began with
small mills and shops, which served as the hub of the frontier economy, eventually
giving way to massive factories. Country hamlets, which had been the centers of
commerce and trade, were replaced by sprawling cities. Limited transportation and
communications facilities became nationwide railroad lines and communications wires.
Big business took over, and the businessman was king.
The men who ran America’s industries seemed more concerned with making a profit
than with improving the lot of their fellow citizens. Railroad owners led by William
Vanderbilt, bankers led by J. P. Morgan, oil magnates led by John D. Rockefeller, and
steel impresarios led by Henry Clay Frick ruled the fortunes of thousands of others.
Typical of the reputation acquired by this group of industrialists was the famous—and
*Kendall was decidedly not cut from the same cloth as today’s neat, trim, buttoned-down press secretaries.
On the contrary, Jackson’s man was described as “a puny, sickly looking man with a weak voice, a wheezing cough, narrow and stooping shoulders, a sallow complexion, silvery hair in his prime, slovenly dress,
and a seedy appearance.” (Fred F. Endres, “Public Relations in the Jackson White House,” Public Relations
Review 2, no. 3 [Fall 1976]: 5–12.)
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
27
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Part 1 Evolution
perhaps apocryphal—response of Vanderbilt when questioned about the public’s reaction to his closing of the New York Central Railroad: “The public be damned!”
Little wonder that Americans cursed Vanderbilt and his ilk as “robber barons”
who cared little for the rest of society. Although most who depended on these industrialists for their livelihood felt powerless to rebel, the seeds of discontent were being
sown liberally throughout society.
Enter the Muckrakers
Talking
When the axe fell on the robber barons, it came in the form of criticism from a feisty
group of journalists dubbed muckrakers. The “muck” that these reporters and editors
“raked” was dredged from the supposedly scandalous operations of America’s business
Points P. T. Barnum Lives
FIGURE 2-4 P. T. Barnum’s legacy. The Reverend Al and
The Donald, latter-day publicity hounds. (Photo: Newscom)
media, meanwhile, continued to quote his every word. Some
even called him “the P. T. Barnum of Finance.”
Amen.
* Timothy L. O’Brien, “What’s He Really Worth?” New York Times (October 23, 2005): Section 3, 1.
The Practice of Public Relations, Eleventh Edition, by Fraser P. Seitel. Published by Prentice Hall. Copyright © 2011 by Pearson Education, Inc.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Self-respecting public relations professionals despise the
legacy of P. T. Barnum, who created publicity through questionable methods. They lament, as noted in Chapter 1, that
public relations communication should always reflect “performance” and “truth.”
Ah, were it so.
Alas, Barnum’s bogus methods are just as effective with
21st-century media as they were with 19th-century media.
Doubt it?
Then consider two 21st-century public relations creations,
the Reverend Al Sharpton and the real estate mogul/TV reality
show star Donald Trump (Figure 2-4).
Sharpton, a minor aide in the days of Martin Luther King,
first gained notoriety in the 1980s by vigorously defending a
Newburgh, New York, woman who claimed she had been
abducted and raped in a racially motivated crime. The
woman’s story turned out to be a lie, and Sharpton lost a
lawsuit for his role in the ruse.
No matter. Despite a series of ethical lapses, the loquacious Reverend Al was “good copy.” And when the
Reverend called, the media listened. By 2004, Al Sharpton
was a bona fide candidate for the Democratic presidential
nomination.
Similarly, Trump, son of a wealthy New York real estate
landlord, was a master wheeler-dealer, more heralded for his
bravado and arrogance than for his acumen. Indeed, in the
1980s, Trump, despite outrageous claims to the contrary, narrowly escaped real estate bankruptcy and was forced to trade
part of his empire to restructure debts. In 2004 and again in
2009, Trump’s Atlantic City casino went bankrupt, despite The
Donald’s continuous claims that “things are going great.” And
then in 2005, The New York Times had the audacity to question Trump’s claims that he was “a billionaire.”* (The Donald
later sued the author.)
No matter. Trump continued to thrive with his television
show, The Apprentice, and endorsement deals for a variety of
products from Trump Perfume to Trump University. The
Chapter 2 The History and Growth of Public Relations
enterprises. Upton Sinclair’s novel The Jungle attacked the deplorable conditions of the
meatpacking industry. Ida Tarbell’s History of the Standard Oil Company stripped away
the public facade of the nation’s leading petroleum firm. Her accusations against
Standard Oil Chairman Rockefeller, many of which were unproven, nonetheless stirred
up public attention.
Magazines such as McClure’s struck out systematically at one industry after
another. The captains of industry, used to getting their own way and having to answer
to no one, were wrenched from their peaceful passivity and rolled out on the public
carpet to answer for their sins. Journalistic shock stories soon led to a wave of sentiment for legislative reform.
As journalists and the public became more anxious, the government got more
involved. Congress began passing laws telling business leaders what they could and
couldn’t do. Trust-busting became the order of the day. Conflicts between employers
and employees began to break out, and newly organized labor unions came to the fore.
The Socialist and Communist movements began to take off. Ironically, it was “a period
when free enterprise reached a peak in American history, and yet at that very climax, the
tide of public opinion was swelling up against business freedom, primarily because of the
breakdown in communications between the businessman and the public.”7
For a time, these men of inordinate wealth and power found themselves limited in
their ability to defend themselves and their activities against the tidal wave of public
condemnation. They simply did not know how to get through to the public. To tell
their side of the story, the business barons first tried using the lure of advertising to
silence journalistic critics; they tried to buy off critics by paying for ads in their
papers. It didn’t work. Next, they paid publicity people, or press agents, to present
their companies’ positions. Often these hired guns painted over the real problems of
their client companies. The public saw through this approach.
Clearly, another method had to be discovered to get the public to at least consider
the business point of view. Business leaders were discovering that a corporation might
have capital, labor, and natural resources, yet be doomed to fail if it couldn’t influence
public opinion. The best way to influence public opinion, as it turned out, was
through honesty and candor. This simple truth—the truth that lies at the heart of
modern-day, effective public relations practice—was the key to the accomplishments
of American history’s first great public relations counselor.
ISBN 0-558-55519-5
Ivy Lee: The Real Father of Modern
Public Relations
Ivy Ledbetter Lee was a former Wall Street reporter, the son of a Methodist minister,
who plunged into publicity work in 1903 (Figure 2-5). Lee believed neither in
Barnum’s public-be-fooled approach nor Vanderbilt’s public-be-damned philosophy.
For Lee, the key to business acceptance and understanding was that the public be
informed.
Lee disdained the press agents of the time, who used any influence or trick to get a
story on their clients printed, regardless of the truth or merits. By contrast, Lee firmly
believed that the only way business could answer its critics convincingly was to present its side honestly, accurately, and forcefully. Instead of merely appeasing the public,
Lee...
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