Public Relations Notes Instructor Dr. Ilias Hristodoulakis, Ph.D Athens, Greece

Transcription

Public Relations Notes
Instructor
Dr. Ilias Hristodoulakis, Ph.D
Athens, Greece
Christodoulakis Ilias, Ph.D
What is Public Relations
• What is this thing called public relations?
• The term public relations is often confusing because it is
frequently used inaccurately.
• According to many self-called PR practitioners as well as to
managers publicity, like public relations and corporate
advertising, consists of promotional program elements that
may be of great benefit to the marketing. Continuing, they
recommend that the use of public relations in the promotion
mix is a very good idea taking into consideration that:
– public relation is a cheap mean of communication,
because mostly is coming free through publicity, and
– it is perceived by consumers as a more credible source
than other media of promotion such as advertising.
• As a result public relations is related to the promotional
activities, and is one technical activity used by marketing to
promote the image of corporations and products.
• Public relations is a unique management function which
helps organizations to establish and maintain mutual lines of
communications, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation
with their public(s). It involves the management of problems
or issues; helps management to keep informed on and
responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the
responsibility of the management to serve not only the
organization but most important the public(s)’ interest(s);
helps management to stay familiar with environmental
changes; serving as a warning system to help predict trends;
and uses research and symmetrical communication
techniques as its principal tools.
• 1) Public relations is a unique management function
• Public relations practitioners need to be part of the total
organization, in surveying the environment and in helping to
define the mission, goals, and objectives of the organization.
– participation of the head of the public relation department
in the dominant coalition, for defining the mission and
planning the present and future strategy of the
organization.
– The boundary role: they function as a liaison between the
organization and its external and internal publics. To put
it in different words, public relation managers have one
foot inside the organization and the other outside.
– Public relations departments help organizations
maintaining mutual lines of communications,
understanding, acceptance, and cooperation with their
public(s);
• The first step of strategic management of public relations is
to - make a list of the people who are linked to or have a
stake in the organization
– after thoroughly researching their public(s) ranking them
according their impact on the organization or the extent
to which the organization believes it should moderate its
consequences on them;
– plan ongoing communication programs with the most
important public(s). The communication activities
between organization and public(s), need to be based on
the principle of symmetrical communication.
• As a result communications, understanding, acceptance, and
cooperation with their public(s).
• Public relations departments help organizations to manage
problems or issues
– Organizations in which the public relations department is part
of their decision management level, will have resolved most of
the problems with publics before they become issues.
– Excellent public relations departments make sure that they
scan the environment around the organization and balance their
organization mission with external and internal demands
– On the one hand, they must interpreter the philosophies,
policies, programs, and practices of their management to the
public(s); and on the other hand, they must translate the
attitudes and reactions of the public(s) to their management.
– Even when they are not represented in the dominant coalition,
as environmental scanners, public relations practitioners are
sensitive to changes taking place in the larger environment
surrounding the organization that may influence the public
opinion.
• Public relations serves not only the organization but most important
the public(s)’ interest(s)
– Public relations practitioners must constantly communicate
with many different publics, each having each own special needs
and requiring different types of communications.
– Public relations practitioners’ role is to identify with critical
publics with whom the organization must communicate on a
frequent and direct basis.
– Under the quittance of public relations, organizations learn of
how to get more sensitive to the self interests, desires, and
concerns of each public.
– They understand that self interest groups today are themselves
more complex and with more power than ever before.
– They harmonizing actions necessary to win and maintain
support among each groups.
– Emphasizing and achieving a win- win arrangement.
• Excellent public relations departments must use research
techniques as its principal tools for developing decisions
• If communicators and public relations practitioners are decision
makers, then operations research can contribute to public relations
management by helping to provide decisions that produce efficient
and/or effective courses of action in a rigorous and demonstrable
manner. Operations research can be used to help develop well
formulated objectives, that is,
– assist in goal setting;
– discover states of nature (situation analysis);
– identify possible strategies,
– competitive strategies;
– handle excessive numbers of strategies and states of nature;
– determine outcome;
– evaluate outcomes, that is quantifying the outcome's
desirability; and
– select a specific strategy that is the best or the most efficient or
both.
• The three primary forms of public relations research, as they
have been suggested are methods, mostly indirect, of
observing human behavior
– surveys to reveal attitudes and opinions,
– communication audits to evaluate how an organization is
doing with respect to particular public(s), and
– unobtrusive measures such as fact finding, content
analysis, and readability studies.
• As a result helps management to stay familiar with
environmental changes; to predict trends
• Organizations with good public relations departments are
always using two ways symmetrical systems of
communication Under an asymmetrical communication
system, organizations are striving to convince their
practitioners that the organization knows best and that
publics benefit from cooperating with the organizations
decisions. Thus, the role of the practitioners to persuade
publics to follow decisions made by the organization.
• On the other hand, organizations that basing their
communication systems on symmetrical models recognize
that they cannot isolate themselves from their environment.
Acknowledging that publics and other organizations
operating in the same external and/or internal environment
interrelated with the organization, and freely exchanging
information with those organizations and publics,
establishing an equilibrium state that constantly move as the
environment changes. Symmetrical models of communication
are conflict resolution oriented rather than persuasion.
Conflicts are resolved through negotiation, communication,
and compromise and not through force, manipulation,
coercion, or violence.
What Is Public Relations: The four Models of PR
Press Agentry/Publicity
For Propaganda purpose , one way communication– complete truth is
not essential, Source – Receiver as com. model, the initiative is always
strongly in the hands of the source/sender. The means are usually strait
forward advertising or other promotional activities
Public Information
For dissemination of information purpose, one way communication but
truth is important, source receiver as communication model, it is one
way communication w/out usually the purpose of persuasion. little
research usually readability and readership, is used for Governmentnonprofit associations, businesses
The four Models of PR
Two way Asymmetric
For Scientific persuasion purposes, two way imbalanced effects
communication, source – receiver – source com. Model, research is
formative with evaluation of attitudes, typical use in competitive
business and agencies
Two Way Symmetric
For mutual understanding purposes, two way balanced effects,
symmetrical mod., formative with evaluation of understanding, typical
used in regulated business and agencies
PR the Communication Management: NATURE OF
COMMUNICATION
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Need for a common ground
Feedback
The role of the senses
Source – message encoding – channel – message decoding – receiver
– Noise and Feedback
THE GOALS OF COMMUNICATION
• Inform
• Persuade
• Motivate
• Mutual understanding
A PUBLIC RELATIONS PERSPECTIVE
• Questions to Focus Materials Produced
- Is it appropriate?
- Is it meaningful?
- Is it memorable?
- Is it understandable?
- Is it believable?
• Determine objectives
– Based on the Awareness Interest Desire Action model
– Informational
– motivational
The Communication Process: From Theory to Practice
• In Communication we are generally concerned with persuading people
in one way or another, even if it's only persuading them that we're
quite nice people.
• We therefore will often be concerned with examining people's needs,
in order that we can respond to those needs in our communication.
People's needs motivate them to act; if we can identify those needs, we
have a chance of motivating them to do what we want them to do, even
if only attend to our communication in the first place.
• One humanist psychologist who is constantly referred to in the study of
Communication is Abraham Maslow, who developed the 'hierarchy of
needs' shown in the graphic.
• Maslow emphasised the human need for self-actualisation, the
realisation of one's full potential as a human being. According to
Maslow, before one can set about self-actualisation, a person has first
to solve the problems associated with the four lower-level needs of the
hierarchy:
• Physical/survival needs: you must satisfy your physical wants before
you can take the next step up the motivational hierarchy;
• Safety needs: once you have satisfied your basic biological needs, you
can get on with exploring your environment. It is well known,
however, that a child will not begin to explore unless it feels secure.
But the drive for safety is in itself a motivator for exploration - when
you know 'what's out there' in the world, your uncertainty is reduced,
the world s more predictable and 'safe';
• Social needs: these are 'belongingness' needs. Maslow claims that we
have an innate need to affiliate with others in search of affection and
love. Through empathising with others we learn also to see the world
from different points of view;
• Esteem needs: the groups we affiliate with help us to set our life's
goals. They can provide us with feedback on how well we are doing in
pursuit of those goals. The closer we get, the more esteem we are
likely to receive from others and feel for ourselves;
• Self-actualization needs: when we have acquired sufficient selfesteem we are confident enough to go on to realise our full potential,
expressing ourselves in our own unique way.
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Maslow's hierarchy has the benefit of attempting a holistic account of human
motivation, considering a range of influences on human behaviour. It is questionable
whether, in the light of contemporary notions such as the decentred self, humanistic
psychology's conception of the self is still tenable, though it has to be said that many
people who have experienced Rogerian counselling will testify to its efficacy.
Maslow's hierarchy has also been criticised for being based on Maslow's study of
successful individuals in Western society. To what extent it might apply to non-Western
societies or to non-middle- or upper-class individuals is not clear. Nor is it clear why
there should be five stages rather than sixty-eight and it is certainly not clear why he
believes that we must progress through the stages - one could think of artists, for
example, who have shown scant regard for their survival needs, or even esteem needs,
appearing to jump straight to working on their self-actualisation.
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Certainly, it is hard to see how any but totally isolated people could satisfy their survival
needs independently of, say, social needs. Hunter-gatherers live together, hunt and
forage together, their survival is entirely dependent on society. So is mine of course in
the sense that my ability to buy things from shops depends on certain infrastructures in
society, but it's also the case that I can't buy things from shops without engaging in an at
least a rudimentary form of social intercourse. To separate out each of these needs in the
way that Maslow does seems highly artificial.
• Nevertheless, there is some empirical evidence from Harlow's
experiments with monkeys which tends to support Maslow's ideas.
• Whatever criticisms may be made of Maslow, the notion that
something like these needs seems to motivate people has been taken on
by marketers. Think of the way that house insurance companies offer
free smoke or burglar alarms as incentives (safety needs)
• all those adverts which show the product at the centre of groups of
happy people (social needs)
• marketing which pushes the high status of the product (esteem needs)
• Microsoft's current emphasis on exploration of ideas and one's self
through modern technology, their slogan 'Where do you want to go
today?' (self-actualisation needs)
The Communication Process: Source
• Communicator: Source
• Credibility
• The principal characteristic of the Communicator affecting his or her
persuasiveness is his or her credibility. Credibility itself is made up of
a variety of factors:
• Trustworthiness:
• Is this person honest?
• Can I believe what he's telling me? If Bill Clinton has had an affair and
not told his wife, then how do I know he won't lie to me as well?
• Politicians will also try to undermine their opponents' credibility by
pointing to self-contradictions in their past - if (former Labour Party
leader) Neil Kinnock was vehemently opposed to Britain's membership
of the European Union and in favour of unilateral nuclear
disarmament, how can you believe him now that he's a fervent
supporter of European union and opposed to disarmament?
• Advertisers will sometimes use 'trustworthy' people to endorse their
product: the jazz critic George Melly to endorse Sony's headphones,
former Metropolitan Police Commissioner Robert Mark to endorse
Goodyear tyres and so on
• In a 1953 experiment conducted by Kelman and Hovland subjects
were played a message which recommended more lenient treatment of
juvenile offenders. In the one case, the source of the message was said
to be a judge in a juvenile court, in the other case an alleged drug
dealer. Unsurprisingly, when the subjects were assessed immediately
after hearing the messages, they found the high-credibility source (the
judge) to be more persuasive). Three weeks later they were again
assessed. This time, half the subjects were reminded who the source
was. It turned out that where there was a reminder, the subjects
maintained their original position, but, where there was none, there
was a significant decrease in the persuasion of the high-credibility
condition. (There was also a very minor, but insignificant, increase in
the low-credibility condition.) Hovland argued that over the course of
time the connexion between the 'cue' (i.e. the communicator's
credibility) and the message became dissociated. He termed this the
sleeper effect.
• Sorokin and Baldyreff played listeners two records of a classical music
piece, each bearing exactly the same performance. Listeners were told
in advance that one of the performances had been judged as
significantly better by music critics. 96% of subjects considered the
performances were different and 59% agreed with the alleged opinion
of the experts.
• Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast was doubtless also
effective in part because of the perceived prestige of those allegedly
commenting on the 'invasion' - the fictitious Prof. Farrell of the Mount
Jennings Observatory, Prof. Morse of McMillan University, General
Montgomery Smith, commander of the Trenton state militia and others
• Expertise: Does this person know what he's talking about? Hence the
tendency of politicians to spout statistics at the slightest provocation
and the tendency of computer consultants to use computer jargon to
people they know don't understand it.
• The perceived expertise of the source is likely to be more persuasive if
the audience have no particular commitment to the subject under
discussion. If people have some knowledge of the subject, then they
probably have some arguments or counterarguments already prepared.
If not, then they'll probably use some general rule of thumb, like 'This
bloke's paid to teach Communication Studies, so I suppose he knows
what he's talking about.' (!)
• Attractiveness: We know from our studies of NVC that physical
attractiveness often works in a person's favour. Judges give attractive
people lighter sentences, college lecturers give them better marks and
so on. Presidential and Prime Ministerial candidates have themselves
remodelled by image consultants. One presidential hopeful is even
rumoured to have had plastic surgery.
• Attractiveness is not only a matter of physical attractiveness, though.
Other factors such as similarity and familiarity are important:
• 'Is he my sort of person?',
• 'I've never heard of her before.'
• 'Does he look like my sort of person?'
• 'He sounds like a complete idiot' and so on.
• So, a leader from specific local area might use a strong accent when
addressing a rally in this area, though he uses a regular one when being
interviewed on TV.
• There are numerous factors which influence attractiveness, for
example the paralinguistic aspects of speech, which led Prime Minister
Thatcher to take lessons in voice control, so that she appeared less
strident and developed the sound of measured, breathy sincerity which
became her hallmark. Humour is another factor, which explains why
we find comedians being used for the voice-overs on a variety of
commercials.
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There is an exception to this general rule of attractiveness, though. If a liked
communicator's recommendations are seen as stemming from internal factors
(e.g. her special interests, her bias, her self-interest), but those of a disliked
communicator are seen as stemming from external factors ('that's the way
things are'), then the disliked communicator can be more persuasive
If the source of a message was perceived as having low credibility, then the
message would be interpreted as biased and unfair. That effect could probably
be explained by the need to maintain cognitive consistency. High credibility
sources were shown by Hovland and his colleagues to be likely to have a
significant effect on the positive reception of the message. However, the
effects of high and low credibility sources were demonstrated to disappear
after a period of some weeks - a potential problem for the propagandist.
However, Hovland's research does suggest that a rational presentation of the
arguments for or against a particular. position might be less important than
who presents them. More recent investigations into cognitive response theory
may also shed some light on this.
• Power: Under the heading of 'power' Hovland and his colleagues
considered the amount of control the Communicator has over
Receivers. Clearly, this will have some persuasive effect. If Hitler's
Brownshirts are likely to beat you up if you don't do what they tell
you, then there's a good chance they'll do what they tell you. Further
Education colleges up and down the country are introducing major
changes to their employees' working conditions. Very many employees
consider these entirely unreasonable, but, since the college managers
have the power to deny them a pay increase ever again unless they sign
the new contracts, many employees sign up.
• Forcing people to do what you want may bring about compliance, but
does not guarantee internalisation. In other words, people comply with
your demands, but they retain the values they had before and continue
to see your behaviour as wrong and therefore comply grudgingly or
attempt to subvert your demands or even revolt.
The Communication Process: Message
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Message
Is it important to argue your case?
To any rational person, it may seem self-evident that the best way to persuade
someone of your point of view is to present them with a reasoned argument. In
fact, it seems quite clear that much depends on the audience. If people are
unable, or unwilling, to pay close attention to your message and evaluate it,
then there is no point in developing a thoughtful, reasoned argument; in such a
case its better to try to use, say, classical conditioning (see the section on
conditioned reflex) as a means of persuasion. It does seem to help if you give a
reason in support of your views, but research suggests that it doesn't
necessarily have to be a particularly good reason.
In an experiment by Hellen Langer (unfortunately, I've lost the reference), she
arranged with her college librarian that all of the photocopiers but one would
be 'out of order'. This rapidly produced long queues in front of the one
remaining photocopier. Her confederates then approached those in the line qith
a request to jump the queue. Not surprisingly, 'Can I use the photocopier?' was
a good deal less successful than 'Can I use the photocopier? I'm late for my
class.' Amazingly, though, 'Can I use the photocopier? I have to make some
copies' was only marginally less successful than 'I'm late for my class'.
• Type of Appeal
• Fear
• An appeal to fear is often thought of as being an effective persuasive
device. Of course, it can be if you're actually threatening the Receiver,
but that's not what is meant here. What is meant here is that the
message appeals to fear, perhaps showing the Receiver what will
happen to her if she persists in her current behaviour. In advertising,
direct appeals to fear of this sort are strictly limited by the ASA,
though they do tend to be tolerated more in public information
advertising, e.g. an AIDS campaign.
• You might expect that an appeal based on fear has to be hard-hitting to
be effective. However, a study conducted by Janis and Feschbach in
1954 suggests that a minimal appeal is likely to be more effective.
They used three different versions of a lecture on dental hygiene. The
strong appeal provoked the most tension in the audience, but the
greatest change in behaviour n conformity with the message was
produced by the minimal appeal to fear.
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This probably suggests that when people feel they can do nothing about the threat then
they are not likely to change their behaviour. They may well repress their anxiety (see
defence mechanisms). An appeal to fear should probably be counterbalanced by the
reassurance that it is possible to do something about it. It's probably worth mentioning
also that Leventahl and others found in a 1956 study that a high degree of fear did
indeed lead to higher attitudinal change, in contrast to what Janis and Feshbach found.
In their case, however, they were dealing with tetanus rather than oral hygiene, which
suggests that the question of fear arousal cannot be divorced from the subject matter of
the message.
The 1992 drink-driving campaign at Christmas was particularly hard-hitting, in fact
provoking a number of complaints. It showed a close-up of a young woman with a
ventilator in her mouth, her eyes wide open in a glassy stare. The ambulance crew could
be heard busying themselves around her, as the blue lights flashed constantly across her
face. In the background we could hear an anguished motorist asking for reassurance that
she would be all right and protesting that he hadn't intended to do anyone any harm.
Great things were expected of the campaign, but it seems in fact to have been less
effective than others. A possible explanation is that the motor car is seen as an essential
part of everyday life, just as essential as walking. Cars kill, as all motorists know, but
there is nothing they can do about it. Conceivably, the ad was perceived as stating
strongly that cars kill people, rather than differentiating between the causes of accidents.
• Consequently, drivers would see that they could avoid such horrendous
accidents only by stopping driving, something they of course 'can't' do.
• It's perhaps worth remarking in passing that a general atmosphere of
fear may also contribute to the success of a message. This of course is
a factor extraneous to the message and thus does not properly belong
here under 'message', but should rather be under a heading such as
'context'. For example, Orson Welles's War of the Worlds broadcast
may have owed some of its success to the general atmosphere of fear
and confusion which prevailed in world affairs at the time.
• Vocabulary
• If we are persuaded by an 'expert' communicator, then the chances are
that some technical jargon will increase the apparent expertise. The
ability to use certain kinds of vocabulary is also associated with the
'elaborated code' identified by Bernstein and valorised by the education
system, so that may also contribute to the apparent expertise of the
communicator.
• Accent
• You'll be aware no doubt of the relationship in Britain between accent
and social class, an RP accent being suggestive of status and a high
terminal level of education. The use of accent has to be balanced
against source attractiveness (see the section on the Communicator),
avoiding , for example, the possibility of being seen by certain
audiences as a 'toff'.
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Humour
It's not at all clear whether it works or not. British advertisers achieved an
international reputation for their humour, but research studies show
contradictory results.
Speed
You might think, as I would, that the communicator should decrease speed in
order to be persuasive, especially if dealing with a complex topic. However,
the research shows that an increase in speed is likely to be more persuasive anything up to 50% faster, in fact! This probably connects with the notion of
'expertise'. If a communicator can speak fast about a complex issue, then they
must know what they're talking about. It also has the advantage of shutting
other people out, denying them the opportunity to interrupt before you've
finished what you have to say. It's not necessarily as simple as that, though,
since a range of variables have to be taken into account. I, for example, tend to
be put off by suits, so someone wearing a suit and talking fast might well be
dismissed by me as merely 'slick' rather than 'expert'. Speaking fast can be
helpful if you're arguments are weak, because it doesn't give your audience
time for cognitive processing of your arguments. However, if you have strong
arguments, it can be useful to slow down precisely in order to allow cognitive
processing to take place.
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Selection
I would have thought, as with speed above, that you would increase your
apparent expertise by packing in as many arguments as possible. In fact, it
seems that you're more likely to be persuasive if you limit yourself to the most
important and strongest arguments only.
From the point of view of cognitive response theory, though, this does make
sense. If you present your weaker arguments, you give the receiver the
opportunity to formulate negative cognitive responses. By giving your
audience, say, six weak arguments and two strong ones, you give them the
opportunity to form six negative responses and only two positive ones.
Remember that it is not the arguments themselves which are normally later
recalled by receivers, but their own reactions to those arguments (i.e. their
cognitive responses), so you would be best advised to limit yourself to the two
strong arguments.
To an extent, this will depend upon the audience's sense of involvement in the
issue. As we have seen with the question of expertise, they will tend to use
some general rule of thumb if their involvement is not high, saying something
like, 'she's got a lot of arguments, so I suppose she must know what she's
talking about. An uninvolved audience won't even bother to distinguish
between weak and strong arguments, so, in such a case, your best bet would be
Christodoulakis
Ilias, Ph.D
to produce all your arguments,
whether weak
or strong.
• Ordering
• If you can't avoid giving the bad news, then, according to research, it's
best to give the good news first.
• This may be connected with the general perception that 'first
impressions count'. However, it's not entirely clear that they do. In an
experiment conducted by Tomorrow's World on March 25 1995,
viewers were shown a man being interviewed for an ambulance
driver's job. In fact, without the viewers' knowledge, two different
versions of the interview were shown in the east and west of the
country. In the east, the interviewee began by giving the 'good news',
namely that he had been in the army medical corps where he had learnt
various skills and ended with the bad news, namely that, since leaving
the army he had never held down a job for long. In the west exactly the
same information was given, but with the 'bad news' first. In the east
45% of viewers would have given him the job; in the west 54% would
have given him the job. This strongly suggests that first impressions do
not count for much and that it's best to end with the 'good news'.
• This question of ordering revolves around what is known as primacy
and recency effects. The adage that 'first impressions count' states that
the primacy effect is likely to dominate, whereas the Tomorrow's World
experiment suggests that the recency effect is dominant.
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For and against
Whether or not you should include arguments for and against your case
depends very much on your audience. If you know that they already agree with
you, a one-sided argument is quite acceptable. If they are opposed to your
point of view, then a one-sided message will actually be less effective, being
dismissed as biased. Even if your audience don't know much about the subject,
but do know that there are counterarguments (even if they don't know what
they are) will lead them to reject your views as biased. Hovland's
investigations into mass propaganda used to change soldiers' attitudes also
suggests that the intelligence of the receivers is an important factor, a twosided argument tending to be more persuasive with the more intelligent
audience.
It is possible to inoculate audiences against certain views. If you present them
with a weakened version of the arguments against your case, then they are
likely to be resistant to stronger versions of those arguments that they may
come across later. Again, this seems to be explained by cognitive response
theory, since, by giving them a weakened version, you allow them to formulate
negative cognitive responses.
• Conclusion drawing
• Hovland's research results are unclear here. Hovland tends to assume
that you should draw the conclusions for your audience where complex
issues are involved. He also seems to believe that it depends on your
assessment of the audience's intelligence.
• Timing
• The time delay between your presentation of your case and the
audience's having to reach a decision on it is of some importance.
• The first side has the advantage when the second side immediately
follows and there is a delay before the receivers reach a decision.
• The second side has the advantage if the receivers are to reach a
decision immediately after presentation of the two cases, if there is a
gap between presentation of the first and second sides.
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Repetition
Research (following up Zajon's findings in the 60s) has shown again and again
that repeated exposure to a stimulus will increase subjects' liking for that
stimulus. It doesn't seem to matter whether the stimulus is one which would
normally be judged positively or negatively, nor even whether subjects are
aware that they are more familiar with the stimulus than they are with others.
The research seems to suggest that this is more likely to be the case with
complex, rather than simple, stimuli.
So it does seem that, say, a political party with plenty of money for the
campaign has a better chance, simply because it stands more chance of using
the media to increase exposure to its messages and its candidates.
Repetition, then, will certainly strengthen a message, but you can soon reach
the point of diminishing returns and that, of course, is something that
advertisers have to bear in mind. We all know from seeing the same ad for
what seems like the thousandth time that too much exposure can lower our
liking of a message. The problem, naturally, is to be able to gauge where the
point of diminishing returns lies.
The Communication Process: Channel
Mass Medium
• There is no very clear evidence as to which medium is likely to be the
most effective. Lenin and Goebbels both considered film to be the
most powerful propaganda medium. TV today has much the same
reputation and radio was considered in its early days to be particularly
powerful. Television and radio are perhaps considered so effective
because they are in our own homes, but there's not much evidence to
show that that makes much difference, even though it's one important
factor in the BBFC's decisions on how to censor videos. TV and film
may be considered especially powerful because they incorporate both
sound and vision, but there is some evidence that that may in fact
reduce effectiveness. TV is often also considered especially powerful
because it is a mass medium, delivering the same message to around
20 million people at a time for the major soaps. However, that may
work to its disadvantage when compared with, say, newspapers and
periodicals which have highly differentiated markets, allowing much
more precise targeting.
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Research tends to show relatively little effect of any of the mass media - the
so-called 'limited effects' paradigm, which emerges quite strongly from the
empirical research tradition in the USA. However, it is possible that that is a
deficiency of the research rather than of the media. It is often argued that since
the American researchers were looking for clearly measurable effects they
tended to concentrate on the short-term and thus may have missed the longer
term and more diffuse effects.
A very important piece of research was conducted by Katz and Lazarsfeld into
the effects of radio propaganda in the 1940s. Their research led them to
formulate their Two-Step Flow Model of mass media communication, which
still underlies much communication practice today.
In essence, it emphasises the importance of the influence of our social contacts
in influencing our interpretation of media messages. Sophisticated political
'spin doctors' continue to recognise today that the best form of advertising is
word-of-mouth advertising. They don't only need to persuade us as individuals
of the validity of what they have to say. They must also persuade the people
we come into contact with, especially the 'opinion leaders' in our lives.
• Selective exposure
• The Labour Party spin doctors know that Conservative Party voters
will switch off when the Labour election broadcast is on and viceversa. We will tend actively to seek out those messages which support
the view we already have and avoid those which may challenge it. This
applies not only to the mass media, but also to interpersonal
communication. For example, it is well known that those with a
positive self-image will tend to remember positive comments made
about them, and those with a negative self-image will tend to
remember the negative ones. (See also the sections on Selective
Attention and Cognitive Consistency).
• Selective attention
• We maybe can't avoid being exposed to messages we don't like, but
there is plenty of evidence that in such a case we won't pay much
attention to them
• Selective interpretation
• Even if we are exposed and do attend to messages which conflict with
our views, the chances are that we will interpret them in such a way
that they do fit what we already believe. However good the Labour
Party's arguments might be, the chances are that the Conservative voter
will dismiss them as a load of nonsense.
• An excellent example of this is provided by Kendall and Woolf's
analysis of reactions to anti-racist cartoons. The cartoons featured Mr
Biggott whose absurdly racist ideas were intended to discredit bigotry.
In fact 31% failed to recognise that Mr Biggott was racially prejudiced
or that the cartoons were intended to be anti-racist (Kendall & Wolff
(1949) in Curran (1990)).
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Interpersonal communication
Visual channel
Physical attractiveness of the Communicator is certainly important and there
are other factors we can be fairly certain of.
The following seem to undermine the persuasiveness of a message:
narrow pupil dilation
a closed and symmetrical posture
self-touching ('self-grooming')
very high and very low levels of eye contact
•
In public speaking, we expect rather higher levels of eye contact than in
ordinary interpersonal interaction, where we expect the speaker's eye contact
to be intermittent and the listener's to be high. In public speaking, we expect
the speaker to keep looking at the audience. Our impression of the speaker's
expertise is increased if we see them able to speak without constantly referring
to their notes. It may also have some impact on their apparent sincerity, since
we know that many public speakers' speeches are written for them. Thus, it is
not at all uncommon nowadays to see public speakers using the 'truth
machine', also known as the 'idiot box', perhaps because President Reagan was
the first to use it extensively. The speaker has in front of her an autocue, whose
image is projected on the two screens to left and right, thus allowing the
speaker to read the speech off the screens while at the same time appearing to
look straight through them at the audience.
• Auditory channel
• In the auditory channel, a high pitch, lots of hesitations, erm's, like's,
sort of's and tag question like 'won't he?', 'didn't he?' etc. will tend to
reduce credibility.
The Communication Process: Receiver
• Intra-personal factors
• By definition, intra-personal factors such as the receiver's attitude to
the subject matter and the extent of her personal involvement may well
be largely unknown to the communicator. Sherif and Hovland
attempted to summarize the effect of these two factors by saying that
the person's position on an attitude scale provides her with an anchor
from which she evaluates other positions on the attitude scale and that
evaluation will be the firmer and more difficult to shift the greater the
degree of ego-involvement. They concluded that if the positions of the
communicator and of the receiver are so far apart that the
communicator's position falls within the receiver's latitude of rejection,
then the only way that the communicator can have an effect is by
adopting a step-by-step approach, starting from messages which fall
within the receiver's latitude of acceptance and gradually working
outward from there.
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Age
Age is an important variable. People reach maximum persuasability around the
age of nine. Hence the Hitler Youth, East Germany's Young Pioneers and, for
that matter, the Cubs and Brownies.
Sex
Sex appears to be of some limited significance, women apparently being more
easily persuadable than men. However, this research was conducted a long
time ago when women saw themselves and their rτle differently, so this may
well have changed.
Personality
Personality variables such as self-esteem, anxiety and depression have an
influence on persuadability. Janis's research suggests that people with low selfesteem are likely to be relatively easily persuaded - which may partly explain
the success of Hitler's propaganda and the success of right-wing parties today
in another era of mass unemployment. See especially the section on the
authoritarian personality.
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Group norms
The norms of a group apparently serve to protect members from outside
influence. The more important group members consider their membership of
the group to be, the less likely they are to be persuaded by messages which
undermine the group norms.
Beliefs ('self-schemata')
The pattern of the receiver's beliefs will in part determine whether the message
is given serious attention in the first place. (For further information, see the
sections on Selective attention, Consistency theory and Attitudes.)
The persuasive impact of a message can be increased if it is anchored in the
system of beliefs and values of the receiver.
This seems to be evident in the close parallels between Nazi symbolism and
ceremony on the one hand and Christian rituals on the other. The swastika
replaced the cross on Christmas trees and in public squares and on fountains at
Christmas time just as the Christian cross had been before. Hitler was also
careful to ensure that his rhetoric echoed the values of the 'old guard'. In a not
dissimilar way, Mrs Thatcher, whose programme was entirely revolutionary in
its impact, was careful to refer back to Churchill, the British Empire, Victorian
values and family values.
• Social groups
• Katz and Lazarsfeld's Two-Step Flow Model makes it clear that,
whether we receive media messages in isolation or not, their effect will
be mediated by the social groups we belong to. The pattern of our
social relationships will determine how we ultimately interpret the
messages we have received.
• If the Communicator has some way of influencing those groups,
notably the opinion leaders within the, then she will increase her
chances of success. Education programmes based on the media, such
as those aimed at farmers in third world countries, are often coupled
with group meetings. In the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany,
propaganda messages were often broadcast into factories or public
squares where people would gather together to listen to them.
• A public commitment before a group to a particular belief or point of
view is also more likely to be durable than a private commitment - see
for example Alcoholics Anonymous or various religious groups.
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Active Participation
Janis and King demonstrated that people who participate actively in
disseminating a message are more likely to be persuaded by it.
Resistance
The notion of cognitive responses suggests that it should be possible to
inoculate people against a message. For example, when you give people your
arguments, you should also give the counterarguments to your position and at
the same time provide refutations of those counterarguments. You will thus be
providing your audience with cognitive responses which can be generated
when they hear those counterarguments. It doesn't matter much whether they
remember your refutations or not. The important thing is that they should
remember their reactions, namely 'Oh, yes, I remember that that argument's
rubbish.'
•
Psychologist William McGuire tested this idea further. He selected a number
of generally accepted truths such as 'It's a good idea to brush your teeth after
every meal if possible' - the sort of thing which few people would disagree
with. He demonstrates that attacking such a belief with strong arguments did
actually weaken it - for example quoting evidence form the American Dental
Association that it was misguided. Having confirmed that such beliefs could
be weakened by strong attacks, he went on to see if people could be
inoculated. He demonstrated that people who were first subjected to a mild
form of attack and then read or wrote an essay refuting it were later able to
resist the strong attacks better. (in Atkinson et al., (1990)).
• Even forewarning an audience that they are about to receive a message
they will disagree with will tend to 'protect' them against it.
• Inoculation has been used in a school programme in the USA to help
pupils resist peer pressure to smoke. High-school students conducted
group sessions in which they taught younger pupils how to construct
counter-arguments. For example, if they were called 'chicken' for
refusing a cigarette, they were taught to answer, 'I'd be a real chicken if
I smoked just to impress you.' They were taught to respond to ads
suggesting that women smokers were liberated with 'She's not really
liberated if she's hooked on tobacco.' It seems simple, but it worked.
These schoolchildren proved to be half as likely as their peers to
smoke.
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Boomerang effect
Finally it may be worth mentioning the boomerang effect, where, despite the
best intentions of the communicator the message is rejected. I have chosen to
list it under 'receiver' since it is clearly the receiver who rejects the message,
though the boomerang effect is not solely due to characteristics of the receiver
herself. Merton (1949) suggested the following as possible causes of the
effect:
the communicator, in forming the message, makes false assumptions about, or
has misleading data about the audience and therefore misses her target
the communicator faces the dilemma of dealing with an audience which is so
heterogeneous that she cannot form a meaningful message for all of them nor
possibly formulate enough messages to reach all the subsidiary target groups
to a receiver who is not fully attending various parts of the message seem to
contradict others
the examples the communicator uses to illustrate her message do not
correspond to the receivers' experiences
THE IMPORTANCE OF TWO-WAY
COMMUNICATION
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Feedback obtained in research and evaluation phases
Feedback equates with two-way communication
Two-way is arguably The key to excellent practice
Two-way is usually lower in the hierarchy of communication channels
ACTING ON THE MESSAGE
• Ultimate purpose of any message
• The five-stage adoption process: According to Adoption of Innovation
Model
– Awareness
– Interest
– Evaluation
– Trial
– Adoption
FACTORS AFFECTING ADOPTION
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Relative advantage
Compatibility
Complexity
Trialability
Observability
types of adopters
- Types of adopters
- Innovators
- Early adopters
- Early majority
- Late majority
- Laggards
PUBLIC OPINION
•
WHAT IS PUBLIC OPINION?
– Is a collective expression of opinion of many individuals bound into a group by common aims,
aspirations, needs, and ideals
– People who are interested or have a vested self interest in an issue
– Self-interest is one of the common denominator, the other is
– The Event: Opinion is highly sensitive to events that have an impact on the public at large or a
particular segment of the public
– By an large, PO does not anticipate events. It only reacts to them
– Unless people are aware of an issue, they are not likely to be concerned or have an opinion
– Events of unusual magnitude are likely to swing PO temporarily from one extreme to the other.
•
WHAT IS AN OPINION LEADER?
– Highly interested in the subject or issue, better informed on the issue than the
average person, avid consumers of mass media, early adopters of new ideas, able to
get other people to act.
• Formal : elected officials
• Informal
: those having clout with peers because some special characteristics
THE FLOW OF OPINION
•
- Two step flow
Source – message-channel – message - receiver
•
- Multi-step model
source – message – channel – Opinion Leader – message – receiver.
• The role of mass media
- Agenda-setting theory: people tend to talk about what they see
on the 6.00 o’clock news
- Media dependency theory: people are highly dependent on the
media for information
- Framing theory: (journalist oriented) how journalists select
certain facts, themes, treatments, and even words to frame a story
- Cultivation theory: the new content of mass media can be called
as media reality since events are repackaged to be more succinct,
logical, and interesting to viewer or reader.
•
HOW TO GAUGE PUBLIC OPINION
- Personal contact
- Media reports
- Field reports
- Letters and telephone calls
- Advisory committee
- Staff meeting
- Polling and sampling
PERSUASION
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What is persuasion?
Is an activity or process in which a communicator attempts to induce a change
in the belief, attitude, or behavior of another person or group of persons
through the transmission of a message in a context in which the persuade has
some degree of free choice
Use of Persuasion
- Change or neutralize hostile opinion
- Crystallize latent opinions and positive attitudes
- Conserve favorable opinions
•
Factors Influence Persuasion's
success
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Audience analysis
Source credibility
Appeal to self-interest
Clarity of message
Timing and context
– Audience participation
– Suggestions for action
– Content and structure of
messages (drama, statistics,
emotional/rational appeal, etc)
– Persuasive speaking
LIMITATION FACTORS
• Lack of penetration
• Competing message
• Self-selecting
• Self-perception
PROPAGANDA
• What is propaganda?
It is the deliberate and systematic attempt to shape perceptions,
manipulate cognition, and direct behavior to achieve a response that
furthers the desired intend of the propagandist.
• Techniques
- Plain folks
- Testimonial
- Card-stacking
- Transfer
- Glittering generalities
- Name-calling
Propaganda
• "The first casualty when war comes is Truth" -- U.S.
Senator Hiram Johnson, 1917
• "It is easier to dominate someone if they are unaware of
being dominated. Colonised and colonisers both know
that domination is not just based on physical
supremacy. Control of hearts and minds follows military
conquest. Which is why any empire that wants to last
must capture the souls of its subjects." -- Ignacio
Ramonet
• "In wartime, truth is so precious that she should always
be attended by a bodyguard of lies." -- Winston
Churchill (British Prime Minister during World War II)
Propaganda
• It may seem strange to suggest that the study of propaganda has
relevance to contemporary politics. After all, when most people think
about propaganda, they think of the enormous campaigns that were
waged by Hitler and Stalin in the 1930s. Since nothing comparable is
being disseminated in our society today, many believe that propaganda
is no longer an issue.
• But propaganda can be as blatant as a swastika or as subtle as a joke.
Its persuasive techniques are regularly applied by politicians,
advertisers, journalists, radio personalities, and others who are
interested in influencing human behaviour. Propagandistic messages
can be used to accomplish positive social ends, as in campaigns to
reduce drunk driving, but they are also used to win elections and to sell
malt liquor.
Propaganda
• As Anthony Pratkanis and Elliot Aronson point out, "every
day we are bombarded with one persuasive communication
after another. These appeals persuade not through the giveand-take of argument and debate, but through the
manipulation of symbols and of our most basic human
emotions. For better or worse, ours is an age of
propaganda.“
• With the growth of communication tools like the Internet,
the flow of persuasive messages has been dramatically
accelerated. For the first time ever, citizens around the
world are participating in uncensored conversations about
their collective future. This is a wonderful development,
but there is a cost.
Propaganda
• The information revolution has led to information
overload, and people are confronted with hundreds of
messages each day. Although few studies have looked at
this topic, it seems fair to suggest that many people
respond to this pressure by processing messages more
quickly and, when possible, by taking mental short-cuts.
• Propagandists love short-cuts -- particularly those which
short-circuit rational thought. They encourage this by
agitating emotions, by exploiting insecurities, by
capitalizing on the ambiguity of language, and by bending
the rules of logic. As history shows, they can be quite
successful.
Propaganda Devices: Word Games Name Calling
• "Bad names have played a tremendously powerful role in the history of
the world and in our own individual development. They have ruined
reputations, stirred men and women to outstanding accomplishments,
sent others to prison cells, and made men mad enough to enter battle
and slaughter their fellowmen. They have been and are applied to other
people, groups, gangs, tribes, colleges, political parties,
neighbourhoods, sections of the country, nations, and races."
• The name-calling technique links a person, or idea, to a negative
symbol. The propagandist who uses this technique hopes that the
audience will reject the person or the idea on the basis of the negative
symbol, instead of looking at the available evidence.
• The most obvious type of name calling involves "bad names." For
example, consider the following:
Commie
Fascist
Pig
Yuppie Scum
Bum
Queer
Feminazi
ultra liberal
Propaganda Devices : Word Games Name Calling
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A more subtle form of name-calling involves words or phrases that are
selected because they possess a negative emotional charge. Those who oppose
budget cuts may characterize fiscally conservative politicians as "stingy."
Supporters might prefer to describe them as "thrifty." Both words refer to the
same behaviour, but they have very different connotations. Other examples of
negatively charged words include:
social engineering - radical - stingy - counter-culture
The name-calling technique was first identified by the Institute for Propaganda
Analysis (IPA) in 1938. According to the IPA, we should ask ourselves the
following questions when we spot an example of name-calling.
– What does the name mean?
– Does the idea in question have a legitimate connection with the real
meaning of the name?
– Is an idea that serves my best interests being dismissed through giving it a
name I don't like?
– Leaving the name out of consideration, what are the merits of the idea
itself?
Propaganda Devices : Word Games Glittering Generalities
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"We believe in, fight for, live by virtue words about which we have deep-set
ideas. Such words include civilization, Christianity, good, proper, right,
democracy, patriotism, motherhood, fatherhood, science, medicine, health, and
love.
For our purposes in propaganda analysis, we call these virtue words "Glittering
Generalities" in order to focus attention upon this dangerous characteristic that
they have: They mean different things to different people; they can be used in
different ways.
This is not a criticism of these words as we understand them. Quite the
contrary. It is a criticism of the uses to which propagandists put the cherished
words and beliefs of unsuspecting people.
When someone talks to us about democracy, we immediately think of our own
definite ideas about democracy, the ideas we learned at home, at school, and in
church. Our first and natural reaction is to assume that the speaker is using the
word in our sense, that he believes as we do on this important subject. This
lowers our 'sales resistance' and makes us far less suspicious than we ought to
be when the speaker begins telling us the things 'the United States must do to
preserve democracy.'
Propaganda Devices : Word Games Glittering Generalities
• The Glittering Generality is, in short, Name Calling in reverse. While
Name Calling seeks to make us form a judgment to reject and
condemn without examining the evidence, the Glittering Generality
device seeks to make us approve and accept without examining the
evidence. In acquainting ourselves with the Glittering Generality
Device, therefore, all that has been said regarding Name Calling must
be kept in mind..."
• The Institute for Propaganda Analysis suggested a number of questions
that people should ask themselves when confronted with this
technique:
– What does the virtue word really mean?
– Does the idea in question have a legitimate connection with the
real meaning of the word:
– Is an idea that does not serve my best interests being "sold" to me
merely through its being given a name that I like?
– Leaving the virtue word out of consideration, what are the merits
of the idea itself?
Propaganda Devices : Word Games Euphemisms
• When propagandists use glittering generalities and name-calling
symbols, they are attempting to arouse their audience with vivid,
emotionally suggestive words. In certain situations, however, the
propagandist attempts to pacify the audience in order to make an
unpleasant reality more palatable. This is accomplished by using words
that are bland and euphemistic.
– Since war is particularly unpleasant, military discourse is full of
euphemisms. In the 1940's, America changed the name of the War
Department to the Department of Defense.
– Under the Reagan Administration, the MX-Missile was renamed
"The Peacekeeper." During war-time, civilian casualties are
referred to as "collateral damage," and the word "liquidation" is
used as a synonym for "murder."
Propaganda Devices : Word Games Euphemisms
– The comedian George Carlin notes that, in the wake of
the first world war, traumatized veterans were said to be
suffering from "shell shock." The short, vivid phrase
conveys the horrors of battle -- one can practically hear
the shells exploding overhead. After the second world
war, people began to use the term "combat fatigue" to
characterize the same condition. The phrase is a bit
more pleasant, but it still acknowledges combat as the
source of discomfort..
– In the wake of the Vietnam War, people referred to
"post-traumatic stress disorder": a phrase that is
completely disconnected from the reality of war
altogether.
Propaganda Devices : False Connections Transfer
• You shall not press down upon the brow of labour this
crown of thorn. You shall not crucify mankind upon a cross
of gold! -- William Jennings Bryan, 1896
• "Transfer is a device by which the propagandist carries
over the authority, sanction, and prestige of something we
respect and revere to something he would have us accept.
For example, most of us respect and revere our church and
our nation. If the propagandist succeeds in getting church
or nation to approve a campaign in behalf of some
program, he thereby transfers its authority, sanction, and
prestige to that program. Thus, we may accept something
which otherwise we might reject.
• In the Transfer device, symbols are constantly used. The cross
represents the Christian Church. The flag represents the nation.
Cartoons like Uncle Sam represent a consensus of public opinion.
Those symbols stir emotions . At their very sight, with the speed of
light, is aroused the whole complex of feelings we have with respect to
church or nation. A cartoonist, by having Uncle Sam disapprove a
budget for unemployment relief, would have us feel that the whole
United States disapproves relief costs. By drawing an Uncle Sam who
approves the same budget, the cartoonist would have us feel that the
American people approve it. Thus, the Transfer device is used both for
and against causes and ideas."
• When a political activist closes her speech with a public prayer, she is
attempting to transfer religious prestige to the ideas that she is
advocating. As with all propaganda devices, the use of this technique is
not limited to one side of the political spectrum. It can be found in the
speeches of liberation theologists on the left, and in the sermons of
religious activists on the right.
• In a similar fashion, propagandists may attempt to transfer the
reputation of "Science" or "Medicine" to a particular project or set of
beliefs. A slogan for a popular cough drop encourages audiences to
"Visit the halls of medicine." On TV commercials, actors in white lab
coats tell us that the "Brand X is the most important pain reliever that
can be bought without a prescription." In both of these examples, the
transfer technique is at work.
• These techniques can also take a more ominous turn. As Alfred Lee
has argued, "even the most flagrantly anti-scientific racists are wont to
dress up their arguments at times with terms and carefully selected
illustrations drawn from scientific works and presented out of all
accurate context." The propaganda of Nazi Germany, for example,
rationalized racist policies by appealing to both science and religion.
• This does not mean that religion and science have no place in
discussions about social issues! The point is that an idea or program
should not be accepted or rejected simply because it has been linked to
a symbol such as Medicine, Science, Democracy, or Christianity.
• The Institute for Propaganda Analysis has argued that,
when confronted with the transfer device, we should ask
ourselves the following questions:
– In the most simple and concrete terms, what is the
proposal of the speaker?
– What is the meaning of the the thing from which the
propagandist is seeking to transfer authority, sanction,
and prestige?
– Is there any legitimate connection between the proposal
of the propagandist and the revered thing, person or
institution?
– Leaving the propagandistic trick out of the picture,
what are the merits of the proposal viewed alone?
Propaganda Devices : False Connections Testimonial
• Bruce Jenner is on the cereal box, promoting Wheaties as part of a
balanced breakfast. Cher is endorsing a new line of cosmetics, and La
Toya Jackson says that the Psychic Friends Network changed her life.
The lead singer of R.E.M appears on a public service announcement
and encourages fans to support the "Motor Voter Bill."
• "This is the classic misuse of the Testimonial Device that comes to the
minds of most of us when we hear the term. We recall it indulgently
and tell ourselves how much more sophisticated we are than our
grandparents or even our parents.
• With our next breath, we begin a sentence, 'The Times said,' 'John L.
Lewis said...,' 'Herbert Hoover said...', 'The President said...', 'My
doctor said...,' 'Our minister said...' Some of these Testimonials may
merely give greater emphasis to a legitimate and accurate idea, a fair
use of the device; others, however, may represent the sugar-coating of
a distortion, a falsehood, a misunderstood notion, an anti-social
suggestion..."
• There is nothing wrong with citing a qualified source, and the
testimonial technique can be used to construct a fair, well-balanced
argument. However, it is often used in ways that are unfair and
misleading.
• The most common misuse of the testimonial involves citing
individuals who are not qualified to make judgements about a
particular issue. In 1992, Barbara Streisand supported Bill Clinton, and
Arnold Schwarzenegger threw his weight behind George Bush. Both
are popular performers, but there is no reason to think that they know
what is best for this country.
• Unfair testimonials are usually obvious, and most of us have probably
seen through this rhetorical trick at some time or another. However,
this probably happened when the testimonial was provided by a
celebrity that we did not respect. When the testimony is provided by an
admired celebrity, we are much less likely to be critical.
• we should ask ourselves the following questions when we
encounter this device.
– Who or what is quoted in the testimonial?
– Why should we regard this person (or organization or
publication) as having expert knowledge or trustworthy
information on the subject in question?
– What does the idea amount to on its own merits,
without the benefit of the Testimonial?
Propaganda Devices : Special Appeals Plain-Folks
• By using the plain-folks technique, speakers attempt to convince their
audience that they, and their ideas, are "of the people." The device is
used by advertisers and politicians alike.
• America's recent presidents have all been millionaires, but they have
gone to great lengths to present themselves as ordinary citizens. Bill
Clinton eats at McDonald's and reads trashy spy novels. George Bush
hated broccoli, and he loved to fish. Ronald Reagan was often
photographed chopping wood, and Jimmy Carter presented himself as
a humble peanut farmer from Georgia.
• We are all familiar with candidates who campaign as political
outsiders, promising to "clean out the barn" and set things straight in
Washington. The political landscape is dotted with politicians who
challenge a mythical "cultural elite," presumably aligning themselves
with "ordinary Americans." As baby boomers enter their fifth decade,
we are starting to see politicians in blue jeans who listen to rock and
roll.
Propaganda Devices : Special Appeals Plain-Folks
• During the 1980s, Bartels and James appeared on television in
comfortable, farm-style clothing, and, with a folksy drawl, thanked
consumers for their continued support. The irony was that these two
"regular guys" who pushed wine coolers were actually multimillionaires -- hardly like you or me. In all of these examples, the
plain-folks device is at work.
• The Institute for Propaganda Analysis has argued that, when
confronted with this device, we should suspend judgement and ask
– What are the propagandist's ideas worth when divorced from his or
her personality?
– What could he or she be trying to cover up with the plain-folks
approach?
– What are the facts?
Propaganda Devices : Special Appeals Band Wagon
• "The propagandist hires a hall, rents radio stations, fills a great
stadium, marches a million or at least a lot of men in a parade.
• He employs symbols, colours, music, movement, all the dramatic arts.
• He gets us to write letters, to send telegrams, to contribute to his cause.
• He appeals to the desire, common to most of us, to follow the crowd.
Because he wants us to follow the crowd in masses, he directs his
appeal to groups held together already by common ties, ties of
nationality, religion, race, sex, vocation.
• Thus propagandists campaigning for or against a program will appeal
to us as Catholics, Protestants, or Jews...as farmers or as school
teachers; as housewives or as miners.
Propaganda Devices : Special Appeals Band Wagon
• With the aid of all the other propaganda devices, all of the artifices of
flattery are used to harness the fears and hatreds, prejudices and biases,
convictions and ideals common to a group. Thus is emotion made to
push and pull us as members of a group onto a Band Wagon."
• The basic theme of the Band Wagon appeal is that "everyone else is
doing it, and so should you." Since few of us want to be left behind,
this technique can be quite successful. However, as the IPA points out,
"there is never quite as much of a rush to climb onto the Band Wagon
as the propagandist tries to make us think there is."
• When confronted with this technique, it may be helpful to ask
– What is this propagandist's program?
– What is the evidence for and against the program?
– Regardless of the fact that others are supporting this program,
should I support it?
– Does the program serve or undermine my individual and collective
interests?
Propaganda Devices : Special Appeals Fear
• "The streets of our country are in turmoil. The universities are filled
with students rebelling and rioting. Communists are seeking to destroy
our country. Russia is threatening us with her might, and the Republic
is in danger. Yes - danger from within and without. We need law and
order! Without it our nation cannot survive." - Adolf Hitler, 1932
• When a propagandist warns members of her audience that disaster will
ensue if they do not follow a particular course of action, she is using
the fear appeal. By playing on the audience's deep-seated fears,
practitioners of this technique hope to redirect attention away from the
merits of a particular proposal and toward steps that can be taken to
reduce the fear.
• This technique can be highly effective when wielded by a fascist
demagogue, but it is usually used in less dramatic ways. Consider the
following:
• A television commercial portrays a terrible automobile accident (the
fear appeal), and reminds viewers to wear their seatbelts (the fearreducing behaviour).
• A pamphlet from an insurance company includes pictures of houses
destroyed by floods (the fear appeal), and follows up with details about
home-owners' insurance (the fear-reducing behaviour).
• A letter from a pro-gun organization begins by describing a lawless
America in which only criminals own guns (the fear appeal), and
concludes by asking readers to oppose a ban on automatic weapons
(the fear-reducing behaviour).
• Ever since the end of the second world war, social psychologists and
communication scholars have been conducting empirical studies in
order to learn more about the effectiveness of fear appeals. Some have
criticized the conceptualisation of the studies, and others have found
fault with the experimental methods, but the general conclusions are
worth considering, if not accepting.
• "All other things being equal, the more frightened a person is by a
communication, the more likely her or she is to take positive
preventive action."
• Fear appeals will not succeed in altering behaviour if the
audience feels powerless to change the situation.
• Fear appeals are more likely to succeed in changing
behaviour if they contain specific recommendations for
reducing the threat that the audience believes are both
effective and doable.
• In summary, there are four elements to a successful fear
appeal: 1) a threat, 2) a specific recommendation about
how the audience should behave, 3) audience perception
that the recommendation will be effective in addressing the
threat, and 4) audience perception that they are capable of
performing the recommended behaviour.
• When fear appeals do not include all four elements, they
are likely to fail.
• During the 1964 campaign, Lyndon Johnson was said to have swayed
many voters with a well-known television commercial that portrayed a
young girl being annihilated in a nuclear blast. This commercial linked
nuclear war to Barry Goldwater (Johnson's opponent), and proposed a
vote for Johnson as an effective, doable way of avoiding the threat.
• In contemporary politics, the fear-appeal continues to be widespread.
When a politician agitates the public's fear of immigration, or crime,
and proposes that voting for him/her will reduce the threat, he/she is
using this technique.
• When confronted with persuasive messages that capitalize on our fear,
we should ask ourselves the following questions:
– Is the speaker exaggerating the fear or threat in order to obtain my
support?
– How legitimate is the fear that the speaker is provoking?
– Will performing the recommended action actually reduce the
supposed threat?
– When viewed dispassionately, what are the merits of the speaker's
proposal?
Propaganda Devices : Logical Fallacies
Bad Logic or Propaganda?
• Logic is the process of drawing a conclusion from one or
more premises. A statement of fact, by itself, is neither
logical or illogical (although it can be true or false).
• As an example of how logic can be abused, consider the
following argument which has been widely propagated on
the Internet.
• Premise 1: Bill Clinton supports gun-control legislation.
• Premise 2: All fascist regimes of the twentieth century
have passed gun-control legislation.
• Conclusion: Bill Clinton is a fascist.
Bad Logic or Propaganda?
• One way of testing the logic of an argument like this is to
translate the basic terms and see if the conclusion still
makes sense. As you can see, the premises may be correct,
but the conclusion does not necessarily follow.
• Premise 1: All Catholics believe in God.
• Premise 2: All Muslims believe in God.
• Conclusion: All Catholics are Muslims.
• This is a rather extreme example of how logic can be
abused. The following pages describe others.
• It should be noted that a message can be illogical without
being propagandistic -- we all make logical mistakes. The
difference is that propagandists deliberately manipulate
logic in order to promote their cause.
Unwarranted Extrapolation
• The tendency to make huge predictions about the future on the basis of
a few small facts is a common logical fallacy. As Stuart Chase points
out, "it is easy to see the persuasiveness in this type of argument. By
pushing one's case to the limit... one forces the opposition into a
weaker position. The whole future is lined up against him. Driven to
the defensive, he finds it hard to disprove something which has not yet
happened.
• Extrapolation is what scientists call such predictions, with the warning
that they must be used with caution. A homely illustration is the driver
who found three gas stations per mile along a stretch of the Montreal
highway in Vermont, and concluded that there must be plenty of gas all
the way to the North Pole. You chart two or three points, draw a curve
through them, and extend it indefinitely."
Propaganda Devices : Logical Fallacies Unwarranted Extrapolation
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This logical sleight of hand often provides the basis for an effective fearappeal. Consider the following contemporary examples:
If Congress passes legislation limiting the availability of automatic weapons,
America will slide down a slippery slope which will ultimately result in the
banning of all guns, the destruction of the Constitution, and a totalitarian
police state.
If the United States approves NAFTA, the giant sucking sound that we hear
will be the sound of thousands of jobs and factories disappearing to Mexico.
The introduction of communication tools such as the Internet will lead to a
radical decentralization of government, greater political participation, and a
rebirth of community.
When a communicator attempts to convince you that a particular action will
lead to disaster or to utopia, it may be helpful to ask the following questions:
– Is there enough data to support the speaker's predictions about the future?
– Can I think of other ways that things might turn out?
– If there are many different ways that things could turn out, why is the
speaker painting such an extreme picture?
PERSUASION ETHICS
• Code of ethics to be used by PR practitioners:
• Do not use false evidence
• Do not use specious reasoning
• Do not falsely represent yourself
• Do not use irrelevant appeals as diversions
• Do not make false links to favorable values, motives, or goals
• Do not conceal your purpose or interest
• Do not cover up consequences
• Do not use baseless emotional appeals
• Do not oversimplify complex situations
• Do not feign certainty
• Do not advocate what you don't believe yourself
THE AUDIENCE FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS
• Characteristics of audience that need to taken into consideration
– Diverse
– Visual orientation: TV is becoming the most credible info. source
– Single issues support
– Emphasis on personality and “celebrity”
– Distrust of authority and suspicious of conspiracy
– Internationalization
Matching Audience and Mass Media
• Matching audience and media
– Print for detail and contemplation
– Television for emotional impact
– Radio for flexibility and specific targets
– Online media for customized information of target audience,
usually used as a supplement method of reaching a generally well
educated, relatively affluent audience interested in new ideas and
fresh approaches.
• Building Media relationship
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Media are busy
Editors are proud of independence
Trust is earned and easily destroyed
Informing media and public is important work
Assume stories judged on merits as seen by the editors
Continue serving after story idea is accepted. You cannot control the tone
of the story but you can influence it by providing favorable angles and
additional information.
HOW TO COMMUNICATE DURING A CRISIS
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Put the public first
Take responsibility
Be honest
Never say “No comment”
Designate a single spokesperson
Set up a central information center
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Provide a constant flow of information
Be familiar with media needs and deadlines
Be accessible
Monitor news coverage and telephone inquiries
Communicate with key publics
Crisis Communication Strategies
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Attack the accuser
Denial
Excuse
Justification
Ingratiation
Corrective action
Full apology
PR Planning and Executing the public relations’ Campaign.
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Because planning is such an important part of public relations, it is useful to
understand the different requirements of an event, a campaign, and a program.
An event is a one-shot occurrence. It happens in one time frame-an hour, a
day, or perhaps as long as a week-and it serves one prime purpose with one or
more selected publics.
A campaign has at least one thing in common with an event: a specific
beginning and ending point. But because those two points are separated by
weeks or even months, and because several different events will be part of the
process, we call it a campaign.
A program is like a campaign in that it consists of several events. But it differs
from a campaign in that it has no pre-set and point.
A program is put in place because of an anticipated need for continued
dissemination of information.
The program is reviewed periodically to determine whether its objectives are
being met. All or parts of it will be continued as long as there is a need for
more communication with target publics.
• Drug education, driving safety, blood donation, adoption, nutrition are
all social situations that call for a continuing program since complete
resolution is out of question.
• In defining the situation and beginning the planning process,
temporary chaos can result if no one defines whether an event, a
campaign or a program is in order. The deciding factor may be the
types of objectives desired by the client:
– Communication,
– accuracy,
– understanding,
– agreement, and
– complementary objectives.
• Communication Objectives for an event include:
– Attendance by a certain number of people.
– One-time dissemination of information to a target public.
– Putting something “on the record” for an organization and its
publics
– Gaining press attention.
• Objectives for a campaign might be:
– Delivering a positive vote or reaction at the proper time (behavior).
– Building support for an issue that will be resolved in due courses
(agreement).
– Raising funds for an organization so that it can proceed with
growth (behavior).
– Attracting enough support to guarantee continuance or survival of
an organization at critical time (understanding).
• Objectives for a program could include:
– Creating and maintaining a level of support for an ongoing
program (understanding)
– Opening and maintaining contact with other organizations that
enable your organization to continue its functions
(communication).
• Successful organizations also base their actions on a game plan.
• The process starts with the enunciation of a mission statement. This is
an important part of a strategic planning .
• “Making a fair profit for our stockholders by developing and
distributing the highest-quality goods to a national market.” “treating
our consumers and employees fairly and being good citizens of the
communities where are facilities are located.”
• Out of the mission statement grows a list of goals-somewhat more
specific than the mission statement, but still general in nature and
unspecific as to time frame or numerical targets.
• Goals for the manufacturing company may be “to be a market leader in
the small appliance field.”
• Only when a mission statement and goals are in place can the
management of an organization move to the necessary task of setting
objectives. What makes objectives different from mission and goals is
their specificity. An objective should specify the desire effects as
specifically as possible. “To increase the number of senators who
understand the Leukemia Society of American’s position on research
funding from forty-five senators to seventy-five senators by November
1” or “To decrease the number of newspapers in the state that oppose
rate reforms for the insurance industry from 60 percent to 40 percent
by the first of the year.”
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Once goals and objectives are in place, they can be drawn upon to plan
campaigns and programs.
– Research on the problem or opportunity
– Action that includes evaluation and planning
– Communication of the message from organization to publics, and
– Evaluation of the effects of those messages
Grunig’s “ Behavioral Molecule” further broke the management steps into:
– detecting a problem
– constructing a possible solution
– defining alternatives
– selecting the best course of action
– confirming the choice by pre-testing
– behaving by enacting a program, and then returning to the process of
– detecting whether the program met the desired objectives.
PR Planning and Executing the public relations’ Campaign: Select
Research Methodology
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Research can be extensive and expensive (primary), or if the situation
warrants, it can involve simply poring over existing information already
gathered for another purpose and analyzing the relevance the data have for the
current public relations situation (secondary).
Different Types of Research
Surveys often are performed by opinion measurement specialists, although
though increasingly people with college training in public relations are able to
prepare, administer, and analyze the data from their own questionnaires.
– Samples of target audiences must be scientific and random if the results
are to be valid.
– Questionnaires must be constructed carefully to rule out bias and to assure
the validity of each item, which involves pre-testing. If done properly, the
survey may take weeks to design, test, administer, and analyze-often at
considerable expense.
– Fortunately, new software packages designed for the personal computer
make it possible for the researcher to glean a wealth of data, including
interesting correlations between various responses on the survey.
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Focus group interviews are a marketing research technique that has been
successful adopted by the needs of public relations practitioners. They do not
yield the strictly quantitative data that can be gotten from a survey.
They have the advantage of being open-ended and permitting members of
target groups to speak in their own term of understanding, provide their own
emphasis, and response to the views expressed by other members of the same
group.
The focus group interview requires trained moderators and equipments for
recording the session. Audio and/or video tapes have to be put in transcript
form, and then the transcript must be summarized and analyzed.
Sometimes focus group interviews are used as the basis for designing the
questionnaires used in survey research, creating a valuable linkage between the
two devices and enriching the value of both.
The Final Stage of Research is the Analysis of the Collected Information
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Identifying your key publics-those groups that are more likely to seek and
process information and to behave in a way consequences on your
organization- is a fundamental aim of the process we call public relations
management.
Once target audiences have been selected, it is important to decide what
message each group needs to receive from your organization. Rarely does an
information campaign give precisely the same message to each of its publics.
That’s because careful analysis shows that each public has a different stake in
the organization.
A campaign that wants to promote Greek made products it can be spelled
out in three different audiences
Audience
Message
Retailers
“A made is Greece” label is a valuable selling tool
Manufacturers
Producing at home is a good business
Consumers
Made in Greece means quality
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We have learned to identify key publics and make sure that their information
needs are served before we concern ourselves with the so-called “general
public.”
The campaign or program aimed at the most important publics needs to be
fully funded before additional money is spent on programs aimed on
secondary publics-a concept explored.
If key public have not been identified in the planning stage, there is a
likelihood that “a little money will be spent on this, and a little on that”- an
advertisement here, T-shirts there, and probably an all-purpose brochure just
because somebody says “we ought to have a brochure.”
Budgeting must follow the setting of goals and objectives, and it also must
follow the identification of key publics. It precedes media selection and
message design.
If budgeting is done at the wrong point in the process, it is difficult for public
relations people to explain their financial needs to management. If on the other
hand, the “homework” has been done, management can better understand the
request for the Euros needed to accomplish the objectives set for the key
publics.
PR Planning and Executing the public relations’ Campaign: Selecting
channels and media
• During the planning of a campaign or a program, part of the analysis of
each key public should include such questions as:
– Where do members of our key publics get their information?
– Which media do they rely upon to make decisions about what is
important and how to behave?
– Which channels provide the two-way communication that enables
key publics to provide information to our organization about their
needs and concerns?
• Another level of analysis focuses on the characteristics of each
medium and their relationship to the campaign or program:
– Which media allows us to get our point of view across most
effectively?
– Which media are best suited to the information requirements of our
campaign, such as the presenting of visual images, the need for
two-way communication, or the ability to tell a story in depth?
– Which media are most cost-effective for this type of information?
Employee Relationship
• The first public of any organization is its employees-the people who
make it what it is.
• An organization is "a human community" that needs the contributions
of everyone to function and be successful.
• Many times it appears that management does not recognize this fact.
Sometimes managers act as if they are the organization and the others
just an impediment.
• An interchange at the annual meeting of an auto company illuminates
the truth of the matter. Α shareholder asked the CEO why funds were
being allocated to improve employee benefits instead of increasing
dividends. "Because," he responded, "you and Ι don't know how to
build cars, and they do!"
• The situation is complicated by the fact that, in the overwhelming
majority of organizations today, the managers and administrators
technically are also employees.
• Α DANGEROUS ATTITUDE
• It is easy, and perhaps all too common, to view employees as a cost in a
line-item budget determining the price of a product or service. This attitude
fosters the idea that the less an organization has to pay its employees, the
lower the price of the product or service, and, therefore, the more
competitive the product or service can be in the marketplace.
• Another major change in the employer-employee relationship is
automation. The computer radical1y changes the role of the individual in
the workplace.
• The trend is to a downsizing of the work force and to a service oriented
economy. This movement creates major reshuffling of jobs and people,
with a1l the emotional stress problems attendant on such upheava1 and
readjustment. Layoffs and restructuring of organizations also weaken the
loyalty of workers-which can affect morale and productivity.
PUBLIC RELATION5' ROLE
• The public relations function, providing the communications channel
between employers and employee groups, is important on both sides of the
relationship. Practitioners are called on to participate more or less
continuously in four phases of an employee's work experience:
• The start. For example, recruiting programs or help wanted advertising,
orientation sessions, tours, or kits of information.
• On-the-job working conditions. For example, employee publications,
bulletin boards, suggestion systems, training meetings, morale boosters,
surveys of attitudes, complaint sessions, feedback mechanisms,
teleconferencing.
• Rewards and recognitions. For example, award programs, implementation
of employee participation in civic affairs, staging of political science or
economic education events, old-timers' parties, open houses, wage
increases or bonuses, promotions, annual reports to employees, and so on.
• The work stoppage or termination. For example, communications in a
strike, layoff, or boycott problem, news about benefits for retirees, a retiree
publication, projects to help laid-off employees relocate, or exit interviews.
RULE5 OF EFFECTIVE ΕΜΡΙΟΥΕΕ RELATION5
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Although there are a variety of tools available to accomplish employee-employer
communications, three basic principles prevail as guidelines for the practitioner.
1. Employees must be told first. Employees should be the first to be told information
affecting them and their jobs; they should be told directly by the employer. The
relationship is adversely affected when employees learn from outside sources about
matters that affect them. Two-way trust is jeopardized.
2. Tell the bad news along with the good. All too often, organizations exploit internal
news channels to report only "good" news, usually complimentary to the employer. That
practice wears thin. The tools and the messages lose credibility. Motives become
suspect. Employees 1ook to other sources, such as unions, for a more balanced,
objective perspective. Revealing good and bad news, openly and candidly, builds trust,
common purpose, and productivity.
3. Ensure timeliness. Information important to employees has the same obsolescence as
news of other kinds. Getting it out fast and accurately builds dialogue and trust. Delay
opens the door to sources with half-truths, distortions, and bias unfavourable to the
employer. Delay is the cause of most rumours, and, once started, rumours are difficult to
dislodge.
4. Employees must be informed on subjects they consider important. Υears of
studying employees' views of communication within their organizations reveals specific
items they want to know about-often quite different from what house editors or
managements think they want to know about (or ought to be told).
Subjects interest employees
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Organizational plans for the future
]ob advancement opportunities
]ob-reIated "how-to" information
Productivity improvement
Personnel policies and practίces
How we're doing vs. the competition
How my job fits inιο the organization
How external events affect my job
How profits are used
Financial results
Advertising and promotionaI pIans
PersonneI changes and promotions Organizational community
invoIvement
• Human interest stοries about other employees Personal news
(birthdays, anniversaries, and so οη)
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Use the media that employees trust.
– 1. Immediate supervisor
– 2. Small group meetings
– 3. Τοp executives
– 4. Large group meetings
– 5. Employee handbook or other booklets
– 6. Orientation program
– 7. Regular local employee publication 8. Bulletin boards
– 9. Annual report to employees
– 10. Regular general employee publication
– 11. Upward communication programs
– 12. Audiovisual programs
– 13. union
– 14. Mass media
– 15. Grapevine (Word of Mouth)
DESIGNING AN ΕΜΡLΟΥΕΕ RELATIONS’ PLAN
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Research, objectives, programming, and evaluation are useful problem solving
tools in employee relations.
RESEARCH
Research for employee relations help to understand the reason for
communication, and identifying the employee audiences to be targeted for
communication.
employee Research
Client research for employee relations focuses on information about the
organization's personne1.
– What is the size and nature of the workforce?
– What reputation does the organization have with its workforce?
– How satisfied are the employees?
– What employee communications does the organization regularly use?
– Are any special forms of communication used?
– How effective are the organization's internal communications?
– Has the organization conducted special employee relations programs in
the past? If so, what were the results of such programs?
– What are the organization's strengths, weaknesses, and opportunities
regarding its workforce?
• Opportunity or Problem Research
• Α second focal point for research is the reason for conducting an
employee relations program.
– Is a new program really necessary?
– This question should be answered with care because it justifies the
necessary expenditure for a program. Would the program be
reactive - in response to a problem that has arisen in employee
relations - or would it be proactive-taking advantage of an
opportunity to improve existing employee relations?
• Α survey of employee attitudes may reveal a variety of issues,
including: low levels of satisfaction and morale, dislike of the physical
surroundings, and/or frustration with internal policies.
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Audience Research
The final area of research involves precisely defining the employee audiences
to be targeted for communication. These audiences can be identified using the
following terms:
Management
– Upper-level administrators Midlevel administrators Lower-level
administrators
Non-management (staff): Specialists, Clerical personnel, Secretarial personnel
– Uniformed personnel: Equipment operators Drivers, Security personnel
Union representatives
Other blue collar workers
Effective research on employee relations is for
– understanding of the client's personnel,
– the opportunity or problem that serves as a reason for communication with
the workforce, and
– the specific identification of the employee audiences to be targeted for
communication.
• Objectives for employee relations include the two major categories of
impact and output.
• Impact Objectives
• Impact objectives for employee relations include informing employees or
modifying their attitudes or behaviours. Such as:
• 1. Το increase employee knowledge of significant organizational policies,
activities, and developments (by 60% during March and Aprii)
• 2. Το enhance favourable employee attitudes toward the organization (by
40% during the current fiscal year)
• 3. Το accomplish (50%) greater employee adoption of behaviours esired by
management (in a three-month period)
• 4. Το make (60% of) the employee force organizational spokes persons in
the community (during the next two years)
• 5. Το receive (50%) more employee feedback from organizational
communications (during the coming year)
Output Objectives
• Output objectives constitute the efforts made by the practitioner to
accomplish such desired outcomes as employee recognition and
regular employee communication. Such as:
• 1. Το prepare and distribute employee communications on a weekly
basis
• 2. Το schedule interpersonal communication between management and
a specific employee group each month (specify groups and months)
PROGRAMMING
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Programming for employee relations should include the careful planning of
theme and messages, action or special event(s), uncontrolled and controlled
media, and execution, using the principles of effective communication.
Theme and Messages
The theme and messages for employee relations depend on the reason for
conducting the campaign or program. Both of these elements should grow out
of the opportunity or problem that accounts for the particular program. That is,
themes and messages usually grow out of the problems faced by companies.
– For example, a practitioner working for a company that is moving its
facilities and offices to a new building could produce a brochure entitled
"ΑCompany on the Moνe."
Action's or Special Events
1. Training seminars
2. Special programs on safety or new technology
3. An open house for employees and their families
4. Parties, receptions, and other social affairs
5. Other employee special events related to organizational developments
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Uncontrolled and Controlled Media
The use of uncontrolled media in employee relations is usually limited to sending
news releases or announcements about employees'
Controlled media are used extensively in employee relations programs. The most
frequently used controlled media are e-mail, voice mail, Web sites, memoranda.,
publications such as magazines, newspapers, and newsletters addressed to particular
groups or levels of employees in larger organizations.
In addition to e-mail, voice mail, Web sites, and house publications, employee
relations programs use a variety of other forms of controlled media, such as:
1. Bulletin boards
2. Displays and exhibits
3. Telephone hot lines or news lines
4. Inserts accompanying pay checks
5. Internal television
6. Films
7. Video cassettes
8. Meetings
9. Teleconferences
10. Audiovisual presentations
11. Booklets, pamphlets, brochures
• Evaluation
• Impact and output objectives can be evaluated using the same tools of
measurement as in other forms of public relations.
• Follow-up surveys. These yield quantitative measures of the stated
objectives. Objectives were also assessed through publicity placement and
employee participation in the programs.
• Again, remember that to be effective and useful to the organization,
research - both initial and evaluative - should be conducted by trained,
experienced professionals who work for reputable research firms.
Community relations
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Α neighborhood, town, city, or state is obviously a human community.
Like organizations, they require positive interrelationships among all members
in order to function smoothly and efficiently. Because a company, hospital,
school, or other organization would have difficulty operating effectively in a
community that is disrupted or inefficient, it is necessary for them to accept
the responsibility of cοrpοrate citizenship.
Put another way, all human communities require the mutual trust engendered
by positive public relationships in order to function in a reasonable manner.
Α community is not merely a collection of people who share a locality and its
facilities. Α community is a social organism made up of all the interactions
among the residents and the organizations with which they identify. As a social
organism, a community can take pride in its scenery or in its high school
basketball team; it can be factionalised on the basis of who lives on which side
of the railroad tracks, or who is well-off or poor; it can be a heterogeneous
collection of suburban residents drawn together only by a common desire to
escape living within a metropolitan area.
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Traditionally, employers have tended to regard their relationships with home
communities as being extensions of their employee relations.
The idea was that employees who were treated decently would go into the
home communities singing the praises of their employer. In this traditional
viewpoint, employers felt that their dollar payroll, their local tax payments, the
occasional loan of a facility for a meeting, and the annual contribution to a
local organization was enough to satisfy their community obligations.
Their attitude seemed to say, "Look what we are giving. jobs, taxes, meeting
facilities, and charitable donations."
Employers who held this view tended to assume that with little more than a
snap of their fingers they would be provided the practical necessities for
efficient operations: streets, sewers, water lines, power and telephone, police
and fire services, recreational areas, health care centers, schools, shopping
centers, residential areas, cultural and religious facilities.
The viewpoint tended to say, "These are what we are entitled to in return for
what we give. The community owes us these."
• This attitude has changed. Employers now know that they must have
more than a general concern for the efficiency and adequacy of
community services for themselves and for their employees. They have
learned that they must become involved in specific community
decisions and actions concerning fiscal policies; honesty in public
offices; attracting new businesses and holding older ones; planning for
the future; generating the enthusiasm of volunteers in charitable,
cultural, fellowship, educational, recreationa1, business, and patriotic
endeavours and that, in general they must apply the collective talents
of the organization to the community in which it operates.
COMMUNITY ISSUES
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Community relations (CR) work is a dynamic aspect of public relations.
If there were no other reason, the changing physical and social makeup of
communities would make it so, but there are many other contributing factors.
Among them, few people stay in the communities where they are born.
Families move not once, but several times. Community communications
programs must deal with this constant turnover of residents. Also, employers
move. Sometimes they move from a congested central city area to a suburb.
When they move, both areas are disrupted.
Α manufacturer may move a headquarters or a manufacturing facility from one
city to another, mortally wounding the economy of one and perhaps starting a
boom in the other. Branches of businesses and institutions are opened in areas
of growing population and closed in areas that are shrinking or that are poorly
managed.
Α new interstate highway bypasses a community formerly dependent on
tourists and travelling traffic for its trade. Undesirable elements get control of
government in a community. Α community also undergoes change when there
is a movement for re form or rehabilitation.
10 Issues Concerning All Communities
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1. Work for everyone who desires it.
2. The prospect of growth and new opportunities.
3. Adequate competitive commercial enterprises.
4. Competent municipal government with modern other services.
5. Educational, cultural, religious, and recreational pursuits.
6. Appropriate housing and public services.
7. Provision for helping those least able to help themselves.
8. Availability of legal, medical, and other professional services.
9. Pride and loyalty.
10. Α good reputation in the area and beyond.
The Role of Public Relations
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Public relations work on a basic nature is involved in at least these areas of an
organization's community relationships:
1. Planning and conducting open houses, or tours.
2. Planning and helping to implement special events such as ground breaking or
dedication of new facilities, change in location, anniversaries, reunions, conventions or
exhibitions.
3. Preparing publications for distributions to resident groups.
4. Representing the organization in all sorts of volunteer activities, including fund
drives.
5. Preparing advertising or position papers aimed at residents or local government.
6. Counselling management on contributions of employees as volunteer workers or
board members; arranging for use of facilities and equipment by community groups.
7. Functioning as the organization's intermediary with local governmental, civic,
educational, and ad hoc groups concerned with reform, social problems, and
celebrations.
8. Issuing news of interest to the community and providing toρ officials of the
organizations with information on the status of community relations.
9. Managing the contributions function-giving donations if a corporation, raising funds
for a not-for-profit organization.
Community Research
• Client research for community relations concentrates on the
organization's role and reputation in the community.
• What is its level of credibility?
• Have there been significant community complaints in the past?
• What are the organization's present and past community relations
practices?
• What are its major strengths and weaknesses in the community? What
opportunities exist to enhance community relations?
• These questions provide a helpful framework for a community
relations program.
Opportunity or Problem Research
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Why have a community relations program in the first place?
Considering the cost and benefits involved, this is a question worthy of detailed
justification. The public relations practitioner should assess problems the organization
may have had with community groups and make a searching analysis of community
relations opportunities. Many organizations conduct ongoing proactive community
relations as a form of insurance against any sudden problem requiring a reactive public
relations solution.
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Audience Research
The final aspect of community relations research consists of carefully identifying
audiences to be targeted for communication and learning as much about each audience
as possible. Community publics can be subdivided into three major groups:
community media,
community leaders, and
community organizations.
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In conducting community relations programs, it is important for the practitioner to
develop contact lists of journalists, community leaders, and organizations.
Impact Objectives
• Impact objectives for community relations involve informing the
community audiences or modifying their attitudes or behaviors. Some
examples are:
• 1. Το increase (by 30 percent this year) community knowledge of the
operations of the organization, including its products, services,
employees, and support of community projects
• 2. Το promote (20 percent) more favourable community opinion toward the organization (during a specified time period)
• 3. Το gain (15 percent) greater organizational support from community
leaders (during a particular campaign)
• 4. Το encourage (20 percent) more feedback from community leaders
(during the current year)
Output Objectives
• Output objectives consist of the efforts made by the practitioner to
enhance the organization's community relations. Some illustrations are:
• 1. Το prepare and distribute (15 percent) more community publications
(than last year)
• 2. Το be (10 percent) more responsive to community needs (during this
year)
• 3. Το create (five) new community projects involving organizational
personnel and resources (during this calendar year)
• 4. Το schedule (five) meetings with community leaders (this year)
Programming
• Actions) or Special Events
• Actions and special events most often associated with community
relations are:
• 1. An organizational open house and tour of facilities
• 2. Sponsorship of special community events or projects
• 3. Participation of management and other personnel in volunteer
community activities
• 4. Purchase of advertising in local media
• 5. Contribution of funds to community organizations or causes
• 6. Meetings with community leaders
• 7. Membership of management and personnel in a variety of
community organizations-civic, professional, religious
• 8. Participation of management and workers in the political affairs of
the community-service in political office and on councils and boards
Uncontrolled and Controlled Media
• In the communications part of a community relations program, the
practitioner should think first of servicing community media outlets
with appropriate uncontrolled media, such as news releases, photographs or photo opportunities, and interviews of organizational officers
with local reporters.
• The use of controlled media, on the other hand, should include sending
copies of house publications to a select list of community leaders. The
practitioner should also help the organization develop a speakers
bureau, and publicize the availability of organizational management
and expert personnel to address meetings of local clubs and
organizations. It is also appropriate to target community leaders on a
timely basis for selected direct mailings, such as important
announcements or notices of organizational involvement in community
affairs.
Effective Communication
• Three principles of effective communication deserve special attention
in community relations programs.
• First, the targeting of opinion leaders or community leaders for
communication is crucial to the success of such a program. The
leadership provides the structure and substance of the community
itself.
• Second, group influence plays a substantial role in effective
community relations. Organizations exercise varying degrees of
cohesiveness and member conformity. The community relations
program must cultivate community groups, their leaders, and their
memberships. The effective speakers bureau is a primary means for
accomplishing this.
• Finally, audience participation is highly significant. Targeted
community media, leaders, and groups can be encouraged to
participate in the client's organizational events. Most important, the
client should reach out to the community by sponsoring attractive
activities.
Evaluation
• If the objectives of the community relations program have been
phrased specifically and quantitatively, their evaluation should be
relatively easy. The success of a program should be directly linked to
its attainment of the objectives stated at the program's outset.
• Research for community relations assesses the organization's
reputation and its existing and potential problems with the community.
Targeting audiences usually includes a detailed analysis of community
media, leaders, and organizations.
• Impact objectives for community relations are such desired outcomes
as informing or influencing the attitudes and behaviours of the
community. Output objectives consist of a listing of public relations
efforts to enhance the organization's relations with the community.
Media Relations
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Media relations does indeed make up the core of most public relation
programs- in part because of the historical development of public relations as
an attempt to control and influence media coverage of organizations.
Although the media are critical to public relations, many practitioners become
so preoccupied with media coverage that they forget why relationships with
the mass media are important.
Many practitioners consider the media to be the public for their organization
and believe that media coverage automatically means that they have reached
and influences a large audience – This is far away from the truth.
Media relations occupies a central position in public relations because the
media serves as a “gatekeeper” who control the information that flows the
publics in a social system. Media workers really aren’t publics in the sense that
they are affected by organizational consequences that do not affect other
people.
But, in another sense, journalists are publics. They seek and process
information just like other people, then pass on that information to their
readers and viewers. The communication behavior of journalists, therefore,
sets limits on the information available for other publics to seek and process.
Media Relations
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The key word to remember about media relations is “relationship”-“a positive,
ongoing, long-term relationship with the media.”
Many practitioners have bad relationships with the media, in large part
because they are guided by the press a gentry or public information models of
public relations.
An Area of Conflict
• Journalists feel overwhelmed by mass of press agents and publicists- “flacks,”
as they call PR people- who dump unwanted press releases on their desk and
push self-serving stories that have little new value.
• Public relations practitioners, on the other hand, feel that they are at the mercy
of reporters and editors who are biased against their organization, who would
rather expose then explain, and who know little about the complexities of their
organization.
Media Relations
What Helps and What Hurts Media Relations
• You will probably find it easier to learn a few principles, however, from which
you can derive more specific rules of press relations. Our four models of
public relations provide such principles.
• Develop a brief statement of the company’s position on the topic or issue. The
statement should present the situation in a positive light and have the approval
of company management.
• Identify and coach your spokesperson and others who may be called by the
news media. Rehearse them to avoid answers that can be taken out of context,
and have them practice aloud, converting tough questions to positive points.
• Never issue a non comment statement
• Never lie. Discuss positive actions, but stick to the facts.
• If you don’t know the answer to the question, find out the reporter’s deadline
and call back with the appropriate information.
Media Relations
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Never repeat the negative. If a reporter asks a negatively phrased question and
you repeat the negative words, then you should know that the negative words,
the negative impression will survive along after the facts. Positive responses
are best.
Use transition techniques to give a straight answer to the questions and move
the conversation in the direction you desire. Bridge to positive points.
Speak in a conversational ton. Avoid jargon, and provide examples or
anecdotes to illustrate your points.
In television or radio interviews, frame responses in quick bites. Do not
provide a lengthy background in order to reach a conclusion.
Remain calm, courteous, and cooperative regardless of where the reporter is
headed.
Media Relations
Press Agentry Abuses.
• Most of the abuses of the press that spoil PR’s relationship with the press stem
from the press agent / publicity model.
– Threads to withhold advertising if editors do not use an item, or a promise
to buy advertising if they do use it.
– Calling an executive of a newspaper or broadcast station to pressure
his/her reporters
– Sending reams of news releases with little news value to an extensive
massive mailing list of media that have no use of them (very common
practice for showing to superiors or clients that we are constantly busy)
– Taking the attitude that the more releases sent, the greater the chance that
they will be used, in the belief that editors use them randomly when they
have space to fill.
– Catering to TV at the expense of print media, in press conferences
– Sending multiple copies to different departments of the same organization
– Failing to understand how news media work (deadlines, news values, and
beats)
Media Relations
Public Information Abuses
Usually the specialist following this model of PR are working as journalist in
residence
Two of the most common errors of this model are:
The jargon error: often they write in a coded language – mostly because their work
must be cleared by superiors
The Parkinson’s law error: this is the production of press releases to fill the time
available. Although there is no need for articles, because of free time the
specialist write many articles without news value
Two Way Press Relations
Both the practitioners of two way asymmetric and two way symmetric models of
PR approach their task more systematically, they make fewer errors that
alienate them from journalists, and they do more research and planning.
There are some conflicts, however, that still result from the asymmetric model
because media relations specialists usually try to control coverage of their
organization and to limit it to organizational PR objectives.
Media Relations
Symmetric practitioners, on the other hand, think less about controlling the content
of information that flows from their organization to the media.
Their objective is to open up their organization to the media and to help journalists
cover it, in the belief that such openness and assistance will result in more
accurate and less biased coverage.
Some suggestions for creating effective symmetric media relation are:
Send out fewer press releases and rely more on direct contact with journalists, at
both their initiative and yours .
Be available to the media
Call reporters when you think you have a story that interests them (make sure that
the story has a local angle or content relevant to the reporter’s publication)
Set up interviews for journalists with management or specialists in your
organization. Help the reporters to cover your organization – don't try to do it
for them.
Instead of press releases, send to the media a sheet of one paragraph news tips that
they can follow up themselves.
Media Relations
Interview people in your organization yourself and record the interview on
cassette tapes. Provide these tapes to journalists so that they can integrate the
interview into their own stories.
Set up an information storage and retrieval system in which you maintain fact
sheets, complete articles, interviews, and background information. Have this
data base available to the journalists. Make sure to update the information
regularly.
Take a chance on the accuracy and responsibility of the news media. The more
open you can make your organization, the greater is the likelihood of fair and
accurate media coverage
Media Relations
Media Relations in a Crisis: The three asymmetrical models assume that
the flow of information to the media can be controlled. During a crisis,
the media become active in seeking info related to the organization.
However, the media go to sources other than the organization
experiencing the crisis.
Research has shown that symmetrical communication is even more
important than the predetermined plan during a crisis.
Media Relations
Some Key points about Journalists
- Most of us think of journalists as communicators who disseminate information, but
they also seek and process information when they cover events, interview new
sources, or assign stories.
- Although we see journalists as active seekers of information, more of their behavior
can be described as the passive processing of information – rewriting press releases,
routinely covering events or hearings, reacting to the initiative of new sources.
- If reporters process information more than they seek it, then media relations
specialists can influence their communication behavior much more than they could
if reporters actively sought information.
Media Relations
In order for creating a better media relations, an analysis of the journalistic
behavior is necessary.
Journalistic behavior can be explained in three different levels:
Individual Level. The extent to which journalists’ behavior results from
their own interests, as well as their biases, values, or ideas.
Organizational Level. Organizational factors that constrain the behavior of
a reporter, such as assignments given by editors.
Institutional Level. The constraints that the larger society places upon a
journalist, such as the requirement that a medium be profitable, the
perceptions journalists have of their readers, the traditions of journalism,
and the unconscious influences that reporters have upon each other.
Therefore Press representatives should use different strategies to deal with
journalists for each of these levels of analysis.
At the individual level, they would try to channel stories to reporters who
have either a personal interest in the story or a bias that favors the
organization’s position
Media Relations
at the organizational level, media specialists would work with editors to get a
story assigned to a reporter
At the Institutional level, they would stage events and cater to the tendency
of one reporter to copy others.
The Role of the Media
- Hypodermic – needle theory assuming powerful; media effects on attitudes
and behavior
- Agenda Setting Theory assuming that there is a strong relationship between
the amount of space given to different issues in the media and the
importance people think those issues have.
Media Relations
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A story must be on the media agenda for some time – 3 to 5 months – before people become
thoroughly aware of it.
Newspapers seem to set the public agenda more than television.
– Television introduces issues but doesn’t stay with them long enough to affix them on the
public agenda. Newspapers do.
Not all people pick up personal agendas from the media to the same degree as other people. In
particular, the more involved people are with issues, the less the media affect how important
these people think the issues are.
Involved people actively seek information form many sources. They don’t process passively
from the media
People with a high need for orientation (uncertainty about a problem) they accept the media
agenda more than people with less uncertainty.
When people don’t have cognitions about important issues they develop them from the most
ubiquitous source of information – the media.
Skillful media relations people can get issues of concern to their organizations on the agenda
for public discussion, and they can be involved in the discussion when other groups build the
agenda – although they don’t control the outcome, they are able to interject the organization’s
position and get people’s attention.
Evaluation of the Media Agenda
– Most media relations specialists already use a commercial clipping service so that they
can evaluate their work
– Unfortunately they use clippings in a wrong way
Investors and Financial Relations
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One aspect of financial affairs that increasingly affects the national mood is
investor’s evaluations of the corporations in which they have invested. The
major measurements are Euros sales volume, profit, the increase or decrease in
interest or dividends paid, and whether the price of the stock or bond has
increased or decreased from the original purchase price. Other factors include
the rank of the company among competitors in its field and what percentage of
dividends are paid in comparison with the purchase price.
Experts in the financial world who make a living, and sometimes a fortune, by
analysing and trading equities for themselves and for customers have to be
aware of changing conditions in the money supply, raw materials prices,
international monetary affairs, national economies around the world, and much
more. They use sophisticated measurement tools such as stock market trend
lines, a company' s management capabilities, debt to asset ratio, and several
others.
Today, with stock market news and international monetary or economic status
constantly reported and talked about, public relations practitioners also must
keep abreast of these topics.
Investors and Financial Relations : The Publicly owned corporation
conceptualised
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Ιn the business system, as an ideal, the publicly owned corporation's mission,
performance, and behaviour represent the consent granted, and the consensus
of views held, by all those who have a stake in its financial success.
This concept would embrace shareholders, employees and their pension fund,
community neighbours, suppliers, and certainly customers. On the sidelines,
appropriately, would be those associations and governmental agencies
designated to encourage, oversee, referee, or discipline in the name of all
taxpayers, or the voters.
In this idealization, publicly owned corporations might be seen as instruments
of a people's capitalism. In actuality, such a concept is simplistic.
Α publicly owned business is created and managed to be competitive with
others that sell the same product or service. In order to get started at all, there
must be capital or credit and a product or service for which a market is
perceived or waiting to be created. Prudent (Careful) use of capital and skill in
producing and marketing the product or service become the province of a
sma11 group that manages the enterprise day by day.
Surviva1 comes first. Beyond that, growth, diversification, and expansion
make up goals that fuel ambition and drive all participants. Profit, what's left
over after all expenses are paid, makes everything else possible.
• Given these realities, it is simply not possible for all those who have a
stake in the outcome of an enterprise to take an active part in a forum
for major decisions or as links in the decision process. Apart from
being largely inaccessible, the stakeholders of a publicly owned
corporation are 100 diverse in their self-interests and in their views of
what a business should do, except for a few public issues such as
quality of environment, to rally and force action.
• Given the realities, it shou1d not be surprising that profit, and the
power it brings, frequently leads to excesses, abuses, and corruption.
These bring investigation, prosecution where indicated, and regularly
measures to preclude recurrence, in the name of the ultimate public
interest.
Investors and Financial Relations : REALITY HAS Α LONG HISTORY
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Corporations are not ordained by Mother Nature but are a creation of the state.
Until the early 1800s, someone starting a business had no "corporate shield"
but put all his or her assets at risk. If the business failed, the owner was
personally responsible for all debts to the point of personal bankruptcy.
Because this situation discouraged the formation of new business, laws were
enacted allowing for the formation of corporations-business entities in which
shareholders risk only the amount of their investment.
What the state creates it can regulate. Regulatory measures started a long time
ago. In addition to regulations in interstate commerce mandated by the U.S.
Constitution, the federal government began to institute more stringent (tough)
controls over business. In 1890, the Sherman Antitrust Act was passed, aimed
at concentration or monopoly within several industries. This act was
supplemented by the Clayton Act in 1914, and in the same year, the Federal
Trade Commission Act set up a mechanism to keep channels of interstate trade
open to competition. The 1929 stock market crash and the Great Depression of
the 1930s stimu1ated legislative and regulatory actions in the investment area.
• First was the Securities Act of 1933, requiring a corporation to publish
a prospectus (a preliminary printed statement that describes an
enterprise and is distributed to prospective investors) when it prepares
to sell securities to the public. Then came the Securities Exchange Act
of 1934, creating the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and
dealing with the conflict of interest involved when a corporate official
reaps personal financial gain on information not known to the public.
The Maturing of Financial Public Relations
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In spite of a number of scandals and other problems stemming from over
control of many economic areas by the so-called Robber Barons, financial
public relations didn't spring up in the 1920s. Publicity specialists such as Ivy
Lee and Ed Bernays were called in at that time for their expertise.
Financial relations in the 1930s was recognized by employers as a useful
communications element, but secondary to the publicity and special events that
supported marketing efforts as the economy struggled out of the depression.
It gained no ground and earned no particu1ar voice in the decision process
during World War II, when the corporate focus was on employee morale to
achieve the productivity necessary to arm the Al1ies and on War Bond sales to
finance the effort.
After the war, with so much pent-up consumer demand to be satisfied, it was
hard not to be successful and keep stockholders satisfied, so financia1 relations
specialists were not needed.
Α financial relations breakthrough came in the 1960s, in a classic situation of
insider trading, where a single news release was deemed by a court to be the
critical factor in whether the investing public had been misled..
At this point of time
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Corporate growth has become a1most a religion in industry. The means of getting to heaven has involved huge investment in research and technology,
diversification of products and services, acquisitions, mergers,
conglomeration, and mu1tinationalization.
From these actions has come an increasing concentration of corporate
ownership among a few thousand very wealthy individuals, investment funds,
and banking and insurance interests, both national and foreign. Boards of
directors of huge corporations more and more have been woven in a crisscross
pattern of a few thousand individuals whose views of the system are similar
and whose attitude is dependably reactive when the system comes under
criticism of any kind.
In the 1970s and 1980s, conditions were not reassuring for the small investor
or average wage earner. Inflation helped wages but hurt buying power.
Borrowed money for car or home was at high interest rates, mortgaging the
future. Available jobs for traditional functions shrank as corporations went
abroad for cheap labour and automation displaced people. Savings decreased
or disappeared for many.
In the latter 1980s, conditions were ripe for the rich to get richer and for the
high-rolling risk takers and arbitrageurs to find market manipulation and
insider trading irresistible. The mood seemed to be that "anything goes if you
don't get caught." Each new rumour of a corporate raid, takeover, issuance of
junk bonds, or bit of privileged information spurred speculation.
• Black Monday came in October of 1987 (September 2000). It was a
rude awakening as the market's Dow ]ones average plummeted some
500 points, taking with it some of Wall Street's big dealers. In the
wake, a Tender Offer Reform Act was proposed as an amendment to
the Securities Exchange Act of 1934. Too little, too late.2
• Things quieted down" but not completely or permanently. In 1988,
another case made financial headlines when a young trainee in Morgan
Stanley's mergers and acquisitions department was alleged to have fed
material information to a wealthy Hong Kong customer, who then
traded on that information, garnering $19 million in gains. Then for the
next several months it seemed each week brought a new Wall street
scandal.
ΑΝ ENVIRONMENT OF STRONG VIEWS
• Financial relations presents a worthy challenge to the practitioner. As
prime audiences, you have millions of small investors generally
resentful of who can "control“ the market (such as pension funds,
mutual funds, and other money managers) and leαders of publicly
owned corporations, who can make decisions that are helpful or
harmful, choosing short-term expedients or long-haul public interest.
Then there are the regulators- and the ever-inquiring media,
economists, and legislators, who can make and change the rules.
• The positive views small investors have of the corporate world depend
in part from good news such as dividends or appreciation in the value
of their investments, optimistic forecasts by corporate and investment
spokespersons, and profiles of company leaders portraying them as
intelligent, honest, and planning for future success.
• Their negative views are formed in part by information in alternative
statements about lavish executive salaries, bonuses, and stock options
not based on the health or performance of the corporation. Investors
read news items about costly indulgences such as private aircraft,
executive dining rooms, limousines, club memberships, junkets, all in
the name of incentives or customer relations, that are recovered in
higher prices for the products or services. And they are not reassured
when such free-spending corporations, unable to compete with foreign
products, run to the government for protection.
• The role of the corporate financial relations specialist or consultant
tends to be that of interpreter and mediator between the prime
audiences. He or she usually comes on as a moderate or neutral in
economic and political philosophy. The position requires skill and
objectivity in representing the average investor, the middle-class
unsophisticated citizen, while representing private enterprise and
conservative views publicly.
THE SPECIFICS OF THE FUNCTION
• The financial public relations role can be summarized as:
– Communications strategy appropriate to management goals in
investor relations.
– Preparation of public literature, including reports required by law
and establishing press contacts.
– Managing relationships with the financial community, including
analyst meetings, tours or visits, and so on.
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Among the specific situations posing communications problems and
requirements are:
1. Α company goes public, splits its stock, or arranges added financing.
2. Α corporation wishes to make a tender offer to acquire another corporation,
to merge with another corporation, or to head off or oppose an unwanted offer.
Αn acquisition or merger may result in a change of identity such as name,
logo, headquarters location, or ownership.
3. Α timely announcement is needed for significant new products, services,
expansion, or acquisition, which might affect the price of the company's stock.
4. Periodic reports of financial results are issued, including an annual report.
5. Arrangements are required for meetings with shareholders and analysts and
for public reports of proceedings, including the annual meeting-and, in some
enlightened corporations, an employee annual meeting.
6. Special literature is required, dealing with a corporation's philosophy,
policies, and objectives; its history or anniversary; its scope, "identity," or
"culture.“ ANY of these, however, may also be the subject of advertising.
Government Relations
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Α major component of corporate public affairs is government relations. This
activity is so important that many companies, particularly in highly regulated
industries, have separate departments of government relations.
The reason is simple. The actions of governmental bodies at the local, and
federal level have a major impact on how a business operates.
Government relations specialists have a number of functions: They gather
information, disseminate management's views, cooperate with government on
projects of mutual benefit, and motivate employees to participate in the
political process.
As the eyes and ears of a business or industry, practitioners spend much time
gathering and processing information. They monitor the activities of many
legislative bodies and regulatory agencies to keep track of issues coming up
for debate and possible vote.
Such intelligence gathering enables a corporation or an industry to plan ahead
and, if necessary, adjust policies or provide information that may influence the
nature of government decision-making.
Government Relations
• Α Boston University survey showed that 67 percent of the responding
companies monitored government activity in Washington through their
trade associations.
• Second on the list were frequent trips to Washington by senior public
affairs officers and corporate executives;
– 58 percent of the respondents said they engaged in this activity.
– Almost 45 percent of the responding firms reported that they also
had a company office in the nation's capital.
• Government relations specialists spend a great amount of time
disseminating information about the company's position to a variety of
key publics.
– Spoken tactics may include an informal office visit to a
government official or testimony at a public hearing. Ιn addition,
public affairs people are often called upon to give a speech or write
one for a senior executive
Lobbying
• Lobbying is closely aligned with governmental relations or public
affairs, and the distinction between the two often blurs. This is because
most campaigns to influence impending legislation haνe multiple
levels.
– One leνel is informing and convincing the public about the
correctness of the organization's view point, which the public
affairs specialist does.
• Lobbying, on the other hand, is a more specific activity. Webster's New
World Dictionαry defines a lobbyist as "a person . . . who tries to
influence the voting on legislation or the decisions of government
administrators:' In other words, a lobbyist directs his or her energies to
the defeat, passage, or amendment of proposed legislation and
regulatory agency policies.
• Α good example of how the two functions work in tandem is how
Arthur Andersen, the accounting firm, responded when it was accused
of massive negligence in covering up the financial problems of Enron,
the energy company, just before it went bankrupt.
• Public affairs specialists for the accounting firm had the major job of
reassuring the public and influential financial leaders that the company
had the scandal under control and was taking steps to maintain the
credibility of the brand name. One approach was a series of issue
advertisements titled 'Άndersen will do what is right."
• At the same time, Andersen hired a number of high-powered lobbyists
with good connections to the Bush administration and the House
Commerce Committee to assure that the U.S. Congress would not pass
legislation that would place more restrictions on the accounting firm
and the industry.
• Andersen's ability to reach key legislators was assisted by its long-term
program of political contributions. Since 1991, the company had
contributed corporate "soft money" to national party committees. In a
ten-year period, the Republican Party received $2.5 million and the
Democratic Party had received $859,000. The accounting firm,
through its political action committees (PACs), also contributed
$146,000 to the presidential campaign of George W. Bush.
PR and Campaigning
• The tools of today's political campaign are many and varied. Constant
focus groups and polls continually test messages and determine the
"hot" buttons of the voter. Extensive use of modern communications
technology such as satellite media tours and video news releases, bulk
faxing of background material, and the use of the Internet have greatly
expanded message delivery.
• According to James Perry, writing in The Wall Street Journal: The new
media label covers a broad band of new technologies. With satellites,
candidates can, and do, hold rallies in several places at once; strategists
in different parts of the country meet in teleconference, direct mail
gives way to videocassettes delivered door to door; voters with
personal computers log on to candidate bulletin boards and call up vast
amounts of information. It's an explosion of technology.
• Helping the candidates use these tools is another group of consultants
and technicians who work to advance the election of their clientswriters of position papers, speech writers, graphic artists, computer
experts, photographers, and media strategists. Advance people spend
many hours trying to organize events and generate crowds in an age
when most people would rather stay home and watch television.
Ethical Guidelines for Political Relations
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Here are several ethical guidelines for people working in political public
relations formulated by the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA):
1. It is the responsibility of professionals practicing political public relations to
be conversant with the various local, state, and federal statutes governing such
activities and to adhere to them strictly. This includes laws and regulations
governing lobbying, political contributions, disc1osure, e1ections, libel,
slander, and the like.
2. Members shall represent clients or employers in good faith, and while
partisan advocacy on behalf of a candidate or public issue is expected,
members shall act in accord with the public interest and adhere to truth and
accuracy and to generally accepted standards of good taste.
3. Members shall not issue descriptive material or any advertising or pub1icity
information or participate in the preparation or use thereof which is not signed
by responsible persons or is false, misleading, or unlabeled as to its source,
and are obligated to use care to avoid dissemination of any such material.
• 4. in avoiding practices which might tend to corrupt the processes of
government, members shall not make undisclosed gifts of cash or other
valuables which are designed to influence specific decisions of voters,
legislators, or public officials.
• 5. Members shall not, through the use of information known to be
fa1se or misleading, conveyed direct1y or through a third party,
intentionally injure the pub1ic reputation of an opposing candidate.
Public Affairs in Government
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Since the time of the ancient Egyptians 5000 years ago, governments have
always engaged in what is known in the 21st century as public information,
public relations, and public affairs.
The Rosetta Stone, discovered by Napoleon's troops and used by scholars as
the key to understanding Egyptian hieroglyphics, turned out to be a publicity
release for the reign of Ptolemy V.
Ju1ius Caesar was known in his day as a master of staged events in which his
army's entrances into Rome after successfu1 batt1es were highly orchestrated.
There has always been a need for government communications, if for no other
reason than to inform citizens of the services availab1e and the manner in
which they may be used. Ιn a democracy, pub1ic information is crucia1 if
citizens are to make intelligent judgments about the policies and activities of
their e1ected representatives. Through information it is hoped that citizens will
have the necessary background to participate fully ίn the formation of
government po1icies.
The objectives of government information efforts have been summarized by
William Ragan, former director of public affairs for the United States Civi1
Service Commission:
• 1. Inform the pub1ic about the pub1ic's business. In other words,
communicate the work of government agencies.
• 2. Improve the effectiveness of agency operations through appropriate
public information techniques. In other words, explain agency
programs so that citizens understand and can take actions necessary to
benefit from them.
• 3. Provide feedback to government administrators so that programs
and policies can be modified, amended, or continued.
• 4. Advise management on how best to communicate a decision or a
program to the widest number of citizens.
• 5. Serve as an ombudsman. Represent the public and listen to its
representatives. Make sure that individual problems of the taxpayer are
satisfactorily solved.
• 6. Educate administrators and bureaucrats about the role of the mass
media and how to work with media representatives.
Consumer Relations
• "Who are the three most important publics?"
– The answer is "Customers, customers, and customers." If you
don't succeed in attracting and then building continuing
relationships with them, you'11 be out of business and nothing else
will matter.
• During the rise of marketing as a cure-all in the mid-1980s, this view
frequently prevailed in corporations. Hospitals, universities, public
agencies, and even churches adopted marketing as a response to the
increasing competition for people's interest and dollars.
• On balance, the marketing revolution was helpful to many
organizations-particularly large or very successful companies, which
had often forgotten that it is the customer who pays the bill, and to notfor-profit entities, who often treated users of services as a nuisance to
their routine, rather than the reason for their existence.
Consumer Relations
• Ironically, while this trend re-established a key point of public relations
philosophy, it sometimes pushed public relations departments into a
secondary role to marketing.
• Α much debated point has been whether public relations is a part of
marketing or vice versa or whether they are both essential strategic
services and thus equal factors.
• The question has become prominent because marketing has become a
part of organizations that have not traditionally used marketing
concepts. Hospitals in particular began marketing their "products" in
an effort to gain their share of the health care market. Their patients
began making it clear they did not want to be sold health care, and
hospitals retreated-putting the function back into perspective.
• Marketing and public relations share some fundamental concepts.
These include analyzing market opportunities (research), selecting
target markets (publics / audiences), developing a marketing mix
(communication and action plan), and managing the marketing effort
(evaluation).
Consumer Relations
• The sharing of these concepts illustrates the close working relationship
of the two fields. However, public relations and marketing are two
different fields.
• PR reporter illustrated the differences, stating that public relations as a
strategy does four things marketing cannot do:
– Public relations is concerned about internal relations and publics.
– Public relations cares about non customer external publics and the
environment in which the organization operates.
– Public relations operates on the policies of human nature (what
makes the individual tick), whereas marketing focuses on
consumer behaviour (purchasing and economics, often expressed
ία number-crunching research).
– Public relations may work to stabilize or change public opinion in
areas other than products.
Consumer Relations
• In the 1990s, the functions have come close together, as demonstrated
by the dominant customer relations strategy: relationship marketing.
As the name suggests, this approach adopts public relations principles
such as personalized, one-on-one dialogue regarding marketing of
products and services.
• The buyer-seller relationship concerns every public relations
department and every public relations counsellor. Ideally, their role is
to help create conditions of understanding so that the objectives of
sellers can be attained by satisfying needs of consumers. As a
landmark conference between public relations and marketing leaders
concluded, public relations must both help motivate purchases and
create a hospitable environment for the organization to sell product and
services.
HISTORICAL BACK GROUND
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Starting in the late 1940s, following an almost universal base of hardship
during the Great Depression, consumer "wants" were for material possessions,
labour saving, convenience, ease, and luxury. Το producers and sellers, these
were seen as consumer "needs."
In the succeeding decades of increasing prosperity and affluence, it followed
that if a product or service could be sold, it "deserved" to be sold. If a desire
for it could be induced, it was what the people "wanted." Wants translated with
adept interpretation into needs. Α Hula Ηοορ, a Frisbee, a pair of jogging shoes
became "needs" for wholesome recreation or health.
For product and service sellers, the 1950s were happy times, as they were for
marketing, promotion, advertising, and publicity people. The economy was
based and dependent on increasing consumption. Trading in one's car annually,
building a summer home, discarding clothes for each fashion change, engaging
in fads, buying on time with credit cards, maintaining a big mortgage, stocking
a basement with appliances, using hair tonics and electric shavers-these were
"marks of distinction." Buying was promoted as though it were patriotic.
Communications served these times well, especially when television came on
the scene to give printed and audio media rough competition.
• In this set of conditions, it was inevitable that sellers would stretch the
boundaries of quality, service, and safety in products and services.
They would exceed the limits of truth and accuracy in their claims and
would abuse the privilege of using the public media. On occasion,
through inadequate concern for quality, they would kill and injure
some people and alienate many others.
– Ralph Nader “Unsafe αt Any Speed “
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Meanwhile, business approaches to the consumer were shifting. "Share of
mind" superseded "share of market" for many national product advertisers.
Programs spoke more about "benefits" and "value."
Publicists were engaged more in concepts to sell "an idea," "industrial
statesmanship," "a good company to do business with," the "philosophy" or the
"personality" rather than the sheer pleasure of owning the product or enjoying
the service.
In public relations programming, there was an increasing shift to use of public
service hitched to marketing. Today this approach has become the rule: People
want to be served not sold.
– Recipes were provided for home economists; commemorative events were
tied to products; dinosaur models went on exhibit; cars were tested by the
loan of one to each family in a small town; a blimp roamed over public
events, aiding national telecasts. The introduction of a new line of sports
equipment endorsed by a celebrated athlete might be accompanied by a
personal appearance. On tour, the athlete might sign autographs in stores,
be interviewed by local writers on controversial sports subjects, be
photographed at bedside in children's hospitals or wards, and conduct free
clinics on sportsmanship at a local schoo1.
The Rise of Corporate Reputation
• In the 1980s, a new rash of crises shared the front page; they involved
violence, drugs, greed, pollution, and lack of integrity. Business has
adjusted to this situation. Advertising and publicity talk about
reforestation, human dignity, education, rehabilitation, and "caring."
Projects and speeches focus on safety, health, and the minority,
neglected, and handicapped groups in society.
• There are other problems. Conglomeration and divestiture discolour
traditional identities. What happens when Twinkies becomes a product
of International Telephone and Telegraph?
• Multinationalism is another matter. Does anything significant happen
in consumer relationships when a company that has proclaimed its
"loyal Greek heritage" goes abroad to manufacture because wages are
lower? See BALCO
The Role of PR
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Technically, both marketing and public relations support the sαles function.
"Nothing happens until a sale is made," says an old bromide. The difference is
that marketing is totally engrossed in selling, whereas public relations is more
holistic. It supports sales to customers, but also is concerned with relationships
with all other stakeholders of the organization.
Originally, public relations supported sales almost exclusively through media
publicity, promotional events, and consumer information programs. The
objective was to make people:
– 1. Aware of the product or serνice in the first place.
– 2. Knowledgeable about the benefits and advantages of the particular
product or serνice.
– 3. Constantly reminded and reinforced in favourable feelings toward the
product or serνice.
Such activity ties in with advertising and authenticates product claims. Media
used are newspapers, magazines, radio, television, features, photos, planned
events, sponsorship of sports or musical activities, and many other venues for
promotion. These are one-way communication vehicles touting the name and
claims of the product or serνice.
The Role of PR
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Although the emphasis on marketing pushed some public relations
departments back to this role, the changing conditions of the marketplace also
brought forth several new activities such as:
– 1. Forming user groups (as computer makers did) or customer serνice
departments (as some auto makers and utilities did) to personally build
customer loyalty.
– 2. Adopting customer satisfaction programs in which the entire
organization is focused on delivering not just a product or serνice but also
the quality and personal interactions consumers expect when making a
purchase (as retailers, utilities, and brand manufacturers did).
– 3. Concentrating the publicity and promotion activities on taking
customers away from competitors (which the beer and cigarette makers
state as their primary reason for publicity and advertising).
– 4. Protecting the reputation of the product or serνice, and of the
organization, in a period of consumer activism, government relations,
competitive predation, global marketing, and similar conditions that bring
a continual pack of public issues to bear on every organization and
industry.
Public Relations Techniques
Ten Effective Public Relations Tactics
• You are likely familiar with brochures, flyers and web sites. Below are
some other effective public relations tactics with which you may be
less familiar. Which ones will benefit you depends upon several factors
-- your objectives, the size, type and location of your organization, the
characteristics of your customers or audience, and your budget.
– Publicity and Media Relations
Media relations includes a variety of methods to contact and give
information to the media: news releases, press kits, media
advisories, news conferences, press tours, and personal letters or
phone calls to editors and reporters.
– Special Events
Events draw attention to your organization or bring people to your
place of business. Open houses, fund-raisers, trade shows, awards
ceremonies, contests, stunts, receptions, speeches by V.I.Ps., are
examples of special events.
– Newsletters
Publications typically four to 12 pages in length, although some are
longer, with short articles intended to keep your customers, clients,
members, investors, or donors up-to-date on what your organization and
its people are doing. It may also contain advice or other information of
particular interest to your audience.
– News Sheets and Action Alerts
One or two page sheets communicating urgent or recent information. The
intent is to motivate the reader to take a specific action, such as write a
letter to a public official, make a donation, or change a purchasing habit.
– Tip Sheets
One or two-sided sheets containing advice, instructions, or other
information of particular use to your customers or clients. The objective is
to show off your expertise. These sheets are usually formatted as bulleted
or numbered lists.
– Letters to the Editor and Op Ed Pieces
Promote your expertise by writing a letter to the editor or an Op Ed piece
responding to items in the news.
– Speakers Bureau
Arrange to have individuals in your organization speak at meetings of
professional and trade associations, service clubs, civic organizations, and
community groups
– Sponsorships
If you don't want to organize a special event, sponsor one somebody else
is organizing. Or sponsor a local sports team, musical group, or
community theatre. Make sure your sponsorship will be acknowledged on
advertising, programs, uniforms, posters, or other promotional materials.
– Charitable Contributions
Even though a donation has to be very large to make the news, a
consistent commitment to giving back to your community by supporting
local charities will do much to enhance your image. Be sure you give to
charities that acknowledge donations in their newsletter, annual report,
wall plaques, or other promotional materials.
– Thank You Notes and Letters
Directly thanking customers for their business, and donors for their
contribution, will encourage repeat business.
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Feature articles by and about your company help you explain specific
projects, industry trends, etc., while positioning your organization as a leader.
News releases keep editors and readers up-to-date on positive developments:
business news, technological advances, promotions and new hires, and special
events.
Company profiles present your company's achievements, capabilities, and
leaders in a positive light.
Professional seminars and association meetings let you highlight your latest
achievements and innovations, share information with colleagues.
Business seminars for your customers let you explain new developments,
trends, services, and products in detail -- in a setting where you call the shots.
Trade shows can be a critical sales forum, let you meet face-to-face with
purchasing decision-makers.
Internet/World Wide Web services help you establish an early presence
within this powerful new communications medium.
Crisis management arms you with strategies and tools to deal with
unexpected and unwelcome developments.
PR Techniques : Media relations
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Media relations does indeed make up the core of most public relation
programs- in part because of the historical development of public relations as
an attempt to control and influence media coverage of organizations.
Although the media are critical to public relations, many practitioners become
so preoccupied with media coverage that they forget why relationships with
the mass media are important.
Many practitioners consider the media to be the public for their organization
and believe that media coverage automatically means that they have reached
and influences a large audience – This is far away from the truth.
Media relations occupies a central position in public relations because the
media serves as a “gatekeeper” who control the information that flows the
publics in a social system. Media workers really aren’t publics in the sense that
they are affected by organizational consequences that do not affect other
people.
But, in another sense, journalists are publics. They seek and process
information just like other people, then pass on that information to their
readers and viewers. The communication behavior of journalists, therefore,
sets limits on the information available for other publics to seek and process.
PR Techniques: Media Relations
• The key word to remember about media relations is “relationship”-“a
positive, ongoing, long-term relationship with the media.”
• Many practitioners have bad relationships with the media, in large part
because they are guided by the press a gentry or public information
models of public relations.
An Area of Conflict
• Journalists feel overwhelmed by mass of press agents and publicists“flacks,” as they call PR people- who dump unwanted press releases
on their desk and push self-serving stories that have little new value.
• Public relations practitioners, on the other hand, feel that they are at
the mercy of reporters and editors who are biased against their
organization, who would rather expose then explain, and who know
little about the complexities of their organization.
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What Helps and What Hurts Media Relations
You will probably find it easier to learn a few principles, however,
from which you can derive more specific rules of press relations. Our
four models of public relations provide such principles.
Develop a brief statement of the company’s position on the topic or
issue. The statement should present the situation in a positive light and
have the approval of company management.
Identify and coach your spokesperson and others who may be called
by the news media. Rehearse them to avoid answers that can be taken
out of context, and have them practice aloud, converting tough
questions to positive points.
Never issue a non comment statement
Never lie. Discuss positive actions, but stick to the facts.
If you don’t know the answer to the question, find out the reporter’s
deadline and call back with the appropriate information.
• Never repeat the negative. If a reporter asks a negatively phrased
question and you repeat the negative words, then you should know that
the negative words, the negative impression will survive along after the
facts. Positive responses are best.
• Use transition techniques to give a straight answer to the questions and
move the conversation in the direction you desire. Bridge to positive
points.
• Speak in a conversational ton. Avoid jargon, and provide examples or
anecdotes to illustrate your points.
• In television or radio interviews, frame responses in quick bites. Do
not provide a lengthy background in order to reach a conclusion.
• Remain calm, courteous, and cooperative regardless of where the
reporter is headed.
PR Techniques: Media Relations - Different Models of PR and Media
Relations
Press Agentry Abuses.
• Most of the abuses of the press that spoil PR’s relationship with the press stem
from the press agent / publicity model.
– Threads to withhold advertising if editors do not use an item, or a promise
to buy advertising if they do use it.
– Calling an executive of a newspaper or broadcast station to pressure
his/her reporters
– Sending reams of news releases with little news value to an extensive
massive mailing list of media that have no use of them (very common
practice for showing to superiors or clients that we are constantly busy)
– Taking the attitude that the more releases sent, the greater the chance that
they will be used, in the belief that editors use them randomly when they
have space to fill.
– Catering to TV at the expense of print media, in press conferences
– Sending multiple copies to different departments of the same organization
– Failing to understand how news media work (deadlines, news values, and
beats)
Relations
Public Information Abuses
Usually the specialist following this model of PR are working as journalist in
residence
Two of the most common errors of this model are:
The jargon error: often they write in a coded language – mostly because their work
must be cleared by superiors
The Parkinson’s law error: this is the production of press releases to fill the time
available. Although there is no need for articles, because of free time the
specialist write many articles without news value
Two Way Press Relations
Both the practitioners of two way asymmetric and two way symmetric models of
PR approach their task more systematically, they make fewer errors that
alienate them from journalists, and they do more research and planning.
There are some conflicts, however, that still result from the asymmetric model
because media relations specialists usually try to control coverage of their
organization and to limit it to organizational PR objectives.
Relations
Symmetric practitioners, on the other hand, think less about controlling the content
of information that flows from their organization to the media.
Their objective is to open up their organization to the media and to help journalists
cover it, in the belief that such openness and assistance will result in more
accurate and less biased coverage.
Some suggestions for creating effective symmetric media relation are:
Send out fewer press releases and rely more on direct contact with journalists, at
both their initiative and yours .
Be available to the media
Call reporters when you think you have a story that interests them (make sure that
the story has a local angle or content relevant to the reporter’s publication)
Set up interviews for journalists with management or specialists in your
organization. Help the reporters to cover your organization – don't try to do it
for them.
Instead of press releases, send to the media a sheet of one paragraph news tips that
they can follow up themselves.
Relations
Interview people in your organization yourself and record the interview on
cassette tapes. Provide these tapes to journalists so that they can
integrate the interview into their own stories.
Set up an information storage and retrieval system in which you maintain
fact sheets, complete articles, interviews, and background information.
Have this data base available to the journalists. Make sure to update
the information regularly.
Take a chance on the accuracy and responsibility of the news media. The
more open you can make your organization, the greater is the
likelihood of fair and accurate media coverage
Relations
Media Relations in a Crisis: The three asymmetrical models
assume that the flow of information to the media can be
controlled. During a crisis, the media become active in
seeking info related to the organization.
However, the media go to sources other than the organization
experiencing the crisis.
Research has shown that symmetrical communication is even
more important than the predetermined plan during a crisis.
Relations
Some Key points about Journalists
- Most of us think of journalists as communicators who disseminate
information, but they also seek and process information when they
cover events, interview new sources, or assign stories.
- Although we see journalists as active seekers of information, more of
their behavior can be described as the passive processing of
information – rewriting press releases, routinely covering events or
hearings, reacting to the initiative of new sources.
- If reporters process information more than they seek it, then media
relations specialists can influence their communication behavior much
more than they could if reporters actively sought information.
Relations
In order for creating a better media relations, an analysis of the journalistic
behavior is necessary.
Journalistic behavior can be explained in three different levels:
Individual Level. The extent to which journalists’ behavior results from their
own interests, as well as their biases, values, or ideas.
Organizational Level. Organizational factors that constrain the behavior of a
reporter, such as assignments given by editors.
Institutional Level. The constraints that the larger society places upon a
journalist, such as the requirement that a medium be profitable, the perceptions
journalists have of their readers, the traditions of journalism, and the
unconscious influences that reporters have upon each other.
Therefore Press representatives should use different strategies to deal with
journalists for each of these levels of analysis.
At the individual level, they would try to channel stories to reporters who have
either a personal interest in the story or a bias that favors the organization’s
position
Relations
at the organizational level, media specialists would work with editors
to get a story assigned to a reporter
At the Institutional level, they would stage events and cater to the
tendency of one reporter to copy others.
The Role of the Media
- Hypodermic – needle theory assuming powerful; media effects on
attitudes and behavior
- Agenda Setting Theory assuming that there is a strong relationship
between the amount of space given to different issues in the media and
the importance people think those issues have.
Highlights of the Agenda Setting Theory
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A story must be on the media agenda for some time – 3 to 5 months – before
people become thoroughly aware of it.
Newspapers seem to set the public agenda more than television.
– Television introduces issues but doesn’t stay with them long enough to
affix them on the public agenda. Newspapers do.
Not all people pick up personal agendas from the media to the same degree as
other people. In particular, the more involved people are with issues, the less
the media affect how important these people think the issues are.
Involved people actively seek information form many sources. They don’t
process passively from the media
People with a high need for orientation (uncertainty about a problem) they
accept the media agenda more than people with less uncertainty.
When people don’t have cognitions about important issues they develop them
from the most ubiquitous source of information – the media.
Skillful media relations people can get issues of concern to their organizations
on the agenda for public discussion, and they can be involved in the discussion
when other groups build the agenda – although they don’t control the outcome,
they are able to interject the organization’s position and get people’s attention.
Highlights of the Agenda Setting Theory
• Evaluation of the Media Agenda
– Most media relations specialists already use a commercial clipping
service so that they can evaluate their work
– Unfortunately they use clippings in a wrong way
PR Writing
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Good writing is clear, concise, correct, and complete
– Clear: present ideas logically and explain terms that may be unfamiliar to
the reader
– Concise: takes the shortest path to understanding, using words and
sentences that are economical – not in the expense of style and grace
– Correct: follows the rules of spelling, grammar, and syntax. It must be
accurate and does not obscure or bend the truth.
– Complete: does not leave readers unsatisfied or uncertain whether they
know all they need to know about the subject.
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The PR Department must consider the information needs of several different
audiences:
– Managers – memos, plans, announcements, timetables, operating manuals,
and guidelines. Remembers that complex information need to be
organized and presented in a logical form
– Employees – Avoid the Jargon, remember that information must be
accessible and understandable by everyone
PR Writing
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Suppliers and Customers
Trade Publications
Stockholders and Investment Community
Community Leaders and Government Officials
The News Media
PR Writing
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Selecting the Appropriate Writing Style
As a PR specialist you must be familiar with all the available writing style in
order to select the most appropriate for the audience that you want to write
– Business Style: for reports, executive summaries and memos
– Personal Style: for notes and memos between members of a staff who
work together, including those on equal basis as well as supervisors who
have an informal working relationship with those they supervise
– Familiar Style: Used in employee publications and memos intended to
build a team and gain compliance with management objectives
– Trade Style: assumes that the readers are all familiar with the jargon of a
sector of the market or the workplace, and thus technical terms and
industry norms are allowed
– Straight – News Style: used for releases to the general news media and to
the financial press. Journalistic norms of story organizations, objectivity,
explanation of terms, uses of quotes or paraphrase, ethics, and avoidance
of libel are followed in preparation of the straight – news story
PR Writing
– Feature Style: used for articles prepared for both internal and external
audiences where the format of the newsletter or magazine calls for luring
the reader with a catchy lead, then relating the information in a tone that is
more causal and light than one would expect in a straight news story.
– Legal Style: necessary when crisis confronts an organization and improper
statements to external or internal audiences may jeopardize the legal
position of the organization.
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Audience, however, is not the only factor affecting the choice of the writing
style. Your style as well may be influenced by your mass medium choice.
– The Broadcast Media: Use few words, tight your writing and tailor it for
reading aloud, make sure to use words that help the audience to picture
what is happening
– Trade Magazines: remember that they have such departments as “trends”
and “new products” with standardized forms and style – use them.
– Commentators and Columnists: understand the idiosyncrasies and make
sure to cater to them
PR Writing
– Regional Media: it may requires a nod to local terminology and
shared culture values. Remember that the same subject article may
be prepared in different versions for different regions.
PR Writing
• In selecting the Right Writing Style ask yourself the following
questions
– What is the relationship of the target public to your organization?
• Internal or external? Friendly, hostile, indifferent or
unfamiliar?
– What is the level of expertise of your public?
• Well informed, partially, or uninformed?
– What is the interest level of your public?
• Motivated to seek information and read it?
• Mildly interested in the topic?
• Unaware of the need to be informed on the topic?
– What are the style requirements of the medium / channel selected?
• Straight – news style required?
• Feature style is an option and may be desirable?
• Trade or business style required?
• Special requirements (broadcast)?
PR Writing
– To what style does the subject matter lend itself?
• Serious, straightforward subject?
• Human interest angle?
– To what extent do management objectives dictate the writing style?
• Personality and style of sources used for the article?
• What facet of the organization is being featured?
• Are there legal requirements for the information
communicated?
– What was the style of past communications with the target public?
• Should the new message strike a new tone?
• Must the message be consistent with past communications?
PR Writing
Requirements of Public Relations Writing
• Maximum Objectivity: The question is “how do PR writers reconcile
the need for credibility with the need to be loyal to their employer? It
is a matter of keeping the employing organization in mind when
gathering the information, and then keeping the editor – and by
extension the reader – in mind when organizing the information and
writing for publication.
• Source Review: One of the crucial interpersonal skills a PR
practitioner must develop is the ability to take the criticism of a piece
of writing from a superior who knows the technical facts better than
the writer does, incorporate the necessary changes into the written
message, and still maintain the style, interest, and integrity of the
words so they will attract media audience.
• Long – Range Implications/ Consistency: The PR writer must
review past articles about the organization, determine how the public
perceives the organization or program, and then write a piece that will
be consistent with how the writer wants the public to view it.
PR Writing
•
•
•
Achieving Maximum Impact: Simplicity versus Completeness is the
dilemma of the PR writers. The PR writer tries to have it both ways by giving
the news media a concise and understandable twelve paragraph press release
summarizing the story in a way that is readable and interesting.
Involving the Reader: You get the readers attention by bringing the story
close to home, literally and figuratively. Keep that attention by humanizing the
story, which means having people talking. Use quotes from those who are
most affected by the program or product your organization is promoting.
Evaluating your Writing: Many people think that writing is an art, that it cant
be evaluated. Don’t be misled. Only stream–of–consciousness writers fail to
evaluate their work.
– Put your writing aside for a few days and then read it over yourself
– Have you retained your own message?
– Do you understand what you want to say?
– Ask someone else to read it and tell you his/her understanding
– Remember: Good writing is not merely written; it is rewritten.
News Releases and Press Kits
• Releases serve many purposes and its an excellent tool for achieving
publicity
• Editors depend on releases
– Routinely, certain columns in almost every paper are put together
by pasting our news releases: business promotions, military
personnel activities, cultural, sport and entertainment events.
• Elements of the Standards News release
– Paper and Typeface: Print on one side only, Double –spacing is
standard (triple spacing is not uncommon), try to keep the release
only in one page, user a standard clean typewriter face or one of
the basic computer fonts, for radio releases make sure to use font
size at least 18 – points.
– News Flag: To make it absolutely clear that the information is
intended as a news release, a large single word NEWS in Black or
Red and printed in large font (36 in typical)
– Release Date: Floating clearly above the text and after the news
flag, is the phrase FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE (both underlined
and capitalized) as well (if you wish) a specific day and time of
release For release at 6 pm Friday, Oct 23. In case that you want
the release to take place during morning hours you must have an
indication such AMS, or AM’s
– Contact Person: The name address and phone number of the person
to contact for additional information should appear in a block near
the upper right hand corner of the page. The use of more that one
contact names is okay.
– Serial Number: Many organizations assign a code number to each
release (in the heading, under the contact person, or at the end of
the first or last page). This code usually indicates the no of release
the month and the year as well as the initials of the person prepared
the release. Serial numbers serve two purposes:
• The identification of specific releases within organizations that
they produce a great number of releases
• To assist when management requires an audit
– Headline: to capture the reader’s attention and to summarize the
information in the article. The headline should be simple, direct,
and written in an active voice.
– Dateline: start the story with a so called dateline – it is the name of
the place where the release originates. This is probably important
for editors that look for local names and places.
– Slug line, Continuations, and End Sign: If the releases runs more
than one page then the word “more” should appear at the bottom of
each page except the last one. An end sign indicates that there are
no more pages. The second as well as the successive pages should
be slugged at the top in the following manner
• Promotion– add one, or promotion --1
The Key Components of the Main Text of a Press Release
The Summary Lead: if the editor, and by extension the target audience
member, isn't clear about what the story involves and why it is
important after the first paragraph, the subsequent paragraphs will
never be read.
Remember that the opening paragraph tells the story in microcosm, the
second paragraph provides greater detail and explains
Boilerplate Paragraphs: paragraphs which identify the organization and
the products it makes or the services it provides
“ The Wyatt Company is an international consulting firm specializing
in the areas of human resource, systems, and financial management
with 3,700 employees working in 71 cities.”
Handling Quotes: while a short release containing routinely materials may
not call for quotes. When the subject is a new product or service, an
organization’s stand on an issue then it is a very good idea, for
increasing reader’s interest, to quote material from your chief
executive or someone else well known. In fact, quotes permit you to
inject passion and opinion into a release that otherwise must be factual
in order to appeal to the editors as news.
Feature Style:
The straight news style is important for unbiased information presented
straightforwardly using summary lead to open the story and the classic
inverted pyramid organizational structure with facts presented in
descending order of importance.
The feature style treatment, on the other hand, is considered more
appropriate for news about trends, interesting people, and product
information that is part of a marketing public relations campaign.
* Teasers are one kind of feature lead, and sometimes they take
the form of question: Why is J.J. moving for the third time in three
years ……..
* Suspended interest feature leads tell a story in chronological
order: M.A. was on time, as usual. Her car pulled out of the driveway
exactly at 8 and she was on the freeway by 8:10 ……..
* Marketing public relations features often speak directly to the
reader in order to involve him or her with the information: Lets face it,
you have better things to do with your time than remodel the entire
house …..
Offering Auxiliary Materials
• The PR department is lucky if a news release is used in its entirety.
• In order to increase your chances of getting a news release placed the
use of side bars and press kits is recommended.
– Sidebars: are the shorter articles that appears alongside the main
article and offers greater detail about one aspect of the main piece.
• Remember sidebars are not afterthought – while you write a
piece you need to keep asking yourself whether some
information stand out better in a sidebar rather than the main
article. Therefore, you must always ask yourself “what
information can I put into a sidebar in order to make the story
more attractive to the editor and to my target publics?”
– Press Kits/Informational Packets: It is an extended version of the
sidebar which includes a master release, sidebars, fact sheets,
biographies, charts, reprints of comments from other media,
photographs, and even samples of products.
Broadcast Releases
• Some of the requirements of the broadcast release are:
– Type the information entirely in large capital letters to facilitate
reading
– Keep the item to no more than 200 words, which is about one
minute of reading time.
– Use short paragraphs; it may be useful to display each sentence as
a separate paragraph.
– Separate clauses, or the parts of long sentences, with ellipses
(……) to give the newscaster an indication of where to pause or
take a breath.
– Avoid contractions, hard to pronounce words, abbreviation, or
anything else that may trip the tongue.
– Provide pronunciation help in parentheses immediately following
any unfamiliar word or name.
– Do not put names, figures, or other critical information in the
opening phrase or sentence. The first sentence should index the
story for the listener and catch attention by naming the general
topic.
• Wrong: Deputy director of finance J.J today submitted a E4.2
million budget to city council …..
• Correct: It will cost less to run the city next year. A budget of
over four million dollars was …etc
• At the bottom of the release or on an attached page, indicate if the
person named in the release is available for phone interview and
provide as well the phone number.
• Also if the source is available for a talk show on radio or TV include a
brief note with his/her expertise and availability.
Catering to the Press
• The press conference should be used when it is clear that it gives to the
press an opportunity to question expert sources will result in more
meaningful and effective media coverage
• In preparing a Press Conference you need to consider a number of
problems
– Whom shall we invite?
• Make sure to avoid embarrassing Silences: possible ways –
invite the correct press people, sit a couple of your PR people
within the media media to assist the rolling of the conference.
• Issue the invitation: Make sure that you invite the media
people early enough in attending your press conference
• Don’t forget that even journalists or some media they do
behave according a specific code of ethics. Make sure to take
their code of ethics into consideration
Public Service Announcements (PSA)
– Where to hold the event?
• Make sure to check the facilities (audio visual, sufficient water
and coffee, phone booths, comfortable seating, tables for
writing, displaying handouts and brochures, transportation if
necessary)
• Offer helpful handouts: a one page outline of the covered
material to be placed on each chair, a selection of fact sheets on
each press table, and a text of the main speaker’s prepared
statement to be passed out at the door as reporters leave room
• Make sure that follow up has been arranged to take care the
needs of the media after the conference or the event is over.
Using Radio: PSA
• If you want to dictate the precise content, time, and date of your
message, you need to have an Advertisement
• A PSA is usually 10,15,30, or 60 seconds long
• They are generally announcements of public interest on behalf of non
profit organizations.
• They are free of charge because broadcast stations in order to get their
licenses renewed they must demonstrate that they have provided the
public service of distributing useful information from governmental
agencies.
Preparing a Speak
• The same person who supervises the preparation of news releases and
broadcast messages is likely, at any given time, to be working on one
or more of the following non media tasks.
– Preparing the head of the department to give a press release,
– Rehearsing the president of the firm for a public appearance
– Making arrangements for a dialogue between the company and any
external or internal group.
• All of the above tasks have one thing in common = the need of
someone to prepare a speak on behalf of the company.
• Speaking vs. writing
– Differences: the written message is impersonal while the spoken
message carries the credibility of the speaker. Enthusiasm,
concern, tolerance, understanding, and empathy are all best
demonstrated through the verbal and nonverbal act of meeting an
audience in person.
Preparing a Speech
– The speaking situation is flexible and can be altered to fit the response of
the audience. With the print or audiovisual message, you fire a shot and
hope to hit the target. In a speaking situation, you can make mid-course
corrections.
– Similarities: It must be consistent with other message dissemination.
– The speaker must be familiar with position taken in written
communication and strive to articulate them in a personal style
– Careful and complete preparation is necessary in order to avoid
embarrassment. The speaker must have all the facts straight
– The speaking situation as the writing situation poses the same “package
and delivering” questions for the PR department
• Is this the best forum for reaching the target audience?
• Will it help us to achieve our goals?
• Is it the best use of resources?
• Should it be reinforced with other channels of communication?
• Will we be able to measure the effect?
Preparing a Speech
• Speeches have the following main purposes:
– Persuade / defend: present your organization’s point of view and
defend its actions. Data should support the views of your
organization. Especially in the two way symmetrical model,
opposing views should be acknowledged.
– Inform / Explain: Present information on what your organization is
doing and explain the reason for the action
– Entertain / Welcome: greet guests, represent your organization, and
spread goodwill.
– Background: similar to the inform / explain but without the
urgency of the breaking news.
– Pro-forma: includes welcome speeches, award acceptance
speeches, and other occasions where your organization is
responding to the needs of others rather than serving its own
communication needs.
• Necessary steps for achieving good speech writing
– Adequate planning must precede speechmaking
– Writing and reviewing it are important group tasks
– The speechwriter must have access to the speaker
– Presentation of the speech should be rehearsed to assure that it will
have the desired impact.
• Research: statements about topics should be reviewed in order to know
what the main arguments are and what raw materials are available.
Make sure to collect information from a number of secondary data
sources to assist and increate credibility to your points of view.
• What’s the Big Idea? After you have gathered the data and before you
prepare an outline, you need to ask the question = what is the main
point we want to make with this speech? The speechwriter should be
able to summarize the big idea of his speech in a single line
•
•
•
Organizing and Outlining: a speech should be outlined in a way that you
organize a term paper or an article. The concept can be summarized by that old
saying: Tell them what are you going to tell them; then tell them; and finally,
tell them what you told them.
Working with the Speaker
– The writer should work with the speaker on every phase of developing the
speech.
• The length, rhythm of sentences, the choice of words must be
appropriate to the individual speaking style
• The speaker must feel familiar enough to the facts
• The speaker must have sufficient confidence to the speech in order to
give it with conviction
The all important introduction
– A joke is a great way to start a speech
– If, however, the speech is to be serious in tone, then an ominous opening
statement might be appropriate “Athens may be a ghost town twenty years
from now….”
– Intriguing, or little known facts may stimulate the curiosity of the
audience
– Personal history is also an effective devise for opening your speech ‘this is
• How much to say?
– No one will get mad at a speaker who made a twenty minutes
speech when he was scheduled for twenty five minutes.
• Delivering the Speech
– If a manager has to address a friendly and familiar audience then
he/she does not need any help from the PR department.
– The story is different, however, when he/she has to appear in front
of an audience that they are not familiar with
• Therefore, PR department is also responsible for providing
coaching, and further helping managers polish their speech
through rehearsals
• Using Visual Aids but make sure that you don’t misuse them
• Make sure to get so9me feedback and evaluation of the speech
– A Speech evaluation form may includes
• Date, audience, speaker, evaluator
• Room was properly set up for presentation
• Introduction of speaker was clear and adequate
• Speaker’s dress and bearing were appropriate to occasion
• Voice level was satisfactory to the audience
• Speaker established rapport with audience
• Credibility of speaker was established
• Eye contact was maintained
• Over dependence on prepared script was avoided
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Opening section got attention
Topic area and main point were clearly established
Main points were repeated and emphasized
Topic was clearly summarized and point driven home
Ending section elicited desired reaction
Audience was engaged throughout speech
Feedback was acknowledged and corrections made
Opportunity for questions was provided
Visual aids were properly set up and used
Visual aids provided emphasis and clarity
Speaker was comfortable using visual aids
Audience reaction to visual aids was positive
Other suggestions………………..
• Remember if you work for an organization that sends a speaker out
every week then it is not a bad idea to establish a speech bureau (list of
speakers and their interest / expertise area)
Preparing a manager for press contact
• The spokesperson should take a number of issues into consideration:
– Be brief – reporters prefer short sentences. Also is a good idea for
avoiding paraphrase
– Avoid being cagey about information.
• Don’t ask that something be “off the record” – nobody can
guarantee it.
• The ‘no comment’ statement makes the speaker looks evasive
• If you are not sure about something, instead of pretending to be
secretive, tell the reporters that you aren’t sure and that you
will find the facts and contact them.
• Maintain a firm but cordial stance. If the reporters are on a
first-name basis with you, then address them by first name too.
• Don’t show favoritism to some reporters, the other may feel
negative
• Don’t loose your temper. If you threat a member of the press
then remember this is a new story for the press.
• When you are asked negative questions, make sure not to give
a knee jerk, defensive response. Remember the two way
symmetrical communication model – be honest…
• Keep calm and try to manage a smile. You are only doing your
job and the reporters are only doing theirs.

Public Relations Notes Instructor Dr. Ilias Hristodoulakis, Ph.D Athens, Greece

Transcription

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