Printing press without copyright: a historical analysis of printing and publishing in Song,China

This study looks at the effect of China's political freedom, economic development and public relations efforts on the US media's coverage of China, and on Americans' opinions of China in the past 30 years. China's political freedom was found to be significant in predicting US media coverage of China and Americans' opinion of China, with more freedom leading to more positive coverage and more favorable opinions. More positive news coverage is related to more favorable American opinions of China when controlling for political and economic development and for public relations efforts. The number of public relations contracts China has signed with the US is also related to the increase in positive US media coverage of China.     

Democracy and government public relations: Expanding the scope of “Relationship” in public relations research

The author argues that the unique nature of the US government poses significant barriers to democratic governmental public relations practiced in and by the US. By exploring challenges in relationship management that surface while analyzing a particular instance of government public relations, the author posits that relationship management research should take into account publics’ (non)desire for a relationship as well as different types of organization–public relationships (OPRs) including government–public relationships. The author analyzes the US Government's official apology, administered by President Clinton, to Tuskegee study survivors, introduces the communicative conception of distance to PR to broaden relationship management frameworks, and argues for broader understanding of what constitutes democratic public relations.     

Soft power and public diplomacy: The new frontier for public relations and international communication between the US and China

The underlying assumption is that a gradual change in economic and financial power will also lead to changes in ‘soft power’ like media communication, public relations, public opinion, public diplomacy and (new and old) media consumption. In other words, culture and mass communication play a significant role in shaping the dialogue between organizations and publics in different countries in general, and between the US and China in particular.     

From the Last Frontier to the new Cosmopolitan: A history of casino public relations in Las Vegas

This research examines the use of public relations by the casino gaming industry in Las Vegas, NV. Many are familiar with Las Vegas's extraordinary growth into a tourist destination and cultural icon, but few realize that public relations played a significant part in promoting this growth. Based on archival research, this paper identifies ways in which public relations activities – even when not identified by that particular title – played a role in advancing Las Vegas's casinos into the modern era of corporate ownership and international prominence.     

Cause identity: A measurement of disability organizations’ communicated values

This article introduces the concept of “cause identity” as an important consideration in public relations practice as well as research. Ten different disability organizations were used to examine how – as measured through communicated values – organizational identity is expressed. Results of a quantitative content analysis of marketing and public relations materials used by the organizations indicated very few distinctions in their organizational identities. Rather, a strong collective identity was shared among all ten organizations.     

The press and public relations through the lens of the periodicals, 1890–1930

This paper explores and analyzes the intellectual debate and discussion about the slow reveal of public relations and both the perceived threat to journalism and the corruption of public opinion in American life as it appeared in the periodicals in the early twentieth century. Despite Edward L. Bernays complaint that a “conspiracy of silence” prevailed in the mass media about the growing field of public relations prior to 1930, this review found more than a hundred essays and articles about public relations. The topics ran the gamut from historical explanations and explorations of what were essentially the early beginnings of our contemporary information society to discussions, debates, and warnings about the ramifications of public relations in the commercial, governmental, political, and social areas of life.     

Using dialogue to build organization–public relationships,engage publics,and positively affect organizational outcomes

The study and practice of public relations continues to explore the many benefits accrued when organizations adopt a relational approach to public relations management. One area that is relatively unexplored in the relationship management literature is the role of dialogue in organization–public relationships. Historically, scholars have focused dialogic research on either interaction – where an organization and a public exchange information – or a debate – where organizations and public engage in a process of statement counterstatement. The current investigation explores the notion of dialogue and examines the ways in which relationship attitudes and dialogue may positively affect key public member evaluations and behavioral intent. The results suggest that both relationship attitudes and dialogue positively affect respondent evaluations of and intended behaviors toward an organization. The implications of the findings are presented and suggestions for managing organization–public relationships are considered.     

Strategic framing in the BP crisis: A semantic network analysis of associative frames

This paper contributes to the analysis of the interplay of public relations and news in crisis situations, and the conceptualization of strategic framing by introducing the idea of associative frames and the method of semantic network analysis to the PR research field. By building on a more advanced understanding of communication as process of social meaning construction that is embedded in networks of differential relations between different actors, it contributes to extend the perspective of first- and second-order agenda building towards a kind of “third order” or “network agenda building”. Via an automated content analysis of more than 3700 articles we examine agenda- and frame-differences between public relations, UK and US news in the BP crisis. The study documents that BP successfully applied a decoupling strategy: It dissociated itself from being responsible for the cause and at the same time presented itself as solvent of the crisis. It shows that in crises, associative frames in PR resonate partly to associative frames in news. Especially the US news followed BP and did not succeed in presenting political actors as solution providers.     

Postmodernism,symmetry, and cash value: An Isocratean model for practitioners

Postmodern philosophy has presented significant challenges to the practicality, universality, and justice of a pervasive paradigm in public relations theory: Excellence Theory, including the concept of the two-way symmetrical worldview. Conversely, however, the practical value of postmodern public relations remains problematic for current practitioners. This article seeks to show that the symmetrical rhetoric of Isocrates – with its values of moderation, justice, and inclusive discourse – presents a practical, successful model for the infusion of postmodern values into 21st-century symmetry.     

The short life of the Government Public Relations Association in the US, 1949–1958

The historical literature on US public relations has paid modest attention to the professionalization of the practice in the public sector. This is an historical summary of the Government Public Relations Association, which existed between 1949 and 1958. It attempted to organize a professional association of, largely, public relations officers at the municipal level of government. Its failure to become institutionalized likely reflects the tenuous status of the overt practice of public relations in the US public sector.     

Forty years of doctoral public relations research in Spain: A quantitative study of dissertation contribution to theory development

In this article, doctoral dissertations on public relations written at Spanish universities (1965–2004) are examined in order to gain an understanding of the level of theory development within the discipline. The following subjects are studied: growth over time, universities where they were written, use of language, gender and the topics of doctoral dissertations. Although still in its early development, public relations doctoral research in Spain is a well-established and burgeoning field in terms of the total of theses examined (62). The conclusion, however, is that their contribution to theory building in public relations has been negligible, with the practical or operational side of public relations standing out more than the conceptual and theoretical side.     

The fear of public relations in foreign affairs: an examination of the 1963 Fulbright Hearings into foreign agents

Public relations has long been looked at with suspicion given its use of persuasion to influence public opinion. That suspicion turns to fear when public relations is linked to propaganda. The 1963 Senate Foreign Relations Committee's investigation into the Foreign Agents Registration Act provides an opportunity to explore the fear of the public's susceptibility to propaganda and the perceived role of public relations in shaping public opinion. Public relations practitioners working for foreign clients were portrayed in the hearings as mercenaries who worked behind the scenes to influence American foreign policy.     

Cognitive communication competence within public relations practitioners: Examining gender differences between technicians and managers

This study examines gender differences within public relations practitioners. Of specific interest was the role that cognitive communication competence played within public relations managers and public relations technicians. Public relations practitioners completed a questionnaire that included the Duran and Spitzberg's [Duran, R. L., & Spitzberg, B. H. (1995). Toward the development and validation of a measure of cognitive communication competence. Communication Quarterly, 43(3), 259–275] Cognitive Communication Competence Scale. Participants self-identified whether they were a technician or a manager. Results showed that male public relations managers had significantly higher cognitive communication competence than male public relations technicians. However, the hypothesis that female public relations managers would have higher cognitive communication competence than female public relations technicians was not supported. Also, this study found no significant gender differences with levels of cognitive communication competence. However, female technicians have significantly higher cognitive communication competence than male technicians.     

Frank Capra's Why We Fight and film documentary discourse in public relations

This article analyzes the influence of Archibald MacLeish's “strategy of truth” and the principles of the Government Information Manual for the Motion Picture Industry in the production of Frank Capra's documentary series Why We Fight. One of the main contributions of this research is to show how this series is the most important example of the application of the strategy of truth and, at the same time, one of the main examples of public relations audiovisual product realized to be addressed to American Army as well to the American public opinion. It is argued that Capra's Why We Fight made a substantial and long-lasting contribution to public relations, particularly in terms of its discourse and the use of analepsis has PR narrative resource. Overall, the article positions Why We Fight as one of the greatest efforts ever made in the history of military public relations.     

Measuring stewardship in public relations: A test exploring impact on the fundraising relationship

Though scholars have explored the impact symmetrical relationship maintenance strategies from interpersonal and marketing communication in public relations contexts, they have largely ignored stewardship. Explicated by Kelly [Kelly, K. S. (2001a). Stewardship: The fifth step in the public relations process. In R. L. Heath (Ed.), Handbook of public relations (pp. 279–289). Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage] as a core component of the ROPES process of public relations, the “S” or stewardship proposes four elements that foster relationship growth when incorporated into organization's strategic efforts. This study created original scales to measure the impact of reciprocity, responsibility, reporting, and relationship nurturing in the fundraising setting. Results indicate that donors favor these strategies, and path analysis demonstrates they have significant impact on how donors evaluate the nonprofit organization–donor relationship.     

Economics and public relations in a time of downturn: Dismal science,unseen history,and the need for dialogue

The major originating event of this special section was the ongoing crisis that continues to cast a shadow of financial depression across the globe and has led to calls for a radical rethink of economics. In this introduction we attempt to contextualize the special section's theme and articles with a view to sparking a deeper and longer dialogue – one that emphasizes the potential for positive disciplinary exchanges – between economics and public relations. As fields, they have been respectively characterized as the dismal science and the unseen history. In order to avoid such offspring as a dismal history of economics and an unseen science of public relations, we argue that the two need both to learn from, and to appreciate, each other. In the meantime, there is another crisis stalking public relations, and it is the possibility that the recent poor history of economics might be the imminent future of public relations.     

A postmodern view of public relations: Sign and reality

This essay looks at postmodernisn as a critical theory to give some insight into modern public relations practice. A critical view of the signs and symbols of a culture allow one to see the allocation of power and the dominant ideology. Public relations practitioners can be called symbolmakers if one considers their work is largely word and image.The case here is the 1990 Hill and Knowlton client, Citizens for a Free Kuwait. It was the H & K involvement with this client that produced the testimony before Congress that led to the US commitment to war against Iraq.The media theory of Jean Baudrillard serves as the cultural studies paradigm in this essay. His postmodernist theory of simulacra, illustrates the kind of society in which the signs of the media become their own reality, and do not stand for anything. They generate reality for themselves; they become the reality. That is what happened in the H & K case since the testimony before Congress was never substantiated even though that testimony, initiated by the H & K public relations firm, became the catalyst for US involvement in the war. This article uses the postmodernist insight from Baudrillard to argue that the signs and symbols demanded by media are their own reality.Public relations practitioners can manipulate the image because they know the importance people place on signs and symbols in the culture. But, since media technology today gives us the facts as presented simply because they are presented and have little or no reference to truth, one could pose the serious question of whether the field of modern public relations practice must today and in the future be held to even greater accountability and tighter scrutiny.Mickey is Professor of Communication Studies at Bridgewater State College. He recently published a book on public relations theory called Sociodrama: An Interpretive Theory for the Practice of Public Relations.     

The evolution of public relations measurement and evaluation

The measurement and evaluation of public relations effectiveness has long been a major professional and research issue. In the first half of the 20th century, there were two research methods applied, opinion polls and basic media analysis. These were used to plan campaigns and monitor progress of media relations activities. In the second half of the century, as the practices of public relations expanded, greater emphasis was given to media analysis but the evidence of many practitioner studies was that measurement and evaluation was more discussed than undertaken. In the final 25 years of the century, the academic voice began to become more prominent in the discussion and development of methodologies and in nationally-based education programmes aimed at practitioners. The Internet and social media also began to change practices. There were mixed results from this clamour: more practitioners began to evaluate public relations activity (but many still applied discredited measures) whilst new techniques began to be introduced. Document analysis has prepared a timeline of the development of public relations measurement and evaluation. This paper explores the academic and professional themes that have characterised the development of this important public relations practice over the past 110 years.     

To be,or not to be: Paradoxes in strategic public relations in Italy

There is a paucity of empirical studies of public relations in Italy. This study sought to assess whether public relations departments are managed strategically in Italy and whether public relations contributes to the strategic management of organizations. Using the four generic principles that deal with strategic management, this study gathered data from public relations professionals working in the three major types of organizations: corporations, government agencies, and non-profits. The study found that regardless of the type of organization, few public relations practitioners are represented in the senior management of their organizations. Senior managers of non-profits tended to value public relations more than the other two sectors. Symmetrical communication again proved to be normative. By using a conceptual framework and research instruments that have been employed in studies conducted in other parts of the world, this study has generated data that can be used to compare strategic public relations in different socio-cultural environments – thus contributing to building a global theory of public relations.