Talk: Public relations
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I don't know if Bernays believes this but most public relations in 2000 certainly don't.
- just like public relations theorists in the 2000s,
"Not unsurprisingly, the earliest definitions emphasized the roles of press agentry and publicity since these were major elements from which modern public relations grew." - Who can extract the meaning of this statement?
S.
- It means that modern PR grew out of a tradition of "press agents" whose job it was to drum up publicity for their clients, usually in a crude and heavy-handed manner. --Dablaze 01:32, Sep 2, 2004 (UTC)
Obviously the writer of this passage intended to say, "not surprisingly." I've placed a "[sic]" after the phrase, which means, "Thus; so. Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original form or written intentionally."
Inaccuracy
I just want to say that there is a major inaccuracy in this article -- namely, the idea that marketing/advertising and propaganda are "offshoots" of public relations. This may be an attractive perspective within the public relations field, but it is not accurate.
"Publicity," as it was then called, first appeared after advertising had been established for centuries. PR historians say the first PR firm, the Publicity Bureau, was established in 1900 by former newspapermen, with Harvard as its first client (Clarke Caywood, The Handbook of Strategic Public Relations & Integrated Communications, McGraw Hill, New York, 1997, p. 23).
As the article states earlier, modern PR grew out of early 20th century wartime propaganda efforts. I suppose one could argue that the World War I Creel Commission was an offshoot of the nascent "publicity" industry, but in reality a tremendous cross-pollination took place between publicity and "propaganda." The applied social psychology, or "social research" done during wartime became the seedbed for modern-day PR.
It is more accurate to say that they are all communication disciplines, albeit ones with a significant amount of overlap and historical ties. Otherwise marketing people will argue that PR is a branch of marketing, and PR people will argue the opposite. -JG--68.165.47.138 18:38, 18 Nov 2004 (UTC)
Argument moved from main article
The following was inserted into the header of the main article by User: 217.43.132.153. --jpgordon{gab} 16:55, 20 Nov 2004 (UTC)
- This is a rather old-fashioned view which ignores the developments such as explained in the European derived viewpoints as expressed in the Bled Manifesto (see http://www.bledcom.com/uploads/documents/manifesto.pdf ) where emphasis is more on relationship management, public sphere, transparency and trust. Communication is more regarded as an instrument and the "media" as one of the possible channels. The rather simplistic view in the first sentences doesn't explain internal relationship management and communication activities carried out by public relations practitioners. Nor does it explain community relations and activities. Although similar viewpoints were expressed in earlier Wikis it seems that some wiki editors default to the biased opinion as expressed in the first sentences and continued throughout this post. I call on public relations academics to try to keep this information balanced.
- Many people criticize the PR industry for its influence on the public, and for its sometimes unethical actions in pursuing a preferred message over the facts. However, to say that of all PR practitioners would be inaccurate. Most do not work for the large, multinational agencies, but are rather in-house employees of organizations, like companies, nonprofit organizations, and federal and local governments. Most are concerned with gaining any publicity for their clients or employers in the first place rather than "spinning" a controversial issue over a prolonged period. The "spinning" that the industry's critics complain of generally occurs in the service of large corporations and prominent issue advocates rather than the rank-and-file of the PR industry, though the amount of "spin" that can be bought with either financial or political capital does have a strong influence on public discourse
