THE PROCEEDINGS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HISTORY OF PUBLIC RELATIONS CONFERENCE 2011 (original) (raw)
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Toward a Comprehensive History of Public Relations
1993
Standard histories of public relations privilege the field's association with business enterprise, and traditionally place the origins of the field in the press agentry of the 19th century and in the rise of corporate concern with public opinion in the first decade of the 20th century. However, the roots of public relations reach both farther and deeper into western history and cultural ethos than present histories reveal. Public relations history can only be accurately constructed by examining the ways that many diverse groups contributed through their use of informational (propaganda) campaigns to shape public opinion and manage human behavior through the centuries. These groups have been large and small, and they have represented both established authority and oppositional social movements. Brief case studies of the Catholic Church's propaganda campaigns during the holy crusades between the llth and 13th centuries and the women's suffrage campaign during the 19th and early 20th centuries serve as examples to illustrate this new, more comprehensive approach to the development of public relations history. (Contains 33 references.) (Author/NH)
North American Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations
2017
Aims of the Series The history of public relations has long been presented in a corporatist framework. The National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices series is the fi rst to offer an authentic worldwide view of the history of public relations freed from this infl uence. The series features seven books, six of which cover continental and regional groups including (Book 1) Asia and Australasia, (Book 2) Eastern Europe and Russia, (Book 3) Middle East and Africa, (Book 4) Latin America and Caribbean, (Book 5) Western Europe, and this volume (Book 7) North America. The sixth volume featured fi ve essays on new and revised historiographic and theoretical approaches. Written by leading public relations historians and scholars, some histories of national public relations development are offered for the fi rst time while others are reinterpreted using new archival sources and other historiographical approaches. The National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices series makes a major contribution to the wider knowledge of PR's history.
Public Relations from the Dawn of Civilization
The profession of public relations lacks a serious, comprehensive history. Considering the power that we have evidenced throughout the years as practitioners, it seems somewhat ludicrous that we don't have at least one book we can point to with pride as a truly credible, challenging chronology and interpretation of PR's origins and actions, both good and bad. Suffice it to say, it will be a long time before we have such a tome. But all is not lost.
Rethinking public relations Political strategists, market research firms, think tanks, lobbyists, media advisors, third party mobilizers and 'grassroots' organizers, social media gurus, and other communication specialists have flourished in size and influence and transformed the role of communication in social, political, and economic life. Critics decry the expansion of professionalized communication, impugning the public relations (PR), polling, advertising, and marketing industries for overpowering the media with a torrent of sound-byte journalism, spin control, and 24-hour campaigning, and thus undermining the political process and civic discourse (e.g., . In his research note, featured in this issue, Matt Soar uses war terminology ("commercial carpet bombing") to characterize the impact of the ad industry, in particular, on the civic landscape: "[a] city skyline awash in prominent logos," he writes, "is indicative of a profound imbalance between the wants of marketers and the needs of citizens." Others are less discouraged by the rise and intensification of promotion and publicity in the public sphere and see potential for expanding, rather than restricting, the democratic process. One recent book argues that we have entered a period of "public relations democracy" in which more news sources operating outside the traditional institutions and arenas of power are exercising influence over how media report on political, cultural, and economic affairs . Such "pluralist optimism" brings to mind Ray Hiebert's famous statement that "without public relations, democracy could not succeed in a mass society" (1966, p. 7). 1 The growth in PR, and the professionalization of promotional communication generally, can be attributed to myriad cultural, political, and economic forces: the broader changes associated with globalization, including the development of new information and communication technologies; the emergence, expansion, and contestation of market capitalism (in its neo-liberal and other guises); the increasing importance of symbolic and promotional labour; and the revitalization of the public sphere, where new, emerging forms of grievance and risk are defined, contested, and amplified (e.g., . The articles, research notes, commentaries, and reviews that appear in this special issue address continuities and changes in public relations and professional communication practice. We argue that against the backdrop of these changes, communication (especially persuasive and instrumental forms of communication) has become a more salient feature of the cultural landscape of late modern society. In different ways, the issue takes up the challenge of rethinking public relations.
Redefining “Public Relations” in the 21ST Century
2016
Understanding that “Public Relations” represent a dynamic and evolving practice, a number of influential professional associations (PRSA, CIPR, CPRS) embarked, in the last 10 years, upon the mission to redefine the notion. This debate has consequences both on the communities of practice in PR, and on the education of future professionals. While the debate includes an increasing number of ideas, the social media evolution puts pressure on the communication sciences area, to acknowledge and formalize additional tasks for the PR practitioners. The paper looks into the results of the debate and reflects upon the teaching and research that should follow the attempt to revolutionize the PR profession and practice.