Home Random Page


CATEGORIES:

BiologyChemistryConstructionCultureEcologyEconomyElectronicsFinanceGeographyHistoryInformaticsLawMathematicsMechanicsMedicineOtherPedagogyPhilosophyPhysicsPolicyPsychologySociologySportTourism






Brief History of PR

What is Public Relations?

In today's media-saturated culture, effective PR is a crucial part of any public undertaking. Image and public opinion mean everything, especially in the increasingly influential realm of social media. The individual or group who wins the media race will win the ultimate goal: the trust of the people.

Public relations, better known as PR, is the art and science of making people, governments and organizations look good. PR professionals work behind the scenes - sending press releases, courting journalists, researching public opinion - to position their clients as positive role models, ethical businessmen, concerned public officials, or at the very least, not criminals.

It can be difficult to tell public relations apart from advertising. Advertisers strive to sell a product or service, and public relations focuses on shaping an image. PR and marketing are even more related. Marketing uses research and targeted communications to achieve a desired action while public relations professionals strive to gain unpaid publicity from newspaper articles or TV news segments.

In this book, we'll start by defining exactly what public relations is, followed by what PR professionals do and the different areas in which they work.

 

Before we get to studying what PR is, let’s talk about the History of PR and its father-founder. Who is he? What do you know about him?

The information in the text can be necessary for you.

The vocabulary can help you:

Brief History of PR

Public relations arrived with the development of mass media. At the turn of the 20th century, "muckraking" journalists were stirring up public dissent against the powerful monopolies and wealthy industrialists who ruled the day. Early public relations firms combated the bad press by placing positive stories about their clients in newspapers.

Former journalists, such as Ivy Lee, used the first press releases to feed newspapers "the facts" about his misunderstood clients, namely the railroad and tobacco industries, and J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

Lee and company became so good at whitewashing even the darkest corporate sins that PR professionals earned a reputation as "spin doctors."

Much time has passed since the days of Ivy Lee, and to label today's PR professionals as dishonest would be to ignore how pervasive and important their work has become to people and organizations of all shapes and sizes - small businesses, authors, activists, universities, and non-profit organizations - not just big business and big government.

Some statements are false. Find and correct them, using the information from the text:

1. The birthday of PR is connected with the end of XX century when many goods were manufactured and it was necessary to sell them.

2. At first PR firms and the press were rivals.

3. Early PR specialists published news about the achievements of their clients.

4. PR started in the UK.



5. One of the first clients of Ivy Lee was J.D. Rockefeller's Standard Oil.

6. Ivy lee and his team got the positive reputation.

7. Now the work of PR specialists has become very important.

8. It is forbidden to consult with PR specialists at the universities.

9. During the election campaigns PR specialists are often consulted with.

Share with your groupmates the main events in the history of PR. Use the supplementary material if necessary.

What is Public Relations?

1. Read and translate the text

Public relations professionals manage image for a company or individual such as scheduling publicity tours.

A basic definition of public relations is to shape and maintain the image of a company, organization or individual in the eyes of the client's various "publics." What is a "public" exactly? A public, in PR terms, is anyone who ever has or ever will form an opinion about the client.

Depending on the nature of the client's work, these publics could include clients, potential clients, voters, members of the local community, members of the media, students, parents of students, online fans groups, foreign citizens - the list is endless.

Public relations success requires a deep understanding of the interests and concerns of each the client's many publics. The public relations professional must know how to effectively address those concerns using the most powerful tool of the PR trade: publicity.

Entrepreneur.com defines public relations purely in terms of publicity work, describing PR as "Using the news or business press to carry positive stories about your company or your products; cultivating a good relationship with local press representatives".

In many cases, the chief duty of the public relations professional is to draft press releases, which are sent to targeted members of the media. But to limit the scope of the public relations definition to publicity alone would be to underestimate the growing influence and reach of PR.

For example, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes is scheduled to speak at the Public Relations Society of America's annual conference about "public diplomacy," a branch of government public relations. Public diplomacy is shaping the image of a nation (in this case, the United States) in the eyes of both traditional allies and enemy states.

Today's public relations professional does much more than sit behind a desk faxing out press releases. More than ever, he's the public face of the client. It's the PR professional who organizes community outreach and volunteer programs. It's the PR representative who cultivates relationships with potential investors. And it's the PR executive who goes on the cable TV news program to answer the tough questions.

2. Translate and transcribe the following words, learn them by heart. Find the sentences where they were used and write them out.

Individual, to schedule, publicity tour, basic definition, to maintain, public, potential clients, a voter, to require, concern, a tool, publicity, duty, to draft, to target, limit, to underestimate, annual, to shape, an ally, community, executive, cable, tough.

3. Fill in the gaps using the words from the given below. Change the form if necessary.

Individual, to maintain, to require, a tool, duty, to target, annual, an ally, tough.

1. Besides the chief … PR professional do a lot of other work: communicate with potential clients, write press releases, etc.

2. Either … or big companies can become PR professionals’ clients. They only need to have the product and be eager to advertize it.

3. The audience … interesting advertizing campaigns in order to believe that the product is really worth to be bought.

4. The hardest task in PR is to … the image of a company after you have created it.

5. PR executives have got used to come across with difficult clients and answer the… questions of the potential investors.

6. During an … meeting all the PR executives of NGK International shared their experience and debated about the weak points of advertising companies.

7. The most powerful … in the work of PR agents is publicity, which they use for the full volume.

8. Traditional … and enemies should know weak and strong sides of the partners.

9. The … members of the media often receive high quality press-releases, produced by the executives.

4. Find the English equivalents for the following phrases:

5. Match the definitions with the words

Publicity Recurring, done, or performed every year; yearly
Client A person or group having administrative or managerial authority in an organization
Annual The party for which professional services are rendered as by an attorney
Executive The opinion or concept of something that is held by the public
Diplomacy A group of people living in the same locality and under the same government
Community Information that concerns a person, group, event, or product and that is disseminated through various media to attract public notice
Image Tact and skill in dealing with people

 


Date: 2015-02-16; view: 1949


<== previous page | next page ==>
A Closer Look at High-Frequency Trading | Answer the questions.
doclecture.net - lectures - 2014-2024 year. Copyright infringement or personal data (0.008 sec.)