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Answer Key
1. B
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45. C
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1. Publicity is information a person, company, or institution pays to have published or
broadcast in the news media.
A) True
B) False
2. The first public relations practitioners were theatrical press agents who staged stunts to
get newspaper coverage for their clients.
A) True
B) False
3. P. T. Barnum used gross exaggeration, fraudulent stories, and staged events to secure
newspaper coverage for his clients, his American Museum, and his circus.
A) True
B) False
4. In the 1880s, railroads rarely used bribery to get favorable news coverage.
A) True
B) False
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5. Deadheading was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with the tacit
understanding that they would write glowing reports about rail travel.
A) True
B) False
6. Ivy Ledbetter Lee, one of the founders of public relations and often dubbed “Poison
Ivy,” actually believed that honesty and directness were better than deception in public relations.
A) True
B) False
7. Ivy Ledbetter Lee used PR techniques to defuse public anger over Standard Oil’s
response to the Ludlow coal strike of 1914.
A) True
B) False
8. While P. T. Barnum felt that all publicity was good publicity, Edward Bernays viewed
all public relations as propaganda and therefore unethical.
A) True
B) False
9. In 1929, Edward Bernays convinced women that smoking Colombian cigars was a
symbol of their independence from men.
A) True
B) False
10. Edward Bernays believed that obtaining people’s consent was not an essential ingredient
of a successful public relations campaign.
A) True
B) False
11. Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward Bernays believed that public opinion was rational and
difficult to influence.
A) True
B) False
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12. Edward Bernays thought that in the hands of the right experts, leaders, and PR
counselors, public opinion could be shaped and public support directed.
A) True
B) False
13. Public relations is largely a male profession, with relatively few women practitioners.
A) True
B) False
14. Women currently outnumber men by more than three to one in the public relations
profession.
A) True
B) False
15. Most of the largest public relations firms in America are owned by or affiliated with
multinational companies.
A) True
B) False
16. The most common type of public relations is done in-house by individual companies and
organizations.
A) True
B) False
17. Focus groups are almost never used in public relations research.
A) True
B) False
18. Unlike print journalists who use press releases extensively, television journalists rarely
use VNRs (video news releases).
A) True
B) False
19. Radio and television stations have been less willing to air public service announcements
since the deregulation of broadcasting in the 1980s.
A) True
B) False
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20. Historian Daniel Boorstin considered the press conference a classic example of a
pseudo-event.
A) True
B) False
21. Ralph Nader’s book Unsafe at Any Speed is credited with launching the consumer reform
movement in America.
A) True
B) False
22. Companies often hold plant tours and open houses to convince their local communities
that they are good citizens.
A) True
B) False
23. It is illegal for most companies and organizations to engage in lobbying.
A) True
B) False
24. Earmarks are spending directives in bills that are often the result of political favors or
bribes.
A) True
B) False
25. Astroturf lobbying refers to phony grassroots campaigns engineered by PR firms.
A) True
B) False
26. The Internet presents mostly problems and few opportunities for public relations
practitioners.
A) True
B) False
27. Some public relations firms have altered entries on sites like Wikipedia in order to make
their clients look good.
A) True
B) False
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28. BP’s response to the 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil-rig explosion in Alaska is an excellent
example of a company’s use of thoughtful crisis management to help its public relations.
A) True
B) False
29. When someone put poison in a few bottles of Tylenol, company executives decided to
withhold comment for a few days while they assessed the damage.
A) True
B) False
30. Journalists have traditionally held public relations practitioners in low esteem.
A) True
B) False
31. Flack is the informal term some journalists use to describe PR people who interject
themselves between their clients and the press.
A) True
B) False
32. Reporters object to PR flacks who make it difficult for them to get access to people they
want to interview.
A) True
B) False
33. Though most news reporters won’t easily admit it, they would have a harder time doing
their job without the help of PR practitioners.
A) True
B) False
34. The fact that PR professionals often move into journalism contributes to ongoing
tensions between journalism and PR.
A) True
B) False
35. Individuals and organizations with extensive PR resources usually receive more
coverage in the media than those without such PR resources.
A) True
B) False
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36. The mass media devote relatively few resources to the coverage of labor news.
A) True
B) False
37. The PRSA tends to downplay ethical issues in public relations.
A) True
B) False
38. Former president Richard Nixon used PR techniques to restore his tarnished image after
he left the White House.
A) True
B) False
39. In the 2012 presidential campaign, president Obama made several PR gaffes that nearly
cost him the election.
A) True
B) False
40. Which of the following was William F. Cody’s top publicity agent?
A) “Poison Ivy” Lee
B) P. T. Barnum
C) Edward Bernays
D) Pierre Salinger
E) None of the options are correct.
41. Buffalo Bill’s publicity agent, John Burke, used ______ to promote Bill’s Wild West
show.
A) newspaper stories
B) dime novels
C) movies
D) poster art
E) All of the options are correct.
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42. In the 1800s, America’s largest railroads used press agents to ______.
A) drum up passenger business
B) sell shares of stock
C) campaign for government funding
D) obtain the right to ship coal
E) help them drop fares and shipping rates
43. Which of the following is not one of the reasons large companies such as railroads and
utility companies engaged in public relations efforts in the 1800s?
A) A desire to get government subsidies for construction projects
B) A desire to see good things written about them in history books
C) A deep concern about public sentiment toward their companies
D) A desire to run government-approved monopolies
E) All of the options are correct.
44. In the 1800s, which industry began using press agents to help them get federal funds?
A) Carnegie Corporation
B) Railroads
C) General Electric
D) Bell Atlantic
E) None of the options are correct.
45. Ivy Ledbetter Lee told John D. Rockefeller Sr. to hand out ______ to children whenever
he was in public; this positively transformed his image in the wake of the ______ disaster.
A) candy/Standard Oil
B) nickels/Standard Oil
C) dimes/Ludlow
D) quarters/Standard Oil
E) pennies/Fordham
46. Ivy Ledbetter Lee believed that facts ______.
A) should not be manipulated or interpreted in any way
B) should be avoided at all costs and it was better to deceive the public
C) were elusive and malleable, begging to be forged and shaped
D) were completely uninteresting to a public that just wanted to be entertained
E) None of the options are correct.
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47. Which of the following figures did not play a role in the early development of public
relations?
A) Edward R. Murrow
B) John Burke
C) William “Buffalo Bill” Cody
D) “Poison Ivy” Lee
E) P. T. Barnum
48. Edward Bernays, who authored the first PR textbook, is more generally known for which
of the following?
A) Being the first to send exaggerated stories to the press about his clients and to use
gossip and rumor as part of his campaigns
B) Staging the Boston Tea Party as the first PR event, using costumed protesters to add
controversy to the political statement
C) Being the first to use social science research and psychology to stage events that
associated a product with a particular attitude
D) Arguing that PR is about coercion, not consent
E) Being the first to warn the public about the dangers of smoking tobacco
49. Which of the following is not true about Ivy Ledbetter Lee, one of the founders of
modern public relations?
A) He wrote the first college textbook on public relations.
B) He worked as a reporter.
C) He argued that an open relationship between business and the press would lead to a
better public image.
D) He thought facts were important, but also elusive and malleable.
E) He helped clients repair tarnished images with photo opportunities and
well-publicized acts of philanthropy.
50. Edward Bernays ______.
A) called himself a public relations counselor
B) helped to end a taboo against women’s smoking in public
C) taught the first college class in public relations
D) developed propaganda to support America’s entry into World War I
E) All of the options are correct.
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51. The first textbook for public relations, Crystallizing Public Opinion, was written by
______.
A) Ivy Ledbetter Lee
B) John Burke
C) Walter Lippmann
D) Edward Bernays
E) P. T. Barnum
52. Journalists like Walter Lippmann worried that ______.
A) they would lose their jobs to slick and savvy PR professionals
B) PR professionals lacked the professional detachment of journalists and held too
much power over American public opinion
C) PR professionals would obstruct journalists’ access to people in power, like
politicians and company presidents
D) PR professionals were laughing at the “poor journalists”
E) All of the options are correct.
53. Which statement best describes the current state of the public relations industry?
A) There are over 7,000 public relations firms in the United States alone.
B) There are thousands of corporate, government, and nonprofit organizations that
have their own PR departments.
C) A good deal of the money and power in the PR field flows through a handful of
major multinational holding companies that often own several PR agencies.
D) Most independent public relations firms operate on a local or regional level.
E) All of the options are correct.
54. Communication strategically placed, either as advertising or as publicity, to gain support
for a special issue, program, or policy is known as ______.
A) a public service announcement
B) lobbying
C) a pseudo-event
D) improper-ganda
E) propaganda
55. The targeted audience of public relations is ______.
A) consumers and the general public
B) shareholders
C) company employees
D) government agencies
E) All of the options are correct.