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56. Which of the following activities do PR professionals often handle for their clients?
A) Manage trade shows
B) Conduct historical tours
C) Appear on news programs
D) Produce employee newsletters
E) All of the options are correct.
57. Small media companies often use press releases verbatim because ______.
A) larger PR firms have more control over them
B) they have limited editorial resources
C) press releases always contain reliable information
D) a larger company’s press release contains the most original ideas
E) All of the options are correct.
58. Usually, the more closely a press release resembles ______, the more likely it is to be
used.
A) actual news copy
B) a VNR
C) other press releases
D) a PSA
E) a pseudo-event
59. Video news releases are ______.
A) public service announcements (PSAs)
B) aired by TV stations as part of their requirement to serve the public interest
C) produced by PR agencies and companies for use in TV newscasts
D) eagerly accepted by TV news departments, especially in large markets
E) None of the options are correct.
60. Unlike publicity, which is sometimes outside a PR agency’s control, ______ may help to
focus a complex issue or a client’s image.
A) VNRs
B) PSAs
C) paid advertising
D) press releases
E) None of the options are correct.
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61. A pseudo-event is ______.
A) an unexpected and unplanned event
B) an exclusive gathering for society’s most fashionable people
C) any activity held for the sole purpose of getting media coverage
D) any illegal fund-raising circumstance
E) any political event that occurred during the Cold War
62. One of the most successful pseudo-events in recent years was the ______.
A) P. T. Barnum publicity stunts
B) publication of Unsafe at Any Speed
C) elephant march across the Brooklyn Bridge
D) Felix Baumgartner’s free dive from the stratosphere
E) first press conference held by Theodore Roosevelt
63. When companies host plant tours, donate money to charity, and support festivals, these
are examples of ______.
A) Astroturf lobbying
B) social media relations
C) community and consumer relations
D) deadheading
E) media relations
64. Which of the following refers to the process of attempting to influence the voting of
lawmakers to support a company’s or an organization’s best interests?
A) Lobbying
B) Deadheading
C) Outsourcing
D) Cultivation
E) Promotions
65. Astroturf lobbying is ______.
A) an illegal fund-raising effort
B) a sports-centered PR event
C) any activity held for the purpose of getting coverage in the media
D) a phony grassroots public-affairs campaign
E) the misrepresentation of a candidate’s stance on an issue during a political campaign
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66. What did the California Center for Public Health Advocacy hire a PR firm to help them
do?
A) Pass legislation banning soda and junk food from public schools
B) Pass legislation banning smoking in restaurants
C) Pass legislation requiring thirty minutes of exercise a day
D) Pass legislation banning the sale of foie gras
E) None of the options are correct.
67. Which of the following is a benefit of placing press releases, social media releases,
VNRs, images, executive bios, and other information on a company Web site?
A) It prevents the public from getting too interested in a company.
B) It helps the company keep its information private.
C) It removes some of the barriers between an organization and the groups that PR
professionals ultimately want to reach.
D) It leads to less press coverage in the event of a company PR crisis.
E) All of the options are correct.
68. Which statement about the relationship between public relations and social media sites is
true?
A) Corporate executives can cast themselves in a friendly role by sharing professional
and personal observations.
B) Politicians strictly avoid using services like Twitter because of the chance of saying
something damaging.
C) Facebook doesn’t allow companies or politicians to have their own pages.
D) Wikipedia encourages PR firms to modify entries for their clients’ benefit.
E) None of the options are correct.
69. Why did the Federal Trade Commission set new rules about PR blogging in 2009?
A) It was concerned about the use of sexually explicit images.
B) It was worried about company representatives altering Wikipedia entries.
C) It was concerned about “mom bloggers” offering advice about consumer products
while secretly getting money and gifts from the companies they reviewed.
D) It didn’t like the fact that some companies had Facebook pages.
E) It was concerned that some politicians were using social media like Twitter to seem
more warm and friendly when they were really cold and distant.
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70. An example of a way the Internet can make a PR practitioner’s job harder is that the
public can see ______.
A) a promotional video highlighting a company’s products
B) a video that went viral of restaurant employees allegedly contaminating food
C) press releases without journalistic filters
D) flattering bios of company officials on a Web site
E) All of the options are correct.
71. A public relations firm looking to make full use of the Internet can ______.
A) encourage clients to use social media tools like Facebook and Twitter to interact
with audiences
B) edit Wikipedia entries for its client’s benefit
C) hire apparently independent bloggers to promote products
D) create a blog where corporate executives can report company news and share their
own observations
E) All of the options are correct.
72. How did BP respond to the Deepwater Horizon disaster of 2010?
A) The chairman referred to the “small people” of the Gulf region.
B) They underestimated the amount of oil leaking.
C) They vowed to pay the cost of cleanup.
D) They created a TV commercial campaign to communicate their cleanup efforts.
E) All of the options are correct.
73. Which of the following demonstrates why the 1982 tragedy involving someone
tampering with Tylenol packages and lacing them with poison is often given as an example of
the correct way to handle public relations during a crisis?
A) Tylenol successfully shifted blame by telling lies to cast suspicion on competitors.
B) Tylenol changed its name in order to avoid any lingering negative publicity.
C) Tylenol underestimated the number of contaminated bottles and still managed to get
the public to sympathize with the company.
D) Tylenol offered full disclosure of the problem to the press, recalled its products
nationwide, and set up emergency phone lines to take calls from consumers and health
care providers.
E) None of the options are correct.
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74. The term flack is a derogatory term ______.
A) coined by journalists to describe PR agents
B) coined by PR professionals to describe their clients
C) coined by PR professionals to describe journalists
D) coined by journalists to describe the people that PR agents protect
E) None of the options are correct.
75. The “Fresh Empire” campaign was designed to appeal to ___________.
A) young urban professionals who smoke
B) young white females who smoke
C) senior adults who smoke
D) urban teens to avoid tobacco
E) All of the options are correct.
76. A journalist might be likely to criticize public relations professionals for ______.
A) providing a useful press release for an upcoming event
B) only letting reporters sympathetic to the goals of an embattled company interview
that company’s president
C) helping them find experts to interview
D) giving a full and detailed account of the facts surrounding an issue
E) None of the options are correct.
77. Which of the following is not true about PR?
A) It tends to borrow a “neutral” voice from reporters or public officials.
B) Journalism and PR have a symbiotic relationship with each other.
C) Press releases are one of the common types of corporate PR.
D) PR tries to shape the public agenda for private interests.
E) PR ultimately has little influence on news content.
78. The PRSA is ______.
A) a specialized area within PR
B) a division of the Center for Media and Democracy
C) the internal watchdog group for PR
D) the public agenda for private interests.
E) None of the options are correct.
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79. According to the textbook, which of the following is not a potential problem for a
democratic society posed by the practice of modern public relations?
A) There is often little knowledge of behind-the-scenes public relations efforts.
B) Coverage gained through public relations efforts can get unwarranted credibility as
news as opposed to identifiable advertising.
C) Spin doctors can reshape a politician’s image until it bears little resemblance to
reality.
D) Debate over key policy issues, such as going to war, can become exercises in public
manipulation instead of public information.
E) There is a growing effort by major news organizations to carefully fact-check
political advertising and expose lies and half-truths.
80. The earliest public relations practitioner was the ________________________, who
sought to advance a client’s image through media exposure.
81. ________________________ was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with
the tacit understanding that they would write glowing reports about rail travel.
82. ________________________ was the first person to apply findings from psychology
and sociology to public relations.
83. In advertising and public relations, ________________________ is a communication
strategy that tries to manipulate public opinion to gain support for a special issue, program, or
policy, such as a nation’s war effort.
84. The visual counterpart of the press release for television news is the
_____________________.
85. When celebrities or officials create situations solely to attract press attention and
publicity, this is called a(n) ________________________.
86. The phony grassroots public-affairs campaigns engineered by public relations firms are
known as ________________________ lobbying.
87. For journalists, the word ________________________ has come to mean a PR person
who inserts him- or herself between a client and members of the press.
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88. _____ is a PR message used to gain support for a special issue or cause.
89. _____ lamented the influence of the PR profession on modern life.
90. _____ helped open the PR profession to women.
91. A _____ is PR that is designed to resemble a TV news story.
92. _____ transformed the image of millionaire John D. Rockefeller Sr.
93. A _____ is a broadcast-style press release for a nonprofit organization.
94. A _____ is PR written in the style of a news report.
95. _____ convinced women that cigarette smoking was publicly acceptable.
96. Explain the major difference between advertising and public relations.
97. How did the railroads and utility companies give the early forms of corporate public
relations a bad name?
98. How did Edward Bernays affect public relations?
99. What contributions did Ivy Ledbetter Lee and Edward Bernays make toward the
development of modern public relations?
100. What is a pseudo-event? How does it relate to the manufacturing of news?
101. Why have research and lobbying become increasingly important to the practice of public
relations?
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102. Describe three ways public relations firms use the Internet to promote their clients’
interests.
103. What might be a public relations benefit of creating a Facebook page for a business?
104. Why did the Federal Trade Commission get concerned with “mom bloggers” and other
sites that review products and services? What action did the FTC take in response?
105. What are some socially responsible strategies that can be used during a crisis to help a
PR specialist manage bad publicity?
106. What are the sources of the antagonism between the journalism and public relations
professions?
107. In what way(s) can public relations influence, and perhaps in some cases almost dictate,
news content?
108. What is the impact of a powerful and sophisticated public relations industry on
democracy?
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Answer Key
1. B
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45. C
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