Chapter 12: Public Relations and Framing the Message
True/False
1. The first public relations practitioners were primarily theatrical agents who staged stunts to get
newspaper coverage for their clients.
2. P. T. Barnum used gross exaggeration, fraudulent stories, and staged events to secure
newspaper coverage for his clients, his American Museum, and his circus.
3. Deadheading was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with the tacit understanding
that they would write glowing reports about rail travel.
4. Ivy Lee, one of the founders of public relations and often dubbed “Poison Ivy,” believed that
deception was better than honesty in public relations.
5. Ivy Lee used PR techniques to defuse public anger over the Ludlow coal strike of 1914.
6. Edward Bernays preferred to call himself a “publicity agent.”
7. Edward Bernays worked on propaganda to help the U.S. government during World War I.
8. Public relations is largely a male profession, with relatively few female practitioners.
9. Unlike the wide use of press releases in print journalism, television journalists rarely use video
news releases (VNRs).
10. Independent PR firms are usually huge organizations with a national clientele.
11. In-house PR departments usually just create newsletters.
12. Reporters would have a harder time doing their job without the help of PR practitioners.
13. Exxon’s response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska is an excellent example of a
company using thoughtful crisis management to help its public relations.
14. Press releases are created using a specific PR style of writing.
15. PR practitioners find focus groups and surveys less helpful than instinct in planning campaigns.
16. Companies often hold plant tours and open houses to convince their local communities that they
are good citizens.
17. It is illegal for most companies and organizations to engage in lobbying.
18. Journalists have traditionally held PR practitioners in low esteem.
19. Reporters object to PR professionals who make it difficult for them to get access to people they
want to interview.
20. Individuals and organizations with extensive PR resources usually receive more coverage in the
media than those without such PR resources.
21.Converged and viral media have made public relations more difficult for the U.S. military.
22. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) tends to downplay ethical issues in public
relations.
23. 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.
24. There are about 200 public relations agencies in the United States.
Multiple Choice
Note: The correct answer is asterisked.
25. Media relations specialists
26. Buffalo Bill’s publicity agent, John Burke, used _______________ to promote Bill’s Wild West
show.
27. In the 1800s, America’s largest railroads used press agents to
28. What did Ashton Kutcher’s experience with Twitter illustrate about public relations?
29. On what part of society does public relations have the most significant impact?
30. Which of the following statements about public relations is not correct?
31. Video news releases (VNRs) are
32. Which of the following refers to the process of attempting to influence the voting of lawmakers
to support a client’s or an organization’s best interests?
33. Communication strategically placed, either as advertising or as publicity, to gain support for a
special issue, program, or policy is known as
34. PR firms often raid news staff for talent because
35. The claim that public relations encourages reporter laziness is based on PR firms that
Fill in the Blank
37. Edward Bernays described public relations as the “________________ of consent.”
38. The print media often create news stories from press releases. The visual counterpart of the
press release for television news is the ___________________________.
39. _____________ was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with the tacit understanding
that they would write glowing reports about rail travel.
40. A ______________is when celebrities or officials create situations that attract press attention
and publicity without anything really happening.
41. The phony grassroots public affairs campaigns engineered by PR firms are known as
___________ lobbying.
42. The earliest PR practitioner was the ________________, who sought to advance a client’s
image through media exposure.
Matching
Match the types of messages with their definitions.
A. PR message to gain support for a special issue or cause
B. Resembles TV news story
C. Broadcast-style press release for nonprofit organization
D. Written in style of news report
43. Propaganda
44. Press release
45. Video news release
46. Public service announcement
Essay
47. Explain the major difference between advertising and public relations.
48. How did the railroads and utility companies give the early forms of corporate public relations a
bad name?
49. What contributions did Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays make to the development of modern public
relations?
50. How has converged media affected the PR efforts of the U.S. military?
51. Why have research and lobbying become increasingly important to the practice of public
relations?
52. What are the sources of the antagonism between the journalism and public relations
professions?