Chapter 8: Public Relations
Chapter 8: Public Relations
Multiple Choice Single Select
1) Public relations can be defined as a tool to
a) sell products.
b) establish beneficial relationships.
c) determine employee benefits.
d) create advertising campaigns.
2) Public relations is mostly a tool used by
a) sales.
b) management.
c) accounting.
d) manufacturing.
3) The “public” in public relations refers to
a) the masses reached by the media.
b) people who access the general information released by an organization.
c) anybody not financially or professionally aligned with an organization.
d) any constituency with which an organization relates.
95
4) Dialogic theory in public relations is
a) an information monologue delivered to the public in a steady stream.
b) rooted in the belief that the company is always correct.
c) the withholding of information that is negative to the client.
d) a practice in which there is genuine dialogue to negotiate relationships.
5) Among the major characteristics of dialogic theory in practice are all of the following
EXCEPT
a) assurance.
b) empathy.
c) mutuality.
d) risk.
6) One of the most important features of the dialogic theory of public relations is
a) certainty.
b) commitment.
c) persistence.
d) self-assurance.
7) The dialogic theory of public relations stresses all of the following EXCEPT
a) awareness that the audience is a means to a desired end.
b) honesty and trust in communication.
c) openness as an ideal of the democratic tradition.
d) positive regard for other people and groups.
8) Public relations practitioners doing their best work contribute to the common good of the
whole society in all of the following ways EXCEPT
a) activating the social conscience of the organization for which they work.
b) communicating the interests of their organization to the public.
c) creating positive public impressions of everything their organization does.
d) seeking mutual adjustments among the institutions within society.
9) A key difference between PR and advertising is that PR
a) always pays for the placement of its messages.
b) controls what the media will do with a message.
c) is an upper-level management activity.
d) is always acting in a purely reactive role.
10) Why is the success of a PR effort difficult to gauge?
a) PR tries to build good will, which is intangible and hard to measure in concrete terms.
b) Advertising efforts always receive more attention and are more visible.
c) PR is too long-term a function to be measurable.
d) PR’s efforts are usually rooted in a larger advertising plan.
97
11) A feature of advertising NOT shared by public relations is that
a) the organization controls the message.
b) messages are always self-serving.
c) messages that reach the audience may have been edited by the media.
d) time and space are purchased.
12) Which of the following is a packet provided to news reporters to tell the story in an
advantageous way?
a) media kit
b) b-roll
c) video release
d) media package
13) An informational story, whether written words or a fully-produced broadcast piece, given to
the news media in hopes it will be passed on to the media’s audiences is called a
a) media blast.
b) media feed.
c) news bulletin.
d) news release.
14) Video news releases (VNRs) are controversial because
a) people may confuse actors with news reporters.
b) companies are permitted to invent facts.
c) not everyone has the ability to watch the releases.
d) they are directed to news agencies to distribute.
15) During the 1800s, social Darwinism was used to justify abuses by
a) big businesses.
b) public relations professionals.
c) government officials.
d) corporate advertisers.
16) One problem railroads faced during the late 1800s that was corrected by solid public
relations was
a) secretive policies.
b) excessively high fares.
c) adversarial government relations.
d) poor safety records.
17) Ivy Lee, an early public relations practitioner, encouraged his clients to deal with negative
publicity by
a) spin mastery and releasing counteracting positive stories.
b) aggressively denying the problem.
c) stonewalling and refusing to talk with reporters.
d) telling the truth while putting a human face on their organization and its
accomplishments.
99
18) Ivy Lee’s new ideas about winning public support included all of the following EXCEPT
a) keeping sensitive issues like strike-breaking strategies off the public record.
b) assisting reporters who wanted information or interviews with executives.
c) allowing the public to see the human side of industry leaders.
d) issuing summaries of corporate executive meetings.
19) After a massacre at a Colorado mining camp, which PR professional helped John D.
Rockefeller improve his image?
a) P. T. Barnum
b) George Creel
c) Ivy Lee
d) Edward Bernays
20) What did Ivy Lee advise John D. Rockefeller Jr. to do after the Ludlow Massacre?
a) lay low for three years
b) deny all wrongdoing
c) file libel suits against critics
d) tour the Ludlow area to show his sincere concern
21) Who made puffery promotion a high art?
a) George Creel
b) Elmer Davis
c) Paul Garrett
d) P. T. Barnum
22) Extravagant claims about one’s product or organization are referred to as
a) advertising.
b) public relations.
c) flakking.
d) puffery.
23) The potential for public relations on a massive scale was demonstrated first by
a) Elmer Davis’ Office of War Information.
b) William Henry Vanderbilt’s “The public be damned.”
c) George Baer’s social paternalism.
d) George Creel’s Committee on Public Information.
24) Who was tasked by Woodrow Wilson with turning around widespread sentiment against
U.S. involvement in WWI?
a) George Creel
b) Elmer Davis
c) Ivy Lee
d) Arthur Page
101
25) During World War II, the Office of War Information was under the direction of
a) George Creel.
b) Elmer Davis.
c) Ivy Lee.
d) Arthur Page.
26) Working for AT&T in 1927, Arthur Page established the role of public relations as a
a) partner of advertising.
b) top management tool.
c) grassroots program.
d) mid-level program.
27) Public relations works best when the person in charge of it is a
a) person who simply does what he or she is told.
b) middle-management employee who reports to an executive.
c) person who implements, but is not involved in, company decisions.
d) top-level company executive involved in decision making.
28) The functional areas of responsibility for a public relations department are
a) external, internal, and media relations.
b) inner, outer, and superior relations.
c) customer, community, and government relations.
d) internal, external, and regulatory agency relations.
29) Which of the following is NOT a target audience of internal public relations?
a) shareholders
b) employees
c) unions
d) customers
30) What type of functional responsibility is developing optimal relations with employees?
a) inner relations
b) internal relations
c) social relations
d) endo-relations
31) The component of public relations that deals with the press and other media is known as
a) publicity management.
b) media relations.
c) reputation management.
d) marketing.
32) Among the alternate names that were, or still are, used for public relations are all of the
following EXCEPT
a) informatics.
b) institutional communication.
c) public information.
d) strategic communication.
33) One of the newest and hottest trends in renaming and refocusing public relationships to serve
as a “one–stop shop” for communication needs, especially in large corporations, is
a) comprehensive communication.
b) integrated marketing communication.
c) organizational relations.
d) strategic relations.
34) A corporation’s coordination of advertising and PR efforts is referred to as
a) contingency planning.
b) advertorial.
c) external public relations.
d) integrated marketing communication.
104
35) Who pioneered the enlightened self-interest concept?
a) Paul Garrett
b) Ivy Lee
c) George Baer
d) William Henry Vanderbilt
36) During the Great Depression of the 1930s, Paul Garrett led public relations in new directions
while working at
a) Westinghouse.
b) General Motors.
c) Ford.
d) International Harvester.
37) In a spirit of enlightened self-interest, the National Association of Manufacturers in 1939
declared that the integral parts of democracy included all of the following EXCEPT free
a) enterprise.
b) lunch.
c) religion.
d) speech.
38) Media relations includes all of the following activities EXCEPT
a) arranging access to information and interviews.
b) being available to answer reporters’ inquiries.
c) reviewing and editing reporters’ stories about your organization.
d) writing and producing news releases in various formats.
39) The function of public relations most concerned with creating, nurturing, enhancing, and,
when necessary, repairing an organization’s public face is called
a) image control.
b) image enhancement.
c) image management.
d) imagineering.
40) What is it called when a company’s image is promoted rather than a product?
a) institutional advertising
b) image management
c) adversarial PR
d) puffery
41) In an elaborate attempt to make over its image, British Petroleum went so far as to drop its
long-time name and henceforth call itself BP, saying that BP stood for
a) balanced petroleum.
b) better performance.
c) better petrol.
d) beyond petroleum.
106
42) John Kenney, who created BP’s unsuccessful campaign to enhance its image, ruefully
admitted that the biggest reason it failed was that it was
a) “a false front without substance.”
b) “mere marketing.”
c) “over–shadowed by similar campaigns from other oil companies.”
d) “woefully underfunded for such a massive campaign.”
43) What is crisis management?
a) helping a client or organization through an emergency
b) covering up the mess a predecessor has made
c) protecting the corporate hierarchy from intensive press scrutiny
d) masking the absence of a strategic plan
44) Public relations people engaged in performing government relations are called
a) propagandists.
b) Ivy Leaguers.
c) PR agents.
d) lobbyists.
45) Lobbyists are expediters because they know
a) about the skeletons in the closet and how to use such information.
b) local traditions and customs.
c) how government works and have personal contacts in powerful places.
d) how to protect their clients from harsh publicity.
46) Advising candidates and groups on public policy issues, usually in elections, is known as
a) canvassing.
b) political communication.
c) electioneering.
d) media relations.
47) Jack Abramoff is best known for
a) his ethical behavior in lobbying Congress.
b) his ability to defuse crises at minimal financial cost.
c) directing the campaign of President George W. Bush.
d) being convicted in one of the largest Congressional corruption scandals.
48) Public relations advocacy includes all of the following EXCEPT
a) astroturfing.
b) labeling.
c) lobbying.
d) political communication.
49) A public relations practitioner engaged in political communication could do all of the
following EXCEPT
a) campaign management.
b) organizing front organizations.
c) survey research.
d) testifying before congressional subcommittees.
50) A paint company publicly announces its commitment to recycling toxic paint, but is caught
dumping products in a lake. This situation is an example of
a) green washing.
b) image management.
c) puffery.
d) strategic communication.
51) The association for professionals working in public relations is called the
a) American Association of PR Practitioners.
b) Journalism and Public Relations Foundation.
c) Association for Integrated Communications.
d) Public Relations Society of America.
52) What distinction is given to public relations professionals who are accredited by the Public
Relations Society of America?
a) AP
b) APR
c) PRSA
d) PR-Certified
53) Another term used to describe the practice of covering up mistakes or abuses instead of
correcting them is
a) gift wrapping.
b) whitewashing.
c) plausible denial.
d) spin-doctoring.