5
CHAPTER 2: THE EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
OBJECTIVES
After reading this chapter students should be able to:
1. Understand the evolution of public relations from ancient empires to today’s
practice.
3. Appreciate the contributions of visionaries such as Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays,
who laid the foundation of today’s practice.
5. Be knowledgeable about current developments and trends in the field.
SUGGESTED PROJECTS AND DISCUSSION
A “history” chapter is common to many introductory textbooks, and many students tend to
think of such chapters as not very interesting or important. Because of this common attitude
the authors of the text have attempted to enliven the information by: 1) using many
anecdotes, and 2) making direct references to early use of many of today’s strategies and
tactics, such as positioning, third-party endorsements, the staged event, etc.
1. Track the history of the “pseudoevent”; are staged events done primarily for media
exposure, to manipulate audiences, to generate awareness? Ask students for a
current example of a pseudoevent and help them identify the purpose of the staged
event.
2. Show the video “Propaganda in America” (you can find each segment of the video
on YouTube) and ask students to discuss the public relations strategies that Bernays
used and how his efforts might have influenced modern American public relations
practices.
3. Which of Ivy Lee’s four principles/contributions might be the most “challenging”
for practitioners in today’s American society?
4. Theodore Roosevelt was the first president to really use common public relations
tactics, like press conferences, to establish public support for his presidency. How
do the tactics used by Roosevelt compare and contrast to the tactics used by
President Bush to promote his projects and initiatives.
5. How do the students react to the activities of the Creel Committee in World War I
and the Office of War Information in World War II? Do they believe the
government has a legitimate right to use public relations as a way of mobilizing
American public opinion? What conceivable dangers might arise from government
public relations? Issues and trends in public relations are discussed on pages 55-62
of the text. Students should discuss this list from the standpoint of how these trends
will affect and shape their future careers in public relations or other careers.
6. The evolution of public relations, according to the chapter, is generally from press
agentry to publicity and then counseling. Actually, all three activities are practiced
to varying degrees today. In public relations, as well as other fields, new
developments don’t always replace old practices but merely supplement them. This
should be discussed so that students understand that public relations is evolving as a
management function, but that many of the traditional public relations activities are
also being performed by today’s practitioners. Another area of discussion might be
Grunig & Hunt’s four models of public relations. Undergraduate students often need
the assistance of the instructor to properly understand the concepts, especially the
difference between two-way asymmetrical and two-way symmetrical models. In a
nutshell, both models involve two-way communication, but asymmetrical is
persuasive while symmetrical is accommodative.
CASE ACTIVITY: WOMEN IN PUBLIC RELATIONS TODAY
Considering that women constitute about 70 percent of the practitioners, there are several
implications that result from the gender shift that has taken place over the past few decades.
First, there continues to be a salary differential between men and women working in public
relations. However, despite this salary differential, the salary for women in public relations
is still fairly high compared to the salaries in other female- dominated fields. Second,
women possess inherent characteristics and skills that facilitate their success in public
relations. These characteristics and skills include better listening and communication skills
than men as well as being more sensitive than men in assisting two-way communication.
Third, although women dominate the field, men still occupy the majority of executive
position in public relations. Historically, women in public relations typically reside at the
tactical/technician level rather than the management/counseling level. Even when a woman
was hired to fill a managerial role, the idea was that her role was “window dressing”
lacking any management authority. However, this “window dressing” mentality has
dissolved over the years; the number of women in management is at its highest levels yet
and is assumed to increase as women gain more years of experience in public relations.
Students could focus on any of the aforementioned trends and provide additional
implications of the feminization trend.
ANSWERS TO QUESTIONS FOR REVIEW AND DISCUSSION
1. The roots of public relations extend deep into history. What were some of the early
antecedents to today’s public relations practice?
7
2. Name and briefly describe the five major historical themes of public relations
through the centuries.
3. The Boston Tea Party has been described as the “greatest and best-known publicity
stunt of all time.” Would you agree? Do you feel that staged events are a legitimate
way to publicize a cause and motivate people?
4. Which concepts of publicity and public relations practiced by P.T. Barnum should
modern practitioners use? Which should they reject?
5. What are the four important contributions Ivy Lee made to public relations?
(2) dealing with top executives and carrying out no program unless it had the active
support of management, (3) maintaining open communication with news media, and
6. Arthur W. Page enunciated six principles of public relations management. Do
your think these “principles” are as relevant today as they were in the 1930s?
7. What’s your assessment of Ivy Lee’s work for the Rockefeller family in the
Colorado Fuel & Iron Company strife? Do you think his approach was sound? What
would you have done differently?
8. Summarize the major developments in the philosophy and practice of public
relations from the 1920s to 2000.
(pgs. 48-62) Before the 1920s, public relations was simply an extension of the journalistic
9. James Grunig has outlined four models of public relations practice. Name and
describe each one. Do the models help explain the evolution of public relations
theory?
10. Public relations if now described as “relationship management.” How would you
describe this concept to a friend? A newer concept is the idea that “dialogue” with
individuals and various publics. Is this a worthy concept?
11. Females now constitute the majority of public relations personnel. How do you
personally feel about this? Does it make the field of public relations more or less
attractive to you?
12. Describe several recent trends in the public relations field that will shape the field in
the next five years
9
Copyright © 2015, 2012, 2009 Pearson Education, Inc.
multicultural world, recruitment of minorities, public demand for transparency, an
expanded role for public relations, focus on corporate social responsibility (CSR), emphasis
on measurement, the 24/7 news cycle, continued growth of digital media, the need for
ongoing professional development, and outsourcing to public relations firms.