PR Practice and Attachment

Debre Markos University
College of Social Science & Humanities

Department of Journalism and Communications
Course Title: Introduction to Public Relations and Attachment

Course Code: EnLa 332
Credit Hours: 3
Module Type: Distance Module for Summer Modality
Prepared By:
Ermiyas Tsegaye (MA0
Belachew Zerihun (PhD)
Tafere Melaku (PhD)
2011
Reviewer: Dessalew Getnet (MA in JoCo, MA in TEFL)
First Revision
March 2019
Debre Markos, Ethiopia

Introduction to Public Relations (EnLa 332
Table of Contents
Module Introduction ................................................................................................................... - 1 -

Module Description ................................................................................................................ - 1 -
Module Organization .............................................................................................................. - 1 -
Learning Objectives ................................................................................................................ - 2 -
CHAPTER ONE .............................................................................................................................. 1
1. FUNDAMENTALS OF PR ..................................................................................................... 1
Introduction .................................................................................................................................. 1
Chapter Objective ........................................................................................................................ 1
1.1. Defining Public Relations ................................................................................................ 1
1.2 Components of PR ................................................................................................................. 6
1.3 Misconceptions of PR ............................................................................................................ 9
1.4 Interdisciplinary nature of PR .............................................................................................. 10
1.4.1 PR vs. Journalism.......................................................................................................... 10
1.4.2 PR from Marketing ....................................................................................................... 11
1.4.3 PR from Advertising ..................................................................................................... 12
1.5 Professionalism of PR .......................................................................................................... 13
1.6 Functions of PR.................................................................................................................... 14
1.7 Qualities of PR Practitioners................................................................................................ 15
1.7.1 The Technical Qualities ................................................................................................ 15
1.7.2 The Normative Qualities ............................................................................................... 16
Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 18
Review Questions .......................................................................................................................... 19
Reading Materials .................................................................................................................. 20
CHAPTER TWO ........................................................................................................................... 22
2. PUBLIC RELATIONS MODELS AND PROCESS ................................................................. 22
Introduction ................................................................................................................................ 22
Chapter Objective ...................................................................................................................... 22
2.1 PR Models............................................................................................................................ 23
2.1.1 Press agentry/publicity model ....................................................................................... 23
2.1.2 Public information model ............................................................................................. 23
DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

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2.1.3 Two-way asymmetric PR .............................................................................................. 24

2.1.4 Two-way symmetric PR................................................................................................ 24
2.2 Public Relations Process ...................................................................................................... 26
2.2.1 Research ........................................................................................................................ 29
2.2.2 Action Plan.................................................................................................................... 35
2.2.3 Communication ............................................................................................................. 40
2.2.4 Evaluation ..................................................................................................................... 44
Chapter Summary .......................................................................................................................... 48
 Review Questions  ............................................................................................................... 49
Reading Materials .................................................................................................................. 51
CHAPTER THREE ....................................................................................................................... 52
3. PR PRINCIPLES, STRATEGIES AND TACTICS .................................................................. 52
Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 52
Chapter Objective .......................................................................................................................... 52
3.1 Foundational Principles of PR ............................................................................................. 52
3.2 PR Strategies ........................................................................................................................ 59
3.3 Public Relations Tactics ....................................................................................................... 61
Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................................... 64
Review Questions ...................................................................................................................... 65
Reading Texts ........................................................................................................................ 66
CHAPTER FOUR.......................................................................................................................... 67
4. PUBLIC RELATIONS MEDIA ................................................................................................ 67
Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 67
4.1 Work Assignments of Public Relations ............................................................................... 67
4.2 Media Relations ................................................................................................................... 69
4.2.1 Definition of Media Relations....................................................................................... 69
4.2.2 Relationship between Media and PR ............................................................................ 69
4.2.3 Tools for Media Relations Practice ............................................................................... 70
4.2.4 Media for Internal and External Publics ....................................................................... 71
4.2.5 Press Release................................................................................................................. 73
4.2.6 Press Conference ........................................................................................................... 77
4.2.6 Speech Communication ................................................................................................ 80
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4.2.7 Event Management ....................................................................................................... 84

Chapter Summary ...................................................................................................................... 87
Review Questions ...................................................................................................................... 88
Reading Texts ........................................................................................................................ 89
CHAPTER FIVE ........................................................................................................................... 91
5. PUBLIC RELATIONS ATTACHMENT.................................................................................. 91
Introduction.................................................................................................................................... 91
5.1 PR in Government Organizations ........................................................................................ 91
5.2 Public Relations in Non-Government Organizations (NGO) .............................................. 96
5.3 PR in Business Organizations (Corporations) ..................................................................... 96
Chapter Summary ................................................................................................................ 101
Review Questions .................................................................................................................... 101
Reading Texts .......................................................................................................................... 102
CHAPTER SIX ............................................................................................................................ 103
6. CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND IMAGE BUILDING ....................................................... 103
Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 103
Chapter Objectives ....................................................................................................................... 103
6.1 Crisis Management ...................................................................................................... 103
6.1.1 What is a Crisis? ......................................................................................................... 104
6.1.2 Possible Indicators of crises ........................................................................................ 105
6.1.3 Kinds of Crisis ............................................................................................................ 105
6.1.4 The Stages of a Crisis ................................................................................................. 106
6.2 Crisis Communication ....................................................................................................... 110
6.2.1 Steps in Crisis Communication ................................................................................... 110
6.1.2 What to Do Before, During and After a Crisis? .......................................................... 111
6.3 Image Building................................................................................................................... 114
6.3.1 Image Building Exercises ........................................................................................... 115
Chapter Summary .................................................................................................................... 117
Reading Texts .......................................................................................................................... 118
CHAPTER SEVEN ..................................................................................................................... 120
7. PR LAW AND ETHICS ...................................................................................................... 120
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Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 120
Chapter Objective ........................................................................................................................ 120
7.1 Laws of PR......................................................................................................................... 121
7.1.1 Public Relations Laws and Regulations ...................................................................... 121
7.1.2 Role of Law in Public Relations ................................................................................. 121
7.1.3 Public Relations Laws................................................................................................. 122
7.2 Ethics in Public Relations .................................................................................................. 124
7.2.1 Definitions of Ethics ................................................................................................... 124
7.2.2 Ethical Loyalties ......................................................................................................... 125
7.2.3 Ethical Values ............................................................................................................. 127
Reading Texts .......................................................................................................................... 130
Reference ................................................................................................................................. 131
Appendix.................................................................................................................................. 136

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Module Introduction
Module Description
Dear students, Welcome to the course, entitled Introduction to Public Relations and
attachment. The course code is EnLa 332. It is designed for undergraduate students of
English language. The course provides the students with adequate and relevance
knowledge of public relations, hereafter PR, practice. At the end of the lessons in the
course, students are expected to have acquired sufficient knowledge, skill and attitude of
PR concept and practice. Students will also learn the relevant models and processes in
guiding public relations practice. Precisely, the students who have gone through this
course would be expected to have in-depth understanding of the basic principles,
strategies, and tactics imperative for effective PR practice.
In this module students are expected to familiarize themselves with the basic legal and
ethical principles of PR. In this module you learn about the fundamental attachment areas
of PR. This means, the public relations across different sectors are expected to work
almost towards the mainstream objective of the institution. Consequently, PR
practitioners at the government offices, non-government offices and business entities
have their own shared and unique attachment. Therefore, the module offers you with
informative insights into the course contents. It also provides you with a list of relevant
reference materials you will need to gain adequate familiarity with in-depth
understanding of the subject matter.
Furthermore, in each topic, or subtopics as well as the end of the chapters there are some
activities and exercises that enable you to assess yourself. In the assessments you can
figure out your understanding for each topic.
Module Organization
The module is organized into seven chapters. The first chapter deals with the concepts
and misconceptions of PR, the components of PR, the interdisciplinary nature of PR,
public relations roles and function, and the Professionalism public relations and the
practitioners’ qualities. The second chapter is about the PR models and Processes. The
third chapter deals with PR principles, strategies and tactics. The fourth chapter covers
PR Media. The fifth chapter specifically covers PR attachment. The sixth chapter covers
about crisis communication and Image building. The last chapter deals about PR laws and
ethics.
Learning Objectives
At the end of this module the students should be able to:
 identify the meaning, nature, role and functions of public relations
 distinguish public relations from other related concepts
 be familiar with the publics of public relations
 identify different models and the four-step public relations process
 identify the skills and techniques used to deal with community and media
relations and use the different public relations tools
 identify the basic principles, strategies and tactics of PR
 analyze organizational attachments of PR
 manage crisis communication and image building
 savvy legal and ethical aspects of the profession

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CHAPTER ONE
1. FUNDAMENTALS OF PR
Introduction
A Public relations has as many definitions as there are authors and practitioners in the
field. Offer varying definitions based on their knowledge, experience and practical
perspectives widen understandings regarding PR. Thus, in this chapter you are going to
deal with the fundamental concept of public relations, in which you are expected to equip
yourself with basic cognitive, affective and psychomotor domains of the discipline.
Furthermore, you are differentiating PR from related disciplines and also identify the
roles and functions as well as seizing the basic qualities to be a good PR practitioner.
Chapter Objective
In this chapter, the learner is expected to;
 Define what is and what is not public relations

 State the elements of public relations
 Distinguish public relations from other disciplines
 Solidify the professionalism of public relations
 Identify the functions and roles of public relations
 Understand the qualities of Public relations practitioners
1.1. Defining Public Relations
Activity 1.1
1. What is public relation?
2. Where public relation is practiced?
Public relation is a broad and complex activity though its basic objective is simple to
communicate in order to achieve understanding through knowledge. PR specialists in
different organizations may be named as communication specialists, information officers,
press secretaries, public affair specialists, media specialists, marketing officers,
promotion expertise, government communication affairs, etc. Although naming of the
profession is different the bottom line of PR practice is in the result that come from
putting theories and principles to work in a way that benefits the organization issuing the
‘pay check’ and the society of which that organization is a part.
There are many standard and acceptable definitions of public relations in the field. The
definitions of public relations with many more emerging definitions clearly show how
important the profession is to the practitioners, researchers and scholars. For better
understanding of the meaning and nature of public relations, therefore, it is better to
consider few definitions out of the numerous existing definitions of public relations for
the purpose of this course.
Public relations is “essentially about positively and systematically using

actions and communications to influence people’s attitudes, opinions,
belief, interest and behaviour in a given or desired direction (e.g.
Adopting good environmental behaviours as well as building lasting
credibility and reputation for individuals and corporate entities like profit
or non-profit organisations and even nations, states, local government or
communities (Nwosu and Uffoh, 2006:12).
From the above definition, it is clearly understood that the following themes. First, PR is
a systematic and positive communication. Second, the main intent of the communication
is to make an influence. Third, the influence is towards a desired direction. Finally, PR is
practiced in all kinds of institutions.
The other definition is given by the institute of public relations institute of America.
According to the public relations institute of America, PR is a deliberate, planned and
sustained effort to establish and maintain understanding between an organization and its

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publics. Publics can be internal and/or external, which cultivate relations in and out of the
organizations.
In addition to this, Cutlip (2000) defines PR as art or science of establishing good

relationship or promoting good will. It is the management function that identifies,
establishes, and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and
the various publics on whom its success or failure depends”.
Moreover, Public relations is concerned with “the promotion of rapport and goodwill
between persons, firms or institutions, and other persons, special publics or the
community at large, through the distribution of interpretative materials, the development
of neighbourly interchange and assessment of public reaction”(Webster, 1992).
Furthermore, Public Relations is “the ethical and strategic management of

communication and relationship in order to build and develop coalitions and policy,
identify and manage issues and create messages to achieve sound outcomes within a
socially responsible framework” (Johnston and Zawawi,2004:6).
Hence, Public relations is a distinctive management function which:
 helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding,

acceptance and co-operation between an organization and its publics;
 involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep
informed on and responsive to public opinion;
 defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public
interest;
 helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an
early warning system to help anticipate trends; and
 uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.
The above definitions were considered working definitions for discussing PR practice
because of their conceptualisation beyond the context of corporate organisation. It
implies that PR practice is not strictly restricted within the corporate framework or

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context alone. It extends to building coalition and relationship within and outside publics
i.e. government circulation at various levels; community level; social institutions; faith
based organization; social groups and non-governmental/community-based organisations.
As Johnston and Zawawi (2004:7) put it, the PR process can “occur at many levels and
can explain the way in which practitioners, whether they are in government, corporations
working for a community group, can use the same basic sets of skills and techniques”.
The definitions show that PR practice is no longer limited to big businesses often referred
to as corporate organisations. The dynamic nature of the profession requires the
practitioners to sharpen their professional skills to cope with the emerging challenges and
expanding scope of the profession. It is also legible that PR communication activities are
hardly carried out to impress. Communication activities must therefore be well planned,
persuasive, purposive and goal driven to the extent they can positively influence public
opinion and behaviour change. Nwodu (2006:3) summarises the implications of
definitions of PR practice in the following way.
1. PR actions must be well focused to achieve positive ends

2. the actions must be used systematically (that is in an organized manner)
3. the actions must be properly communicated to the targets
4. the actions must be goal-orientated (that is designed to influence for purpose of
achieving favourable image); and
5. the action must be aimed at achieving good social climate for corporate
organisations (profit and non-profit, governments and communities).
Also note that the aim of PR is not popularity or approval, but goodwill and
understanding. Many think that PR is just about promoting an organisation, whereas
most PR work involves ensuring publics have an accurate view of the organisation, even
if they don’t like what it does.
Philip Kitchen (1997: 27) summarises the definitions as suggesting that public relations:
1. is a management function . . .
2. covers a broad range of activities and purposes in practice . . .
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3. is regarded as two-way or interactive . . .

4. suggests that publics facing companies are not singular (i.e. consumers) but
plural. . . suggests that relationships are long term rather than short term.
Summary of the Definitions of Public Relations

“Public Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain mutual
understanding between on organization and its publics.”
- Institute of Public Relations, USA
“Public relations is the attempt by information persuasion and adjustment to engineer public
support for an activity, cause, movement or institution.”
- Edward L. Bernays
“Public Relations is a combination of philosophy, sociology, economics, language, psychology,
journalism, communication and other knowledges into a system of human understanding." –
Herbert M. Baus
“Merely human decency which flows from a good heart.”
Charles Plackard
“Good performance, publicity appreciated because adequately communicated.”
- Fortune (Magazine)
“Public Relations is Dale Carnegie - winning friends and influencing people – writ large.”
- Robert Heibroner
“Everything involved in achieving a favourable opinion."
- George F. Meredith
Former President of the American Pubic Relation Association
“The Management function which gives the same organized and careful attention to
the asset of goodwill as is given to any other major asset of business.”
- John W. Hill
"Public Relations is distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual
lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization
and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep
informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of
management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilize
change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and
sound and ethical communication as its principal tools."
- Rex F. Harlow
Activity 1.2
1. What is PR?
2. What is the aim of PR?

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1.2 Components of PR
The word public relations is a combination of two words: Public and relation.
"Public"
A group of similar individuals; an assortment of persons having the same interests,

problems, circumstances, goals; it is from such persons that opinion emanates. Public is a
varied creature. It comes in many forms and sizes. Public has a multitude of wants and
desires. It has its likes and dislikes, sometimes, strong likes and strong dislikes.
Employers make for a public and employees another public; the government is a public
and citizens constitute another public, and so on, each of these groups is a public of the
sort, tries to attract a different audience with its own tools and techniques.
"Relations"
Human wants to create the need to establish relations with one another. The
representative wants of the individuals will profoundly affect their relationship. To
understand any relationship, therefore, one must understand the wants of those involved.
'Relationships are of all possible types. We have relationship by ran-superior to inferior,
inferior to superior, and equal to equal. We have relationship by sentiment-benevolent,
Friendly, suspicious, jealous, hostile. A relationship may be active, or it may be passive it
may be good or it may be bad, or it may be neutral. At any rate, the relationship is there
to be accepted, ignored or altered, as desired.
PR has various elements in its practice. The basic components of public relations
mentioned by Theaker (2001) include the following:

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Counseling: Providing advice to management concerning policies, relationships, and

communications.
Research: Determining attitudes and behaviors of publics in order to plan public

relations strategies. Such research can be used to (1) generate mutual
understanding or (2) influence and persuade publics.
Media Relations: Working with mass media in seeking publicity (media coverage) or
responding to their interests in the organization.
Publicity: Disseminating planned messages through selected media to further the

organization’s interest.
Employee/Member Relations: Responding to concerns, informing and motivating an

organization’s employees or members.
Community Relations: Planned activity with a community to maintain an environment

that benefits both the organization and the community.
Public Affairs: Developing effective involvement in public policy and helping an

organization adapt to public expectations. The term also is used by government

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agencies to describe their public relations activities and by many corporations as

an umbrella term to describe multiple public relations activities.
Government Affairs: Relating directly with legislatures and regulatory agencies on

behalf of the organization. Lobbing can be part of a government affairs program.
Issue Management: Identifying and addressing issues of public concern that affect the
organization. It can include environmental affairs.
Financial Relations: Creating and maintaining investor confidence and building good
relationships with the financial community. Also known as Investor Relations or
Shareholder Relations.
Industry Relations: Relating with other firms in the industry of an organization and with
trade associations.
Development/Fund-Raising: Demonstrating the need for and encouraging the public to

support an organization, primarily through financial contributions.
Minority Relations/Multicultural Affairs: Relating with individuals and groups in

minorities or cultural groups.
Special Events: Stimulating an interest in a person, product, or organization by means of

a focused “happening” also, activities designed to interact with publics and listen
to them.
Marketing Communications: Combination of activities designed to sell a product,

service, or idea, including advertising, collateral materials, publicity, promotion,
direct mail, trade shows, and special events.
Activity 1.3
1. What are the components of PR?
2. Which components or element of PR is
2.1 More challenging?
2.2 More basic?
2.3 Simple?

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1.3 Misconceptions of PR
One of the greatest problems, which public relations practitioners had to grapple with
over the year, has been that of credibility stemming from society’s wrong perception of
what public relations personnel actually does. Worse still is the fact that lots of
practitioners themselves do not have a clear idea of what a PR actually is. For this reason,
many come into the profession with the wrong motives, intentions and perceptions
(Moloney, 2006; Sriramesh and Vercic, 2003). Some of the misconceptions are:
1. PR is not about lying and selling falsehood about your product and organisation.
It is not about denying every statement that does not favour your organisation. It
is not about prevarication. PR is about telling the truth all the time.
2. PR is not about bribery. The truth is that PR is not bribe giving.
3. PR is based on moral principles and as such it is not ‘arranging’ pretty ladies for
international visitors to government houses or to chief executives of companies,
clients, board members, etc. If there is any profession where morality should be
held in high regards, it is in PR because it enhances public confidence in the
profession.
4. PR is not magic, enchantment or paranormal. For this reason all its activities are
based on scientifically provable and empirical methods. PR is based on high
performance, quality performance, quality and credibility in terms of products,
service, policies and practice.
5. PR is not about organising parties and other social events. No doubt, PR does
activities of this nature, but not in the sense of making it its only preoccupation.
6. PR is not about employing pretty ladies lacking in morals and principles to
women into acting against their wishes.
7. PR is not about being a yes-boy or a bag carrier for your boss’ madam or
relations. Rather it is a dignified and noble profession that attracts self-confident,
intelligent and self-respecting men and women.

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Activity 1.4
Discussion
In the recruitment process of PR in some organisations having a good look and being
sexy is considered as a quality. However, upon the scientific definition of PR which one
is more important to be PR personnel? Good communication skill? Being Strategist? Or
being sexy?
1.4 Interdisciplinary nature of PR
Sometimes, of course, it’s easier to explain what you don’t do. This section look at areas
often confused with PR. As with definitions, the lines are not always clear. To repeat PR
draws on expertise and experience from many fields, it overlaps with other disciplines; it
tends to integrate rather than exclude – this is its strength as a practice, but a weakness
when it comes to descriptions and definitions.
1.4.1 PR vs. Journalism
Writing for the audience is a common activity of both PR practitioners and journalists. In
addition PR professionals use a number of journalistic techniques to communicate with
various publics. This practice has led many people including formal journalists who enter
PR to incorrect conclusion, which led little difference publishes PRs and journalists. The
two fields, however, differs fundamentally in the following aspects: scope, objective,
audience and channels.
1. Scope: PR as stated earlier has many components, ranging from counseling to issuing
management and special events. Journalistic writing and media relations also
important are only two of these elements. In addition effective practice of PR requires
strategic thinking. Problem solving, capabilities, and other management skills.
However, journalism has a scope of gathering, writing, editing and transmitting
journalistic products to the audience.

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2. Objectives: journalists always employed in news organization, are paid to gather and
for the primary objective of providing news and information. In such setting, as
Professor David et al (2000) in Cutlip (2000) explains “communication activities are
an end in themselves”. Public relations personnel also gather facts and information
but their objective is different; communications activity is only a means to an end.
David writes “Conceptually, the effects achieved by PR programmes include
awareness, knowledge, opinions, attitudes, and behaviour of those affected by the
programme”. In other words PR personnel are not bi-objective reporters but
advocates. Edward (1999) describes PR as “working with clients on strategy and
delivering the message to target audiences in order to persuade them to do something
that is beneficial for the organization.
3. Audiences: journalists writes primarily for one mass audience; readers, listeners, or
viewers of the medium for which they work. By definition, mass audiences are
usually large and ill-defined (undefined), and they have little in common with each
other. In contrast effective PR is based on carefully defined audience and segmenting
it into demographic and psychological characteristics contain research allows
messages to be tailored to audience needs, concerns, and interests.
4. Channels: most journalists by nature of their employment reach audiences through
one channel-the medium that publish or broadcasts their work. PR Practitioners use a
variety of channels employed may be a combination of mass media outlets,
newspapers, magazines, radio and television or they made include direct mail,
pamphlets, posters and special events. Any combination of channels may be selected
to achieve message penetration and maximum understanding.
1.4.2 PR from Marketing
Marketing is the field most commonly confused with PR – not unreasonably since
marketing refers to PR in its texts and practice as part of the marketing mix. To
marketing practitioners and academics, public relation is one of the 4 Ps – product, place,
price and promotion – which make up a successful marketing campaign. This is not
incorrect – public relations can play an essential role in creating successful products – if
the other elements are right, of course. It can help create awareness of the product. The
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management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer

requirements profitably. The two central words here are ‘consumer’ and ‘profit’.
Understanding the consumer and producing products or services that will satisfy
consumer needs to the profit of the supplier is the traditional arena of marketing.
Kitchen (1997: 28) explains, PR and marketing are two major management functions
within an organisation, but how they are organised depends upon managerial perceptions,
organisational culture, and historical precedent. In PR texts, marketing is described as
primarily concerned with sales and sales-related functions. In marketing texts, PR is
rarely considered to be more than publicity. The argument concerning which is the wider
discipline can be found in textbooks, university staff rooms, student debates and
companies themselves.
1.4.3 PR from Advertising
The distinction between advertising and PR is more easily made: advertising involves
paying a medium (TV, radio, newspaper or magazine) for airtime or column inches in
which to put across a promotional message. The content of advertising is always
controlled by the advertiser, unlike the content of editorial pages or programmes, which
are controlled by journalists. Public relations practitioners try to persuade journalists to
cover their products and services on the grounds of newsworthiness. An ad doesn’t have
to satisfy any news value – it just has to be legal and paid for.
The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising defines advertising as follows. “Advertising

presents the most persuasive possible selling message to the right prospects for the
product or service at the lowest possible cost. Here, the phrase ‘selling message’
distinguishes the two disciplines_ PR aims not to increase sales, but to increase
understanding. Sometimes, of course, understanding a product or service improves sales,
but PR does not claim a direct causal link. However, there are grey areas: corporate
advertising is where an organization purchases space in a paper, magazine or broadcast
programme to put across a general message about itself, not its products. This message
might extol its efforts to be green or socially responsible, or it might put the management

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view in an industrial dispute or takeover. The content of the message is likely to be PR-
driven, related to the corporate strategic aims of the organisation rather than product
support.
Activity 1.5
1. What is the relation and difference between:
a. PR and journalism?
b. PR and marketing?
c. PR and Advertising?
1.5 Professionalism of PR
Edward (1999) describes a profession as an art applied to a science in a manner that

prioritizes public interest ahead of personal gain. The practice of PR lays claimed
professionalism on seven counts.
1. A codified body of knowledge and a growing bank of theoretical literature,

precedents, and case study’s
2. Insight into human behaviour the formation and the movement of public opinion.
3. Skill in the use of communication tools, social science technology and persuasion
to affect opinion, attitudes, and behaviour.
4. Academic training including to the level of PhD, offered in colleges throughout
the world, and professional development available through a multiplicity of
professional society.
5. A formal codes of ethics
6. A service that is essential in a contemporary society
7. Nobility of purpose in harmonizing private and public interests. Thus, enabling
individual self-determination and democratic societies to function.

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1.6 Functions of PR
 Activity 1.6 
1. What do you think public relations practitioners role at their position?
2. What are the functions of PR?
PR has a responsibility of a top level management. Management means getting things

done with people. Management must be able to get cooperation of people on both inside
and outside the organization in order to achieve the organization’s objective. Thus, PR
managers must build capabilities in both internal and external aspects of the management.
For these reason, they are usually selected as much their managerial abilities in leading a
staff and counseling others in the organization as for their PR skills.
PR plays enormous roles in both corporate and societal lives. This is true in view of the
fact “no institution including government can survive let alone flourish if its policies,
programmes and actions fail to meet or are perceivable as failing to meet the expectation
of the publics it seeks to serve” (Barney, 1923 cited in Nwosu, 1990).
The functions PR included but not limited to:
a. Identifying, interpreting and evaluating public opinions, attitudes, and feelings

about prominent individuals, corporates, government and communities.
b. Imitating, planning and executing special events or programmes on short, medium
and long term basis for purpose of winning publics’ consent and/or sympathy for a
noble cause.
c. Sufficiently informing various publics about the policies, activities and future plans
of governments, organisational and community leaders.
d. Engaging in conflict management and crisis settlement and wading off negative
trend and press reports likely to mar the image and reputation of an organisation,
government/or community.

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e. Providing level playing ground for healthy interactions between management of an

organisation and/or government functionaries and their respective publics and
subjects.
f. Maintaining favourable relationship between an organisation and the mass media
and by so doing, guard against engaging in negative and damaging mass media war.
g. Helping to balance organisational vis-a-vis government interest with that of the
publics-cum-subjects for optimum relation.
h. Striving to achieve safe organisational social climate by engaging in community
relations needed to enhance business motives of corporate organisations. It is
imperative to note therefore that PR is essential in achieving and sustaining
corporate and social climate for harmonious co-existence and for enthroning
sustainable image and reputations.
1.7 Qualities of PR Practitioners
Activity 1.7
1. What are the personal qualities you face from a known public relation
practitioner?
2. Identify the skills, knowledge and attitudes to be a good PR practitioner?
As far as PR is one of the fundamental personnel in its position, quality professionals are
required. Successful PR requires technical and normative qualities.
1.7.1 The Technical Qualities
Every profession is usually distinct from other professions. One of the factors that
distinguish a profession from the other is the nature of training the professional receive.
Often times, the training is certificated. That is why one needs certain educational
qualifications to function as a lawyer, medical practitioner or an engineer.
In the same manner, a PR practitioner needs to attain certain educational. This is what we
refer to as technical qualities. Technical quality, therefore, refers to the legal academic

15
height one needs to attain in order to practice public relations. The implication is that PR
practice is not an all comer’s affair. To practice the profession in, the practitioner must
achieve certain specific technical qualifications.
In order to labeling one as a practitioner of PR in it demands:
a. pass the qualifying examination accepted by the institute

b. hold a qualification granted and for the time being accepted by the institute and is
by law entitled to practice for all purpose as a public relations practitioner in the
country in which qualification was granted and the council that he has had
sufficient experience as a public relations practitioners; or
c. hold at least one of the qualifications on the area or related area
1.7.2 The Normative Qualities
In our discussion of technical qualities above, we said it has to do with standard

knowledge and skill required to practice public relations. In the case of normative
qualities, the emphasis is usually on the “moral and psychological qualities of public
relations practitioners” (Nwodu, 2007:26). These qualities are:
 Good character
 Age ; and
 Has not been convicted in an offence involving fraud or dishonesty.
Beyond these moral aspects of normative qualities, the practitioner needs to possess other
psychological qualities. Nwodu (2007: 27-29) encapsulates these qualities. Below are the
all of these qualities, as Nwodu puts it:
a. possession of sense of history

b. possession of high sense of figure and statistics
c. ability to take full responsibility for actions wrongly taken and learn from such
actions

16
d. ability to communicate effectively using precise, unambiguous, easy to

understand language
e. ability to identify and analyse trends in the social system
f. ability to identify and appreciate the target cultures and be able to initiate and
package public relations programmes that do not conflict with the cultures
g. ability to adhere strictly to ethical precepts of the profession.
Requirements for Success in PR
Skills
 Effective writing
 Persuasive speaking
Knowledge
 In-depth knowledge of various media

 Understanding of management process
 Business, financial acumen.
Abilities
 Problem solver
 Decision-maker
 Deft in handling people generates confidence
 Assumes responsibility
Quality
 Stability and common sense

 Drive and enthusiasm
 Wide-ranging interests and intellectual curiosity
 Good listener
 Tolerance for frustration
 Style
 Courtesy
Activity 1.9
Evaluate your technical and normative qualities to be a PR practitioner?

17
Chapter Summary
In this chapter, it is attempted to give a brief overview of PR, and its similarities and
difference with related concepts and misconceptions. The roles and functions of PR are
also discussed. Different scholars have made an attempt to define PR. Some scholars
define PR by focusing on the technician role. Others have tried to define it taking the
advising role into consideration. However, a comprehensive definition is, forwarded by
the British Institute of Public Relations: “PR is a deliberate, planned, and sustained effort
to establish and maintain mutual understanding between an organization and its publics.”
PR practitioners and journalists are similar for the reason that in both cases practitioners
write for mass audiences and they also use various writing techniques to communicate
with various publics. Nevertheless, the two fields differ essentially in scope: PR has a
wider scope ranging from counseling to issues management; objective: journalists are
expected to provide objective news while public relations officials are advocates;
audiences: journalists write for the general public while PR officials write for specific
public; and channels: basically journalists use one channel while PR officials use a
number of channels. Marketing and PR both are major external functions of the firm and
both share a common ground in regard to product publicity and consumer relations. At
the same time, however, they operate on different levels and from different perspectives
and perceptions. The traditional view ... is that marketing exists to sense, serve, and
satisfy customer needs at a profit. PR exists to produce goodwill in the company's various
publics. The main distinction between advertising and PR is that advertising aims to
persuade in order to sell but public relations aims to inform in order to educate.
PR practitioners take different roles. However, there are some misconceptions of PR that
needs clearly stated to make it clear and unambiguous. It is a profession that demands
high moral and professional standard rather than tricking for short time purpose. As long
as it is a profession it has also clear roles and function and also have an expected
qualities, technical and normative, to be assigned as a PR practitioner. PR practitioners
need technical and normative qualities to be successful.

18
Review Questions
I. Write True if the statement is correct and False otherwise

1. PR is a deliberate and planned effort to establish one-way communication of
an organization.
2. PR actions must be well focused to achieve positive ends.
3. PR is arranging pretty ladies for customers.
4. Journalism and PR are identical.
II. Choose the best answer from the given alternatives
5. PR practitioners
A. Establishes and maintains mutual relations
B. Manages organizational problems
C. Defines responsibilities
D. Utilizes communications
E. All
6. Which one of the following is incorrect about PR?
A. PR is a management function
B. PR is regarded as one way interactive
C. PR covers broad activities
D. PR works with publics
7. All are the components of PR, except?
A. Research
B. Publicity
C. Oppression
D. Counseling
E. None
8. What makes PR a profession?
A. Codified body of knowledge
B. Necessary skills
C. Academic trainings
D. Insights to human behavior

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E. All
III. Answer the following Questions Accordingly
9. What makes PR different from journalism?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________
10. Write down the two types of qualities to be a successful PR?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________
Reading Materials
Black, S. (1998). Introduction to Public Relations. London: The Modino Press.
Chukwu, I. (2000). Public Relations: Its Role in Marketing. Enugu: Melfin Publishing.
Cutlip, S., Center, A., & Broom, G. (1985). Effective Public Relations (6th ed.).
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall.
Cutlip, S.M., Center, A.H. & Broom, G.M. (2000). Effective Public Relations. New
Jersey: Prentice Hall.
Edwards, R. (1999) ‘Ensuring brands stay in fashion’, PR Week, 24 September, pp.13-14
Heath, R (2005). The Encyclopedia of Public Relations, Volume 1. Sage Publications:

University of Houston.
Johnson, J. & Zawawi, C. (2004). “What is Public Relations” In: J. Johnson & C. Zawawi
(Eds). Public Relations Theory and Practice; Crows Nest: Allen and Unwin.

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Mooley, K. (2006). Rethinking Public Relations: PR Propaganda and Democracy. 2nd ed.
Routledge: London.
Nwodu, L. C. (2007). Corporate Public Relations Management. Enugu: Precision

Publishers Ltd.
Nwodu, L.C. (2006). Journalism Practice: News, Aesthetics, Ethics and Law.
Nwosu, I. E. & Uffoh, O. (2006). Environmental Public Relations Management:

Principles Strategies, Issues and Cases.
Theaker, A. (2001). The Public Relations Handbook. Routledge: London

21
CHAPTER TWO
2. PUBLIC RELATIONS MODELS AND PROCESS
Introduction
At the base of PR is communication, and communication a dynamic process of sharing

ideas and information. Models are often used as a basis for understanding
communication. Before we go too far, we need to ask ourselves the question ‘what is a
model?’ Generally speaking, a model is a representation of something. It is a small-scale
or miniature representation of something that serves as a guide in constructing the full
scale version of that thing. A model is a representation of an object, idea or process. It is
a simple way of describing a seemingly complex process or system to enhance a quick
understanding of it.
According to Berko, Wolvin and Wolvin (1981), communication models ‘help us to see
the components of communication from a perspective that allows for analysis and …
understanding of the complexities of the process.’’ Public relations practice follows a
defined process which over time has remained constant in spite of changes in society,
technology and man. This goes to say that whenever you employ the defined processes of
public relations as laid down by its practitioners (baring other situational factors) you
would very likely get the similar results.
Chapter Objective
 Identify the basic PR models

 recognize the similarities and differences of PR Models
 Know and accustomed to the process of PR
 Research about issues, design action plan, communicate to the public and evaluate
the outcomes of the PR functions
2.1 PR Models
2.1.1 Press agentry/publicity model
This is probably the kind of activity that most people associate with public relations. A
press agent or publicist aims to secure coverage for a client, and truth is not an absolute
requirement. This type of PR is most common in show business – celebrity PR – where
individuals are promoted through media coverage. Grunig and Hunt point out that
‘practitioners in these organisations concern themselves most with getting attention in the
media for their clients’ (1984: 25). Understanding is not necessary for this kind of PR,
which is likely to measure success in column inches or airtime.
2.1.2 Public information model
This kind of communication provides information to people – where accuracy is now

important, indeed essential. This model does not seek to persuade the audience or change
attitudes. Its role is similar to that of an in-house journalist (Grunig and Hunt 1984),
releasing relevant information to those who need it. This practitioner may not know much
about the audience, and tends to rely on one-way communication, from sender to
receiver.
What is public relations? Pioneering roles in supplying regular and reliable information
to the public, as their role and responsibilities expanded to reflect the social change
through the late nineteenth century and early twentieth century (L’Etang 1998).
Practitioners from local government also played a leading part in defining public
relations, through articles in the 1920s and 1930s and, later, by setting up the Institute of
Public Relations in 1948 (L’Etang 1998). Local and central government continue to
practise public information communication. Press releases giving details of committee
decisions, budget allocation, or movement of personnel are typical public information
activities. In recent years, the shift from public to private sector utilities has placed a
similar emphasis on the need to explain pricing policies to customers. Many large
organisations have improved their ‘transparency’ – the availability of information to the

23
public. Much of this has been improved – or driven – by improved technology via the
internet.
2.1.3 Two-way asymmetric PR
This model introduces the idea of feedback or two way communication. However, it
is asymmetric or imbalanced because the intended change is in the audience’s attitudes or
behaviour rather than in the organisation’s practices. It is also described as persuasive
communication and can be demonstrated in health campaigns, for example. Persuasive
communication relies on an understanding of the attitudes and behavior of the targeted
publics, so planning and research are important to this kind of public relations. The
bombardment came at people from all sides – advertisements, news, volunteer speakers,
posters, schools, theatres; millions of homes displayed service flags. The war aims and
ideals were continually projected to the eyes and ears of the populace (quoted in Harrison
1995: 19)
2.1.4 Two-way symmetric PR
This model is sometimes described as the ‘ideal’ of public relations. It describes a level
of equality of communication not often found in real life, where each party is willing to
alter their behaviour to accommodate the needs of the other. While the other models are
characterised by monologue-type communication, the symmetric model involves ideas of
dialogue. It could lead an organisation’s management to exchange views with other
groups, possibly leading to both management and publics being influenced and adjusting
their attitudes and behaviours. Communication in this model is fully reciprocal and power

24
relationships are balanced. The terms ‘sender’ and ‘receiver’ are not applicable in such a
communication process, where the goal is mutual understanding (Windahl et al.
In both two-way models the public relations practitioner can act as a negotiator
between the interests of the organisation and the interests of the particular public –
what Grunig (1992: 9) calls ‘boundary-spanning’. L’Etang (1996b) has found a number
of similarities between public relations and diplomacy, which illustrates this point. She
contrasts the role of diplomat (two-way symmetry) with that of advocate (two-way
asymmetry). It is the diplomacy role which aims to facilitate the ‘mutual understanding’
described above and contained in the definition of public relations provided by the IPR.
Grunig and other theorists suggest that this model is the most ethical, because it creates
an equality of exchange. Others, like L’Etang, point out that the public relations
practitioner is never disinterested – there is always an employer or client – and, as
organisations rarely act against their own interests, the communication is still
asymmetrical (1996c).

25
Activity 2.1
1. Discuss the strength and weakness of the following models of PR
a. Press agentry/publicity
b. Public information
c. Two way asymmetric
d. Two way symmetric
2.2 Public Relations Process
Brainstorming
1. Does PR is a process? What makes it a process?
2. What are the potential activities in PR process?
Effective PR is accomplished through a process known as RACE (Research, Action,

Communication, and Evaluation). This process is used to practice proactive public
relations – PR that is intentional, planned, and strategic. Research is the first step.
Nothing happens before doing research. Research helps determine objectives, messages,
strategies and tactics. The first step in research is to clarify the PR situation. Both the PR
practitioner and the client need to have a clear understanding of the situation before them.
Without that, PR plans are developed that do not accurately address the situation.
26
Once the research phase of the process is complete, the practitioner can move on to the
second phase: planning (or action). Now we understand more about the situation, the
organization, and the audience, we can determine what to do about it.
The first step in the planning process is to set goals and objectives. Goals are the
overarching purpose of the PR efforts (e.g., to become the low-cost leader in the
category). Objectives support goals, and they need to be S.M.A.R.T.: Specific,
Measureable, Agreed Upon, Relevant, Timetabled. It is also important to remember that
objectives should measure outcomes, not the means to those outcomes. For example, the
objective should NOT be measuring how many news releases are produced in a given
period of time (the means), but rather the outcome of those news releases (for example,
awareness). Once the goals and objectives have been set, then the practitioner can create
the theme and messages for the campaign. The theme is overarching message – the one
“takeaway” – you want your target audience to receive. Other messages flow out of – and
support – your theme. Your themes and messages are designed to support your goals and
objectives by tapping into what you learned about your target audience through your
research. Those messages need to be clear and understandable to your audience;
delivered by a credible source (i.e., credible to that audience); and targeted at audience
needs.
Ideally, these messages should be copy-tested with representatives from the target
audience to see if the messages make sense with the audience and achieve the desired
effect. Once the themes and messages have been developed, then the practitioner needs to
choose the channel through which they will be delivered. These are the strategies and
tactics. The strategy is the main way you plan to accomplish your objectives. For
example, there are many different PR strategies, from traditional media (pitching stories
to print and broadcasting media) to social media (using Twitter, Facebook, etc., to build
online communities) to more interpersonal strategies (creating slide presentations for key
audiences).
Research has shown that the most persuasive form of communication is interpersonal
(one-on-one, or one before a group). In those settings, the communicator can receive

27
immediate feedback and answer questions from the target audience. Interpersonal
communication strategies, however, can be used only when the target audience is small
and identifiable.
Larger audiences, which are more difficult (or even impossible) to reach through
interpersonal means, need to be reached through the media (either social or traditional, or
both). Once the overall strategy is set, the practitioner decided exactly how to implement
the strategy through tactics. For example, if the practitioner has chosen a social media
strategy as the best way to achieve the public relations objectives, then he or she needs to
recommend a specific way to “flesh out” that strategy. That tactic could be a Twitter
campaign designed to involve consumers in creating the next version of a product (e.g.,
creating a new flavor potato chip flavor for Lay’s). Or, it could be a campaign designed
to get more “friends” on Facebook.
The last part of any public relations effort is measurement. The practitioner needs to
determine if the objectives were successfully met. There are different levels of measure,
starting with the easiest – and least valuable –production. At this level, the practitioner is
simply measuring what has been produced: counting “communication assets.” Of course,
your clients need to know what has been produced for the money they have expended on
public relations. But that says nothing about the results of that production. Increasingly,
practitioners need to demonstrate results. Organizations need to see a clear ROI (Return
On Investment) for dollars spent on public relations. At the lowest level of measuring
results is “awareness.” Practitioners can measure awareness through a variety of means.
For example, to measure whether the public relations for an event was successful, the
practitioner simply needs to count the number of attendees (and possibly the media
coverage in the aftermath).
The next level up is attitude change, which can be measured only if the practitioner
knows the current attitudes prior to the PR campaign. Depending on the size of the target
audience, that may require scientific survey research, which can be expensive and beyond
the skill set of most practitioners.

28
The most valuable PR efforts are those that change behaviors. Most practitioners consider
“behavior change” the gold standard of public relations objectives. Ultimately, public
relations objectives need to support organization objectives. That means, public relations
should motivate people to buy a product, use a service, adopt an idea, or vote for a
candidate. These are the kinds of results that make public relations essential for
organizations.
Activity 2.2
1. What is the value of research in public relations?
2. What is the difference between a goal and an objective?
3. What are some of the factors that help make messages effective?
4. What is the difference between a strategy and tactic?
5. What does ROI mean, and why is it important to public relations?
2.2.1 Research
Activity 2.3
Why do you think research is necessary for public relations officer?

29
The first step in the PR process is research or fact finding to elicit public opinion and
their reactions towards policies and programmes of the organization and also identify the
problems confronting the organization. This step is also known as ‘situation analyses or
fact-finding. As eyes and ears of an organization, the public relations department not only
tells the people, but also listens to them to gain insights of their feelings for guidance and
action. Research findings can be used to generate good will and influence public.
According to few experts in communication, the Soviet Union and its Communist Party
collapsed because they only used the principle ‘Tell the people’. They never observed the
concept to ‘Listen’ to the people’s problems. Therefore, research as a first step in public
relation describes what is happening and what the problem is. The commonly used
techniques for fact finding are PEST analysis and SWOT analysis. These are presented as
follows.
A. PEST analysis
A commonly used and immediately valuable technique is the PEST analysis. PEST
divides the other all environment of an organization into four broad areas such as
political, economic, social, and technological.
The PEST analysis provides the environmental factors, affecting an organization, to

tackle such problems through PR techniques. Some organizations are affected by one of
the four PEST areas than others.
B. SWOT analysis
Another way that helps fact finding is SWOT analysis. The first two factors- Strengths
and Weaknesses can be seen as internal factors and are concerned with the organization.
The other two-Opportunities and Threats are usually external and will have to be largely
identified through the PEST analysis. It is sometimes essential to list the positive and
negative elements confronting the organization. SWOT analysis provides opportunities
for public relations to design programmes.

30
Activity 2.3
Dear learner, how does one undertake research? There are many research weapons to
discover facts. Such techniques and tools are presented below.
The Research Tools

Informal Methods
Pioneers in PR lacked the precision tools available today to gauge opinion accurately.
They were forced to fall back on whatever rough-and-ready means could be devised.
Today, despite the development of the more accurate measuring sticks, reliance on
informal methods still predominates. Because of lack of funds and the necessity of
making quick, on-the-spot evaluations, it is not realistic to make formal research a part
and a parcel of the daily routine in a department or counseling firm. This is particularly
true for thinly staffed one-or two-person departments or agencies.
These informal methods can be helpful if practitioners recognize their weaknesses.

Inherently, such methods lack representativeness and objectivity, keys to sound opinion
research. Still these ways can provide vital and significant clues to opinion trends and
reveal sources of things people like or do not like.
A. Personal contacts: Lord Bryce said, “The best way in which the tendencies at work
in any community can be best discovered and estimated is by moving freely about
among all sorts and conditions of men,” Skill in sizing up people’s attitudes has long
been and always will be one of the prime qualification of a counselor. By probing,
talking, listening, and analyzing while moving about, the practitioner can learn a great
deal.
B. Advisory committees: variation of the idea jury is the advisory committee, which
can be helpful in preventing many a misstep. Advisory committees, representing
public groups, also serve on occasion as heat shields to absorb public criticism.
Nonprofit organizations can tap the aid of skilled public relations people in this way.
Formation of such a committee for a college or civil-rights group can serve to win the
interest and participation of influential people in the community. Once members are
31
interested and informed, they are likely to return to their own circle and carry the ball
for the program.
C. The call-in telephone line: reduced rates for leased telephone lines and the need for
more channels of feedback have led to increased use of the call-in telephone line,
sometimes called a “hot line,” a “query line,” an information center, or, in one
instance, a “cool line.” This call-in service provides the public with a quick means of
getting needed information or registering complaints. These lines may be staffed by
trained personnel adept at fielding complaints and providing information, or they may
be hooked to recorders on which messages may be transcribed, or to be routed to the
proper office. This feedback channel is used in many ways. Some organizations use it
internally, to provide quick answers to employees; hospitals use it to provide
information to patients and their families; and government agencies use it to help
citizens find their way through the bureaucratic maze.
D. Mail analysis: it is an economical way of gauging opinions-one frequently
overlooked-is a periodic analysis of an organization’s incoming mail. The
correspondence wills reveal areas of favor, disfavor, and lack of information.
E. Field reports: most organizations have district representatives, field agents, or
recruiters who travel the organizations territory. These agents should be trained to
listen and should be given an easy, regular means of reporting opinions they
encounter. In this way, they can serve as the “eyes and ears” of the organization.
Systematic reporting of opinions, complaints, and commendations should be part of
their job.
F. Media Reports: press clippings and broadcast monitor reports, all available from
commercial services; have long been used as yardsticks. However, these services
should be used only to detect what is being disseminated about your organization or
about a competitor. They will indicate only what is printed or broadcast; they cannot
report whether the message was read or heard and, if so, whether it was believed and
understood. Newspaper clippings are useful in measuring the acceptability of releases
sent to the press, but they cannot measure impact. Also, 100 percent coverage on
news clips is difficult to achieve; returns from a particular service will vary.

32
More Reliable Methods
The surest way to learn someone’s opinion and underlying attitudes would be to sit down
and talk things over face to face. This is not often possible. Instead, social scientist and
market researchers have developed the technique of talking to a small but representative
group in each public. This is the sample survey. Sampling is the great money saver and
is accurate when the sample is representative and the survey methods objective.
Remember those two key words: representative and objective. Survey research is built on
the laws of mathematical probability.
By the asking of precise, understandable questions of a truly accurate microcosm of a

whole, public opinion can be measured with high degree of accuracy. Just as a
practitioner depends largely on the established channels to talk to the public, he surveys
to listen to the public. Through such devices, representatives of the public are encouraged
to tell their story to the institution. These survey tools offer an effective means of
facilitating an inflow of information and opinion.
A. Cross-section surveys: a carefully prepared set of questions is asked of a cross-section

sample of a given public. The interviews build a bridge between an organization and the
public. There are three ways to draw the sample to be interviewed:(1) the probability
sample, in which people to be interviewed are chosen at random by some mechanical
formula, such as every nth name on the list;(2) the area sample, a form of the probability
sample in which geographical areas are listed- cities, for example-then units to be
surveyed are chosen at random; and (3) the quota sample, wherein the population in
question is analyzed by known characteristics-sex, age, residence, occupation, income
level-then interviews are assigned by quota in the same population as these characteristics
exist in the whole population.
All these methods involve a degree of sampling error, which can usually be kept within
tolerable limits. The results obtained through cross-section surveys are more quantitative
than qualitative in nature; they often fail to reflect the depth and intensity of opinion
expressed by respondents.

33
B. Survey panels: under this method, a panel of people is selected and is interviewed
several times over a period of time. The selection of participants is determined by on a
cross section basis. Panels are used to learn what happens to people under varying
conditions over a span of time. It is an effective device for impact of a series of projects
in community relations, or to follow people’s buying habits in a grocery store. Panels are
difficult to administer, and it is hard to keep all members interested over a long stretch.
Also, panel members tend in time to become atypical rather than typical.
C. Depth interview: this is a qualitative instrument to probe the attitudes underlying
expressed opinions. It is an informal kind of interview, and the respondent is encouraged
to talk fully and freely. This method requires highly trained interviewers and skilled
analysts. Because of its informal nature and the widest latitude for responding, one major
problem in its use is how to evaluate it. The really qualified depth interviewer is rare. The
depth interview is one of the techniques used in motivational research.
D. Content analysis: this is a method of systematically coding and classifying the content of
one or all of the mass media. It can tell an organization what is being said and published
about it, and in what context. Media content can be measured as to how much is
descriptive, how much favorable, how much critical. Content analysis will show the
pattern of mentions of an organization and can provide helpful clues to the kinds of
information its publics are being exposed to, but not necessarily what they consume and
believe. It is also possible to couple content analysis with a sampling procedure and
obtain, from a sample of some fifty daily papers, an accurate picture of nationwide
dissemination of a given subject. Content analysis also can be useful in periodically
assessing the content of informational output against its stated objectives.
E. Mail questionnaires: the use of mail instead of face-to-face questionnaires is
economical, and so it is tempting to the penny-pinched practitioner. But it gives no
assurance that the respondents will be representative of the whole population. In putting
questions by mail, you lose the flexibility and the interpretations possible in personal
interviews. Besides, it is usually difficult to get an adequate response, particularly since
so many people have been polled in this fashion that there is some resentment.

34
But this economical device can be useful when used with due caution and when space is
left at the end for open-ended comment. It is most effective in soliciting opinions of
homogeneous groups where the cleavage of opinion is decisive-such as of a group of
employees on the question of overtime or night shift- and can also be helpful in
uncovering sources of criticisms’ and praise.
Activity 2.4
1. Why we conduct PR research?
2. How we collect data for PR research?
3. What makes PR research different from other social science researches?
2.2.2 Action Plan
The second step in PR process, after research, is planning a programme for its
implementation. A good PR programme is prerequisite for the accomplishment of
organizational goals. Careful planning prevents haphazard and ineffective
communication. This stage primarily answers the question “what should we do and
why?” It involves a comprehensive PR plan to solve the identified problem in the
research stage, with objectives, target audience, programmes, resources, media strategy
and selection of ways and means for putting the whole plan into action.
From the threads of fact finding and identification of problems, the PR manager must
evolve a comprehensive plan to solve the problems through the following sub-steps in the
backdrop of organization’s goals.
Setting Objectives
Management by setting objective is the popular approach in reacting to the organizational

goals. Selecting realistic objective is absolutely necessary if PR programme is to achieve
tangible results. The kind of objectives PR campaigns can have are: to inform, to educate
and to motivate the people, to understand problems and participate in the program.

35
Anne Gregory in her book, the Art snd Science of Public Relations and Volume II, 2000
says that there are seven imperatives (golden rules) that must be borne in mind while
setting objectives. They are discussed in the ensuing paragraphs:
I. Public Relations objectives
There is a tendency among PR professionals to set objectives that public relations cannot
deliver. It is not reasonable to say that PR should increase sells by 20 percent. That
depends on the sale force. However, it is reasonable to say that presentation of the new
product should be made to 50 percent of the key retailers, to tell them about the product
to encourage them to try it. It may well be that as a result, sells may increase by 20
percent- but it is outside the scope of public relations to promise this.
II. Ally to organizational objectives
Public relations programmes and campaigns must support corporate objectives. If a

corporate objective is major repositioning of the company in the market, then the public
relations effort must be directed to supporting this stance.
III. Be precise and specific
Objectives need to be clear. To create awareness is not good enough. Creating awareness
of what, to whom, when, and how needs to be clearly spelt out. No element of ambiguity
should present.
IV. Do what is achievable
It is better to set modest objective and achieve them, than hitch one’s wagon to the stars.
Where ever possible evaluate the likely benefits of idea and test the pilot schemes. If a
major part of the programme is to contact all investors to inform them of the particular
development, you must be sure you do it with in the frame work of the stock market
rules.
V. Quantify as much as possible

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Not all objectives are precisely quantifiable, but most of them are. If you aim to contact
particular audience groups, say how many. Quantifying objectives make evaluation much
easier.
VI. Work with in the budget
This goes without saying that one should work with the allotted budget. It is no good
claiming to be creative, and to not make money. A good planner and manger knows
exactly how much the things will cost, and will run budget tracking programs
VII. Work to a priority list
Public relations professionals always have too much to do and they can extend their list
of activities without an end. They should know what their priorities are and stick to them
irrevocably. If a professional has to work on non-prioritized work, then he/she should
make to let the superiors know the consequence of their demands. Prioritizing objectives
enables one to seek where the major efforts to be focused. Examples of workable
objectives are as follows:
1. Inform 50 targeted investors of reasons for management buy-out.

2. Ensure 100 top dealers attend annual dealers’ conference.
3. Increase levered editorial coverage of service by 20 percent.
Public relations campaigns can be effective and produce tangible results only if
objectives are developed in relation to identified problems.
Target Audience
Audiences are the life blood of an organization. There are groupings of the audience as
that are fairly common to most organizations. Public relations public could be divided in
to two broad segments as internal (employees) and external (customers). In fact, the
general public in public relations is a myth. We have only specific target-oriented public
such as employees, shareholders, customers, media, etc. The typical target public of any
organization includes: management public, employees, trade unions, shareholders and

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financial public, customers, community pubic, opinion leaders, government, suppliers

and dealers, competitors, and media public. The people can also be divided into two
broad segments on the basis of their socio economic background as urban and rural (slum
dwellers), educated and illiterate. Different linguistic and religious groups live in the
cities which also constitute a distinct category.
Services and Action Plans
If the public relations programme is intended to solve problems, the management must
design services and action plans for the benefit of the target audiences. Programmes that
aim at producing radical shifts in behavior and attitude will be more useful. If there are
no services or qualitative products, there is no programme for the public.
Public Relation Programme
The next sub-step in planning after services and action plans relates to public relations
programme. Organizations very often target the communication component in many of
the campaigns and development projects. In fact, eradication of information poverty is a
prerequisite for the eradication of economic information poverty. Unfortunately, the
removal of ignorance or information poverty is not given due importance. Therefore,
public relations communication content assumes great importance in any public relations
program and services plan.
Facta non-verba is a Roman dictum, meaning ‘give us deeds not words’. Action projects/
services of the organization, on the one hand, and messages of public relations
department, on the other hand, act as two eyes of corporate planning and programming.
As a strategic management function and multidisciplinary field, public relations is

applied to various sub-areas of corporate management. For instance, human resource
management, financial management, operation management, marketing management,
media management and crisis management. The public relations programme, based on
the action plans, must sensitize the people concerned and it takes different dimensions
depending on the type of audiences. Dimension of public relations include: employee

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public relations, shareholders and financial public relations, customers public relations,
government relations, community relations, media relations, relations in crisis situation
and, finally, reputation management.
Tactics
Mere planning will not give results. The designed programme must be accompanied by
tactics to ground the plan. This is the ‘nuts and bolts’ part of the plan that explains in
sequence the specific activities that put the strategies into operation or implementation.
Tactics are the tools of communication to reach the target audiences with key messages.
What is a tactic? It is a skillful device or method used to implement the planned

programme. Media provides a variety of public relations opportunities which are
otherwise known as tactics. Some of the media tactics include press conference, news
release and house journal. There is a direct link between the planning and programming,
and the tactics. Programme is evolved based on corporate mission such as long term
planning, while tactics or methods are used more often as a long-term planning, while
tactics or methods are used more often as short-term measure not only to implement the
plan, but also to accomplish the objectives of the plan. Mere strategic planning will not
get the message across to the target audience. We need to motivate the audience towards
corporate planning. The messages are communicated through various media tactics.
Calendar Operations
Four things are peculiar to a public relations practitioner’s life in preparing the calendar
of operation. First, there will never be enough time to do everything that needs to be done
because the tasks and possibilities for action are always far greater than the time
available. So one must decide the timing of the programmme as to when it should be
conducted. Second, since public relations tasks often involve other people and the
coordination of several departments always takes longer time than one thinks initially; a
proper sequence of activities must be determined. Third, deadlines must be fixed so that
the tasks associated with a campaign can be completed on time according to calendar, to
produce results. Fourth, the right financial need to be allocated so that the tasks in hand

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can be completed satisfactorily. Thus, the calendar of operations must contain the timing,
sequence of activities, deadlines and budget allocation.
There should be a well- thought out calendar of operations that has to be worked
depending on the nature of an event. Topicality may be kept in view. Any campaign on
agriculture must be organized in the monsoon season so that the farmers can be fully
involved. Calendars and timelines take different forms. Year-wise, month-wise, week-
wise, day-wise calendars can be prepared for understanding both media programmes
(printing posters) and service oriented programmes( action projects).
If a public relations professional is organizing a media conference, he must see that his
event does not clash with other major events. So timing the event is an important
ingredient in campaign planning. Therefore, media conference is a part of the calendar of
operations.
Activity 2.5
1. What is the advantage of action plan in PR Process?
2. What are the important considerations during preparing action plan?
2.2.3 Communication
The third stage in PR process relates communication and implementation of action-

oriented programmes. If PR has to succeed, the actions must speak louder than words.
Therefore, actions and communication always must move hand-in- hand for better
impact. Once a problem has been identified and a programme is designed to solve the
problem, it is time to step into action oriented services with appropriate messages. Such
actions and services need supportive communication to reach the target audience.
Next to planning, communication gets priority. It is because no matter how well planned
a programme is, it will fail if one does not see it, hear it, or read it, and understand it.
Therefore, to assure the reach and impact, the first order of operation is to communicate
the plan through various media of communication. A media list will be helpful in

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preparing the media plan which contains information, a client or executive needs such as
the circulation and audience size, demographic profiles of each entry in the plan, where it
ranks as part of the overall plan and its objectives. A media plan helps make certain that
the information is not just about reaching an audience, but that it helps to reach the
correct audience.
In the stage of communication and services, PR has to be managed effectively and

efficiently for getting good results. How do we manage communication? It is only
through an appropriate media strategy and tactics that the public is kept informed of both
services and action plans designed as part of the campaign besides grounding all plans.
Communication Programme
Communication programme consists of message, media and budget. The word

communication is derived from the Latin communis, meaning "common." The purpose of
communication is to establish commonness. The basic elements in communication are the
source or sender, the message, and the destination or receiver. Effective communication
requires efficiency on the part of all three. The communicator must use a channel that
will carry the message to the receiver. The message must be within the receiver's capacity
to comprehend. The message must motivate the receiver's self-interest and cause him or
her to respond. Communicators need to bear in mind that communication is no substitute
for policy and action. A sender can encode a message and a receiver decode it only in
terms of their own experience and knowledge. When there has been no common
experience, then communication becomes virtually impossible. Commonness in
communication is essential to link people and purpose together in any cooperative
system. The Communication programme includes: (i) Developing the message (ii)
Selection of media (iii) Appropriate budget for implementing the programme.

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Message Development
For achieving the desired result, the message should be developed properly and clearly.
The appropriate message will have the following three attributes: 1) Clear 2) Correct and
3) Concise.
Clear: The message is free from ambiguity and it is necessary to ensure that slang
phrases / usage are avoided and also the message should be free from perceptional
distortion problems. As far as possible, one should use simple language, simple style,
appropriate words and right tone.
Correct: The credibility of the message is based on the credibility of the source and also
the correctness of the content. It is essential to ensure that the information provided
(message) is true, to unbiased and there is a source to verify it. It is essential to avoid
content based on rumours, hearsay as well as source of no origin.

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Concise: Since message dissemination involves time and effort for transmitting as well
as receiving or absorbing. Hence message should be crisp enough to give information and
at the same time not occupying more time of the receivers valuable time. The content
should revolve around the core element of the message; frills and verbose / ornamental
language need to be avoided. The effectiveness of the message is depend upon the above
three attributes and if even component is missing or negative, the result will also be
negative or not as per the expectations.
Media Strategy
Devising the media strategy for communication plan or campaign is the most difficult
part of managing PR process. If the media strategy is right, everything rolls on the back
of it. What is media strategy? It is the overall approach to the media that is designed for a
programme or a campaign to reach a target audience. It is the coordinating theme or the
guiding principle, the big idea, the rationale behind the tactical program. Media strategy
is dictated by problems, programmes designed and the types of public to be reached.
Communication programme of any campaign is meant to change the attitudes of both

internal and external audiences. Such a program is based on persuasive messages which
are an important component of a communication plan.
Public Relations Input
PR programme based on the action projects encompasses all the communication activities
which an organization undertakes as part of the campaign planning. The broad elements
of a PR programme include corporate identity; corporate advertising; issues management;
crisis management; public-wise PR programme such as employee communications,
customer relations, community relations; sponsorship, media-wise programme and media
relations, monitoring and reviewing. All these areas of public relations as applicable to
campaign must be grounded in the communication stage.

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Multimedia Approach
Multimedia such as interpersonal media (such as symposia, public meeting), traditional

folk media( such as music, dance, drama, street plays, songs), mass media ( conventional)
such as press, radio, TV, film and IT new media which include computer, internet, e-mail
are used to reach target groups.
Such a combination of different types of media is an ideal communication to suit the

communication needs of the public who belong to different religious, linguistic, rural and
urban background. The media mix must be elaborate and extensive as the message has to
reach every part of the area and every type of target audience.
The PR professional becomes an advocate in the third stage like a lawyer pleading the
case in court of law. The PR program is implemented to keep the public informed
through an effective multimedia strategy and an effective communication process. In the
process, a public relations manager acts as an ‘advocate’ on behalf of the organization to
convey messages to the target public group.
Activity 2.6
1. What is communication mean?
2. What are the elements of communication?
3. What are the important attributes during message development?
4. How to choose the medium to disseminate our message?
2.2.4 Evaluation
 BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS 
Dear student, what does a public practitioner evaluate in the public relations
process?

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The first step in the public relations process is research. The fourth or the last step is
evaluation. Both research and evaluation are cornerstones of a good PR practice. The
principle of research ‘Before’; ‘During’ and ‘After’ the campaign is the key to gang the
effectiveness PR programme.
Public Relations Audit
Like financial audit, there should be a public relations audit at the end of every year to
know how public relations budget has been spent and what the results are.
PR should be subjected to rigorous evaluation as any other activity, but its distinct
characteristics have to be taken into full account when deciding how best to measure and
assess the results against communication objectives. The evaluation at this stage will
answer how did we do? what are the results of the PR programme? What did we learn for
the future? Evaluation logically takes us back to the first step- fact finding, or research.
In fact, the evaluation is an ongoing process. Research before represents fact finding
state, research during enables the public relations manager to adopt mid-course
corrections in the communication stage and the research after deals with the last step-
evaluation, measuring results.
Activity 2.7
Dear student, what is the role of evaluation in public relations? Please write your
answers on a piece of paper and compare your answers with the notes given below.
Role of Evaluation
Evaluation is intended to do the following:
1. Demonstrate effectiveness of public relations programmes

2. Ensure cost effectiveness in terms of results.
3. Facilitate accountability
4. Measure outcomes against objectives

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5. Measure exposure of audience to media and messages.

6. Measure the impact of services and action plans.
7. Measure the image of the organization in terms of the services and draw
inferences to guide future campaign.
8. Encourage good planning.
9. Encourage good management.
10. Evolve an effective communication strategy.
 BRAINSTORMING QUESTIONS 
Dear student, think for some time about the evaluation methods used in public
relations? Have you tried? Well read the evaluation methods as follow.
Evaluation Methods
The research is undertaken to measure the effectiveness of public relations through

different methods. These are formal research, informal research, questionnaire, interview,
observation and website.
Formal research
A formal research may be divided into two categories as qualitative and quantitative. The
two complete each other. This is the reason why public relations professionals employ
both qualitative and quantitative methods.
Informal research
An informal research is undertaken without generally agreed upon rules and procedures
that would enable someone else for replicate the same study. An analysis of public
relations programme may be done through informal research method. It also makes use of
opinion and its communication audits to evaluate various public responses to an
organization’s programme.

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Questionnaire
The most familiar survey data-gathering devise is the questionnaire. A questionnaire is

often used in face to face personal interviews with the interviewer asking the questions
and noting the interviewees response on a form. E-mail is also being used to obtain
information or responses to the questions.
The interview
The interview is yet another method of collecting data. This can be done either through
administering questionnaire or personal contact.
PR analysis
A public relations analysis is another method often used as a tool of informal research.
Clippings from print media and transcripts from broadcast media can be analyzed to
determine the quantity and quality of media coverage. The space given, the position of
the item in the newspaper often gives an idea of coverage.
Website
The World Wide Web has given us a new research tool. The web is better than rational
library because you get information at your fingertips. The web acts as an important
source of information. As such, the web as a research tool is quick and easy but not
always all that accurate.
 REFLECTION QUESTION 
You are a public relations practitioner of a municipal corporation. About 500 persons in
the city become victims of dog bites every day. Design a multimedia public relations
campaign indicating the four-step of public relations process to solve the dog menace
problem in the city.

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Chapter Summary
PR is a process and it has its own models. PR models are press agentry/publicity model;
public information model; two way asymmetric model; and two way symmetric model.
The successful public relations practice depends on public relations structure and policy.
Public relations policy defines the areas of public relations programme, while structure
with its personnel who operates the programme. RACE model represents R for research,
A for action planning, C for communication and E for evaluation. The public relations
process is based on these four components. Four ‘A’s role of public relations practitioner
include analyst, advisor, advocate and antenna (evaluator). PEST analysis divides
organizational environment into four major areas as political, economic, social and
technological environment. Such analysis will be useful in designing and complementing
public relations.
Research is the first step in public relations process to elicit the public opinion and their
reactions towards organizational goals and programmes. Research is also called the
listening phase of public relations. Research tools include: personal contacts, interviews,
advisory committees, the call-in telephone line, media monitoring, mail questionnaire,
informal interactions, feedback information mechanism. Planning for public relations
process involves setting objectives, identification of target audience, formulation of
action plans and public relations messages, creating calendar operations and developing
the budget. Public relations process, from the stages of fact-finding, planning moves to
the next step-action and communication. These two always must go hand-in- hand for
effective impact and credibility. Devising a media strategy for evolving a
communication plan is an important step in the public relations process. Media strategy in
public relations process must cover four types media such as interpersonal media,
traditional falk media, conventional mass media and IT new media. If a research is the
first step to know the problems, the evaluation is the fourth step and the last in the public
relations process to study “How did we solve the problem” or the impact of public
relations process. Evaluation is intended to demonstrate the effectiveness of public
relations programme, facilitate accountability, and ensure cost effectiveness in terms of

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results, measure outcomes of public relations against set objectives. Evaluation methods
include formal research, informal research, questionnaire, personal interviews,
observation and websites.
 Review Questions 

1. Public information model does not seek to persuade the audience or change
attitudes.
2. Both two way asymmetric and two way symmetric models have feedback.
3. Two way asymmetric model involves the idea of dialogue.
4. Mere planning will not give result in a PR process.
5. Which one of the following statement is incorrect about publicity PR model?
A. Aims to secure coverage to a client
B. Truth is an absolute requirement
C. The practitioners concern is to get media attention
D. None
6. Public information model is
A. One way communication
B. Mass-media primary channel
C. Information oriented
D. All
7. Which model of PR is one way with the essence of truth?
A. Press agentry
B. Public information
C. Two way asymmetric
D. Two way symmetric
8. Which step in PR process is working for situation analysis and fact finding
A. Research
B. Action plan

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C. Communication
D. Evaluation
9. Write down the tools of PR research?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________
10. Write down the golden rules (imperatives) in setting objective during action plan?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________________________________
11. What are the important considerations necessarily attribute in PR message
development?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________
12. Write down the evaluation methods in PR process?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________

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Reading Materials
Anne Gregory (2000). The Art snd Science of Public Relations. Volume II.

Newsome, D. & Carrell, B. (2007). Public Relations Writing: Form and Style. Nwosu, I,
E & Idemili, S. O. (n.d). Public Relations: Speech, Media Writing and Copy.
Tye, Larry (2002). The Father of Spin: Edward L. Bernays and the Birth of Public
Relations. Henry Holt.

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CHAPTER THREE
3. PR PRINCIPLES, STRATEGIES AND TACTICS
Introduction
PR is a profession of principle. A PR practitioner has to be binding themselves within the

framework of principles. Besides, PR professionals must develop some sort of strategy
and tactics to achieve their ultimate goal. Thus, in this chapter professional principles,
strategies and tactics are discussed.
Chapter Objective
After the completion of this chapter, students will be able to:
 Identify and practice the basic principles of PR

 Explain the strategies of PR
 Explain the controlled and uncontrolled tactics of PR
3.1 Foundational Principles of PR PR Principles

Principle #1 – Organizations exist only
by public consent
Principle #2- Mutually beneficial
The PR industry has evolved greatly since it first began in relationships require two-way
communication
the early 1900s. In fact, it has dramatically changed even in Principle #3 – It’s not our job to put a
clean shirt on a dirty body
the last decade with the introduction and expansive growth Principle #4 – Act, then communicate
Principle #5 – Clarity is more
of the social media. important than cleverness
Principle #6 – Activity does not equal
results
The purpose of this topic is to explore 10 public Principle #7 – Never refuse an
opportunity to tell your side of the
relations principles that should remain true regardless story
Principle #8 – Manage expectations
how the media landscape changes in the next 10 to 20 Principle #9 – Practice PR proactively,
whenever possible
years. These are principles that have proved to be true Principle #10 – Be a bridge, not a
barrier
over and over again in the public relations industry and
are adhered to by PR professionals all over the world.

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These principles are based on the idea that the purpose of public relations is to “identify,
establish, and maintain mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its
various publics” – a classic definition of the profession developed by Cutlip, Center, and
Broom. All of the following principles are designed to achieve that objective.
Principle #1 – Organizations exist only by public consent
This is one of the oldest principles in the public relations profession. The word “consent”
here means “agreement” or “permission.” But in what way does the public give its
“consent” for an organization to exist? If the organization is a “for-profit” company, its
existence rests upon whether the public buys its product or services. Without this
consumer public, that organization would not exist. If it’s a “not-for-profit” organization,
its existence is dependent upon people giving their time (volunteering) or money
(donations). Without these things, this organization would not exist.
More broadly, though, an organization’s existence is dependent on a wide variety of

publics – many of whom will never buy the product or donate money. That’s because
organizations have many publics that more or less have a stake in what the organization
does. These people or groups or associations are called stakeholders because in some way
they can either influence or are influenced by the organization’s business. These
stakeholders include the consumers of the product, but they also include employees,
government, media, financial institutions, and neighbors in the community where the
organization conducts its business. All of these stakeholders can either help or hinder
your organization’s mission. The function of public relations is to manage the
relationships between these stakeholders and the organization.
Principle #2- Mutually beneficial relationships require two-way communication
The public relations profession has evolved from one-way communication to two-way
communication. With the possible exception of the government, which practices the
public information model, most PR professionals practice two-way communication. What
this simply means is that in addition to sending messages to their publics, organizations
receive them as well.

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Today, organizations must listen to their stakeholders/publics – especially given the

prevalence of social media. There needs to be a dialogue, not a monologue. Additionally,
organizations must demonstrate they have heard their publics by adjusting policies and
products to their publics’ needs and wants – as much as possible. If the goal is to build
and sustain mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its various
publics, two-way symmetric (balanced) communication must be practiced.
Principle #3 – It’s not our job to put a clean shirt on a dirty body
Many people believe this is the fundamental job of a public relations practitioner – to
make something appear better than it actually is. Using hype, manipulation, distraction –
and maybe outright lies – the practitioner uses “spin” to put a good face on someone or
something that is essentially not good.
While spin may work – and many amateur PR hacks still do it – it is counter-productive
to long-term public relations goals. If our job is to build and sustain relationships, spin
destroys the most important ingredient to a healthy relationship: trust. Once that trust is
lost, it is very difficult to regain it. And, at that point, the relationship is in jeopardy. If
your public has a choice whether to be in relationship with you or not (e.g., there are
comparable products or services on the market), it may decide to severe the relationship.
Trust in business – as with all of life – is a valuable asset. Public relations practitioners
can help organizations make better products, policies, and services, and communicate
more effectively with all of their publics. They can ensure that their publics are “heard,”
and that everything the organization does – as far as possible – is in their publics’ best
interest.
Principle #4 – Act, then communicate
The key idea here is that you cannot talk your way out of something you behaved your
way into. Americans have a saying: “Talk is cheap.” Public relations practitioners have
the reputation of talking; publics need to see action.

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Principle #5 – Clarity is more important than cleverness
Clear communication is difficult. Don’t lose your message by trying to be clever. If your
goal is to build relationships, then clear communication is essential. There is a lot of
focus today about the channels of communication– from the changing digital landscape
(e.g., media convergence) to the ever expanding social media toolbox. Selecting the right
channel to reach your audiences is critical. The wrong channel ensures that your message
will be not be delivered. But using the right channel does not necessarily mean
communication will take place; it only means the message was received. In order for a
message to be acted upon, it needs to gain the attention of the audience, be understood,
and clearly address the audience’s needs and wants.
Principle #6 – Activity does not equal results
There is a difference between production and outcome, between activities and results.
Your clients or bosses will expect that your public relations strategies and tactics will
“move the needle.” In other words, something has to happen as a result of your public
relations efforts. The public relations situation needs to change. More than ever before,
organizations are seeking – even demanding – and tangible ROI (return on investment).
They want to know if they spend money and resources on public relations that will yield
a return in the form of better stakeholder relationships, less opposition, stronger support,
improved reputation, positive attitudes, greater cooperation, more customers buying the
product or using the service. Because there is more client demand to demonstrate results,
measurement tools are becoming increasingly sophisticated. It is no longer sufficient to
simply count press clippings. Clients want to know the quality of those clippings. Are
they positive or negative? How many of the organizations key messages were included in
the stories? Who read the stories? Ultimately, organizations want behavioral results:
winning an election, increasing product sales, sold-out attendance at an event. The more
public relations professionals can demonstrate real results – that are tied directly into the
organization’s goals – the more valuable they become.

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Principle #7 – Never refuse an opportunity to tell your side of the story
This is one of the most common public relations errors. If you don’t tell your side of the
story, someone else will: a former (angry) employee, competitor, victim, or sour
neighbor. If the media is doing a story, they need a quote. Let it be from you, and not
from of these people. When the news is bad, many organizations refuse to talk to the
media. Instead, they say, “no comment.” To the public, however, “no comment” means
“we’re guilty.” It also means “we’re uncooperative.” By telling your side of the story
(especially in a bad situation), the public relations professional can help “frame” the story
in the best possible light – without, of course, making a bad situation look better than it is
(i.e., spin). But, the fact is, there are usually multiple “frames” that can be legitimately
applied to the same situation. The media usually will pick the most dramatic frame
because it makes for a better story. Your job as the PR professional is to make sure the
frame is fair and accurate – and also to suggest another frame, if necessary, that more
accurately reflects the reality of the situation.
All of this requires that the organization cooperates and works with the media to help
them get a story. Understanding a journalist’s job – from what they need to when they
need it – is fundamental to establishing constructive media relationships.
Principle #8 – Manage expectations
The key to fostering healthy relationships with all stakeholders is managing expectations.
For example, if a company exaggerates product claims, consumers will be disappointed
when the product falls short. Likewise, when PR practitioners hype (exaggerate) an
event, attendees will be upset when the reality doesn’t match the rhetoric. Same is true
about pitching a story to the media. Journalists will stop using you as a news source if
you consistently offer “fluff” stories with little or exaggerated substance.
This principle is also true, by the way, in maintaining positive relationships between PR
practitioners and their clients. Your clients (and bosses) need to know what public
relations can do, and what it cannot do. For example, if an organization has a negative
reputation in the eyes of its publics, PR professionals cannot change a negative into a

56
positive overnight. And ethical practitioners – aware of long-term public relations goals –
will not put a clean shirt on a dirty body.
Principle #9 – Practice public relations proactively, whenever possible
According to the freedictionary.com, “proactive” means “controlling a situation by

causing something to happen rather than waiting to respond to it after it happens.” PR is
more effective if it is planned, intentional, and controlled. Reactive public relations puts
an organization on the defensive and creates an environment ripe for spin.
Proactive PR requires that organizations are continually monitoring various

environments, assessing relationships, and identifying and tracking issues that may affect
the organization. Research shows that most organizational crises could have been
prevented through early intervention. The goals of “issues tracking” are to prevent
problems and take advantage of opportunities.
In terms of managing relationships, organizations should be continually filling the

“reservoir of goodwill” or “making deposits into the emotional bank account.” Both of
these metaphors speak to the idea of proactively and intentionally managing
relationships. If the reservoir of goodwill is filled, there will be something left in times of
drought (a crisis with that particular stakeholder or stakeholders).
Principle #10 – Be a bridge, not a barrier
There are at least two ways to practice public relations – and they are the polar opposites
of each other. One way to practice PR is to be a barrier that protects an organization from
its publics. This kind of PR uses one-way communication, doesn’t listen to stakeholders
in any meaningful way, ignores the media, and uses spin to help an organization not take
appropriate responsibility. The problem is, if the organization wants to maintain
relationships with its stakeholders, “barrier” public relations doesn’t work –at least in the
long term. Short term, being a barrier can work. But as soon as the stakeholders know
that they have been lied to or manipulated – or are simply not being heard – the
stakeholders will leave (i.e., use another product or service) or protest if they cannot

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leave (i.e., neighbors near a factory, etc.). But long-term, being a barrier is counter-
productive to organizational goals. And, in today’s world where transparency is
becoming increasingly important, barrier PR simply won’t work.
A much more effective (and ethical) way to practice public relations is to be a bridge that
connects an organization to its publics. Practitioners who see themselves as bridges use
two-way communication with the organization’sstakeholders, conduct transparent
dialogue through the social media, and respond affirmatively to journalists’ needs. The
world doesn’t need any more spin doctors. But it does need bridge builders who can
foster dialogue, create mutual understanding, and build cooperative, mutually beneficial
relationships.
1. What does “organizations exist only by public consent” mean?

2. What does spin destroy in a relationship?
3. Why should an organization act before it communicates?
4. Does the principle of “Never refuse to tell your side of the story” mean that the
public relations practitioner must answer all media questions?
5. What is the value of “managing expectations”?
6. What is the difference between being a “bridge” vs. being a “barrier” in public
relations?

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3.2 PR Strategies
The word ‘strategy’ is, no doubt, alien to management literature. It used to be a military
term which refers to “the role of a military commander and his art and skill” (Allert and
Zawawi: 2004, p.170). Over time, the concept was imported to management literature to
mean a blue print for well-coordinated corporate and planned corporate activities meant
to achieve a long term corporate goal. According to Mintzberg and Quins (1991:5),
strategy is: ...a pattern or plan that integrates an organisation’s major goals, policies and
action sequences into a cohesive whole. A well formulated strategy helps to marshal and
allocate an organisation’s resources into a unique and viable posture based on its relative
internal competences and shortcomings, anticipated changes in the environment and
contingent moves by an intelligent opponent. Thus strategy in the context of public
relations entails organisational management’s deliberate and well planned use of
communication activities in the direction that would position the organisation as a
credible one and by so doing, enhance both the image/reputation of the organisation
before its publics on one hand and its market share on the other hand. By implication,
public relations strategy according to Nwodu (2007) requires that:
 organisational leadership should have a well-articulated and defined

communication policy
 the policy should take into account the implication of corporate communication
activities for the realisation of corporate goal or mission of the organization
 the policy must be cohesive to the extent of improving customer relationship and
translate same in the sustenance and even expansion of market share.
Roadmap to Planning a Public Relations Strategy
Strategic plan for corporate communication activities is hardly an easy task. In doing this
therefore, a number of questions come to the mind of public relations practitioners. Allert
and Zawawi (2004:174) articulated some of these numbing questions as:
 what business are we in?

 why does the business exist?
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 what are our aims?

 what do we stand for?
 how do we see ourselves?
 how do others see us?
 what values and benefits do we hold?
 how can these be made manifest in our business?
 how do we view our clients?
Allert and Zawawi further posit that careful examination of these question and provision
of satisfactory answers to them before progressing into any business direction(in this
context corporate communication) are germane for successful business outing. This
means that in planning public relations strategy, the practitioners must be in tune with the
area of competence which their organisation is known for. This understanding will by
extension equip the practitioners to gain clear understanding of the vision and mission of
the organisation. To successfully infuse the corporate vision and mission into the
corporate communication plan, the vision and mission statements must be clear, succinct,
achievable and measurable. While vision statement envisioned the future (that is where
the organisation target to be in future), the mission statement describes in concrete and
practical terms, the broad- based approach for achieving the vision. In consonance with
the above, public relations mission statements according to Allert and Zawawi
(2004:175) “are directly applicable to the public relations aims and objectives of the
organisation, and are thus developed from, and directly related to, the organisation’s
overall vision and mission. So once the overall organisation’s vision and mission
statement are established and adopted, the public relations activities particularly
communication activities must be tailored along the line of the well-defined mission and
vision statements. This will in turn reconcile how we want to be seen with how others do
actually see us vis-a-vis what we need to say in our corporate communications to achieve
visibility, acceptance by target publics, and lasting business endeavour.

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Basic Performance Indicators (BPIs)
In many management literatures, Basic Performance Indicators is the same as the Key
Performance Indicators (KPIs) or Key Result Areas (KRAs). Regardless of the
nomenclature, they all refer to the major observable features for measuring success.
Applying KPIs in public relations strategy is to some extent difficult because “the results
of public relations work can be intangible in nature and are not often repeated on regular
basis” (Allert and Zawawi: 2004:177). The scholars further added that, most times, input
and output rather than outcome is measured. Thus, basic performance indicators can be
measured in terms of: 1) Number of media organisations that attended an organisation’s
public relations events and the number that actually reported the event positively or
negatively. 2) Determining the number of press releases sent out on an issue and how
much coverage was achieved (Allert and Zawawi: 2004:177). 3) How many invitations
were despatched to the publics of the organisation and how many actually attended etc.
The implication is that practitioners should tailor their performance indicators in terms of
input and output as earlier stated. The effects of such input and output actions are not
easily measured.
1. What is PR strategy?
2. What is the purpose of designing strategy?
3. How to measure strategies success or failure?
3.3 Public Relations Tactics
PR as a profession has been severally defined as deliberate use of communication to

achieve convivial relationship between an organisation and its publics. In doing this,
practitioners usually map out action plans to achieve set goals. While those action plans
sum up to what is now known as strategy, the actual coordinated activities for the
realisation of the plans are the tactics. By implication, strategy is the overriding plan that
allows a public relations practitioner to help ensure that organisational goals and

61
objectives are achieved (Hudson, 2004:198). On the one hand, tactics is the actual steps,
or actions taken to achieve those organisational goals and objectives. According to
Hudson (2004:198) “every tactics must relate directly back to its defined purpose:
achieving the strategic outcome”. Public relations tactics can therefore be of two types:
controlled and uncontrolled tactics.
3.3.1 Controlled Tactics
Controlled public relations tactics are those public relations activities which the
practitioner has absolute control of all the processes. In this case, the practitioner is in full
control of the communication activities right from the ideation to message development
and distribution-cum dissemination. Major examples of controlled public relations tactics
are: advertising, annual report, brochures, posters, direct mail, corporate gifts and
advertorials. These forms of communication are branded controlled in the sense that the
practitioner takes absolute decision on the length of message, the wordings, the
accompanying visuals, demonstrations etc. Hudson (2004: 199) summarises this form of
tactics in the following words: the practitioner crafts the message, selects exactly how it
will be produced, what values may be utilised, and what kinds of colours, typefaces, fonts
and papers may be chosen, then determines exactly when and where the information may
appear or to whom the painted materials will be distributed.
3.3.2 Uncontrolled Tactics
As the name implies, public relations practitioners usually have, if any, minimal control
over this form of tactics. Unlike controlled tactics, uncontrolled tactics can be altered by
external influences. In this context, public relations practitioners are incapable of
determining the length of message to be disseminated/distributed, when to distribute and
how. It is important to note that most media relations practitioner who issues press
release on behalf of their organisations cannot determine whether the release will be used,
what quantity of it will be used, when it will be used etc. Other forms of uncontrolled
public relations tactics include but are not limited to:

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i. press conferences which the practitioner cannot determine the angle the press
will take in reporting the issues arising at the conference neither can he/she
determine whether the press will actually cover the issues
ii. public meetings which may be hijacked by various interest groups especially in a
conflict situation
iii. plant visits/tours in which the press men can decide what to report, when and
how
iv. public functions like the end of the year party where the participants decide what
to say and the press will report what it considers news worthy. The bottom line,
however, is that the “most obvious uncontrolled tactics is media relations”
(Hudson,2004:199).
Major Tools for PR Tactics
We have classified public relations tactics into controlled and uncontrolled tactics. It is
also important to note that as we pointed out earlier, tactics refers to action packed
activities aimed at achieving the goals of an organisation. According to Nwodu
(2007:78), it is “a strategy in motion” in that while strategy is the plan for achieving set
goals, tactics is the action taken to achieve such goals. So, the major public relations
tactics are not far from the public relations tools for achieving specific public relations
objectives. A particular tactics used for achieving financial public relations objectives
may be also used to achieve community or media relations objectives.
Areas of Specialization Major Tactics
Financial Public Relations Annual/quarterly reports, fact books(or factsheets), press

releases, newsletters, telecommunication devices (old & news communication
technologies, meetings with and presentations before the financial publics (Reddi, 2009:
171) Press (Media) Relations Press releases, press conferences, press tours, feature
articles, letters to the editors, rejoinder, press interview, press photographs, newsletter,
media advisories, curtain raiser, facts sheets, press kit, pitch letters(short letter to the
editors about news items) electronic news services, corporate press advertising,

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advertorials, press inquiries, press reception, press open day, press clippings services
(Reddi, 2009: 325) Community Relations Press releases, press conferences, press tours,
feature articles, factsheets, advertorials/supplements, meetings with host communities,
public lectures, event sponsorships, physical development of host communities,
organisation of fund raising, social visits, employment creation, patronising local
suppliers, etc. (Nwodu, 2009). Government Relations Printing brochures, features
articles, letters to the editor, sponsorship of definition for or against a cause; lobbying,
telephone calls, courtesy calls/ visits, text messages/ e-mail; government event
sponsorship, etc. Employee Relations Meetings, memos, requisitions, newsletters, end of
year party, staff retreat etc. Note that the public relations tactics are not limited to the
above. There are very many others not listed here. But what we have here constitute the
major tools or tactics for effective public relations practice.
 Activity 3.3
1. What is PR tactic?
2. What is the difference between strategy and tactic?
3. What are controlled tactics?
4. What are uncontrolled tactics?
Chapter Summary
Public relations must perform their duties upon the foundations of PR principles. The
principles are always implemented to maintain mutual relationships among the
organization and its publics. The principles are public consent; two way communication;
building trust; communicate wisely; clarity; outcome oriented; never refuse; manage
expectations; proactive; and be a bridge.
Strategy is a pattern or plan that integrates an organisation’s goals, policies, and action
sequences into a cohesive whole. Thus, PR must have a well formulated strategy to be
succeeded. Tactics, on the other hand, are the actual coordinated activities for the
realisation of the plans. Hence, strategy is the overriding plan that allows a PR

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practitioner to help ensure that organisational goals and objectives are achieved.
Therefore, the PR tactics are related to its purpose and achievement. Tactics can be
controlled and uncontrolled.
Review Questions
IV. Write True if the statement is correct and False otherwise

1. Clear communication is simple
2. In principle PR must be a barrier, not a bridge.
3. PR must have a well-articulated and defined communication strategy.
4. Uncontrolled PR tactics are those PR activities, which the practitioner has
absolute control of all of the process.
V. Choose the best answer from the given alternatives
5. When you say PR must be a bridge between the organization and the public’s
mean?
A. Protects organization from its publics
B. Runs interference with media
C. One way communication
D. Creates mutual adjustment
6. All are uncontrolled PR tactics, except
A. Press conference
B. Meetings
C. Tours
D. Annual report
VI. Answer the following Questions Accordingly
7. What are the major observable features for measuring success?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
8. How do you measure the basic performance of PR practitioner in organizing
event?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
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Reading Texts
Allert, J. & Zawawi, C. (2004). “Strategy, Planning and Scheduling” .In: Jonhston, J &
Zawawi, C. (Eds.). Public Relations: Theory and Practice. Crows Nest: Allen and
Unwin.
Jersey: Prentice Hall
Hudson, M. (2004). “Tactics” In: Johnston, I & Zawawi, C (Eds.).Public Relations

Theory and Practice. Crow’s Nest: Allen and Unwin.
Knights, K. (2001). Strategic planning in Public Relations: A practical Guide.

Thorogood: London.
Minezberg, H. & Quinn, J.B. (1991). The Strategy Process: Concept, Context, Cases.
Englewood Cliffs: Prentice Hall.
Nwodu, L.C. (2007). Corporate Public Relations Management; Enugu: Precision

Publishers Limited.
Oliver, S. (2007). Public Relations Strategy. Koran pages: London.

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CHAPTER FOUR
4. PUBLIC RELATIONS MEDIA
Introduction
Media is the core of PR practice. PR practitioners can produce their own media or access
other media to reach to the public. Fundamentally, to realise the practice of PR media
relation is crucial to reach out both internal and external publics. Dear learners, here in
this chapter, you are going to learn about the work assignments of PR, media relation and
PR media production.
Chapter Objective
At the end of this chapter, you should be able to:
 Identify PR work assignments

 define the meaning and state the objectives of media relations
 explain the synergy between media and public relations
 discuss media relations instruments or tools; among other things
4.1 Work Assignments of Public Relations
 Activity 4.1
1. What are the assignments of PR practitioner?

2. How PR activities are executed?
The work assignments of PR are the following.

1. Writing: News releases, newsletters, correspondence, reports, speeches, booklet texts,

radio and television copy, film scripts, trade paper and magazine articles, institutional
advertisements, product information, and technical materials.
2. Editing: Special publications, employee newsletters, shareholder reports, and other
communications directed to internal and external publics.
3. Media Relations and placement: Contacting news media, magazines, Sunday
supplements, free-lance writers, and trade publications with the intent of getting them
to publish or broadcast news and features about or organised by the organisation.
Responding to media requests for information or spokesperson.
4. Special events: Arranging and managing press conferences, convention exhibits,
open houses, anniversary celebrations, fund-raising events, special observances,
contests, and award programmes.
5. Speaking: Appearing before groups and arranging platforms for others before
appropriate audiences by managing a speaker’s bureau.
6. Production: Creating communications using multimedia knowledge and skills;
including art, photography, and layout for brochures, booklets, reports, institutional
advertisements, and periodical publications; recording and editing audio and video
tapes; and preparation of audio visual presentations.
7. Research: Gathering intelligence – enabling the organisation to plan programmes
responsive to its public’s and problem situations, monitoring public relations
programme effectiveness during implementation, and evaluating programme impact.
8. Programming and counseling: Determining needs, priorities, goals, publics,
objectives, and strategies. Collaborating with management or clients in a problem
solving process.
9. Training: Working with executives and other organisational representatives to
prepare them for dealing with the media, and for making presentations and other
public appearances. In service staff development.
10. Management: Administering the operation of the public relations function –
personal, budget and programmes.

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4.2 Media Relations
Media Relation is part of the essential aspect of PR. Practitioners can hardly do without
the media. In fact, no aspect of PR practice can thrive without contact with the media.
Through the media organs, PR practitioners bring messages and images to the attention of
the various publics.
4.2.1 Definition of Media Relations
According to Onabajo (2005:13): Media relations are essentially a two-way operation. It

is the link between an organisation and the media, comprising the press, radio and
television. The organisation, on the other hand, supplies information and provides
facilities to the media on request while, on the other hand, it takes steps to initiate
comments and news. This rightly implies that media relations are concerned with
corporate organisation’s deliberate and conscious effort at seeking and achieving the
cooperation of the media. Organisations need this profitable relationship given that it
helps to wade off negative media coverage. Media relations, therefore, is PR function
which establishes and maintains mutual understanding, goodwill, co-operation, respect
and support between an organisation and the mass media practitioners/owners with the
aim of achieving PR objectives (Nkwocha, 1999:40). Nkwocha (1999:43-44) therefore
isolates the objectives of media relations to include establishing and sustaining cordial
relationships between an organisation and media houses; ensuring that organisations get
sufficient and positive coverage of their products, services and activities; and to explain
an organisation’s policies and actions to media men particularly in crisis situations.
4.2.2 Relationship between Media and PR
According to Marshall and Kingsbury (1996:127) “PR has become one of the most
important external influences in journalism as it is now practiced.” This means that public
relations practice has a lot to do with the press. PR practitioners often have media
releases to push to the publics; media conferences to organise and media tours to embark
upon and none of these take place without the collaboration of the media. Public relations
practice and media practice share a lot in common to the extent Habermas (1989:263)

69
emphasises that press demands or requirements enhance the growth of public relations
industry. Research evidence has also lend weight to the fact that both public
relations/practice influences media practice. McNamara, cited in Johnston (2004:263) for
instance found that 30% out of 250 newspaper articles examined were news releases,
about 20% of which were used verbatim. The relationship between public relations
practice and media practice was aptly summarised by Johnston (2004:263) where the
authors says:
But while public relations practitioners may rightly see their role as vital to the media, it
is not a one-way relationship. Just as public relations provide information to the media, so
too does the media provide information to the public relations profession. This is done
through the simple task of media monitoring: reading, watching and listening to the
media every day - a simple, yet vital form of research.... The practitioner will use the
media in their role of issues management, monitoring trends, government policy and
legislation, debates and opinions. In daily monitoring of the news media, a range of areas
should be covered to gauge public opinion and trends. These include the news and
features pages, the editorial or leader, columns, letters to the editor, talkback, radio and
television panel and review programmes.
4.2.3 Tools for Media Relations Practice
In our discussion on the relationship between public relations practice and media
practice, we noted that each of the practices not only deal with information but also
depend largely on each other for information. The platform for this healthy exchange of
information comes in different forms which we described here as tools for media
relations. This segment highlights various aspects of those tools that enhance media
relations practice. The essential tools of media relations are:
i. Press release: Which is often called news or media release. According to

Nwodu (2007:49) it is “corporate news issued out by an organisation via the
instrument of the mass media for public consumption with the purpose of
enhancing the corporate image of the organisation.” Press releases are
therefore generated by corporate organisations who use the tool to tell stories
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about their activities with emphasis on the events happening or about to

happen in an organisation; refute negative publications; comment on issues
affecting the interest of the organisation or government agencies concerned
(Nwodu; 2007:49).
ii. Press conference: Which is also called news or media conference. According
to Johnston (2001:275), three major reasons account for the organisation of
press conference and these reasons are to allow for a wide dissemination of a
story; to give all media access to the news at once; and to allow journalists to
ask follow-up questions.
iii. Media tour: Which is usually arranged for the purpose of getting new chief
executive of an organisation acquainted with media men.
iv. Media parley: The primary purpose of which is meant to establish a rapport
with people who will always write about you and your organisation (Popoola,
2005:56).
v. Information kit: Which showcases varied write-ups concerning the history of
the organisation issuing the kit; the product range; the mission and vision; and
colourful pictures of departments and personalities in the organisation.
vi. Interviews: it could be either exclusive or general press interviews.
Regardless of the form, it usually takes place either in the office of the chief
executive or the organisation’s conference room.
vii. Personality broadcast interviews: In which the company’s chief executive
officers “are oftentimes invited to feature on a personality interview either on
the radio or television” (Popoola, 2004 cited in Onabajo, 2005:59).
4.2.4 Media for Internal and External Publics
Corporate organisations are usually interested in maintaining healthy relationship with

both their internal and external publics. In doing this, the organisations use the media a
lot. However, there is a significance difference between media channels or modes used to
reach different publics of an organisation. This segment therefore aims at highlighting the
various media used for the internal and external publics. While the media for internal
publics is needed to enhance employer employee relationship, the media of external
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publics are used to reach out to widely dispersed publics. In the case of internal publics,
the following formal and informal media channels are usually employed to serve the
purpose of maintaining a healthy employer-employee relationship. These according to
Onabajo (2003:64-73) are:
1. Newsletters: Which communicate news in a timely and targeted fashion to the
internal publics.
2. Supplementary publications: This includes pamphlets, brochures, manuals and
books. According to Cutlip et al. (2000:293) they serve three major purposes
which are indoctrination, references and institutional promotion.
3. Letters: Which Onabajo (2003:67) rightly says “support line communication by
ensuring accuracy of information...”
4. Inserts and enclosures: Which to a large extent guarantee high message
receptivity (inserts) and many a time, induces the targets to imitate actions in the
positive direction (enclosure).
5. Reprinted speeches: Which can be used to inform and reassure the target publics
about issues of mutual interest.
6. The grapevine: This fills the information gaps left by an inadequate
communication process.
7. Meetings: Which brings people together and provide opportunities to speak and
listen to others, speak in a two-way communication system.
8. Teleconferencing: Which enables speakers or conferees to meet and discuss
online without having to physically travel several kilometres to participate.
9. Closed-Circuit Television (CCTV): This allows for live telecast and beaming of
messages for the consumption of many employees at the same time.
10. Video film and slide presentations: This aims at developing favourable ideas,
innovations, attitudes or behaviours in viewing audiences.
11. Displays and exhibits: Which seek to achieve marketing and sales objectives and
by so doing, boost employer-employee relationships. On the other hand, media of
external publics include all the organs of mass media, social media; and the wire
services and news syndicate. The choice of these channels of communication for
reaching external publics stems from the fact that they have the potential of

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reaching diverse heterogeneous publics irrespective of their spatial location.

Details of the potentials of each medium in enhancing external publics relations
are documented in Onabajo (2005:76-85).
 Activity 4.2
1. What is the role of PR in media relations?

2. Discuss the essential tools of PR?
3. List the PR media for publics?
4.2.5 Press Release
The concept, ‘press release’ has other terms for which it is known in public relations
literature. It is therefore the same as ‘news release’. It is also called ‘media release’. Press
Release is therefore defined as “corporate news issued out for consumption by an
organisation via the instrument of the mass media with the purpose of enhancing the
corporate image of the organisation” (Nwodu, 2007:48). Again, Nwodu (2007:48)
informs that press release is regarded as corporate news given that the content of press
releases usually focuses attention on the activities of the organisation issuing the releases
rather than on public interests. Most times, it is the job of the government officers or
company’s Public Relations Officers (PROs) to write and dispatch press releases.
Writing the Press Release
According to Black (1989:14) in preparing press release, “it is well to remember that it
will have to compete for attention with a great quantity of similar communications which
editors receive daily”. This means that “press release should be properly written to
minimise the struggle for space or airtime in the mass media. When poorly written
therefore, a Press release can suffer the possibility of not being used in the news content
of the media organisations. Modern editors have enormous task of editing volumes of
news items on daily basis to the extent that their attention is easily turned off by poorly
written press release. On the other hand, editors are easily attracted to press releases that
conforms to the standard and rules of news writing and to some extent, each news

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medium’s house style. Nwodu (2007:50) reinforces this view where he argues that
“public relations managers, officers or practitioners should of necessity master basic rules
of news writing in order to excel in the business of writing news releases”. Some of those
rules, according to Nwodu (2007), included:
1. Be accurate on the use of facts and figures; objective in the presentation of issues;
fair to all concerned with or likely to be affected by the release by balancing your
story; prompt in writing and delivery of the release (that is being timely and/or
current); punchy (brevity) in language use; and clear in the expression of thoughts
and ideas.
2. Ensure that the lead (that is the first paragraph of the release) provides answer to
what is most important about the issue for which the release is being issued. This
is so because the release will be meaningless if it is silent on the “action” which in
fact is the news. This is why Newsom and Carrell (2001:195) counsel: Once you
have written a lead, read it over to make sure that it states clearly what the release
is about and that it grabs the readers’ interest. In other words, the lead must be
interesting - both to catch the eye of the editors and to get the attention of the
newspaper reader.
3. Stick to news writing style. News release is simply a news item not an essay.
Therefore, the lead and subsequent paragraphs like that of news story must of
necessity provide answers to the who; the what; the why; the where; the when and
the how of the story. Besides, the writer must be at home with writing rules with
greater emphases on brevity (use of concrete words); concise (use of shorts
sentences and paragraphs); precision (use of exact expressions/words to
communicate the intended ideas/meanings); and simplicity (use of common
language that is free from confounding technical jargons).
4. Ensure proper use of quotation lead when necessary. Whether the quote is created
by the consultant (or information officer) or originated from the client (chief
executive) the most important thing is to ensure that it properly fits where it is
placed.

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5. Do not assume that editors and readers already know the subject your release is
meant to address. Avoid expressions like “as you all know”, “we are aware that”,
“it is common knowledge,” and “everybody knows”. They are misleading,
irritating and should be avoided like plague.
6. Be conscious of the length of the release. If your release becomes too lengthy, it
may face the risk of not being used.
7. Avoid too much use of statistics. Too much statistics usually bore your audience
and therefore should be used sparingly.
8. Ensure the entire structure of the release conforms to the structure of a typical
news stories. Most times public relations officers write to impress their Chief
Executives. This is wrong. To attract editor’s attention and arouse his/her interest,
news release should flow like typical news story.
Forms of Press Release

Different kinds of press release exist. Below are some of the commonly used forms of
press release:
a) Response Release which is usually issued to serve as a company’s response
to an issue in the media that is critical of the company’s actions and/or
inactions.
b) Spot News Release which companies affected by unprecedented occurrences
like fire outbreak, aero hijack, bombing of oil sites and sundry man-
made/natural mishaps often use to hint members of the public about the
problem.
c) Bad News Release which companies often use to state their positions on
image damaging news or issue already in circulation.
d) Features News which is used to publicise the achievements and/or success
stories of a corporate organisation.
e) Announcement Releases which as the name implies, announces “the
marketing of a new products, the opening of a new plant, the company’s latest
financial results or a new company’s policy” (Newsom and Carrell,

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2000:205). This release is used to publicise an organisation’s tangible and

intangible products.
Factors that Impede on the Use of Press Release
A media organisation has the right to use or drop any press release issued to it by any
corporate organisation. And given that space and air time are very scarce in the news
media, editors often evaluate the relative importance and uniqueness of press releases
before use (Nwodu, 2007:64). In this case, how well or otherwise a press release is
written determines whether the release will be used or not. However, Nwodu (2007:65)
isolates six factors that could prompt editors to reject a release as:
a) If the release lacks local angle, colouration or interest.
b) If the release has manifest commercials undertone. That is, it is an advertisement
packaged in the form of press release.
c) If the release is full of grammatical, spelling and syntax errors.
d) If the release is very drab, uninteresting, vague and essentially lacking factual and
concrete information.
e) If the release is maliciously done and as such, capable of provoking legal tussle.
f) If the language and style of presentation of the release runs counter to the policy
of the news medium and/or its house style. It is important for public relations
officers evaluate their press releases against these backdrops before dispatching
them to media organisations. This will help to reduce the risk of rejecting the
releases.
 Activity 4.3
1. What is press release?

2. What are the forms of Press release?
3. What are the factors impede on the use of press release?

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4.2.6 Press Conference
The Press conference like the press release is one of the essential tools or elements of
corporate communications. Public relations officers make extensive use of press
conferences to enhance two–way communication between their organisations and the
publics of the organisations. This unit examines the press conference from conception to
planning and execution.
Definition of Press Conference
The press conference in also regarded as news conference or media conference.

Corporate organisations often organise press conferences to explain its position on a
topical issue likely to impinge on the image and reputation of the organisation. It is often
organised to “create a two–way communication situation for an organisation to share
information and ideas with media on major break – through and controversial complex
facts that need proper explanation and in similar important information exchange
situation (Nwosu, 1996:30).
Press or news/media conference is therefore “a two–way communication between an

organisation and the press men through which the organisation shares its important
information with the press which in turn publicise the information for public
consumption” (Nwodu 2007:67). Press conference is therefore a very serious media
event. According to Wilcox and Nolte (1995: p. 46) six conditions that lead to warrant
the need for press conference are:
1. When an announcement of considerable importance to a large number of people

in the community is to be made (Example: an election date);
2. When a matter of public concerns needs to be explained (Example: a food recall);
3. Where reporters have requested access to a key individual and it is important to
give all media equal access to that person (Example: a visiting celebrity).
4. If a new product or an invention in the public interest is to be unveiled ,
demonstrated or explained to the media (Example: A solar–powered vehicle);

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5. When a person of importance is coming to town and there are many media
requests for interviews (Example: The Minister); and
6. When a complex issue or situation is to be announced and the media need access
to someone who can answer their question (Example: Company Manager).
It is on this basis that Nwodu (2007:69) agrees that press conferences can be organised to
achieve any or combination of the following purposes:
 explain new company policies

 publicise a company’s latest invention
 introduce a company’s new product or changed brand image, or state clearly a
company’s position in a crisis or conflicting situation.
Planning and Execution of Press Conferences

As we noted earlier, press conference is a very crucial aspect of corporate
communications that should not be treated with levity. It therefore, requires proper
planning and execution to achieve the purpose prompting an organisation to organise
such a conference. In planning for a press conference therefore, the public relations
officers should consider what Nwodu (2007:69-74) as the “ five nuggets” of press
conference planning. These are:
a. Who should be invited which entails drawing list of media organisations
within a locality and deciding which among the lot to invite based on specific
reason(s).
b. Deciding the most convenient and efficient way of distributing the invitation
to ensure it sets the targets.
c. When to hold the conference which entails deciding on a date that will not
clash with major or bigger event.
d. Venue of the conference which requires deciding on a venue that is centrally
to the invitees.
e. Cost of the conference which entails proper articulation of the cost
implications of the conference. Costing is the same as budgeting; it requires

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itemising all that it will take to organise a successful conference and fixing
prices to them in line with market realities.
After the planning, next is action that is the actual execution of the press conference.
Nwodu (2007:76) listed some of the things that are involved in actual execution of press
conference as:
a. Making adequate provision for the registration of media men in attendance

and proper distribution of conference kits/materials to them.
b. Ensuring proper arrangement of the hall in a manner that would enable the
pressmen see and hear the speakers and actions at the high table with less
friction.
c. Ensure a seasoned reporter is on ground to take accurate record of major
issues raised and discussed at the conference, responses to press questions,
and useful comments made by both the speakers and other participants.
d. Arrange for alternative power supply and mini-information processing centre
stuffed with computers, photocopying machines, fax, and internet facilities to
enhance the work of print and electronic journalists in attendance.
e. Ensure the hall is well lit to enhance the shootings and shots by camera men
(see Nwodu, 2007:76-78 for details).
Post Press Conference Activities

At the end of every press conference the public relation officer is expected to take a
number of post conference actions to further ensure success. Some of these post
conference actions or activities include:
i. Distribution media Kits and Sundry Conference Materials to invited pressmen
who were unable to make it to the conference.
ii. Evaluate press reports on the conference by ascertaining the quantity and quality
of news feature and opinions. Editorial within in the matter.
iii. Evaluate the success or other wise of the conference in terms of the impact of the
conference on the image the organisation.

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iv. Evaluate the on-the-spot impression of the participants (particularly the press –
men) regarding the conference.
 Activity 4.4
1. What is press conference?

2. What are the required situations to organise press conference?
4.2.6 Speech Communication
Speech writing and delivering is an essential part of public relations practice. Given that
speech entails “an effort by one person to, in some way, influence a group listeners”
(Ndolo, 2001: 83), it is very crucial in winning the public’s sympathy to the side of an
organisation. It is important that modern public relations practitioners “should of
necessity, master the techniques for writing and delivery of memorable speeches capable
of influencing others” (Nwodu, 2007, p.108). This unit therefore is designed to expose
the students to the rudiments of speech writing and delivery as essential element of public
relations practices.
Meaning of Speech Communication
According to Nwosu (1992:74) speech is a specialised essay written for oral delivery to a
usually specialised audience”. Going by this definition, speech communication means a
specialised written communication designed for oral presentation to a specific audience.
It is important to note however, that speech presentation goes beyond “written essay”. It
extends to other forms of speech communication like impromptu and memory speeches.
Broadly defined therefore speech communication is “an organised thought which could
be written or unwritten designed for oral presentation in public and targeted at a given
audience for the purpose of influencing the audience” (Nwodu; 2007:110). According to
Nwodu (2007:110), it is deducible from the above definition that a typical speech
involves:
1. written or unwritten well-articulated statement
2. formulated and presented by a speaker

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3. in public glare
4. targeted at a specific audience; and
5. with ultimate goal of influencing them.
Types of Speeches
Speeches are usually classified on the basis of the function each speech is designed to
play. Speech classifications therefore included but not limited to:
1. Informing speeches which in public relations context, are designed to share a
company’s information with specific or a number of its publics. This is usually
done during Annual General Meeting (AGM). During such meetings the
organisation usually the executives share the success stories of their organisations
as well as the challenges facing their organisations with the shareholders.
According to Onwe (2003:186), “through informative speeches, information and
ideas are shared, perception of reality shared, agenda set and opinion classified.”
2. Persuasive speeches which according to Nwodu (2007:111) are usually designed
to “subtly yet incisively appeal to the audience to show greater commitment to a
particular action or cause. Nwodu further submits that persuasive speeches help
to:
 affect attitudes, behaviour and/or practices;
 prompt, inspire and mobilise;
 debunk or reinforce tradition-bound beliefs and claims; and convince
doubters.
3. Entertaining speeches which as the name implies are meant to amuse the
audience. This kind of speeches usually take place when organisations organise
special functions like silver or golden jubilee celebration; dinner parties, end of
the year parties, executives luncheon, and sundry social activities. The essence is
to put the attendees in a lighter mood and leave them with sustained “pleasant,
exciting and favourable impression about both the speaker and the organisation”
(Nwodu, 2007:112). Entertaining speech is considered a serious public relations
tool. To effectively deliver therefore, someone who has a blend of juicy sense of
humour with modest sense of reason should be engaged to speak.

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4. Technical speeches which are usually rendered by professionals in special field

of endeavours. The major skill required of a speaker in this context is expertise.
So the speaker should possess superior skill and erudition to be able to teach
his/her professional colleagues important professional case(s). This kind of speech
is usually done in conferences, in workshops and seminars.
5. Brief remarks which is usually a feature at the beginning or closing of an event.
This kind of speech comes in form of the “opening or closing remark in an
occasion; welcome or acceptance speech; vote of thanks and sundry speeches”
(Nwodu, 2007:113). According to Newsom and Carrel (2001:270), “what works
best for these occasions is to develop gist or context of the remark and have the
speaker put them in his or her own words”.
Speech Delivery Styles

Just as different types of speeches exist, so different styles of speeches also exist. This
segment discusses different styles or forms of speech delivery. These are:
a. Impromptu speech, which is “delivered or made with no advance notice and
with little if any advanced preparation”. Since it is not planned ahead of the
time, it usually takes the speaker by surprise. The in thing here is that public
relations managers should always get prepared at all times to deliver
impromptu speeches or guide their Chief Executives on how to cope with
impromptu speeches. Speech situations that could call for impromptu speech
delivery includes meeting, business sessions, political rallies, cooperate
carnivals, public events and plant visits. Nwodu (2007: 122) lists the secrets of
success in the impromptu speeches as:
 anticipation that one might be picked to deliver a speech
 listening attentively to what other speakers are saying in an occasion
 scribble some vital issues/points that come to your mind as you ponder
over the theme of the speech
 be confident that you can make it.
b. Extemporaneous speech, which differ from impromptu speech in many
respects. One, the speaker is aware he/she is going to make a speech at given

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time, place and occasion. Two, the speaker prepares his/her mind by
organising his/her thought on what to say and how to say. Three, the speaker
prepares a full script or outline of the highlights of his/her speech. It is
important to note however that although the speech may be scripted, the actual
presentation does not require reading through a script. The speaker is usually
deemed to be a master of his/her subject. He/she is therefore, expected to
speak on the subject of the speech coherently and fluently without reading the
script. Nwodu (2007:123) catalogues the advantages of extemporaneous
speech delivery as follows:
i. it boosts audience rating of the speaker’s credibility, integrity and
intelligent quotient
ii. it is flexible in nature and therefore allows for easy adaptability and
adjustability of the speech to suit the actual or real situation on ground
iii. it makes a speech fresh, natural, original and exciting
iv. it offers the speaker wide latitude of freedom to choose his words and
restructures his language to suit the immediate speech situation.
c. Written speeches, which are considered as the most important and most
widely used speech delivery pattern in public relations (Nwosu, 1996:57).
This is so given that “every word, phrase, sentence or idea is thoroughly
vetted and the real and implied meaning ascertained before presentation”
(Nwodu, 2007:124-125). Written speech is meant to be presented as written.
This means that the presenter will not skip nor paraphrase any aspect of the
speech. This does not imply that the speaker cannot pause occasionally to
emphasise a point. But whenever he/she pauses to emphasise a point, he/she
usually starts from where he/she stopped after the emphasis. Most times Chief
Executives rarely have time to write their speeches. The most common
practice is to get their public relations practitioners to thoroughly research on
the subject of their speeches and do the actual writing of the speeches for
them. In preparing a speech for the chief executives, the speech writer should
understand the subject matter. In addition, he/she according to Nwodu

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(2007:123) should also understand the basic characteristics of the Chief

Executives some of which are his/her:
 public carriage;
 proficiency in the oral and written language of communication;
 diction, tone, pitch and sundry essential qualities of oral presentation
 ability to decode meanings at the spur of the moment and by extension
makes adjustments to suit the situation
 state of health (especially as it pertains to sight and ability to stand for
a reasonable length of time).
 Activity 4.5
1. What is speech communication?
2. Write the elements of speech communication?
3. What are the types of speech?
4. Write down the speech deliver styles?
4.2.7 Event Management
Organising an event can be a daunting task, particularly for an individual or

committee planning an event for the first time. While the scale of the events varies
dramatically, the principles of event management essentially remain the same.
Planning and preparation
Effective planning and preparation are crucial to the success of an event. There are
numerous elements involved in planning and preparation.
Purpose of the event: In planning an event it is important to understand why the event is
being held, who it is for and who it will benefit. Having a clear focus and defined
objectives will help direct the planning process.
Timing and location of the event: When and where an event takes place can have a
significant impact on its overall success. When considering the best time of the day,

84
month or year to hold an event, it is important to consider other events that may
compliment or compete with the event you are organising. With regard to location, there
are many variables to consider, including the availability of facilities, accommodation,
transport, and the support of local stakeholders.
The organising committee and event manager: There is usually more than one person
involved in organising an event. In many cases it is useful to establish an organising
committee and clearly assign roles and responsibilities to committee members. There
should be an event manager appointed who has overall control of the event and is
ultimately responsible for the major decisions and directions of the committee.
Event checklist: In order to allocate responsibilities to individuals on the organising

committee, the committee must have a clear idea of all the different aspects of the event,
including venue, equipment, staffing, communication, catering, garbage, toilets, money
handling, medical, hospitality, transport, prizes, trophies and ceremonies. It is useful to
compile an event plan, or checklist, which will ensure that all aspects of the event are
considered and adequately addressed in the planning stages. See the example event
checklist at the end of this document to help you organise your event.
Finances and budget: When preparing for an event it is important that all sources of
income and all costs are accounted for, including hidden costs and in-kind support.
Developing an event checklist before the budget will ensure that all costs are considered.
The event manager or organising committee should work closely with a financial
manager or club treasurer to ensure the event follows the relevant financial procedures.
Sponsorship: Once the event manager and organising committee have a clear
understanding of the finances and budget, they may wish to secure sponsorship for the
event. When looking at sponsorship it is important that the organising committee has a
clear idea of what it is that they would like from potential sponsors (i.e. money, free
publicity, discounts, goods and services). The committee must also be clear on what the
event can offer potential sponsors (i.e. free advertising, publicity, naming rights, media
coverage and exposure for new products).

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Developing a profile of the event (i.e. a brief history of the event, number and type of
participants, media coverage and publicity) will help the committee to target relevant
sponsors and to highlight the benefits of being involved with the event. Any attempt to
secure sponsorship should be based on a definite sponsorship strategy that targets specific
organisations and tailors the approach to each organisation. A general mail out requesting
sponsorship from many different organisations is generally unsuccessful.
Promotion and publicity: Regardless of the size of the event it is important to consider
the level of publicity and promotion required. While some events may require minimal
publicity or promotion (depending on the aim, target audience and existing profile), in
most cases event organisers will aim to maximise the profile of the event through
promotion (controlled and paid for by organisers) and publicity (media coverage).
Unfortunately, it is not uncommon for this aspect of the event organisation to be

overlooked or left to the last minute, which can result in poor exposure for the event, a
poor turnout of participants and unsatisfied sponsors. When looking at publicity, it is
important to consider various forms of media (print, radio, online and television) and
different ways to approach each of these.
If preparing media releases there are numerous guides available to help format the
information in a way that is understandable and attractive to media sources. Having a
clear idea of the focus of publicity and promotion (i.e. increasing awareness and
participation or increasing exposure of sponsors) should influence the approach taken.
Approvals and legal requirements: When organising an event in a public facility, or on

land owned by someone other than the organising group, it is important to get the
approval and any permits or licences required by the property owners or land managers.
It is common for land and facility managers to ask for evidence of insurance and risk
management procedures from the event organiser before approval or permits are granted.
In most cases, it is advisable that the organizing committee or organisation responsible
for the event become an incorporated body in order to limit potential legal liability of

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individual members. If in doubt, the event manager should seek professional legal advice
in this area.
Implementation and evaluation
Event delivery: If sufficient time and effort has been put into planning and preparation,
the event should run smoothly. The event manager should have a checklist of tasks with
time frames to keep the event on track. Effective communication is essential to ensure the
event goes to plan. There will always be minor difficulties and challenges; however,
hopefully most of these will have been considered and there will be contingency plans to
address problems as they arise. During the event it is important to take the time to
publicly acknowledge the contribution of staff, volunteers and sponsors.
Post event: After the event has been held, the following should occur:
 Formally thank all those involved in organising and running the event
 Provide sponsors with a report on the event and thank them for their involvement
 Contact the media with any final results and media releases
 Pay any outstanding accounts
 Review the event and keep an accurate record of the organising committee’s
methods and activities in order to learn from any mistakes and to make the
process of organising future events easier.
 Activity 4.6
Show the process of event organisation and activities in each stage?
Chapter Summary
PR has an official work assignment of writing, editing, creating media relations,

organising special events, speaking, producing media outputs, researching, programming
and counselling, training and managing. Media relations are essentially a two way
operation between an organisation and the media. PR practitioners have most powerful

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influence on the journalistic media. Similarly, media has a tremendous effect on the PR’s
role. This shows as they are demanded one another. Press demands the growth of PR and
vice versa. PR practitioners use essential tools for media relations such as press release,
press conference, media tour, media parlay, information kit and interview. In this chapter,
issues about press release, press conference, speech communication and event
organisation have been discussed. Furthermore, the PR practitioner can produce media
for internal and external publics. These outlets are newsletters, supplementary
publications, letters, inserts and enclosures, reprinted speeches, the Grapeview, meetings,
teleconferencing, closed circuit TV, video film and displays and exhibits.
Review Questions

1. PR practitioners can hardly do without media.
2. PR officers are suppliers of information for media relations.
3. Press conferences organized to explain official position on topical issue.
4. _____is a type of news release that states on image damaging news?
A. Response release
B. Spot news release
C. Bad news release
D. Feature news
5. Which one of the following is wrong about Press conference?
A. It is periodical
B. It is two way
C. It is institutional
D. It is an end
6. Speech communication
A. Only well-articulated written statement
B. Formulated and presented by the speaker
C. Targeted general audience
D. Ultimate goal is speaking
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7. Which one of the following activity is done during event planning?

A. Organizing committee
B. Assigning tasks
C. Finance and budget
D. All
8. Write down the essential tools of media relations?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
_____________________________________________
9. Write down the rules of Press release writing?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
10. Write down the types of Speeches?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_____________________
Reading Texts
Jersey: Prentice Hall

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Habermas, J. (1989). The Structural Transformation of the Public Sphere. Cambridge:

Polity Press.
Johnston, J. (2004). “Media Relations” In: J. Johnston & C. Zawawi (Eds.) Public
Relations Theory and Practice. Crow’s Nest: Allen and Unwin
Marshall, I. & Kingsbury, D. (1996). Media Realities. Melbourne:

Publishers Limited.
Nwosu ,I. E. (1996). Public Relations Management: Issues and Application.
Onabajo, O. (2005). Essentials of Media Relations. Lagos: Concept Publications Limited.

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CHAPTER FIVE
5. PUBLIC RELATIONS ATTACHMENT
Introduction
PR is an essential and integrated component of public policy or service. The professional

PR activity will ensure the benefit to the citizens, for whom the policies or services are
meant for. Public relations are crucial in all areas because their works are essential to
conduct a lot of works. Specific areas of PR specializations are: Non-profit organizations;
Educational institutions; Fundraising or donor relations; Research trend analysis, issues
management and public opinion evaluation; International public relations for
organization and firms (IGO or INGO); and Financial public relations or investors
relations.
The principal areas of PR work including corporations, several types of non-profit

organizations, education, government, entertainment, sports, and travel. Among these we
have going to see briefly in this chapter.
Chapter Objective
At the end of this chapter, students are be able to:
 Know the PR roles across sectors;

 Identify the tasks of PR in government offices
 Familiarise themselves with the roles of PR in NGO
 Identify the roles of PR in business corporations
5.1 PR in Government Organizations
 Activity 5.1
1. What are the basic roles of PR in government institutions?

2. What are the professional and political activities of Government Communication
affairs officers in Ethiopia?
The Government public relations contributes to the implementation of public policy;

assisting the news media in coverage of government activities; reporting the citizenry on
agency activities; increasing the internal cohesion of the agency; increasing the agency’s
sensitive to its public’s; and mobilisation of support for the agency itself.
The basic function of the government PR department / agencies is to provide information,

education/instruction to the citizens. The effort should also motivate the people directly
or indirectly, to discharge these functions in a meaningful and purposeful manner. It is
necessary that the PR department should be clear about the broad objectives which guide
their work. The national objective should be non-political, non-controversial, and on
which there should be a national consensus. The objectives should further the interests
and the wellbeing of the public as a whole and promote the many sided development of
the country. The objectives should be long term ones and need not necessarily change
with political vagaries.
It is fundamental right of citizens in a well-functioning democracy to know what public

officials are doing. What policies they are pursuing? What laws and programmes they are
running? How they are raising and spending money? What international agreements they
are negotiation? Such information helps to increase accountability of public officials and
helps citizens to formulate their own opinions on issues affecting their lives. Yet, even
the most open and well-intentioned governments may hesitate about how much and what
kind of information to share with the press and the people.
Activities of government public relations (Government information officer):
1. Monitoring media coverage
Tracing the coverage of print and broadcast media is the primary job of government
information and communication officer. Government information officer (GIO) can’t

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work effectively without knowing the journalists writing and how they present the
topics that cover reading through the morning papers is often the first thing that is
information officer does at the office.
2. Briefing and advising political officials
Ministries and other senior officials of government relay on information officer’s to

inform them media reporting upon which they may be expected to act both politically
appointed GIO’s and career civil servants perform this tasks. GIOs also provide
counsel in the communications components of policy proposal. It is important for
senior information officers to be regular contact with top officials of the Ministries
and to be recognized as trusted and knowledgeable advisors on communication
matters.
3. Managing media relations
Although new technologies are beginning to work in its intermediary role, the media
remains a middle vehicle, in which GIO’s communicate with the public. Many GIOs
spend the bulk of their working day with the telephone or in meetings with journalists
nurturing positive relations within them; learning their interests and describing
government activities. It is only natural them in well-functioning democracy when the
media plays a vital oversight role. There will be tension between reporters and public
officials responsible for providing information. GIOs need to work continuously at
building a relationship of trust between two parties, in part by promoting mutual
appreciation of the fact that reporters need GIOs and vice versa. Information officers
also need to be aware of the range of media entities, including not only daily
newspapers and the broadcast media but also for weekly news magazines and special
interest newsletters, websites and other publications.
GIOs use a variety of techniques to transmit to reporters including telephone calls,

news conference, and interview with specialists and senior officials, letters to editors,
press release and briefings. They are making use of new or improved technologies
including multiple faxing, emails and the internet. Naturally, GIOs must modify the

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way in which they approach the media depending on the urgency and importance of
the information with which they are dealing. They treated events in different ways.
4. Informing the public directly
The task of the information services of the state administer is not only to inform the
media about the administration activity but also to provide conditions for the fullest
possible access to information. Accomplishing the latter activity involves both
passive measures (allowing individuals to see government documents and active steps
preparing and widely disseminating descriptive materials on public services). One
reason why GIOs go directly to the public with certain information is that the subject
covered/ reported may not be of interest to journalists. Also GIO might want to avoid
confusion or misunderstanding that could results from the media’s filtering of an
important message. Tools commonly used to respond to public inquires and to convey
information to the population include mailings, pamphlets, posters, printed and
broadcast public service advertisements, the official gazette, lectures community
meetings, exhibitions and special programming events. GIO’s often find that efforts
to reach a mass audience and more effective if intermediaries and communication
partners such as NGOs, professional associations and trade unions are drawn into the
process.
5. Sharing information across the administration
Many developing countries GIO have formal responsibilities to promote external

communication and internal communication. For instance, the government
administrations print daily bulletins filled with details with meetings, appointments,
law services and proposed policies. These are typically prepared by individuals
working at a central information office using text provided by GIOs in line with
ministries and other state bodies. The bulletins are distributed across the
administration to keep public servants informed. They also may be made available to
the media and opinion makers.
6. Formulating communication strategies and campaign

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GIOs regularly contribute to the development of public information campaigns,

which are used to raise citizens’ awareness of social issues and to change behaviors,
e.g. Prevent AIDS, curtailing Smoking, promoting child vaccination,) and to educate
the public and encourage its backing for major government plans.
PR firms and advertising agencies are often recruited to assist in the formulation of
communication strategies and public information campaigns. Preparing campaigns
involves several components including not only identification of themes, principles,
partners, target audiences, channels and costs but also texting campaign ideas and
carrying out follow up action such as monitoring, fine tuning and evaluate. Care must
be taken when developing public information campaign especially on a controversial
or divisive issue in order to avoid exposing the government and administration to
accusations of spouting propaganda. The GIOs is often seen by political leaders as
just some kind of mailbox delivery message. This simplistic view Overlook the key
roles of communication in promoting public understanding of support for public
policies. GIOs should be involved throughout the decision making process to advice
on the implementation and explanation of public policies to the media.
7. Researching and assessing public opinion
Reviewing correspondence and comments received by telephone, conducting polls,

distributing questionnaires, holding public hearings and roundtable discussions and
organizing focus groups can yield useful information. Regarding public perceptions
needs and desires, feedback generated through these methods helps political leaders
to shape public policies more in tune with public’s properties and aids. GIOs
determine what kind of people and how they would like to receive such information.
Such feedback should not be seen as a subtitle for formal consultation procedures on
proposed legislation and policy ideas. These procedures are not normally managed by
GIOs rather than the minister or higher official.

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 Activity 5.2
 What is the real practice of PR in Ethiopia Government Communication

affairs? Have a tour and check their duties and functions.
5.2 Public Relations in Non-Government Organizations (NGO)
The general objective of PR or communication officers in NGOs is more efficiently

promote and build positive NGO image and awareness.
1. Promoting their work so it may have multiple purposes of NGO’s PR effects

especially good practices
2. Creating healthy relationship with government, donors and communities the
work with in terms of building transparency and credibility
3. Selling their programmes in terms of raising funds and mobilizing public support
4. Building awareness as a means of contributing to the establishment of conducive
operating environment for NGOs.
5. Documenting their work particularly achievements, which is currently an almost
non-existent practice.
5.3 PR in Business Organizations (Corporations)
 Activity 5.3
Look at the Ethiopian experience
1. Do business organisations employ PR?

2. What are the expected duties of PR at business organisations?
A substantial majority of PR professionals work to further the goals and objectives of

profit earning organizations. They do so either as members of a public relations
department or as a counselling firm employed by the corporation especially, in large
company. PR programmes have many facets, each of which requires development of
specialized knowledge and techniques.
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1. Reputation: protection and enhancement
The role of tending to company reputation involve preserving and building good will for
a company by demonstrating to the public that the firm is an efficient producer of well-
made products and honest seller of goods and services; a fair and equitable employees
and a responsibility corporate citizen. This function includes:
1. Protecting the company against attacks

2. Tells its story well when controversy arises
3. Initiating programme to explain company goods and policies
4. Making early identification of developing problems so the company can act
quickly to solve them
5. Demonstrating the company follows good environmental practices and urging
management to do so
6. Protecting and promoting trademarks and logos
7. Showing that the company cares for the welfare of its employers and
communities in which its facilities are located with special awareness of
ethnic diversity
8. Explaining the company’s position on political, social and economic issues
This role can be performed in many ways and uses a variety of strategies and
communication tools to build a positive image of the company. Image in this sense means
the personality or character of the company projected to the public. Some PR experts
dislike the form image because it has the connotation of being illusionary, suggesting
deceptive manipulation. Since effective PR is presenting image that actually reflect a
company policies and actions many companies describe this broad based role as building
corporate identity.
2. Information service
Part of building a company’s reputation is the role of supplying information for the
public. One important area is media relations. Companies send news releases to the
media in order to inform the public about earnings, acquisitions, new products, and so

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forth. They hold news conferences to the PR staff; sometimes arrange interviews for
reporters with company executives. Companies must respond to inquiries from
customers, government officials and community residents that promotes comprehensive
and precious responses and build friendship as well as brush-off enemies.
3. Marketing Communication
PR strategies and tactics are designed to fulfil the marketing objective of an organization
whether these involve selling goods or services or increasing the membership of an
organization. Much of this work is in the form of product publicity. People in the field
shall work closely with the trade press and to the general media as well in the placement
of stories about product developments and use of products. The written articles and
brochure organise product promotions, create tie-ins with special events and arrange
press interviews. PR practitioners work closely with the marketing department. When the
quality and safety of a company’s product are under severe criticism, public relations
representatives must be a wide range of techniques either to recall the product or
convince the public that the product is safe.
4. Inventory relations (Stockholders relations)
The corporate function of investor relation is called stockholder communications.

Essentially it means providing information to individuals who own stock or have a
special interest in the corporate. Elaborate annual reports, quarterly reports mailed with
dividend checks, and other printed materials are sent to stockholders on regular basis.
5. Financial Relations
A parallel function of investor relations is to provide extensive information to the

financial community. Security analysts and brokerage, large banks, and similar
institutions weigh the information and make judgments on a company’s financial strength
and prospects. On the bases of their recommendations, institutional investors and
brokerage firms buy or sell a company’s stock. A PR practitioner prepares printed
materials and arrange for high company officials to addle meetings of financial analysts.

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Although knowledge of finance as well as securities and exchange commission rules is

essential for PR person specializing in financial relations.
6. Community relations
A company is citizen in a local community and such citizenship implies certain

obligatory. Corporations often take active role in supporting community organizations
such as encouraging employees to do volunteer works; giving a grant to the local
symphony orchestra; lending executives’ service on civic advisory boards and etc. These
are a few of steps a company can get good relations include an effort to assure company
compliance with environmental regulations and to work with civic groups to improve the
quality of life. The swift growth of multicultural diversity challenges companies to make
certain that they are reaching all elements of their communities.
7. Employee Relation
An open flow of information from management to employees and from employees to

management is recognized as essential by most corporations. To achieve this, the PR
department works closely with the personal or human resources department. Among the
functions it performs are:
a. Publication of employee magazine, newspaper or video news magazines

b. The writing of brochures for employees explaining company policies and benefits
c. Preparation of audio-visual material for training and policy transmission purposes
d. The scheduling of staff meetings and seminaries
e. The training of speakers among managers and supervisors who serve as
communicators to employee
f. Coordination of employees’ productivity or energy conservation campaigns. The
PR staff coordinated as employee campaign to generate awareness about the
company’s code of ethics.

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8. Special Event Management
A relatively new role for PR personnel is special events management as company’s

increasingly sponsor events from rock concerns too marathon races. Corporate
sponsorship of such events requires PR staff members who have an eye for details
organizations, logistics, and publicity opportunities.
9. Public affairs (Government relations)
The action of government on the local, state and national level have major effects on
corporations and how they conduct their affairs. Thus, a number of PR people work in the
area often referred to as governmental relations. In these role public affairs executives
seek to influence legislation through contact with legislation and government regulatory
agencies. Public affairs work is done on several levels. On one level the public affairs
manager of PR must be concerned with the management function covering the
relationship between the organization and its external environment and involving key
tasks of intelligence gathering and analysis. On the next levels PR officer exert action
programme directed at government to communities and the general public then
strategically manage the issue and internal communication. A lobbyists, in contrast, has
narrow function, the lobbyist is concerned with direct or indirect means of exercising
influence on passage or defeat or legislative bills or regulatory actions and seek to
influence their outcomes.
10. Issue Management
The role of issue management often carried out by PR professionals, is the management
process of determining how varies public issues will affect the company. There are five
steps in issue management. These are:
1. Identify the issue

2. Analyse the issue
3. Ascertaining options open to the company
4. Initiating a plan of action
5. Evaluating the result

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Chapter Summary
PR officers in government offices, also known as government information officers, are

working the activities of monitoring media coverage; briefing and advising political
officials; managing media relations; informing the public directly; sharing information
across the administration; formulating communication strategy and campaign; and
researching and assessing public opinion. Public relations in NGOs are working towards
promoting and build positive NGO image and awareness. PR in business organisations
are working to protect and enhance reputation; information service; marketing
communication; inventory, financial, and employ relations; special event management
and issue management.
Review Questions

1. Government information officers convey official messages to the publics’
via media and directly.
2. Government information officers are expected to share all information
across the administration.
3. Which activity of business organization PR officer creates to cooperation
with government?
A. Public affairs
B. Employee relation
C. Financial relation
D. Media relation
4. Government public relations
A. Contributes for the implementation of party policy
B. Provides government messages to media
C. Decreasing sensitivity of the institution to publics
D. Demobilize support to the institution

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5. Write down the roles of PR in NGOs

____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
6. Write down the five steps of issue management
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
________________________________________________
Reading Texts
Ndolo, I. S. (2001). Understanding Business Communication

Publishers Ltd.
Ogbidi, W. (2007). “Government Relations and Lobbying in Public Relations Practice.”
Reddi, C. V. N (2009). Effective Public Relations and Media Strategy. New Delhi: PHI
Learning Private Limited.
Regester, M and Larkin, J. (2005). Risk issues and Crisis Management in Public
Relations: a Case book of best Practice. 4th ed. Kogan Pages: London.

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CHAPTER SIX
6. CRISIS MANAGEMENT AND IMAGE BUILDING
Introduction
Crisis is inevitable in the life of any corporate organisation. So whenever it occurs, the
responsibility lies on the public relations officer to manage the crises. The public
relations officer also tries to squeeze the crisis in the flourish by taking some measures.
The essence of this chapter therefore is to teach the students the basic things they should
know in crisis management and working towards positive image building.
Chapter Objectives
At the end of this Chapter, you should be able to:

 explain the concept and nature of crisis
 explain possible causes of crises
 manage crisis communication
 Discuss the steps of crisis communication
 Explain what to do before, during and after a crisis.
 understand image building
6.1 Crisis Management
 Activity 6.1
1. What is crisis?
2. How crisis happened in an organisation?
3. Does crisis is the concern of the PR officer?
6.1.1 What is a Crisis?
Often, the word crisis is misused or misconstrued to mean the same as the word problem
or incident, but in reality they are not exactly the same. What do you think, if a man has a
problem, can we say he has a crisis? Well, problems are more common and predictable
developments than crisis. They can be dealt within a short time without arousing the
attention of the public or expending much of your organization’s resources. Crises on the
other hand are less predictable and could require some investment in time and money as
well as other resources to addresses them. They equally, very often attract public
attention. Over the years, there have been divergent views among authors and
practitioners on the specific meaning of crisis. However, a consensus is gradually
emerging. Ole R. Hosti defined a crisis as a situations ‘characterised by surprise, high
threat to important values and a short decision time.’ Thierry C. Pauchant and Ian I.
Mitroff, say that a crisis is a ‘disruption that physically affects a system as a whole and
threatens its basic assumptions, its subjective sense of self, its existential core.’ Crisis
expert Steven Fink defines a crisis as an "unstable time or state of affairs in which a
decisive change is impending." Barton (1993) has defined a crisis as a situation
characterized by:
1) A surprise
2) A high threat to important values, and
3) Requiring a short decision time.
Fern-Banks (1996) views a crisis as "a major occurrence with a potentially negative
outcome affecting an organization, company, or industry, as well as its publics, products,
or good name." Steven Fink further points out that all crises run the risk of:
 Escalating in intensity
 Coming under close scrutiny of the media and the government
 Interfering with normal operations
 Jeopardizing the positive public image of the organization.
 Damaging a company’s bottom line

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6.1.2 Possible Indicators of crises
The following have been found to be indicators of possible crisis in an organization.
 The forced resignation of executive-level officer(s)

 Potentially damaging civil litigation
 Public allegations of impropriety
 Criminal charges filed against an employee
 Public questions about hiring practices
 The job-related death of an employee
 The re-election/reappointment of the CEO
 Public protests of organisation actions
 Intense scrutiny from state/federal regulators
 Intense scrutiny from the news media
 A civil disturbance or a hostage situation
 A major restructuring of the organisation
 Failure to meet organisational responsibilities
 Organizational actions that resulted in death of non-employee(s).
 Substantial loss of property through theft
 Severe budget cuts/shortfall
 Allegations of financial irregularities
 Being the subject of an unsolicited/hostile takeover
 Public health-related difficulties
 Labour unrest
 Being at the centre of a political controversy
6.1.3 Kinds of Crisis
The nature or form of a crisis would usually determine its impact, consequences and
indeed the approach to handling it. We can classify crises into two categories namely:
Act- of-God Crisis and Man-Made Crisis.

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Act-of-God Crises often occur due to the vagaries of nature. Man can do very little to
prevent them, but can prepare for them through careful and diligent planning. Examples
of act-of-God crises are flood, earthquake, volcanic eruption, death, etc. Your
organisation may not be able to completely stop any of these crises but with good
foresight, it could lessen their consequences.
Man-Made Crises are preventable crises which often occur as a result of human
negligence. Examples include fire disaster, epidemic, labour or civil unrest, etc. You will
agree with me that each and all of these crises can be adequately preempted and
prevented.
Sam Black’s classification of crises includes (1) Known-unknown crises and Unknown-
Unknown crises.
 Known-unknown Crises are those kinds of hazards and adversities that are common to a
particular line of business. For instance, a motor company knows that it is prone to road
accident, fire or theft of vehicle. An electricity company knows that one or more of its
staff could be electrocuted while on duty, a chemical company runs the risk of chemical
poisoning. Usually, organisations are conscious of the possibility of these crises but may
not know when they could happen.
 Unknown-unknown Crises are usually not predictable or foreseen. They spring from the
blues and take everyone unaware.
6.1.4 The Stages of a Crisis
No organisation remains the same after a crisis. Any crisis would usually leave some
positive or negative trials behind. The state of your organisation after a crisis is a function
of how prepared it was and how it handles the crisis. The truth is, any organisation must
have a crisis plan, but no crisis plan fits perfectly into any crisis situation. You would
need some amount of pragmatic tilt to handle crises at any given time. At the end of a
given crisis, your organisation may come out as a villain or a victim and probably as a
hero. Most companies would rather come out as heroes. But this is dependent on your
level of preparedness. Nothing is as good as a crisis that is averted. It is better to avert a

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crisis than to solve it. The old saying’ prevention is better than cure ‘ is as true in public
relations as it is in other areas of human life. With a good team on ground, you should be
able to foresee and forecast a crisis and nip it in the bud before it gets out of hand. There
is hardly any crisis that occurs without early warning signals. Ignoring the warning makes
the crisis loom large and often to uncontrollable proportions. Crises develop in four
stages, namely: Warning stage, Point of no return, Clean up Stage and the stage when
things return to normal.
1. Warning Stage
As we noted above, crises do not ‘just happen’. Every crisis gives some form of signal or
the other. You must be able to see and read these signals and nip the crisis in the bud. At
the warning stage, events are still largely under control. A proactive step could be all that
is needed to do the trick. It is an indication of professional expertise to recognize the
potential for danger and act accordingly. When the cloud is gathering, native wisdom
demands that you bring in your cloths from the wash lines, call in the kids from the
playing filed and get an umbrella if you must go out.
2. Point of no Return
If you do not take proactive steps as expected at the warning stage, then you must take
reactive steps when you have reached the avoidable point of no return stage. The crisis
could have been avoided before now but having reached this stage, you would need the
Wisdom of Solomon to prevent it. It is no longer avoidable, it just must happen, and
some damages are inevitable, but the extent of damage will depend on how your
organisation responds to the situation. You must know that the longer it takes to react
effectively to a crisis, the greater the potential for damage. Marguerite Sullivan, (p.62)
observed that ‘the key to effective crisis communication is to be prepared before the crisis
occurs. Once an emergency happens, there is little time to think much less to plan.
Without a crisis plan, you can be overwhelmed by events.’ At this point, your various
publics especially your traditional publics would know about the crisis and would be
watching keenly to see how you would handle it. At this stage, you must be giving

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information that would give a true picture of the situation; else the rumour mill would
grind fast. You must have a crisis communication plan. Someone in the public relations
office must be talking but must know what to talk and who to talk to. Sullivan further
recommends ‘in a crisis, the best course of action is to be forthcoming and honest and to
do what it takes to facilitate stories. The media are going to write and air stories with or
without your help. It’s in your best interest to participate in a story- even a negative one
– in order to have your position correctly represented.’
3. Clean up Stage:
The point of no return is not a total loss stage. The degree of damage can still be
minimised. This is however dependent on what you do in the third stage which is the
clean-up stage. Here, you are attempting to deal with the problem and its effects. Making
a success of this stage will depend on your organisation’s crisis management and
communication capacity. A well laid out crisis management and communication plan will
take care of the crisis in a short time, but a weak or non-existent crisis management
policy could make the crisis drag on for a long time during which much more damage
could be done by the escalation of the crisis. The clean-up stage is a period of recovery, it
is a time to take a retrospective look at the past before the crisis and examine the build-up
of events to the crisis. It is a period to do thorough internal and external investigations
into the remote and immediate causes of the crisis.
4. Return to normal
The last stage is that when things return to normal. Let’s get it right, things can never be
exactly the same for any organisation after any crisis, so we cannot have a situation
where things return to how they were before the crisis. Usually, a crisis would leave in its
trail some changes in structure, policy and even personnel. We can therefore use the word
‘normal’ here to mean a time when everyone gets back to work after the crisis. It is a time
to see what went wrong or went right at any given stage. It is also a time to assess your
organisation’s preparedness for crisis. You would want to ask ‘how can this crisis and
indeed other crises be prevented in future and when they unavoidably occur, how do we

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react to minimise damage?’ All of these can be represented in a crisis dynamic model as
shown below:
As you examine the above model, you will discover that it suggests a continuum of a
crisis in a way, i.e. a situation in which we move from one crisis to another. This is true
to some extent; the extent to which your organisation does little or nothing about its crisis
communication and management plan. If management takes proactive steps by
identifying the warning signals of an impending crisis and nips it in the bud, it won’t
have to go through the cycle. You also have another chance to prevent the cycle run after
the crisis. If management properly takes stock of the crisis through a thorough evaluation,
assessment and post-mortem of the crisis and management performance, and apply the
lessons it has learnt. Except this is done, history will certainly repeat itself.
 Activity 6.2
In which stage the PR practitioner utilises his/her effort to resolve the crisis and build
institutional calibre?

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6.2 Crisis Communication
Crises are a part of life. Whether in an individual, a community, corporate or national

life, it is common to have crises in one form or the other and they can happen at almost
any time. Let’s begin this unit by looking at what a crisis is. But it is important to note
that a crisis does not suggest disaster or unfavourable developments.
6.2.1 Steps in Crisis Communication
Jonathan L. Bernstein, principal of Bernstein Communication suggests what he calls The

Ten Steps of Crisis Communication.
1. Identify your crisis communication team
2. Identify spokespersons
3. Train your spokespersons
4. Establish communication protocols
5. Identify and know your audiences
6. Anticipate crisis
7. Assess the situation
8. Identify key messages
9. Decide on key communication methods
10. Ridding out the storm
For the purposes of clarity, I feel it’s important to quote Bernstein’s explanation of step
number ten. In his words, “no matter what the nature of a crisis… no matter whether it’s
good news or bad… no matter how carefully you’ve prepared and responded… some of
your audiences are not going to react the way you want them to. This is immensely
frustrating. What do you do?
 Take a deep breath.

 Take an objective look at the reaction(s) in question. Is it your fault, or their
unique interpretation?
 Decide if another communication to that audience is likely to change that
impression for the better.

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 Decide if another communication to that audience could make that impression

worse.
 Decide if making that additional communication is worth the effort.
As we have seen earlier, the best way to prevent or minimize the effects of a crisis is to
plan for it and get the right people in place to handle it. One without the other will not
work. If you plan without having the right men in place, the plan will be weak. Putting
the right men in place equally depends on your knowledge of your public relations staff.
6.1.2 What to Do Before, During and After a Crisis?
From all we have learnt so far, I guess you are a lot more equipped now to prepare for
and handle any crisis that occurs in your organisation or your client’s organisation. But
before we draw the curtains on this very important topic, let’s briefly look at (call it a
blueprint if you like) what to do before, during and after a crisis. To be sure, there cannot
be a straight jacket approach to addressing a crisis, so we may not be using the word
‘blueprint’ in the strictest sense of it but we are thinking of a general approach to
handling crises. As we have seen earlier, crises can sometimes be inevitable, but having a
clear idea of what to do when they occur is vital to maximizing their adverse
consequences.
Before a Crisis
 Maintain trustworthy, credible relationships with the media all of the time. If you
do, the media will be less suspicious and more cooperative in the midst of a crisis.
 Select someone to be the crisis manager.
 Have the crisis manager collect information on potentially troublesome issues and
trends. Evaluate them, gather data on them, and develop communications
strategies to prevent or redirect their course.
 Identity members of a possible crisis management team. Have in place their roles,
actions to be taken and possible scenarios. Have a list of their office, home, and
cell or mobile phone numbers. Also have copies of their biographies. In a crisis,
the press may want to know the backgrounds of those dealing with it.
 Give designated spokespersons training in dealing with the media.

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 Determine the message, target, and media outlets that could be used in various
crisis plans.
 Have a list of the office, home, and cell or mobile phone numbers and deadliness
of reporters who might cover your organisation in a crisis.
 Have a plan for setting up a media crisis centre. This should cover such items as
desks, chairs, phones, parking, electrical outlets, placement of satellite trucks,
copy machines, even coffee. You also need to think about how to keep an office
secure, particularly for your own staff.
During a Crisis
 When a crisis hits, immediately get the word to the press. Otherwise, the media
will get their information through other means.
 Set up a 24 –hour crisis and media centre at a central place from which news is
released, rumours dealt with, facts gathered, and briefings held.
 Immediately ‘go public’ with a trained spokesperson at the scene to conduct press
briefings. Let the media –and therefore the public know that you are dealing with
the situation.
 Say what you know and only what you know. Don’t speculate. Don’t be bullied
into saying anything based on rumour. If you don’t know something, admit it.
Saying ‘the matter is under investigation’’ may be the best response.
 Gather information as quickly as possible. Determine the basic who, what, when,
where, and how. You might not get the ‘why’’ until later.
 Get the government or agency leader and other top management to the crisis
centre. Cancel other plans. People want to see the leader, not just the public
affairs staff. Having top management in front of the press during a crisis lends
credibility and shows that the organisation is not treating the situation lightly.
 Inform your internal audiences – the staff and other government offices – at the
same time you inform the press. If the press is the only source of information for
the staff, morale can be damaged and employees can become confused and hurt,
especially if the incident is reported inaccurately in the press. Because of where

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they work, the staff will be viewed as sources of information, and they can be the
origin of leaks and rumours. Be sure they have it right.
 Communicate with your internal audiences by e–mail, if available, or through
press releases and statements delivered to each office. If the staff is small enough,
call a meeting at which members of the crisis team are available to answer staff
questions.
 Maintain a clam, gracious, and helpful presence. Avoid appearing flustered or
overwhelmed.
 Pre-empt negative publicity and communicate the actions being taken to solve the
crisis. Verify news before releasing it.
 Arrange for media access to the scene of the crisis. If at all possible. TV wants
pictures. If there are space constraints, use press pool reports, with a
representative of each type of media, wire service, newspaper, TV, radio,
magazine, and photography –at the scene, writing up a report and taking picture
for their colleagues. No one may use these reports, including those in the pool,
until they have been distributed to everyone.
 Take care of the practical needs of the press, such as packing, phones, electrical
outlet, desks, and chairs.
 Keep a log of reporters who have called, what they asked, their deadlines, what
you promised, and to whom it was delegated.
 Always return phone calls. If you don’t, reporters will look elsewhere for
information. They will write a story with or without your help. Being not
responsive takes control of a story away from you.
 Simple sympathetic gestures can help rebuild the public’s confidence. Offer
reassurance. Tell what actions are being taken to solve the problem, to help those
affected, and to return things to normal. But first make sure you are doing what
you said you are doing.
 Make sure the press spokesperson is involved with senior management in every
decision and policy made. Every decision has a public ramification, whether
management recognises it or not.
 Avoid fixing blame. That can be done after an investigation.

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 Appeal to third –party endorsement for your effort. Get credible people who have
been through similar experiences and command the public’s attention to speak on
your behalf.
 Update information frequently and regularly. Announce when your next update
will be.
 Monitor media reports and correct errors immediately.
 Establish a web site to inform people about the status of the situation. Put all news
releases, statement, fact sheets, and links to other information on the site.
 Establish an assessment group to study the problem and to prevent future
occurrences. This is not for show; they should have real power.
 Remember: openness and responsiveness during a crisis enhances your respect
and credibility with the media. It can help you in the long run.
After a Crisis
 Evaluate the effectiveness of the crisis plan and how people responded.
 Correct problems so they don’t happen again.
6.3 Image Building
Image is the mental perceptions of the person related to an Object, a Product, Service, an
individual or an organisation. The image need not necessarily true and image is only an
indication that how a person perceived by the other(s). The organisations do have an
image in the minds of public, customer, employee, Government or for that matter in any
interested group. Some organisation enjoys from favourable image, where some
organisation do not enjoy such a favourable image. The image is beneficial for
organisations for achieving their objective. There are many images viz, Friendly, Speedy,
Honest, Corruptive, Efficient, etc. Though we cannot say which is a right image or wrong
image, we can say some image are favourable to an organisation for achieving its
objective with relative easiness.

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6.3.1 Image Building Exercises
The Image building exercises start with understanding the present image and to draw out,
the desired image and to channelize all the Public Relations activities towards it. Now let
us see how Public Relations department can understand the present image. The Public
Relations department can gather information from various sources through appropriate
data collection method. Some of the data collection method which will be helpful for
understanding the image is described below:
1) Primary Data through interview
The primary data collection method is best-suited method and organisation try to contact
the target groups (Public) and obtained information. This is possible by developing the
structured schedule or non-structured interview and encourage the responded to come out
with the information in a friendly atmosphere and as spontaneous as possible. Such
information collected from various groups will form a basis for analysis.
2) Data from secondary sources
Organisation can collect information / data information especially in terms of image,

from published sources, information like article or coverage by newspapers or journals,
the organisation is referred in some reports or referred at public meeting. This may
provide a clue to, what the other person viewed about this organisation. This will also
help the organisation in understanding and analysing the situation.
3) Analysis
The data collected from primary and secondary method can form the basis for analysis
and the required information is to be culled out with reference to image / public
perception. This refers the image prevailing at that time among the target group or group
from which the information is obtained.
The Present image could be Favourable, Neutral, and Unfavourable / Undesirable.

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Desired Image: The organisation may prefer a certain image and they like to project that
image the minds of the public or among the target group. Normally top
management and PR departments are involving in this exercise and they will
identify the Mission Statement of the organisation and the preferred image that
will help the organisation to achieve its mission. For Example: A social service
organisation involved propagating income generation programme for the poor,
may like to have an image as “Friendly Organisation”. Whereas, some other
organisation who are also involved in the similar activity may like to have the
prefer image of “Speedy”.
Projecting the image (Image Building activity): Based on the existing image and the
preferred image, it is essential to note that whether the preferred image is deviated
from the present image or closely associated or neutral and based on the existing
image the PR need to be focused. In case of negative or unfavourable image, PR
need to focus first on either neutralising or remove the misunderstanding about the
organisation and then develop the required impressions. In case of neutral or
favourable image, the PR can focus on more details about the organisation for
creating favourable preferred image. Public Relations functions need to adopt the
appropriate strategy, by choosing appropriate message, appropriate media for the
information in most effective manner so that the desired image can be creative and
that will contribute to the organisation's success and growth.
Public Opinion Research: Public Opinion Research ascertains what people think about
an organisation its policy, service etc. and why they think so as well as their
attitudes toward the organisation, etc.
Image Study: The image study seeks to understand that how an organisation is known,
its reputation and also what people thinks about its service, policies, etc.
Motivation Research: Motivation research ascertains why the public attach favour or
disfavour and why they are showing positive attitude or negative attitude and also
the underlying emotional factor.

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Chapter Summary
In an organisation a less predictable challenges that requires some investment in resource

might be happen. Such type of incident is called crisis. Crisis is characterised by its
nature of surprise, high threat to important values and requiring a short decision time.
Crisis can be natural (act-of-God) or man-made. Also it can be known-unknown or
unknown-unknown crisis. Crisis has warning, point of no return, clean up and return to
normal stages.
One of the fundamental skills of a PR is crisis communication. Crisis communication is
outshined performance of a PR officer to ridding out a crisis and leads the organization
normally. In crisis communication, what we did before, during and after crisis is
different. It needs to act upon the context. An organisational PR builds a good will and a
good image before the publics. It is a crucial mandate of PR. Mostly it is essential to
build favourable image. Therefore, it needs collecting information in different means
occasionally to build a favourable image.
Review Questions

1. Known-unknown crisis is usually not predicable or foreseen.
2. The crisis communication tasks of a PR are all the same before, during and
after the crisis.
3. Which one of the following is not the indicator of crisis?
A. Damaging civil litigation
B. Forced resignation of CEO
C. Protests of organizational actions
D. Labour stability
4. Which one of the following is man-made crisis?
A. Earthquake
B. Civil unrest

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C. Flood
D. Death
5. Which stage comes first during a crisis?
A. Warning stage
B. Point no return stage
C. Clean up stage
D. Things return to normal stage
6. Write down the characteristics of crisis?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_________________________________
7. Write down the role of PR after a crisis
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
____________
8. What are the methods of data collection to understand organizational image?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
__________________
Reading Texts
Doorley, J. and Garcia, H.F. (2007). Reputation Management: The Key to Successful
Public Relations and Corporate Communication. Routledge. New York.
118
Lattimore, D. et al. (2004). Public Relations: The Profession and The Practice; Boston:
McGraw Hill.
Longman Nkwocha, J. (1999). Effective Media Relations: Issues and Strategies. Lagos:
Zoom Lens Publishers.
Mrphy, P. (1996) Chaos Theory as a Model for Managing Issues and Crisis. Public
Relations Review 22(2) 95-113
Nwodu, L. C. (2004). “Community Relations As Critical Factor in Managing Niger Delta

Crisis.” In: I. E. Nwosu & D. Wilson (Eds). Communication, Media and Conflict
Management in Nigeria. Enugu: ACCE/Prime Target.

119
CHAPTER SEVEN
7. PR LAW AND ETHICS
Introduction
Dear learners, now we need to address some very vital questions in public relations. Try
asking yourself the following questions. Can I practice public relations and end up behind
bars, in court or have my agency shut? Are there legal sides to public relations practice?
Can I do just whatever I wish and still enjoy the support of my colleagues and my
professional association? The answers to these questions will begin to emerge as we go
through the fundamental laws and ethical standards of the Profession. Basically there are
two modes of regulations in public relations. The first is the kind of regulations that are
set by government. They are called formal regulations. These regulations are stipulated
by government and its law agencies for the protection of the citizenry. Here, we refer to
the general laws that guide the mass media world, much of which equally guide the
practice of public relations. The later part of the unit will discuss informal regulations
(ethical standards) of public relations.
Chapter Objective
At the end of this Chapter, you should be able to:
 Discuss the role of law in public relations practice

 List and discuss important laws in public relations practice
 Relate these laws to real life situations in public relations practice
 Explain the role of ethics in public relations practice
 Define ethics in general and in relation to public relations in particular
 Identify some of the ethical values of the profession e.g. honesty, integrity,
fidelity, fairness, etc.
 Discuss some of the ethical approaches to decision making in public relation
 Activity 7.1
1. What is law?
2. What is ethics?
3. What is the similarities and differences of law and ethics?
4. Why PR professionals care about law and ethics?
7.1 Laws of PR
7.1.1 Public Relations Laws and Regulations
The field of PR is replete with lots of legal landmines into which an unsuspecting client
or practitioner could wade and get blown up. However a good grasp of the content of this
lesson would safeguard you against such landmines. Laws are official rules and
regulations used to govern a society or group and to control the behaviour of its members.
In order to do a good job as well as keep you and your clients out of legal problems you
should be familiar with the rules that guide public relations practice.
7.1.2 Role of Law in Public Relations
What role does law play in public relations practice? We can better answer this question
by reminding ourselves that public relations is practiced by humans on planet earth and
not by machines or some extra ordinary beings from a different planet. Humans are
naturally capricious and they live in a dynamic society. A PR professional does not live
or practice in an isolated world. Whatever he does affects his clients and the society in
general. Again, due to human penchant to take actions to the extreme in a bid to satisfy
himself, sometimes at the expense of others, there must be instruments to regulate and
control human activities. The following are the vital roles that law plays in the practice of
public relations:
 Protection of individuals’ rights and the society from human excesses that may
arise in the practice of public relations.

121
 Protection of the profession from quacks and charlatans. One of the major
challenges of public relations over the years is the preponderance of unqualified
practitioners who go about the job with wanton disregard for professional honour
and thus bring much ridicule to the profession. With good laws, this trend can be
curbed.
 Maintenance of professional standards. Flowing from the above point is the fact
that when the profession is rid of quacks, professional standards will be improved
and maintained, thus creating an atmosphere of honour and dignity for the
profession.
 Law will also enhance national growth since public relations is practiced in
virtually every facet of national life.
7.1.3 Public Relations Laws
There are many fine lines when it comes to public relations and the law. Today, there are
so many rules and guidelines that it is almost impossible to keep up with all of them. Just
having the basic knowledge of these areas will help you as a public relations professional
in the future. Some of these basic laws are discussed below.
Defamation
Any falsely published communication-- word, photos, pictures, symbols- that create
public hatred, contempt, ridicule, or inflicts injury on reputation. Defamation is the act of
damaging the reputation of a person by means of false and malicious communications
that expose that person to contempt, ridicule, hatred, or social ostracism. In common law,
defamation in writing is classified as libel and oral defamation is slander.
Libel
Libel is a published or printed defamation. If you issue news releases, house journals,
annual reports that are short of adequate truth, you could be summoned by a court if a suit
has been instituted against you for libel. It is possible to libel someone both in a
photograph and in a caption. A photograph or a caption is libellous if it exposes a person
to hatred, ridicule or contempt; lowers them in the estimation of right thinking members
of the community; causes them to be shunned or avoided; or disparages their reputation

122
in trade, business, profession or office. This suggests that you must be careful in
captioning pictures that you use in your publications.
Proof in a libel suit

When a person files a libel suit, they usually have to prove that: The false statement was
communicated to others through print, broadcast, or electric means. The person was
identified or is identifiable. There is actual injury in the form of money loss, loss of
reputation, or mental suffering. The person making the statement was malicious or
negligent
Avoiding Libel Suits
To avoid libel suits Don Sneed, Tim Wulfemeyer, and Harry Stonecipher, in a Public
Relations Review, suggests that... Opinion statements be accompanied by the facts upon
which the opinions are based. Statements of opinion be clearly labelled as such. The
context of the language surrounding the expression of opinion be reviewed for possible
legal implications.
Slander
Slander is not a commonly breached public relations law. This is probably because the
bulk of public relations messages today appears in written form. The truth however is that
very many public relations jobs involve speech, broadcast and oral presentations. Thus,
we need to examine the law of slander else we unconsciously violate it. Slander is a sub
of defamation. It is defamation in words, or better put, in oral form. You or your client
may be sued for slander if a person thinks that his reputation or image has been falsely or
maliciously damaged in the minds of right thinking members of the society. The
implication of this for a practitioner is that he or she must ensure that every oral
communication is properly examined and expunged of any slanderous statement. When
in doubt, consult your lawyer.
 Activity 7.2
1. When defamation is committed?

2. What is the difference between slander and libel?

123
7.2 Ethics in Public Relations
There is an innate tendency in man to do the wrong. In fact, it takes effort to redirect
one’s will to the right path. This explains why the human society has evolved several
instrumentations by which it could make doing the right more appealing. In personal and
professional life, the subject of ethics is very useful as a guide in decision making.
Virtually all professions the world over have ethical standards by which their members
do their job. It is not out of place to state that PR is one job that requires a large amount
of ethical standards.
7.2.1 Definitions of Ethics
 Activity 7.3
1. What is ethics?
2. Why do PR professionals care about ethics?
3. What does a professional ethic mean?
Various authors have defined ethics in various ways depending on their perception of the
subject. An unknown source says ethics is “That part of science and philosophy dealing
with moral conduct, duty, and judgment.” According to Lucas (2001), “Ethics is that
branch of philosophy that deals with issues of right and wrong in human affairs.” The
Josephson Institute of Ethics says ethics refers to “Standards of conduct and behaviour
based on moral duties and virtues derived from principles of right and wrong.” Nelson
Potter says it is, “The search for the right thing to do given the relevant facts of the
matter.” Wilcox et al. (2003) say that ethics “expresses through moral behaviour in
specific situations”. Socrates defines ethics as “How we ought to live.” At the heart of
ethics is the subject of character and morality. Man has long used character as a basis for
judging the sincerity, genuineness and realness of men and organisations.

124
A word or two on professional ethics William H. Shaw in his “Social and personal Ethics
says “Professional codes are the rules that are supposed to govern the conduct of
members of a given profession. Generally speaking, the members of a profession are
understood to have agreed to abide by those rules as a condition of their engaging in that
profession. Violation of the professional code may result in the disapproval of one’s
professional peers and, in serious cases, loss of one’s licence to practice that profession.”
Professional codes exist in virtually every profession as a means of ensuring morality in
professional practice. However, unlike other professions like medicine and law, public
relations practitioners do not have central binding codes of ethics. Rather, several groups,
institutions associations and chapters do have country or state-specific professional codes
that guide their members’ conduct. There are several major differences in the provisions
of these codes but they all aim at the same goal – regulation of the moral conduct of their
members.
7.2.2 Ethical Loyalties
‘I don’t want any yes-men around. I want everybody to tell me the truth even if it costs
them their jobs’ (Samuel Goldween). PR is one field where ethics is taken very seriously.
Practitioners of public relations subscribe to high ethical standards in order to keep the
field pure as well as to sustain public confidence in it. However, several practitioners
have been known to compromise professional standards. Examples of ways in which
people have been known to compromise their professional ethics include:
1. Lying for an employer
2. Accepting gifts and/or bribes
3. Writing misleading press releases
4. Withholding information, and
5. Covering up potentially harmful situations
A practitioner is always thorn among several ends of loyalty. In their book, Public
Relations Ethics, Philip Seib and Kathy Fitzpatrick talked about five duties of public

125
relations professionals to - self, client, employer, profession and society. Another author
referred to these as the five masters.
Duty to Self: If you will ever deceive anyone, never try to deceive your best friend and
that best friend of yours is yourself. Therefore, ethical responsibility is a duty to yourself
as a practitioner.
Duty to Client: Your client is the one picking up the bill for your services at a particular
point in time. He therefore deserves the best of service borne on the wings of ethical
consideration that give him value for his money.
Duty to Employer: If you are on the payroll of someone, then it is your ethical duty to
do him the service as he deserves. Here we are talking of duties that are commensurate to
your pay as well as the calling of your practice.
Duty to Profession: You will agree with me that it is your professional duty not only to
keep the public relations profession as good as you met it when you joined it, but even to
ensure that the standards are improved than it was. This is your duty to your profession.
Duty to Media: No public relations practitioner can be successful without the

cooperation of the media. You may want me to put that in caps for emphasis, NO
PUBLIC RELATIONS PRACTITIONER CAN SUCCEED WITHOUT THE
COOPERATION OF THE MEDIA. This does not mean that the media are so powerful
that they can hold you to ransom on your job, but they are such partners in progress that
you must do all things ethically possible to protect their interest in given situations.
Wilcox, Cameron, Ault and Agee (2003) state: “Public relations professionals have the
added dilemma of making decisions that satisfy (1) the public interest, (2) the employer,
(3) the professional organisation’s code of ethics, and (4) their personal value. In the ideal
world, the four would not conflict. In reality, however they often do.” (p.59).
It should be clearly stated that you would very often find yourself torn in between one or
two or among three of these ends depending on the nature of what you are doing per time.
Very often, you would be assisted by what are already in you i.e. your values and ideals.
126
This explains why a public relations practitioner must always be a person of exemplary
character and intensions. Honesty and integrity must be practiced at all times and all acts
that negate uprightness in all its forms should be shunned.
7.2.3 Ethical Values
At the base of ethics are values. Values refer to those behavioural patterns we hold dear
as yardsticks for accessing our relationship with others. There are personal values, social
values community values, national values. Personal values however form the foundation
of other values that we may exhibit. Below are ten universal values that any ethical-
minded individual would embrace. They are the blocks for building ethical values in
other areas of the human life Honesty Integrity Promise-keeping Fidelity Fairness Caring
for others Respect for others Responsible citizenship Pursuit of excellence
Accountability.
Professional Values of PR
The core values of PR provide the foundation for the Code of Ethics and set the industry standard
for the professional practice of public relations. These values are the fundamental beliefs that
guide our behaviors and decision-making process. These professional values are vital to the
integrity of the profession as a whole.
ADVOCACY
Serve the public interest by acting as responsible advocates for those we represent.
Provide a voice in the marketplace of ideas, facts, and viewpoints to aid informed public
debate.
HONESTY
Adhere to the highest standards of accuracy and truth in advancing the interests of those
we represent and in communicating with the public.

127
EXPERTISE
Acquire and responsibly use specialized knowledge and experience. Advance the
profession through continued professional development, research, and education. Build
mutual understanding, credibility, and relationships among a wide array of institutions
and audiences.
INDEPENDENCE
Provide objective counsel to those we represent. Being accountable for the actions.
LOYALTY
Faithful to those we represent, while honoring our obligation to serve the public interest.
FAIRNESS
Deal fairly with clients, employers, competitors, peers, vendors, the media, and the
general public. We respect all opinions and support the right of free expression.
 Activity 7.4
1. How to attain independence as a PR practitioner?

2. As a PR practitioner for whom you are supposed to be loyal?
3. Discuss the advocacy roles of PR?
SUMMARY
PR is a young but fast-growing profession, but its growth would be hampered when there
are no legal and ethical standards to guide its practitioners. Laws are very important to
regulate the practice of PR. They are playing a role to protect individuals’ rights,
protection of the profession, maintain professional standard, and enhance national
growth. When legal frameworks are violated there is a legal suit. One of the serious legal
suits to PR is defamation. Defamation can be slander and/or libel. This legal savvy is
important to rescue from such legal suits. Professional codes in every profession are a
128
means to ensure morality in professional practice. PR is one field where ethics is taken a
serious matter of the profession. PR practitioners give a due care about self, client,
employer, profession and society. Therefore, it is important to consider the satisfaction of
the public, employer, organisations, and personal values during decision making. The
ethical values are advocacy, honesty, expertise, independence, loyalty, and fairness.
Review Questions

1. Slander is a published or printed defamation.
2. PR laws are official regulation to govern the practice.
3. Professional codes of ethics are universal across professions.
4. One of the duty of a PR is to the one he made a favour.
5. No PR practitioner can succeeded without the cooperation of media.
6. Which one of the following is not the role of laws in the practice of PR?
A. Protection of individual’s right
B. Protection of the profession
C. Maintenance of professional standards
D. Invasion of professional integrity
7. Which one of the following is incorrect about defamation?
A. It is false publication
B. It creates contempt
C. It damages reputation
D. It exposes truth
8. Which one of the following is not the ethical value of PR?
A. Advocacy
B. Fairness
C. Polarity
D. None

129

9. Write down the issues that compromise ethical decision making of PR?
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
____________________________________________________________
___________________________________________________
10. Write down the five masters of PR?
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
_______________________________________________________________
Reading Texts
Bayles,M.D. (1981). Professional Ethics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Berkman,D. (1992). The Rush to PR. Quill, 80(3),31-33.
Cutlip, S.M. (1994). The Unseen Power: Public Relations: a History. Hillsdale, NJ:
Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
McGraw Hill.
Martinson, D.L. (1995-96). “Client partiality and third parties: An ethical dilemma for
public relations practitioners?" Public Relations Quarterly,40(4),41-44.
Parsons, P. (2007). Ethics in Public Relations: A Guide to Best Practice. 2nd ed. Koran
Page: London.

130
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Baskin, O., and Aronoff, C.E. (1992). Public Relations: The Profession and the Practice.
Dubuque, IA: Wm. C. Brown.
Bayles,M.D. (1981). Professional Ethics. Belmont, CA: Wadsworth.
Berkman,D. (1992). The Rush to PR. Quill, 80(3),31-33.
Bernays, Edward L. (1961). Crystallizing Public Opinion (Reprint of 1923 Boni and
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Chukwu, I. (2000). Public Relations: Its Role in Marketing. Enugu: Melfin Publishing.
Cutlip, S.M. (1994). The Unseen Power: Public Relations: a History. Hillsdale, NJ:
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Doorley, J. and Garcia, H.F. (2007). Reputation Management: The Key to Successful
Public Relations and Corporate Communication. Routledge. New York.
Dunn, J. (1999). Public Relations Techniques that Work. Hawksmere: London.
Edwards, R. (1999) ‘Ensuring brands stay in fashion’, PR Week, 24 September, pp. 13–
14
Elving, W. J. L. (2005). The role of communication in organizational change. Corporate

Communications, (10) (2), 129–138
Farrel, T. J. & Farrel, M. M. (1997). Public Speaking: Skills for Success. Chicago: Mirror
Press Irwin.
Foster, J. (2005). Effective Writing Skills for Public Relations. 3rd Edition. Kogan Page:
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Longman Nkwocha, J. (1999). Effective Media Relations: Issues and Strategies. Lagos:
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135
Appendix
Appendix I: Assignment
Debre Markos University
College of Social Science & Humanities
Department of Journalism and Communication
Introduction to Public Relations and Attachment (EnLa 332)

Assignment for English Department Summer Students (30%)
Name: ___________________________ Id. No: __________________ Section: ______
I. Write True if the Statement is correct or False Otherwise (12 pts)

1. Effective planning and preparation are crucial to the success of institutional
events.
2. PR transparency is becoming increasingly important because barrier PR simply
won’t work.
3. An organization’s existence is dependent on a wide variety of publics
4. PR officers must be yes man or yes Woman.
5. PR is an event, not a process.
6. A public relations audit at the end of every year is crucial to know how public
relations budget has been spent and what the results are achieved.
7. The aim of PR is popularity or approval, but not goodwill and understanding.
8. PR functions are more political rather than professional.
II. Choose the Best answer from the given alternatives (12 Pts)
1. The following are abilities of a PR, except?
A. Problem solver
B. Decision-maker
C. Lack of confidence in handling issues
D. Assumes responsibility
E. None
2. Which one of the following is wrong about PR?

A. PR actions must be well focused to achieve positive ends
B. the actions must be used randomly
C. the actions must be properly communicated to the targets
D. the actions must be goal-orientated
E. None
3. Which one of the following is not the function of PR?
A. Planning and executing special events
B. Informing various publics through media
C. Maintain bi-lateral relationships
D. Serve as a lobbyist of the institution
E. All
4. Evaluation in PR process is important to?
A. Encourage good planning.
B. Encourage good management
C. Evolve an effective communication strategy
D. Facilitate accountability
E. All
5. When PR officers organize a press conference?
A. An announcement of considerable importance to a large number of people
B. A matter of public concerns needs to be explained
C. To give all media equal access to that person
D. If a new product or an invention in the public interest is to be demonstrated
E. All
6. The type of speech communication usually designed to subtly yet incisively
appeal to the audience to show greater commitment to a particular action or cause
is?
A. Informing speeches
B. Persuasive speeches
C. Entertaining speeches

137
D. Technical speeches
7. Government information offices do
A. Selling ideas to shareholders
B. Manages financial stakeholders
C. Monitors media coverage
D. Monitors the corporates involvement in the business
E. All
8. Which indicator is more visible when your organization faces a crisis?
A. maintain structuring of the organisation
B. Success to meet organisational responsibilities
C. Weak scrutiny from the news media
D. Severe budget cuts/shortfall
III. Answer the following questions accordingly (6 pts)
1. Write down the steps in crisis communication?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
2. Write down the communication program of PR in the process?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
3. List at least four ethical values of PR?
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
__________________________________________________________________
Good Luck!

138
ANSWER KEY FOR REVIEW QUESTIONS
Chapter One
1. False
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. E
6. B
7. C
8. E
9. Objective, Scope, Channels, and audience
10. Technical and normative qualities
Chapter Two
1. False
2. True
3. False
4. True
5. B
6. D
7. B
8. A
9. –personal contacts
_advisory committee
_telephone calls
_survey
_interview
_questionnaire and
139
_content analysis
10. 1. Identify PR objectives
2. Ally organizational objectives
3. Be precise and Specific
4. Do what is achievable
5. Quantify as much as possible
6. Work within the budget
7. Work to a priority list
11. Clear, correct and concise
12. _formal research
_informal research
_questionnaire
_interview
_Observation
_Website
Chapter Three
1. False
2. False
3. True
4. False
5. D
6. D
7. A. Key performance indicators, KPI
B. key Result areas, KRA
8. A. Number f media attended organizational events
B. Number of Press release sent out
C. Number invitations dispatched.
Chapter Four

140
1. True
2. True
3. True
4. C
5. D
6. D
7. D
8. Press release, press conference, media tour, parlay, information kit and interview
9. Accuracy
Address questions
Stick to news writing style
Use proper quotation
Avoid misleading
Appropriate length
Avoid too much statistics
Ensure readable structure
10. Informing Speech
Persuasive Speech
Entertaining Speech
Technical Speech
Brief Speech
Chapter Five
1. True
2. False
3. A
4. B
5. Promoting their work
Creating healthy relationship
Selling ideas
Building awareness
141
Documenting works
6. A. Identify
B. analyze
C. Ascertain
D. Initiate
E. Evaluate
Chapter six
1. False
2. False
3. A
4. B
5. A
6. –Surprise
-a high threat to important values and
-requiring a short decision
7. -Evaluate the effectiveness of the crisis plan and peoples’ response
-Correct problems
8. -Interview
-Documents
-Analysis
Chapter Seven
1. False
2. True
3. False
4. False
5. True
6. D
7. D

142
8. C
9. - lying for an employer
-accepting gifts
-writing misleading press releases
-withholding information
-covering potentially harmful situation
10. -self
-client
-employer
-Profession
-Society (media)

143

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PR Practice and Attachment

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Debre Markos University

College of Social Science & Humanities

Course Title: Introduction to Public Relations and Attachment

Reviewer: Dessalew Getnet (MA in JoCo, MA in TEFL)

Debre Markos, Ethiopia

Module Introduction ................................................................................................................... - 1 -

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

2.1.3 Two-way asymmetric PR .............................................................................................. 24

4.2.7 Event Management ....................................................................................................... 84

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

At the end of this module the students should be able to:

 identify the meaning, nature, role and functions of public relations

 distinguish public relations from other related concepts

 be familiar with the publics of public relations

 identify different models and the four-step public relations process

 identify the basic principles, strategies and tactics of PR

 analyze organizational attachments of PR

 manage crisis communication and image building

 savvy legal and ethical aspects of the profession

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

In this chapter, the learner is expected to;

 Define what is and what is not public relations

1.1. Defining Public Relations

Public relations is “essentially about positively and systematically using

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

In addition to this, Cutlip (2000) defines PR as art or science of establishing good

Furthermore, Public Relations is “the ethical and strategic management of

Hence, Public relations is a distinctive management function which:

 helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding,

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

1. PR actions must be well focused to achieve positive ends

3. is regarded as two-way or interactive . . .

Summary of the Definitions of Public Relations

2. What is the aim of PR?

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

A group of similar individuals; an assortment of persons having the same interests,

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

Counseling: Providing advice to management concerning policies, relationships, and

Research: Determining attitudes and behaviors of publics in order to plan public

Publicity: Disseminating planned messages through selected media to further the

Employee/Member Relations: Responding to concerns, informing and motivating an

Community Relations: Planned activity with a community to maintain an environment

Public Affairs: Developing effective involvement in public policy and helping an

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

agencies to describe their public relations activities and by many corporations as

Government Affairs: Relating directly with legislatures and regulatory agencies on

Development/Fund-Raising: Demonstrating the need for and encouraging the public to

Minority Relations/Multicultural Affairs: Relating with individuals and groups in

Special Events: Stimulating an interest in a person, product, or organization by means of

Marketing Communications: Combination of activities designed to sell a product,

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

1.4 Interdisciplinary nature of PR

1.4.1 PR vs. Journalism

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

1.4.2 PR from Marketing

management process responsible for identifying, anticipating and satisfying consumer

1.4.3 PR from Advertising

The Institute of Practitioners in Advertising defines advertising as follows. “Advertising

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019

Edward (1999) describes a profession as an art applied to a science in a manner that

1. A codified body of knowledge and a growing bank of theoretical literature,

DMU, CSSH, Department of Journalism & Communications March 2019