Introduction
One of the most frequent clichés that the researcher in the field of public relations has to face is that this special form of communication is a U.S. invention. It’s true that, in this country, public relations have reached an unusual relevance in the different areas of public communication, and that the way public relations are now practiced in the rest of the world follows, in many cases, the model established in the United States. Everything that this country generates and develops has a strong repercussion worldwide, and the creation and implementation of communication strategies, which is what public relations is all about, is not an exception to this trend. However, it would be a gross simplification to limit the study of public relations history to what happened and was developed in the United States.
Effective public relations have been employed for centuries. Already in ancient Greece, the philosophical group of the sophists put their wisdom about communication processes at the disposal of those Athenian citizens who were interested in participating in the public discussion of issues related to the city (POLIS), or needed help to manage their public image or to bolster political ambitions. The sophists helped the contemporary Athenians to generate arguments in order to support a specific position on any given issue. They wrote speeches and gave advice to individuals on how to present themselves, or the cause that they advocated, in public.
The Greek sophists had much in common with our contemporary PR consultants. One of those shared characteristics – not the less important – was the high fees they charged for their services. Some of the sophists were paid 1,000 Drachma (the Greek currency at that time) for a single course, where the average salary for a worker was 1 Drachma a day.
Another characteristic that the original sophists share with their contemporary counterparts, the PR practitioners, is moral flexibility. The sophists thought that, when concerning moral issues, any position could be defended with efficacy if the right arguments were provided. Most of the sophists were not native Athenians. They arrived at this city attracted by its cultural splendor after having wandered for years through practically all the known world of that time. In their wandering they observed that moral standards changed from place to place. As a consequence, the sophists developed strong moral relativism, which also characterizes many modern communication professionals. Protagoras (485-411 B.C.), one of the most important names of the sophist philosophical school, revealed the relationship between language and morality. He described words as filters through which we perceive reality, but that also separate us from that reality. Words, as filters, are not neutral at all. Quite the reverse, they determine the way we perceive objects, people, or events. Our judgment on moral issues may vary depending on the words used to frame them.
The Greek sophists were thrilled at the discovery of the power of language to determine the perception of reality, and they believed, with candid arrogance, to have discovered the ultimate instrument to control the will of the citizens. Gorgias (485-380 B.C.), in the peak of his communication ecstasy, even affirmed that, with the mere use of language, he was able to convert people into slaves. He attributed a kind of magic power to speech and compared its effects on the soul to the “power of drugs over the nature of bodies”.
Plato (427-347 B.C.), who was born in Athens, loathed the sophists and their wisdom, which was becoming more and more popular. First of all, the fact that they charged money for their knowledge irritated him. To sell knowledge represented for him the worst form of prostitution. Then, he resolutely rejected their moral flexibility, which denied the existence of ultimate moral principles. Plato’s arguments against the sophists sound pretty much like the current ones used by some scholars and intellectuals against the professionals of public communication. The contemporary discussion focuses, as it did at Plato’s time, on the ethical limits of the power that communication might generate.
In addition to his ethical reflections on the use of communication by the sophists, Plato challenged their idea that the power of language and communication could control the broad mass of people. Plato reproached the sophists for their arrogance, which he thought came from their ignorance. Plato realized that it is a sheer illusion to believe that power might allow you to control public opinion. Reversing Gorgia’s conviction, Plato concluded that it is not just impossible to control the people (demos) by means of words, but that those who want to achieve political power and social incfluence will always end up indulging the demands and expectations of the public opinion. Never will power be reached without the support of the people. And never will the social body give power to those who oppose its core values.
This thought will join together the episodes in this journey through the history of public relations. In all the cases selected, we will be able to observe that what was at stake was the economic, social, or political power of the actors involved (individuals, corporations, institutions or states). Power means, in practice, the ability and capacity to act in the respective fields (politics, society, or the corporate world). Public relations reveals itself as a specific form of public discourse with the aim of acquiring, increasing or protecting economic, social, or political power. Thus, communication is the means to achieve a power that, as Plato suggested 2,300 years ago, will always flow from public opinion. The ability to act sinks dramatically when the moral authority has vanished. And this moral authority can only be achieved if the actors in the process of communication speak and act on the same wavelength as the anonymous mass of citizens that form the public opinion.
Given this broad definition of public relations, it is easy to understand why this specific communication dynamic cannot be regarded as an American invention, even if the term was created in the United States.
During the European Renaissance, Erasmus of Rotterdam (1466-1536) and Niccolò Machiavelli (1469-1527), wrote some books that could be regarded as actual public relations treatises. The Prince (1532) and The Education of the Christian Prince, (1516) contain many elements that Edward L. Bernays could have introduced in his groundbreaking books on public relations. Both authors, who are today considered antagonists, described in those works an archetype, the prince, and discussed in depth how this figure must deal with the different groups that constituted his publics (the plain people, the church, the military, etc). Both Erasmus and Machiavelli observed the paradox that was first studied by Aristotle (384-322 B.C.) in his book On Rhetoric, the first systematic treatise on persuasive communication, which states that the surest way to induce cooperation in the members of the public is to adapt the discourse to the characteristics of this public, to adopt both its values and the linguistic means to articulate them. Aristotle’s On Rhetoric should be on the bedside table of every PR practitioner.
That the best way to enhance the efficiency of persuasive messages is to construct a common ground with the audience remains an axiom in contemporary public relations.
The most effective message will be the one that responds to the wishes, priorities, expectations, values, or anxieties of the audience. This public relations wisdom confirms Plato’s idea that those who want to achieve public relevance will have to subordinate their public discourse in one way or another to this social-psychological phenomenon, which I will call public opinion.
Every case study in this learning module will be based on a case that represents a specific lesson for the study of public relations. Even if Public Relations is a global phenomenon, we will focus in this course on the relevance of Public Relations in this country. With the exception of the last one, all the cases selected to show the historical development of the profession happended in this country and involved important U.S. pioneers in the field of PR.. The historical development of the PR profession would be incomprehensible without a reference to Ivy L. Lee or Edward L. Bernays.
All the case studies are constructed on the basis of a similar contents structure. The case study starts out by profiling a problem in a specific historical context. The reference to the historical context is absolutely necessary in order to understand the the public opinion state at the time and place where the case occurs. Once the problem has been stated, the publics, which constitute the target audience of the communication endeavors, are defined. The definition of these target audiences will also help us understand the nature and form of the messages created to achieve the strategic goals, as well as the channels used to deliver those messages to the specific target audiences.
Contemporary social and political structures around the world have become extraordinarily complex. Above all in Western representative democracies, public opinion arises as the only legitimate source of political and economic power. In 1998, the most powerful man on the planet, the president of the United States, was about to lose the presidency when his improper relationship with Monica Lewinski, which the public opinion may have considered immoral, became public. The president of the U.S.A. escaped with a benevolent judgment because sex is no longer taboo in that society. At least, it is not taboo when sexual intercourse takes place among people of age. If Monica Lewinski had been two years younger, the judgment of the American public opinion, in addition to the outcome of the impeachment process, surely would have been different.
In the corporate world, there are examples of financial giants, like Exxon or Nike, who saw their bottom line endangered when the American public eye started to scrutinize some environmental catastrophes or labor practices that offended sacrosanct idols of the public opinion in Western civilization, such as environment or childhood.
The relevance of public opinion in the American political and social system is the reason for the explosion of public relations in this country. In 1996, the PR practitioners outnumbered the print and audiovisual journalists by 20,000. That means that, in the U.S.A. in 1996, there were 20,000 more people generating news, which is what PR people do, than reporting it. The trend does not seem to be changing either.
As a way of public communication, public relations will always use the available communication channels. At the time of the sophists in ancient Greece, public communication was mostly oral. Therefore, their thinking about effective strategic communication dealt exclusively with public speaking. The invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg during the European Renaissance made the written word another means of reaching broad audiences. The development and sophistication of Gutenberg’s invention made possible the emergence of the press. Newspapers and magazines became the most effective instrument in spreading ideas and messages. The first case study of this learning module shows us how the systematic use of the rising press was one of the factors that made the American Revolution possible. As new mass media was being developed, the public relations practitioners had to adopt them and to adapt their messages to the nature of the channel and, what is very important, to the new social situation created by the emergence of these new channels. The birth of radio and television, for example, had substantial influence on the way people felt and thought, and of course, on the topics the people felt and thought about.
In the last case study, the 2008 Olympic games PR campaign, the reference to the Internet will be unavoidable. The characteristics of this new medium will also have repercussions on the media landscape, and as a consequence, on society as well. In fact, the World-Wide-Web represents a turning point in the history of mass communication. Traditional mass media generate One-Way communication, which by nature produces an imbalance between the sender and the receiver of the messages. The senders, in the classic model of mass communication, need access to a sophisticated technological infrastructure. That puts them in a privileged situation: They have the power to create or select the messages that will reach the mass audience. This technological infrastructure demands a highly sophisticated know-how, as well as a huge amount of money.
The Internet destroys this rigid model. First of all, anyone can become a sender of messages online. Neither a sophisticated knowledge, nor a sophisticated technological infrastructure is necessary to start a Web-site, and it can be done with an insignificant amount of money.
Furthermore, the Internet allows a Two-Way flow of communication that is practically impossible with conventional mass media, where the technical nature of the medium makes feedback from the audience impossible – or at least very limited. The Internet has the potential to revolutionize mass mediated communication because it allows immediate and intense feedback. This is the reason why media phenomena, such as the explosion of blogs, are changing the functions and fashions of journalism in our contemporary world.
The interactive potential makes the Internet the ideal vehicle for public relations. If this potential is properly exploited, the Internet might become the most effective source of information about our target audiences. Such a constant flow of information from and about specific target audiences will help PR practitioners more accurately define their audiences, more profitably choose their channels, and more effectively design their messages.
4 PR Models: Historical Development of the PR Profession
James Grunig and Todd Hunt distinguish in their book “Managing Public Relations”, one of the classics in the PR field, 4 different PR Models, i.e. 4 different ways to conceive and practice PR. Those 4 models correspond, according to both authors, to the 4 stages in the historical development of that profession.
The four models are:
- Press Agentry / Publicity Model
- Public Information Model
- Two Way Asymmetrical Model
- Two Way Symmetrical Model
Click here to see an overview of the 4 models:
1 – Press Agentry/Publicity Model
The first PR model, which corresponds to the first stage in the historical development of the profession, is a One-Way communication model. That means that the roles in the communication process are clearly and rigidly defined: There is a sender and a receiver of messages. The communicator does not look for any kind of feedback.
The main purpose is defined as propaganda by Grunig and Hunt, with all the pejorative connotations that this word has (and that we have learned in the first part of the course), that is, as manipulation, as the concealed attempt to influence the behavior or the ideas of people.
The information is not true, has not to be true. Actually, it is frequently distorted or exaggerated to achieve the persuasive intentions of the propagandist.
Finally, the current areas of Business where this PR Model is already used, according to Grunig and Hunt are:
Sports, Show Business, Product Promotion, etc…, which represents only 15% of the contemporary PR practice.
No research at all was used to design the communication campaigns at this stage.
The name Grunig and Hunt associate to this early form of practicing PR was Phineas T. Barnum.
Barnum was a very popular man in his time, entertainer and circus entrepreneur. He was originally from Connecticut (now you can visit the Barnum Museum in Bridgeport). Barnum became also famous because of his aggressive publicity stunts.
One of the attractions of his shows was Joice Heth, the oldest woman in the world. Barnum promoted her in his shows as the woman who nursed George Washington (she must have been over 160 years old to do that). When Heth died, the autopsy revealed that she could not have been older than 80. (Barnum wrote an article in the New York Herald defending the thesis that the body of the autopsy was not Joice Heth’s body).
Another attraction of the show was the midget “General Tom Thumb”. Barnum was an early master in the creation of pseudo-events, events that are staged with the primarily purpose of being reported by the mass media. One of those pseudo-events was the marriage of General Tom Thumb with another midget of the circus. The ceremony had strong press coverage, which obviously helped promote Barnum’s circus.
Some PR scholars refer to this first stage in the professional development of PR with the sentence:
The Public Be Fooled!
The Public, much more innocent in dealing with the media than nowadays, believed whatever they read in newspapers and magazines and was easily fooled.
The most relevant characteristic of this PR mode is that there were no ethical considerations about how to deal with the public. Perhaps this is the origin of the bad reputation that the PR field still has to suffer.
2 Public Information:
The Public Information is also a One-Way communication model: there is a source of the information and a receiver, and both are clearly defined and differentiated.
However, in this case there is a commitment with the truth. The information contained in the messages crafted by the PR practitioner is (should be) true and accurate.
Research is not relevant in this model, either. In some cases, PR practitioners did some readership analysis to find out which newspapers or magazines their target audiences read.
The purpose of this model is the simple dissemination of information. PR people started to write press release and send them to the different media outlets to be published. This way, they were using the raising print media as the channel to reach their target audiences.
Nowadays, this PR model is still broadly applied. According to Grunig and Hunt, almost 50% of contemporary PR follows this concept. You can find it in many governmental and non-profit organizations (public universities, YMCA, Red Cross, IRS, Admistration for Children and Families, …).
The key moment in the development of this PR model was the publication by Ivy L. Lee of his Declaration of Principles in 1903:
Declaration of Principles:
“This is not a secret bureau. All our work is done in the open. We aim to supply news. This is not an advertising agency; if you think any of our matter ought properly to go to your business office, do not use it. Our matter is accurate. Further details on any subject treated will be supplied promptly, and any editor will be assisted most cheerfully in verifying directly any statement of fact … In brief, our plan is, frankly and openly, on behalf of business concerns and public institutions, to supply to the press and public of the United States prompt and accurate information concerning subjects which it is of value and interest to the public to know about.”
Lee, a very important and controversial figure in the PR history, understood the role of the Public in our society and also realized that it is important to keep the façade of transparency and honesty in front of the public.
One of the case studies in this leaning module, the Ludlow massacres, is dedicated to this author. There you can find a detailed profile of this pioneer in the field of PR.
3 Two-Way Asymmetric
The purpose, in this PR model is Scientific Persuasion. And this basically means that the PR practitioners apply behavioral and social sciences in order to more effectively persuade individuals or Mass Audiences.
This is the first of the so-called Two-Way communication models. Organizations search here for a certain kind of FEEDBACK. However, there is no balance between the sender of messages and the receiver.
Basically, the feedback is limited in this model to the target audience research. There are two forms of research: formative and evaluative.
Formative research is used to obtain information about our target audience. This will allow us to better defined our public and more effectively tailor our messages to the factual characteristics of our target audience.
Evaluative research is done at the end of the campaign in order to find out to which extent the campaign was successful. To assess the effectiveness of persuasive messages, the researcher measures whether there was a significant change in the attitudes or behaviors of the target audience.
Gruning and Hunt talk about “unbalanced effects” in the Two-Ways Asymmetric communication model. This means that, even though feedback is essential in the model, the roles of sender and receiver are still rigidly defined. The feedback from the target audience is only used to improve the effectiveness of persuasive messages, not to better understand the nature and necessities of the public.
According to both authors, the Two-Way Asymmetric model is applied in 20% of the contemporary practice of Public Relations. You can find this concept in most competitive business and agencies. It is also the PR model adopted by all professional PR firms.
The practice of PR as scientific persuasion was first introduced by Edward L. Bernays.
Bernays is without doubt the most important name in the history of PR. Born in Vienna (Austria), he was the double-nephew of the founder of Psycho-analysis Sigmund Freud. In the case study dedicated to one of his most famous campaign, Torches of Freedom, you can find extensive information about this author and PR counsel, as well as a comprehensive literature list. Here, I will just anticipate that Bernays wrote the first book on the subject PR. The title of this legendary book: Crystallizing Public Opinion.
4 Two-Ways Symmetric Model:
In the last PR model, the Two-Way Symmetric, the purpose is not persuasion, but mutual understanding between organizations or between an organization and its publics. They pursue the public interest as well.
There is a balance between both parts in the process of communication. The roles of sender and receiver are not rigidly fixed. The model contemplates two different groups of communicators with the ability to generate messages that will contribute to a better understanding between the parts involved.
Grunig and Hunt designed this model as ideal, i.e. they did not describe what PR actually is, but what it should be. As it was made clear in the first learning module of this course, it is rather utopian to think that the PR practitioner is mostly concerned with the public interest.
In spite of this, both authors believe we can find actual examples of this concept in the professional field of PR (around 15% in regulated business and agencies).
The name James Grunig associates to this PR model is the one of his mentor Scott Cutlip. Cutlip was the first full time PR scholar in this country. He wrote key books on PR theory and history and a plethora of articles about different aspect of the PR practice. Scott Cutlip was also the first author who did public relations for the public relations professional field, i.e. he always tried hard to present PR in the best possible light. Some of his most relevant works are:
- Effective Public Relations
- Pubic Relations History
- The Unseen Power
- Fundraising in the United states
Case Studies
I have selected 5 case studies for the historical section of this course. These cases shall show you the different steps in the historical development of the PR concept and profession.
1st case: PR during the American Revolution
This is perhaps the best example of PR in its earliest phase. The partisans of the independence effectively used communication to create national feeling and consciousness. The case study will show us the anticipation of some techniques that are frequently applied in contemporary PR (Hype, instrumental use of news, pseudo-events, …)
2nd case: The Ludlow Massacres
In this historical episode, you will familiarize yourself with the work of one of the pioneers in the PR business: Ivy L. Lee.
Ludow, Colorado, was one of the most important sites for the coal industry in the United States. In 1914, the miners’ union was trying to organize a strike to protest against the working and living conditions of the miners and their families. Some women and children died as the result of the repression by military forces. The reputation of the Standard Oil Company, owner of most of those coal mines, was seriously damaged by this incident. John D. Rockefeller Jr., who had succeeded his father as the head of the Standard Oil, hired Ivy L. Lee to deal with the crisis. I analyze in this case study the strategies used by Lee to restore the image of the company. You can also learn additional information about Lee’s life and work.
3rd case: Torches of Freedom
This case study will focus on the most important personality in the history of PR, Edward L. Bernays, and on the campaign that best shows Bernays’ personality and conception of the PR business.
Bernays is considered by most PR scholars and practitioners the father of contemporary PR. He was the first one who used the knowledge acquire in social-psychology to achieve scientific persuasion.
Visit the site dedicated to Bernays in the Web-site of the PR Museum.
4th case: The Four Freedoms Campaign
Both world wars resulted in a huge increase in the social and public relevance of PR.
This case study focuses on Norman Rockwell’s visual version of the Four Freedoms designed by President Roosevelt in his famous discourse. The goal of the campaign was to sell war bonds in order to support the economic efforts during World War II. It was one of the most successful campaigns in the PR history. We can learn from this campaign the power of symbols to create a common ground with the audience.
5th case: China’s Candidacy for the Olympic Games
The last case study will give you an example of contemporary PR in a global world. The challenge for the Chinese government was, first of all, to fill with enthusiasm the own population. Then, they had to convince the world public opinion that the regime would not use the Olympic Games to support any political agenda. This case study will also show you how to use new interactive communication technologies to effectively deal with national and international audiences.