In 1906, the first official press release was created by Ivy Lee. His description of a train wreck in Atlantic City was published verbatim by the New York Times, creating a new area for public relations communicators that we now know as crisis communications. His initiative allowed him to develop his public relations practice under the banner of "Accuracy, Authenticity, and Interest."
During that time another side of public relations was emerging. Drawing from psychology, Edward Bernays shaped the field acting as a press agent for clients like the United States government, Enrico Caruso, Eugene O'Neill, and others. He also created campaigns for many companies that are often deemed responsible for modern consumerism.
Movie credit: Uploaded by ksayar2001 on April 30, 2009 from Disclose.tv.
It is said that Bernays persuaded H.L. Mencken to change the definition of public relations from "press agentry" to "an applied social science which works to win the support of the public" in the Dictionary of the American Language. (The Daily Gazette, Susanne Roschwab, April 13, 1991, accessed October 12, 2011. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1957&dat=19910413&id=mHUhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E4kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3753,2971160)
It is said that Bernays persuaded H.L. Mencken to change the definition of public relations from "press agentry" to "an applied social science which works to win the support of the public" in the Dictionary of the American Language. (The Daily Gazette, Susanne Roschwab, April 13, 1991, accessed October 12, 2011. http://news.google.com/newspapers?nid=1957&dat=19910413&id=mHUhAAAAIBAJ&sjid=E4kFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3753,2971160)
Bernays remained active throughout his long lifespan and continued to comment and consult with clients and on the practice of public relations, bringing to light his work with the US government and Woodrow Wilson and the impact of public relations on establishing public policy. His celebrity worked to establish a perception of public relations based on his practice.
Perhaps to challenge the persuasive perception of the practice of public relations, and certainly to make the practice more professional, organizations like the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) and International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) began to call for the study the public relations as a professional discipline.
In 1985, James E. Grunig was awarded a grant by the IABC to study the profession and develop the foundation that became known as the Excellence Theory, setting aside history and storytelling of "public relations campaigns" in favor of defining "the characteristics that public relations departments must have to make organizations more effective. Scholarly research and the development of competing and complementary theories have resulted including, but not limited to, studies of how ethics, rhetoric, consensus, communication, persuasion, power and crisis situations affect the practice of public relations.
One of those scholars, whose view is considered in this blog, is Derina Holtzhausen, an activist for considering, researching and practicing public relations through a postmodern perspective.
A postmodern perspective asks us to question the narrative that history produces. Recording history is subjective as it is drawn from an interpretive perspective and the writing and publishing creates authoritative facts. In Public Relations as Activism (p. 84), Holtzhausen describes how the famous Tylenol tampering case became iconic because a competing firm described and lectured on the brilliant handling of the crisis situation for years, profiting from their perception of how to effectively handle a crisis situation. In this instance, the firm who was describing the situation claimed power from knowledge.
Movie credit: Uploaded by SHClass with footage taken from the BBC documentary, "The Century of the Self," as shared by Dr. Bob Batchelor in Public Relations Theory and Practice, September 4, 2011.
In 1985, James E. Grunig was awarded a grant by the IABC to study the profession and develop the foundation that became known as the Excellence Theory, setting aside history and storytelling of "public relations campaigns" in favor of defining "the characteristics that public relations departments must have to make organizations more effective. Scholarly research and the development of competing and complementary theories have resulted including, but not limited to, studies of how ethics, rhetoric, consensus, communication, persuasion, power and crisis situations affect the practice of public relations.
One of those scholars, whose view is considered in this blog, is Derina Holtzhausen, an activist for considering, researching and practicing public relations through a postmodern perspective.
A postmodern perspective asks us to question the narrative that history produces. Recording history is subjective as it is drawn from an interpretive perspective and the writing and publishing creates authoritative facts. In Public Relations as Activism (p. 84), Holtzhausen describes how the famous Tylenol tampering case became iconic because a competing firm described and lectured on the brilliant handling of the crisis situation for years, profiting from their perception of how to effectively handle a crisis situation. In this instance, the firm who was describing the situation claimed power from knowledge.
