Spokesperson & Public
relations (PR)
Ing. Jiří Šnajdar
2013
Spokesperson (press secretary, press officer )
In the present media-sensitive world, many
organizations are increasingly likely to employ
professionals who have received formal training in
journalism, communications, public relations
and public affairs in this role in order to ensure that
public announcements are made in the most
appropriate fashion and through the most
appropriate channels to maximize the impact of
favorable messages, and to minimize the impact of
unfavorable messages.
Responsibilities
Unlike an individual giving a personal testimonial, it
is the job of a spokesperson to faithfully represent
and advocate for the organization's positions, even
when these conflict with his or her own opinion. Lots
of celebrities have done some work as
spokespeople. As a result, spokespersons are
generally selected from experienced, long-time
employees or other people who are known to
support the organization's goals.
Identity
A corporation may be represented in public by
its chief executive officer, chairman or president,
chief financial officer, counsel or external legal
advisor.
In addition, on a day-to-day level and for more
routine announcements, the job may be delegated
to the corporate communications or investor
relations departments (or equivalents), who will act
as spokesmen.
A spokesperson , press secretary or press officer is
a senior advisor who provides advice on how to deal
with the news media and, using news
management techniques, helps their employer to
maintain a positive public image and avoid negative
media coverage.
They often, but not always, act as the organization's
senior spokesperson. Many governments also have
press secretaries. A deputy press secretary is
typically a mid-level political staffer who assists the
press secretary and communications director with
aspects of public outreach. They often write
the press releases and media advisories for review
by the press secretary and communication director.
There are usually assistant press secretaries and
press officers that support the press secretary.
Public relations (PR),
1
is the practice of managing the spread
of information between an individual or
an organiztion and the public.
Public relations may include an organization
or individual gaining exposure to their audiences
using topics of public interest and news items that
do not require direct payment.
Public relations (PR),
2
The aim of public relations by a company often is
to persuade the public, investors, partners,
employees, and other stakeholders to maintain a
certain point of view about it, its leadership,
products, or of political decisions.
Common activities include speaking at
conferences, winning industry awards, working
with the press, and employee communication.
According to Edward Bernays, public relations is
"practically as old as society."
Some books and universities identify a Babylonian
tablet from 1800 BC as the first example of public
relations.
They also associate audience segmentation
tactics used in gospels, political promotions in
Rome and logos used by ancient craftsman as
being early examples of public relations.
Most textbooks on public relations consider the
antecedents to the field to have originated during
the settlement of the New World.
Exaggerated promotions were used to attract
settlers and the first fund-raising pamphlet, New
England Fresh Fruits, was used to raise funding
for Harvard. Pamphlets, media outreach and
slogans were also used to spread anti-British
sentiment.
Public relations as a paid profession began in
1900, when the first public relations agency, The
Publicity Bureau, was founded.
Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, who are both
referred to as the father of public relations, helped
establish the field as a professional practice in the
United States.
Basil Clarke is considered the profession's founder
in the UK and Arthur Page is considered the father
of corporate public relations. The field became
more established after World War II, in part due to
talent from war-time publicity efforts moving into
the private sector.
The 1990s were marked by "explosive growth" for
the public relations field.
Internet technologies and social media changes
public relations tactics, agencies consolidated and
new specialties were introduced such as investor
relations and community relations.
The field established a degree of professionalism,
though to what extent is debated.
Ancient origins
Although the term "public relations" was not yet
developed, some believe the history of public
influence and communications management dates
back to ancient civilizations.
According to Edward Bernays, one of the pioneers
of public relations, “The three main elements of
public relations are practically as old as society:
informing people, persuading people, or
integrating people with people.
Some books and universities identify stone tablets
used by the Babylonians to educate farmers on
how to sow and harvest crops from 1800 BC as
the first known example of public relations.
In Egypt, scribes documented a pharaoh's
deeds and in Rome leaders like Julius
Caesar wrote biographies on their military
successes to persuade the public to support their
political candidacy.
Ancient Greek philosophers such
as Isocrates, Plato and Aristotle created early
theories in rhetoric and persuasion / conviction.
According to Barbara Diggs-Brown
from the American University School of
Communications, the PR field anchors its work in
historical events in order to improve its perceived
validity, but it didn't begin as a professional field
until around 1900. The book, "Today's Public
Relations: An Introduction," states that, though
experts disagree on public relations' origins, many
identify the early 1900s as its start as a paid
profession.
The passage of the Hepburn Act, which added
government controls over railroads, was seen as a
victory for Roosevelt and a testament to his
publicity skills. According to Scott Cutlip, this
"mastery of public relations profoundly shifted the
power from the Congress to the Presidency."
Roosevelt also spurred the growth of the public
relations field by using the media to
promote The New Deal and to blame
corporations for the country's economic problems,
which led companies to recruit their own publicists
to defend themselves.
In 1929, Edward Bernays helped the Lucky
Strike cigarette brand make their cigarettes more
popular among women. Research showed that
women were reluctant to carry a pack of Lucky
Strike cigarettes, because the brand's green color
scheme clashed with popular fashion choices.
Bernays persuaded fashion designers, charity
events, interior designers and others to popularize
the color green.
"Fathers" of the profession Ivy Lee, a former
Wall Street reporter, is sometimes called the father
of public relations and was influential in
establishing it as a professional practice.
In 1906, Lee published a Declaration of
Principles, which said that public relations work
should be done in the open, should be accurate
and cover topics of public interest.
Ivy Lee is also credited with developing the
modern press release and the "two-way-street"
philosophy of both listening to and communicating
with respective publics.
Edward Bernays, a nephew of Sigmund Freud, is
also sometimes referred to as the father of public
relations and the profession's first theoretician for
his work in the 1920s.
He took the approach that audiences had to be
carefully understood and persuaded to see things
from the client's perspective.
He wrote the first text-book on public relations and
taught the first college course at New York
University in 1923.
Former journalist Basil Clarke is considered by
some to be the founder of public relations in the
UK. He founded the UK's first PR agency, Editorial
Services, in 1924.
He also authored the world's first code of ethics for
the field in 1929.
Through his publicity efforts, Clarke was able to
get imported skimmed milk marked as "unfit for
babies" on behalf of pasteurized milk producers
and fought to allow food colorants in preserved
food for Heinz.
During the war Coca Cola promised that "every
man in uniform gets a bottle of Coca-Cola for five
cents, wherever he is and whatever it costs the
company."
The company received volumes of letters from
soldiers saying that there was "no greater
calamity" than running out of coke. Coca Cola
successfully persuaded politicians that they were
crucial to the war-effort.
As a result Coke was exempted from sugar
rationing, ultimately leading to the once primarily
US-based product developing into a dominant
international brand.
According to one textbook, the period after World
War II was a boon for the public relations field and
"the 40 years from 1960 to 2000 are perhaps best
characterized as the professional-developmentbuilding era in public relations.
This was caused by an increase in the number of
media outlets and the talent previously used for
government and military publicity that entered the
private sector.
Trade associations were formed first in the US in
1947 with the Public Relations Society of America
(PRSA), followed by the Institute of Public
Relations (now the Chartered Institute of Public
Relations) in London in 1948.
Similar trade associations were created in
Australia, Europe, South Africa, Italy and
Singapore. The International Association of Public
Relations was founded in 1955.
According to The Global Public Relations
Handbook, public relations evolved from a series
of "press agents or publicists" to a manner of
theory and practice in the 1980s.
Research was published in academic journals
like Public Relations Review and the Journal of
Public Relations Research, leading to consensus
to categorize public relations work into a four-step
process:
research, planning, communication and action.
According to one textbook, the public relations
field experienced growth and consolidation during
the 1990s.
New internet technology and social media
websites changed social media tactics. It was also
during this period that specialties for
communicating to certain audiences and within
certain market segments emerged. According to
the textbook, "The 1990s were a time of explosive
growth for public relations and corporate
communications.
In 1991, Dr. Robert L. Heath from the University of
Houston said there was "steady progress" towards
public relations achieving "true professional
status,„
while academic J. A. R. Pimlott said it had
achieved "quasi-professionalism.„ According to
"Today's Public Relations: An Introduction", despite
the field's new found professionalism and ethics,
its reputation was still plagued by a history of
exploitive behavior.
In April 1999, four managers from IBM, Sun
Microsystems, National Public Radio and Linux
Journal created "The Cluetrain Manifesto."
The Manifesto established 95 theses about the
way social media and internet technologies were
going to change business. It concluded that
markets had become "smarter and faster than
most companies," because stakeholders were
getting information from each other. The manifesto
was considered ahead of its time.
Press releases, which were mostly unchanged for
more than a century, began to integrate digital
features.
BusinessWire introduced the "Smart News
Release," which incorporated audio, video and
images, in 1997. This was followed by the MultiVu
multimedia release from PRNewswire in 2001.
Incorporating digital and social features became a
norm among wire services, as well as making
company announcements on corporate blogs.
Social media sites like blogs, Facebook and
Twitter changed public relations from a one-way
broadcast-oriented field to conversational, two-way
communications.
Many of the large PR agencies transitioned into
integrated marketing firms. According to The New
York Times, new media also made it "easier for
consumers to learn about the mix-ups and
blunders" of public relations.
For example, after the Deepwater Horizon oil
spill, British Petroleum tried to deflect blame to
other parties, claim the spill was not as significant
as it was and focused on the science, while human
interest stories related to the damage were
emerging.
In 2011, Facebook tried to covertly spread privacy
concerns about competitor Google's Social
Circles.
Chapstick created a communications crisis after
repeatedly deleting negative comments on its
Facebook page.