4. Расшифровка аудиозаписей (Audio Scripts)

announcements when journalists are preoccupied with another story. The truth is PR and spin couldn’t be further apart. Real PR does not involve any economies of truth, or coercion or attempts to block genuine dialogue with the public – all of which are weapons in the spin arsenal.

I.: Thank you, Derek.

1.2. (I = Interviewer, D.A. = Derek Avery)

I.: Many people confuse public relations with other functions – like advertising and marketing. Could you clarify the difference between PR and marketing.

B.A.: Job openings in marketing for “public relations representatives” occasionally turn out to be positions as door-to-door sales representatives or telephone solicitors. In some small organizations, the same person does both public relations and marketing. Because of this some have concluded that there is no difference between marketing and PR.

Many people hired into PR jobs spend much of their time supporting marketing, introducing new products and services, publicising their uses, and promoting aspects of the marketing strategy. This doesn’t mean PR is marketing. Often confusion arises because public relations practitioners and their clients confuse publicity with public relations.

If we look at marketing we’ll see that the marketing mix consists of every element in the marketing strategy including – product naming, packaging, research, pricing, selling, distribution and after-sales services. All of these bear some degree of communication and goodwill. It also includes promotion as one of the 4ps – which might also suggest similarities between the two disciplines.

Given widespread confusion even in the practice of public relations, it is not surprising that others assume that the purpose of public relations is promoting goods and services to increase sales

– “just like marketing.” In short don’t assume that product publicity, which supports marketing, is the same as PR.

If not always clearly defined in practice, public relations and marketing can be distinguished conceptually.

People’s needs are fundamental to the concept of marketing. What people want gets translated into consumer demand. Marketers offer products and services to satisfy the demand. Consumers select the products and services that provide the most satisfaction. The marketer delivers the product to the consumer in exchange for something of value. This transaction distinguishes the marketing function – two parties exchanging something of value. In marketing the emphasis is on selling, which differs from the PR role of informing, educating and creating understanding through knowledge. In summary, marketing focuses on exchange relationships with customers. The result of the marketing effort is quid pro quo transactions that meet customer

- 316 -

demands and achieve organisational economic objectives.

In contrast, PR covers a broad range of relationships with many publics – employees, investors, neighbors, special-interest groups, governments, and many more.

I.: How different is PR from advertising?

B.A.: Distinctions between the two are based on the fact that PR is not a form of advertising and is, in fact, a much bigger activity than advertising. Advertising is information placed in the media by an identified sponsor that pays for the time or space. It is a controlled method of placing messages in the media.

PR is neither “free advertising” nor “unpaid-for advertising.” There is nothing “free” about PR: it is time-consuming, and time costs money. If a story appears in the news column or bulletin, its value cannot be reckoned by advertisement rates for space or time because editorial space is priceless. Advertising may or may not be used by an organization, but every organization is involved in public relations. PR embraces everyone and everything, while advertising is limited to special selling and buying tasks such as promoting goods, buying supplies or recruiting staff. PR has to do with the total communications of an organization. One of the key differences is that the source – the company issuing the PR information – does not control the media, while the advertiser controls content, placement, and timing by paying for media advertising time and space.

I.: Thank you, Derek.

2. The History of Public Relations

2.1. (I = Interviewer, S.V. = Stan Veazy)

I.: Today people are used to thinking that public relations is a new and fashionable profession. Do you agree?

S.V.: Public relations is a twentieth-century phenomenon whose roots extend deep into history; in a sense it is as old as human communication itself. In succeeding civilizations, such as those of Babylonia, Greece and Rome, people were persuaded to accept the authority of government and religion through techniques that are still used: interpersonal communication, speeches, art, literature, staged events, publicity, and other such devices. None of these endeavors was called public relations, of course, but their purpose and their effect were the same as those of similar activities today.

I.: Can you provide some examples of the early practice of the art of public relations? S.V.: The art has many roots. For example, the practice of dispatching teams to prepare the

way for a traveling dignitary or politician was not invented by Harry Truman or Richard Nixon. Their political ancestors in Babylonia, Greece, and Rome were quite adept at it. St. John the Baptist himself did superb advance work for Jesus of Nazareth. Other examples abound. In the eleventh

- 317 -

century, throughout the far-flung hierarchy of the Roman Catholic Church, Pope Urban II persuaded thousands of followers to serve God and gain forgiveness of their sins by engaging in the Holy Crusades against the Muslims. Six centuries later, the church was among the first to use the word propaganda, with the establishment by Pope Gregory XV of the college of Propaganda to supervise foreign missions and train priests to propagate the faith.

The stories that Spanish explorers publicized of the never-discovered Seven Cities of Gold, and even the fabled Fountain of Youth, induced others to travel to the New World. Some of the explorers probably believed those stories themselves. Two more blatant deceptions – examples of actions unacceptable to public relations people today – occurred when Eric the Red, in 1000 A.D., discovered a land of ice and rock and, to attract settlers, named it Greenland; and when Sir Walter Raleigh in 1584 sent back glowing accounts of what was actually a swamp-filled Roanoke Island, to persuade other settlers to travel to America.

I.: Thank you, Stan. It is clear, then, that the idea of using all forms of human communication – drama and storytelling among them – to influence the behavior of other people is nothing new.

2.2. (I = Interviewer, S.V. = Stan Veazy)

I.: It is widely known that Edward Bernays, one of the pioneers of public relations of America, was a master strategist who often took the indirect approach to solving a client’s problem. Could you describe one of his early PR campaigns?

S.V.: Certainly. As far back as in 1915 Bernays was given a job to promote Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes American tour. Later he confessed that he knew nothing of the ballet and was positively uninterested in the dance. And he wasn’t alone. The Americans thought masculine dancers were deviants, and that dancing was not nice, and of limited interest.

Bernays began to connect ballet to something people understood and enjoyed – first, as a novelty in art forms, a unifying of several arts; second, its appeal to special groups; third, its direct impact on American life, on design and color in American products; and fourth, its personalities.

I.: What was his approach?

S.V.: Beginning with newspapers, Bernays developed a four-page newsletter for editorial writers, local managers and others, containing photographs and stories of dancers, costumes, and composers. Articles were targeted to his four themes and audiences. For example, the women’s pages received articles on costumes, fabric, and fashion design; the Sunday supplements received full-color photos.

I.: Interesting. Did the campaign feature any other media?

S.V.: Yes, he also arranged magazine coverage, timed to appear just before the ballet

- 318 -

opened, was his next approach. Bernays tailored his stories to his editors. When Ladies Home Journal said that they couldn't show photographs of dancers with skirts above the knees, he had artists retouch photos to bring them down. His abilities to understand editors’ needs resulted in wide coverage.

Bernays created an 81-page user-friendly publicity guide for advance publicists to use on the tour. When a national story about the Ballet Russes appeared, advance publicists could tailor it for local coverage. The guide contained mimeographed pages, bios on the dancers, short notes and fillers, and even a question and answer page that asked, “Are American men ashamed to be graceful?”

He persuaded American manufacturers to make products inspired by the color and design of the sets and costumes, and national stores to advertise them. These styles became so popular that Fifth Avenue stores sold these products without Bernays’s intervention. Bernays used overseas media reviews to heighten anticipation for the dancers. When they arrived at the docks in New York, a crowd was waiting. Bernays then took photos of the eager crowds and placed them in Sunday magazines throughout the country. The ballet was sold out before the opening. By the time the ballet toured American cities, demand had already dictated a second tour and little girls were dreaming of becoming ballerinas. Bernays had remolded biases to get his story told. The American view of ballet and dance was changed forever.

I.: Thank you, Stan.

3. Ethics and Professionalism

3.1. (I = Interviewer, C.W. = Conroy Wright)

I.: How important is ethics in Public Relations?

C.W.: Very important. Professionals in the field of public relations are in constant contact with various sectors of the business and public communities. Honesty and integrity must be practiced at all times in public relations in order to maintain credibility. However, determining if an action is ethical or not goes beyond one’s perception of right and wrong. Public relations professionals have the added dilemma of making decisions that satisfy the public interest, the employer, the professional organization’s code of ethics, and their personal values. In an ideal world, the four would not conflict. In reality, however, they often do.

I.: How do we understand ethics in Public Relations?

C.W.: Often ethics is defined as the branch of philosophy that deals with issues of right and wrong in human affairs, which is expressed through moral behavior in specific situations. An individual’s conduct is measured not only against his or her conscience but also against some norm of acceptability that has been societally, professionally, or organizationally determined. Even

- 319 -

though ethics can be defined, there is always a controversy surrounding ethical behavior. What constitutes some norm of acceptability? Ultimately it is the individual who acts on his or her value system to make decisions about what is right or wrong. However, one person’s actions may or may not be perceived by someone else as ethical behavior.

I.: What patterns of unethical behavior are sometimes practiced in PR?

C.W.: Examples of how individuals have been known to compromise their ethics include lying for an employer, accepting gifts or bribes, writing misleading press releases, withholding information, and covering up potentially harmful situations. Such practices have earned unscrupulous PR-men the labels of flacks or spin doctors. The term flack has been used to describe press agents who saturate various forms of media with news releases, which counteracts journalists’ attempts to report to the public.

I.: Is spin-doctor a pejorative term?

C.W.: There are two opposing views on whether or not the term spin doctor has a negative connotation. In one camp are those who condemn spin doctors as purveyors of deception, manipulation, and misinformation. Others feel the term spin doctor accurately describes what public relations practitioners do. The public relations field has not adequately defined the roles and expectations of public relations practitioners, the business and public sectors do not understand nor appreciate their function in society. As a result, there is some confusion regarding what practitioners do. Is their main function to persuade? Are they journalists? Are they involved in marketing or advertising? The misunderstanding of roles can lead some to consider that certain behaviors are unethical.

I.: Thank you, Conroy.

3.2. (I = Interviewer, C.W. = Conroy Wright)

I.: As we all know, most professional organizations and many businesses have codes of ethics, which are also called codes of professional conduct. Does the public relations industry of the US have any of the documents setting acceptable norms of behavior for working professionals and employees?

C.W.: Yes, the Public Relations Society of America and the International Association of Business Communicators both have such codes for their members. It is known, that PR is about understanding, and that depends on goodwill and reputation, so it follows that PR will not work unless it is believed. This is not the same as propaganda, for instance, when people are indoctrinated to accept a certain religious or political creed, which may or may not suit this or that society or nation.

In PR individuals are responsible for presenting factual information without comment. The

- 320 -

provides valuable experience and material for one’s portfolio.

I.: How do new employees usually start their work in the organization?

P.W.: Some organizations, particularly those with large public relations staffs, have formal training programs for new employees. In smaller organizations, new employees work under the guidance of experienced staff members. Beginners often maintain files of material about company activities, scan newspapers and magazines for appropriate articles to clip, and assemble information for speeches and pamphlets. They may also answer calls from the press and the public, work on invitation lists and details for press conferences, or escort visitors and clients. After gaining experience, they write news releases, speeches, and articles for publication or plan and carry out public relations programs. Public relations specialists in smaller firms usually get all-around experience, whereas those in larger firms tend to be more specialized.

4.2. (I = Interviewer, P.W. = Paul Walke)

I.: How can PR-practitioners gain accreditation in the U.S.?

P.W.: The Universal Accreditation Board accredits public relations specialists who are members of the Public Relations Society of America and who participate in the Examination for Accreditation in Public Relations process. This process includes both a readiness review and an examination, which are designed for candidates who have at least 5 years of full-time work or teaching experience in public relations and who have earned a bachelor’s degree in a communications-related field. The readiness review includes a written submission by each candidate, a portfolio review, and dialogue between the candidate and a three-member panel. Candidates who successfully advance through readiness review and pass the computer-based examination earn the Accredited in Public Relations (APR) designation.

The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) also has an accreditation program for professionals in the communications field, including public relations specialists. Those who meet all the requirements of the program earn the Accredited Business Communicator designation. Candidates must have at least 5 years of experience and a bachelor’s degree in a communications field and must pass written and oral examinations. They also must submit a portfolio of work samples demonstrating involvement in a range of communications projects and a thorough understanding of communications planning.

Employers may consider professional recognition through accreditation as a sign of competence in this field, which could be especially helpful in a competitive job market.

I.: Is the job market in public relations especially competitive?

P.W.: Well, keen competition likely will continue for entry-level public relations jobs, as the number of qualified applicants is expected to exceed the number of job openings. Many people

- 322 -