It's not just PR: public relations in society

170 Pages·2014·1.956 MB·English

by  Coombs, W. Timothy;Holladay, Sherry J

It’s C W. TIMOTHY COOMBS AND SHERRY J. HOLLADAY
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“Concise and thought-provoking examination about ‘what counts’ as public relations
and the fi eld’s impact on society; an excellent discussion primer about the issues
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facing the profession today and in the foreseeable future.” ’s
Michael J. Palenchar, University of Tennessee N Just
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“This is an engaging introduction to PR. I like its quick overviews of key authors, ideas, J
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and debates, its easy style, but, most of all, that it makes the reader think.” s
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Magda Pieczka, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh P
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PUBLIC RELATIONS
Whether one sees it as unwelcome, underappreciated, or unnoticed, public relations P
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has an important infl uence on modern society. In the second edition of their award- B
winning book, W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay provide a broad and LIC IN SOCIETY SECOND
thorough look at the fi eld of public relations in the world today and assess its R
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impact on society’s values, knowledge, and perceptions. L EDITION
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The authors show how public relations aff ects society – both positively and IO
negatively – and use a range of global, contemporary examples from multinational N
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corporations through to the non-profi t sector to prove their point. The authors have IN
thoroughly revised and updated the book with discussion of new issues, including S
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the search within the profession for a defi nition of PR; the role and limitations of C
social media; the emergence of issues management; how private politics is shaping IE
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corporate behavior; and the rise of global activism and the complications of working Y
in a global world. The authors also provide a nuanced and balanced discussion of S
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ethical concerns for professionals in the fi eld that doesn’t rely on oversimplifi cation C
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of the issues. Well organized and clearly written by two leading scholars, this is a N
must-read for students and professionals in strategic communication. D
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W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay are Professors in the Nicholson T
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School of Communication at the University of Central Florida. They are co-authors N
of Managing Corporate Social Responsibility (Wiley Blackwell, 2011) and PR Strategy
and Application (Wiley Blackwell, 2009), and co-editors of The Handbook of Crisis
Communication (Wiley Blackwell, 2010).
ISBN 978-1-118-55400-5

It’s Not Just PR
For Megan, Molly, Ben, Martha, Matthew, and Brandon
who are the future.
About the Authors
W. Timothy Coombs is Professor in the Nicholson School of Communi­
cation at the University of Central Florida. His books include the award­
winning Ongoing Crisis Communication (2007) and Code Red in the Boardroom
(2006). With Sherry J. Holladay, he is co­author of Managing Corporate
Social Responsibility (Wiley Blackwell, 2011) and PR Strategy and Application
(Wiley Blackwell, 2009) and co­editor of The Handbook of Crisis Communi­
cation (Wiley Blackwell, 2010). He has worked with consulting firms in
the U.S. and Europe on ways to improve crisis communication efforts for
their clients.
Sherry J. Holladay is Professor in the Nicholson School of Communi­
cation at the University of Central Florida. She teaches courses in public
relations and corporate communication and her research interests include
corporate social responsibility, crisis communication, reputation manage­
ment, activism, and stakeholder relations. Her work appears in the Journal
of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Management Communi­
cation Quarterly, Journal of Communication Management, and International
Journal of Strategic Communication.
It’s Not Just PR
Public Relations in Society
Second Edition
W. Timothy Coombs
Sherry J. Holladay
This second edition first published 2014
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Edition history: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e, 2007)
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Set in 11/13.5pt Dante by SPi Publisher Services, Pondicherry, India
1 2014
Contents
Acknowledgments vi
Introduction to the Second Edition 1
1 Does Society Need Public Relations? 4
2 Ethical Implications of Public Relations 36
3 Who Practices Public Relations? 60
4 Public Relations Influences Society 90
5 Shifting the View of Public Relations 123
References 141
Index 159
Acknowledgments
We would like to thank Elizabeth Swayze and Wiley Blackwell for their
support of this book over the years. The book was a bit of a risk given
its topic and format but it seems to have worked for all involved, including
its readers. We also would like to thank Allison Kostka and Julia Kirk for
their patience and help with the revisions, and to thank those reviewers
who provided feedback to the revision plan. It takes a team to publish a
book, and we are happy to be part of such a great team.
Introduction to the Second Edition
When we had the opportunity to write the first edition of this book, our
task of developing a title was challenging due to the book’s unconven­
tional approach and topic coverage. But the title, It’s Not Just PR: Public
Relations in Society, seemed to capture our ideas quite well. The title was
designed to reflect the frustration of many academics and practitioners
who feel the term “public relations” is trivialized, misunderstood, and
misused. Its colloquial use tends to be tainted with negative connotations
as critics lament the substitution of “public relations” for facts, substance,
or the “real story.”
We welcome our opportunity to broaden readers’ understanding of
public relations by offering a perspective designed to “complicate” public
relations by addressing corporate uses and limitations of a corporate­
centric view of public relations but also presenting alternative views and
analyses to expand our thinking about “what counts” as public relations.
Public relations activities continue to be equated with distortion,
manipulation, and stonewalling, and depicted in negative ways. The pub­
lic’s dependence on the media, coupled with the media’s misuse of the
term, translates into a lack of understanding of the practice. Unfortunately,
there are far too many incidents where corporations have used public rela­
tions in unethical ways to pursue economic self­interests at the expense of
the public interest, thereby reinforcing its tainted image. In spite of reports
It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society, Second Edition.
W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay.
© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society
of activist actions that positively impact on society, such as those of
Greenpeace, Labour Behind the Label, UK Uncut, and PETA, the public
is unlikely to identify these as examples of public relations. Negative con­
notations of public relations may lead people to wonder if society would
be better off without public relations.
Consistent with the vision of the first edition, the second edition of
It’s Not Just PR invites readers to develop a more complex and complete
understanding of the practice of public relations. Societal developments,
including the increasing effects of globalization and communication tech­
nologies on business and activist practices, as well as events that spotlight
both ethical and unethical uses of public relations, are well represented in
this new edition. New extended examples that illustrate the use and grow­
ing importance of social media as a communication tool are included.
This second edition of It’s Not Just PR should help readers understand
why society benefits from the practice of public relations. The new e dition
expands our examination of the role of power in public relations and the
use of public relations by non­corporate entities. At the time the first
edition was written, the concern with power along with critical and post­
modern approaches to public relations were underdeveloped, especially
within the United States. We are proud to have helped introduce readers
to these perspectives and are gratified with the positive responses we
receive to our presentation of these ideas. In many ways we were well
ahead of the curve in exploring these ideas, which is not always the most
comfortable position for publishers. We hope that the increasing interest
in power and activism, along with greater acceptance of more “radical”
ideas in the published academic literature, confirms the value of our
vision that guided the development of the first edition.
This edition examines both the microlevel and macrolevel (societal,
global) processes and outcomes of the practice of public relations. The
microlevel examines what defines and constitutes public relations. We
focus on the relationship between organizations and their stakeholders,
people who are affected by and can affect the organizations. The issue of
power is central to our exploration of the relationship dynamic. People
often think of corporations, especially multinational corporations, as
very powerful compared to average citizens. Sources of power for stake­
holders and organizations are discussed with an eye to demonstrating
stakeholders’ potential for influence on corporations and society. As sug­
gested by stakeholder theory, stakeholders can develop power resources
2