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2017 | Book

Introduction Read chapter Read first chapter

North American Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations

Other Voices

Editor: Tom Watson

Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan UK

Book Series : National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations

Part of: Springer Professional "Wirtschaft+Technik" , Springer Professional "Wirtschaft"

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About this book

This is the seventh volume of The National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices series, which is the first to offer an authentic worldwide view of the history of public relations freed from a corporatist framework..

The series features seven books, six of which cover continental and regional groups including (Book 1) Asia and Australasia, (Book 2) Eastern Europe and Russia, (Book 3) Middle East and Africa, (Book 4) Latin America and Caribbean, (Book 5) Western Europe, and this volume, (Book 7) North America. The sixth volume featured five essays on new and revised historiographic and theoretical approaches.

Written by leading public relations historians and scholars, some histories of national public relations development are offered for the first time while others are reinterpreted using new archival sources and other historiographical approaches. The National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices series makes a major contribution to the wider knowledge of PR’s history.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter
CHAPTER 1. Introduction
Abstract
North American public relations practices, education and professionalization have been and remain the major influences upon worldwide practice. They also presented the field’s history as having arisen from practices in the United States in the 20th century. That proposition has been challenged and is being revised by scholars within North America and beyond. This seventh book in the National Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations: Other Voices series offers a range of historical research and analysis that reshape the history and historiography of the region.
Tom Watson
CHAPTER 2. United States Antecedents and Proto-PR
Abstract
This chapter examines the use of the term “public relations” in the popular press from 1774 to 1899. Frequently public relations history places the beginnings of PR in the late nineteenth century with a genesis in entertainment and later business. This examination of the use of the term “public relations” shows that public relations in the eighteenth and nineteenth century was related to politics, specifically international affairs, domestic relations, and political popularity.
Cayce Myers
CHAPTER 3. United States–Development and Expansion of Public Relations
Abstract
Twentieth-century US public relations historiography has focused primarily on corporate public relations and agencies, incorporating a “great man” perspective and largely excluding women and minorities. This scholarship allows us to begin to build a narrative, presented here, but the authors call for an expansion of what is considered public relations and of who practiced it. Public relations was often used by people in areas such as politics, churches, higher education institutions, and social service agencies who were not trying to invent public relations; rather they were solving problems by using communication to inform and persuade their audiences. The activism of suffragist and women’s rights advocate Alice Paul, and Henry Lee Moon, NAACP public relations director, illustrates that American public relations history is broad, diverse, and expansive.
Margot Opdycke Lamme, Karen Miller Russell, Denise Hill, Shelley Spector
CHAPTER 4. Canada—Development and Expansion of Public Relations
Abstract
For over a century, the dominant narrative in Canadian public relations history has been starkly American. However, while in its infancy, a growing body of literature is now emerging to illuminate the ways in which the Canadian public relations experience is distinctly Canadian. This broader narrative is beginning to show how Canada’s focus on public policy and immigration together formed the pillars of current PR practice. While more study is needed, there is every indication that this is a significant departure from the Americanized approach that was once unequivocally accepted.
Amy Thurlow
CHAPTER 5. Public Relations Education and the Development of Professionalization in Canada and the USA
Abstract
Over 70 years, the public relations industry in Canada and the USA has seen significant growth and development with the advancement of professional standards, university and college-based undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and industry associations that advocate on behalf of its members in both countries. This chapter details the similar but uniquely different development of the field in both countries; differentiated not only by culture and size but educational systems and language.
Donald K. Wright, Terence (Terry) Flynn
CHAPTER 6. Government Public Relations in Canada and the United States
Abstract
Public relations in Canadian and American public administration evolved in parallel. But the two countries have cultural, political, economic and legal differences. The chapter explores how government communication developed in the national governments of the two countries and what is unique about this sectoral practice on the two sides of North America’s 49th parallel. The focus is on the permanent government (fairly or unfairly called the bureaucracy), namely external communications conducted by civil servants who don’t serve at the pleasure of political appointees and don’t change based on election results. They use public relations to further their agencies’ legal missions as set by elected officials. Generally, American public administrators have come to view their proper roles and responsibilities more narrowly than their Canadian counterparts.
Mordecai Lee, Fraser Likely, Jean Valin
CHAPTER 7. Entertainment Publicity and Public Relations
Abstract
This chapter traces the history of entertainment publicity and public relations in North America as it has evolved from its rudimentary beginnings into a highly complex, sophisticated practice fueled by the confluence of forces—secularization, mediation, and commodification—that has transformed culture and society in a radical way. As secularization deifies sports and entertainment figures into “celebrity-idols” and as media mega-conglomerates, which dominate the music, film, and television landscape, and their publicists and public relations practitioners promote their commodities, the challenge of retaining authenticity in communication has never been greater. The chapter concludes with an examination of the effects of commercialized culture upon institutions and voices not so advantaged, arguing for the common good that these have space for expression in increasingly diverse societies
Donn J. Tilson
CHAPTER 8. Political Communications and Lobbying in the United States
Abstract
This chapter provides a mosaic telling the story of seminal events in the history of US political lobbying. Lobbying is defined here as an individual, group, organization or corporation that seeks to directly or indirectly influence the voting of government officials. It is also the act of educating a legislator on an issue related to the interests of lobbyists and/or the organization for which they work. It begins with an example of the “citizen lobbyist” and then offers a synopsis of principles and practices of lobbyists in Washington, DC. Next it provides an overview of lobbying’s deep history; included are four “periods” illustrating lobbying’s foci. Reflections on the lobbying as the “third house” come next, followed by discussion of costs and benefits of “corporate lobbying.” The chapter widens its focus with commentary on the current history of international lobbyists. It concludes discussing lobbying in today’s new/social media environment. Readers will have a kaleidoscopic overview of the many pieces that combine to form the history of political lobbying and its ethical challenges.
Edward J. Downes, Dustin W. Supa, Esther Austin
CHAPTER 9. The Historiography of North American Public Relations
Abstract
This chapter explores the historiography of public relations with a focus on what is missing. It begins with a look at the dominant trends in American public relations historiography and argues that the focus on a progressive interpretation and corporate public relations has stunted our understanding of the field’s history. Missing from the historiography are the contributions of men who are not considered “great” because they do not fit within the traditional public relations story; public relations practices in activist organizations, nonprofits, government, and the military; and most importantly, American and Canadian women. Taking a broad approach to the history of public relations will allow for the voices of these others to be heard and contribute to our understanding of the field.
Karla K. Gower
Backmatter
Metadata
Title
North American Perspectives on the Development of Public Relations
Editor
Tom Watson
Copyright Year
2017
Electronic ISBN
978-1-349-95044-7
Print ISBN
978-1-349-95043-0
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1057/978-1-349-95044-7