Principles of Public Relations is a knowledge based course in which students are exposed to the history of public relations, basic theories, codes of conduct and ethics, the organizational, managerial and client functions of public relations, and public relations' role in society. Students also gain practical experience in public relations writing and presentation.

Principles of Public Relations is a course that is beneficial to individuals with a variety of professional and academic interests. Communication, marketing, public policy, management, business, and journalism majors, and those interested in graduate study, will find Communication Advocacy valuable.

TEXTS

There will be two books required for Principles of Public Relations.

1. Diggs-Brown, B., & Glou, J. L. (2006). The pr styleguide: Formats for public relations practice (2nd edition). Belmont, CA: Wadsworth/Thompson Learning. ISBN: 0495006432.

2. Goldstein, N. (Ed.) (2006). The Associated Press stylebook and libel manual and briefing on media law with internet guide and glossary. New York: Associated Press. ISBN: 0917360508.

   and

3. Newsom, Turk, and Kruckeberg (2003). This Is PR: The Realities of Public Relations (eighth edition). New York: Wadsworth Publishing. ISBN: 0534562639

   or

4. Heath, R., & Coombs, W. T. (2006). Today's Public Relations. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage. ISBN: 1412926351.

SAMPLE ASSIGNMENTS (see a recent syllabus):

Ý Extra Credit is possible but must be arranged individually.

• The effective practice of public relations relies upon relational communication in contexts such as: negotiation, conflict management and resolution, and crisis/issues management.

• Public relations is a persuasive/rhetorical process.

• Public relations is a theory/research-based process.

• Public relations is a dialogic or audience sensitive activity.

• Public relations operates within a framework of ethical advocacy.

• Public relations acknowledges that language is subjective, and is used to address those rhetorical exigencies unique to the interaction of agents and their publics.

• Public relations is multi-channeled.

• Public relations is informed by principles of Organizational, Mass, and Group Communication.

• Public relations' global perspective depends on sensitivity to intercultural and international communication.

Definitions:

• Article 1: Serve the public interest.
• Article 2: Act with honesty and integrity.
• Article 3: Deal fairly with publics—past, present & future.
• Article 4: Accuracy and truth in communications.
• Article 5: No false or misleading statements.
• Article 6: No corrupting channels of communication or government.
• Article 7: Identify your client publicly.
• Article 8: Never use front groups.
• Article 9: Never guarantee results (placement).
• Article 10: Never represent competing interests.
• Article 11: Never be in conflict with client¹s interests.
• Article 12: Never accept gifts.
• Article 13: Safeguard the privacy or past, present, and future clients.
• Article 14: Never damage the professional reputation of another public relations practitioner.
• Article 15: Report the unethical actions of other practitioners.
• Article 16: You are obligated to testify against others.
• Article 17: Sever relations with clients who go against this code.

Key Public Relations Terms:

1. Systematic—Organized, researched.
2. Deliberate—Intentional.
3. Planned—Systematic not spur of the moment; always have a plan.
4. Research/Evaluate—Success or Failure.
5. Performance—Results based.
6. Public Interest—You must always serve the public interest.
7. Two-Way Communication—Feedback, LISTEN.
8. Management Function—The best PR is integrated into the organization.
9. Relationship—The negotiation and maintenance of relationships is key.
10. Factual—PR deals with facts not fiction or false fronts.
11. Service-oriented—PR is concerned with public good, not personal reward.
12. Reputation—PR practitioners are only as good as their reputations.
13. Program—Ongoing informational efforts most often targeted to internal publics.
14. Campaign—Episodic informational/persuasive efforts targeted to specific groups or publics.
15. Environmental Scanner—Individuals who monitor relevant media and information channels for an organization or client.
16. Information Subsidy—Relationships with media.
17. Boundary-spanners—PR practitioners work with groups both in and out of the organization.
18. Dominant Coalition—The individuals within an organization who make decisions or are responsible for action being taken.
19. The Strength of Weak Ties—Those closest to you have access to the same information. Those not close have different channels of information.
20. Ethical—PR must always serve the best interest of society through organizational goals.

News Releases

The News Release is not free advertising it should be news!

News Release Format (see class handouts for more information)

• 8.5" by 11" white paper
• Identify the sender in upper left corner the name of the contact person(s) and their telephone number(s). Phones should always be answered by people and not machines.
• "For Immediate Release"—or embargo date when absolutely necessary
• Convincing summary lead
• Leave two inches on top for editing
• Location and date
• Leave wide margins and double space
• Never split paragraphs from one page to the next
• Place an identifying slug and page number on the top of each page after the first

• Good lead, use some of the five W's and H
• Be concise, get news angle across
• Avoid cliches, technojargon, and technical terminology
• Check every fact, make sure names are correct, check grammar/spelling
• Know your organizational policy about disclosure
• Short is better than long’—news outlets and editors can call for more info.

• Timely, know everyone's deadline
• First class mail, fax, or E-mail directly to the person (if you have a relationship with him/her)
• The form of the release must match the medium, sound for radio, video for television, and print for print
• Send only to those who may use it, do not use the shotgun approach and flood the media
• Localize, tailor it for each outlet—what is in it for this outlet?

• Check the AP Guide when in doubt about numbers, times, and abbreviations.
• Use short active sentences. If you need to use a comma, then the sentence is probably too long for news release writing.
• Think of the format of the news releases as the beginning, middle, and end of a story. Each release tells a particular story.
• Supporting quotes help humanize the news release. Make sure that the quote relates to the news angle.
• Have someone read the final release before you give it to the instructor. Final drafts are expected to be ready to be put in the envelope and mailed to the media.

• Keep your lead to two-three sentences.
• Keep paragraphs short—2 or 3 sentences.
• If you have a quote, then start the paragraph with it.
• Never use "which" (this is a run-on).
• Avoid he, she, it, they, their. Be specific.
• Who refers to a person, that refers to a thing.
• Avoid starting sentences with a dependent clause.
• Features and Benefits
• Usually close release with "for more info."
• Periods usually go inside of quotes.
• Avoid "ing" verbs like the plague.
• Always ask, "can I say this more concisely?"
• Watch slang—got, would of, etc.
• Remember: you only write the release, the journalist will write the story.

Notes on "Analysis"

According to Webster’s, analysis is defined as follows:

The separation of an intellectual or substantial whole into its constituent parts for individual study.

1.a. Needless repetition of the same sense in different words; redundancy. b. An instance of such repetition.

Logic. An empty or vacuous statement composed of simpler statements in a fashion that makes it logically true whether the simpler statements are factually true or false; for example, the statement "Either it will rain tomorrow or it will not rain tomorrow."

Circular reasoning.

Analysis involves telling me why your release is, or should be news, in specifics, or details. If it concerns "the public," what public? When I ask who the target publics are I do not want you to write "the people who read that newspaper." THAT is not an analysis. Analysis involves separating that obvious fact (that your audience is the readers of that newspaper) into some identifiable group of people with identifiable demographic/psychographic characteristics.

When asked why you used the strategies (who, what, when, where, why, how) you used, the answer should not be, I used them all because that is the best thing to do. That is not the best thing to do, and you need to decide which angle will be most important and useful for creating an interesting lead.

You should not answer question 4 by telling me that each paragraph supports the issues introduced in the lead. You should tell me HOW, meaning "in light of the target audience, the student's parents, who live in predominately upper-middle-class neighborhoods, this issue was seen as one that would motivate them to participate." Or, "because the audience for plays is primarily adults, I chose to emphasize the 'value to the community' angle." These are efforts to conduct analysis and not restate the obvious.

Finally, in regard to question 5, again, do not restate the obvious by telling me "well, I could have emphasized 'how' instead of 'why' . . ." Of course you could have. But why would you have emphasized one over the other?

Bottom line. Do not state the obvious to me. I know why you might do one thing over the other. Your job is to conduct an analysis that demonstrates to me that you understand why you would choose one angle over the other.

Pitch Letter

Pitch Letters are used to attract attention to an event or activity. Pitch letters are not the same as news releases. Essentially, the difference between the two is that news release are about "hard news" (such as what is found in the first section of the newspaper) while pitch letters are about "soft news" (such as what is found in the community, religion, gardening, cooking, sports, travel, home, etc., sections.

Pitch letters pitch "story ideas." To be effective, they must offer suggestions for stories that would interest the sources readers, listeners, viewers, be easy to do, involve pictures/video appropriate for newspaper, television, magazine, etc., and involve support on your part.

Pitch letters, in contrast to news releases, involve some minor development of a "story" idea. They are creative as well as strategic. News releases report newsworthy events, people, processes, etc. but do not include elaboration on the story.

PITCH LETTER Criteria:

• Opening sentence creates interest in the topic and your client.
• Statements are accurate, and realistic.
• Several story angles are presented.
• Grammar, syntax, spelling, and punctuation are correct.
• You offer yourself as a resource and/or other organizational members.
• Final sentence anchors your claim that your ideas are newsworthy.

The Opening

• Not addressing the letter to a person.
• Not identifying yourself or your agency by name.
• Spending too much space on you and not the story.

• Not giving concrete examples of what you can do for them.
• Using jargon without explaining it.
• Cliches
• No paragraph breaks. One thought per paragraph.
• Too many suggestions that are not public relations.
• Too long. Say it quickly. Busy people do not read long letters.

• Not stating the time and day that you will call them to discuss the ideas.
• No wrap upÑlook back at your opening for suggestions about closing.

• Do write long sentences that are difficult to follow. Look at your sen-tences—can they be shortened? Can one word replace many words?
• Word choice. Think about the implicit and explicit meaning of words.
• Check possessives.
• Public relations, small letters for public relations in text.
• Avoid we, them, their always be specific about who you are referring to.

• Create letterhead and identify your organization.
• Address it to a person not the "business editor."
• In the first two sentences let the reporter know that these are story ideas.
• Explain the benefit for the news-sourceÕs readers.
• No clichŽs.
• Personalize the letter and story ideas.
• Localize.
• Make clear transitions between paragraphs. Use signposts to tell the reader that you are now suggesting another story idea. Identify the newsworthiness of each angle.
• Avoid extra words:
  • Just
  • In order to
  • Is planning to
  • Will be able to

• Human Interest
• Community Development/Outreach
• Grants/Gifts/Donations/Sponsorships
• Awards
• Economic news
• New Services
• Offer yourself as a source of information, photos, interviews etc.