Content Quiz/Exam 1 Flashcards
Ethics
What is morally right or wrong in social conduct, usually as determined by: standards of professions, organizations, and/or individuals.
The value system by which a person determines what is right or wrong, fair or unfair, just or unjust.
Expressed through moral behavior in specific situations.
Ethical Codes
Written and formalized standards of behavior act as guidelines for decision making within that company, organization, etc.
5 Factors That Influence PR Ethics: Tradition
Ways in which the situation has been viewed or handled in the past.
5 Factors That Influence PR Ethics: Public Opinion
Currently acceptable behavior according to the majority of one’s peers.
5 Factors That Influence PR Ethics: Law
Behaviors that are permissible and those that are prohibited by legislation.
5 Factors That Influence PR Ethics: Morality
Generally a spiritual or religious prohibition.
5 Factors That Influence PR Ethics: Ethics
Standards set by the profession, an organization or oneself, based on conscience.
Primary Legal Obligations
First Amendment Rights Defamation Invasion of Privacy Copyright of Trademark Laws Regulations of the FTC, FDA and FCC
First Amendment
Personal Free Speech
Political Speech
Commercial Speech
Limits: State secrets/security, public safety, reputation/defamation, morality
Defamation
A communication that holds an individual up to contempt, hatred, ridicule or scorn.
Slander = Oral Defamation
Libel = Published Defamation
3 Major Defenses of Defamations
Truth: Statements involved are truthful (and can be proven truthful).
Privilege: Fair and accurate representaion of governmental document/meeting even if the document or meeting has false information.
Fair Comment: “Commentary” or opinion on a public issue. Must not intrude into private life of the person.
Invasion of Privacy
Appropriation: The unauthorized commercial use of an entity’s picture, likeness, or name.
Publication of Private Information: Publishing true information not known by a great number of people.
Intrusion of the surreptitious observation of an entity’s activities.
False Light: True facts embellished with falsehoods, or exaggerated or used out of context.
Invasion of Privacy Defenses
Obtain written consent from potential sources of legal suit.
Especially helpful in defenses are signed release forms of legal responsibility.
Freedom of Information Act (FOIA)
Opens many federal governmental records to public scrutiny.
PRSA Values
Advocacy Honesty Expertise Independence Loyalty Fairness
PRSA Ethical Provisions
Free Flow of Information: Integrity of relationships with media, government and public.
Competition: Promoting healthy, fair competition among professionals, fostering robust business environment.
Disclosure: Builds trust by revealing all information needed for decision making.
Safeguarding Confidences: Protect client’s private and confidential information.
Conflicts of Interest: Avoid real and perceived conflicts; act in client’s best interest.
Enhancing the Profession: Work to strengthen the public trust in PR.
Moral Philosophy: Utilitarianism Theory
Focuses on consequences to determine the worth of the action. Bentham and Mill’s utilitarianism is based on predicted outcomes. To maximize the benefits for the greater good after cost benefit analysis or weigh pros/cons.
Pitfalls: Runs the risk of ignoring or alienating a minority viewpoint. Can justify the status quo. Runs more risk of incurring regulation.
Moral Philosophy: Virtue Ethics
Focuses on character. Aristotle’s “Golden Mean” desirable middle between two extremes, one of excess and the other of deficiency.
Ethical Consideration Triangle
Duty: Am I doing the right thing?
Intention: Am I proceeding with a morally goodwill?
Dignity & Respect: Are dignity and respect maintained?
Moral Philosophy
Free speech and liberty theories based on the freedom of expression.
Examples: Milton’s market place of ideas (free speech theory). Liberty theory protects speech that is (1) freely chosen; (2) free acceptance of listener; and (3) not violent or coercive
Moral Philosophy: Deontological Theory
Focuses on rules or duties; doesn’t change with situation, “do the right thing”. Focuses on moral principles. More responsive to change. More focus on all members of a community. Immanuel Kant says morality is universal. Claims moral principles are right or wrong regardless of consequences. Duty - not consequences - is the key. Requires difficult decision making.
Kant’s Duties:
Perfect v. Imperfect
Categorical Imperative
Pitfalls:
More complex decision-making model. Depends on intent, respect, and good will.
Communications Rule Theory
Communication Rules: Norms that dictate what is socially acceptable communication are based on cultural values and norms of communication. Types of Rules: Implicit v. General Prescription v. Proscription Formal v. Informal
Theory
Lattimore Text - A way to predict how events and actions are related.
Jackson Text - The application of knowledge that has been verified and confirmed to “work” in consistent situations.
A good theory can:
Validate sound PR practice
Be generalized over several clients and situations
Increase effectiveness
Improve cost - and time-efficiency.
Systems Theory
The relationships in organizations. People need to adjust to change in environment. Deals with open and closed systems. Involves different publics (subgroups).
Systems Theory Terms: Stakeholders
Create problems and opportunities.
Systems Theory Terms: Boundary Spanners
Understanding publics that impact organization; PR can serve as a bridge between some publics and management.
Systems Theory Terms: Dominant Coalition
Senior executives who decide mission, vision, values and priorities.
Situational Theory
Claims people will act on an issue or situation when they believe it affects them personally and their actions can make a difference.
3 Independent Variables of Situational Theory (High or Low)
Problem Recognition: People must be able to see the potential of an issue to affect them personally.
Constraint Recognition: People must see that they can do something about the issue.
Level of Involvement: People must care about resolving the issue.
2 Dependent Variables of Situational Theory
Information Seeking: Active communication behavior.
Information processing: Passive communication behavior.
Uses and Gratifications Theory
Claims people turn to mass media for: entertainment, diversion, information, relationships. The role of mass media is both social and informational; amplifies the source of information and helps make it relevant. Opinion leaders can be official leaders in a group, either elected or appointed, trusted family members or friends, and/or a celebrity, entertainer, athlete, politician.
Diffusion Theory
How, why and at what rate do new ideas and technology spread throughout a culture.
Awareness (through personal experience)
Interest (through mass media)
Evaluation (through experts and 3rd parties)
Trial (through friends and family)
Adoption (through sales and advertising)
Adoption Patterns of Diffusion Theory
Innovators: First to adopt new ideas.
Early Adopters: Avoid untried ideas, but the quickest to use tested ideas.
Early Majority: Most often named as “friend and neighbors”
Majority: Rely heavily on influence of early majority.
Laggards: Non-adopters
Social Learning Theory
Argues that we learn new behaviors by observing others. Claims our surroundings enforce learning. When we see a behavior with desired reward, we may adopt that behavior. Says there are indirect effect of rewards and punishments. Importance of self-efficacy and self-regulations.
Social Learning Theory: 5 Steps of the Social Learning Process
- Learning without performance: Observation and Imitation
- Learning with performance: Attention
- Expectation: Aware of Consequences and Rewards
- Reciprocal Causation: Person, Behavior and Environment
- Modeling: Lived and Symbolic
Agenda Setting Theory
Media can influence on what issues people think about. Theory developed via presidential campaigns. McCombs and Shaw followed the presidential race of 1968. Agenda was measured by what the public believed were the issues vs. media content. Conclusion was that media coverage = influence.
Agendas
News Media Agenda: Issues discussed in the media.
Social Media Agenda: Events and issues trending
Public Agenda: Issues discussed by members of the public.
Policy Agenda: Issues that policy makers consider important.
Agenda-Building Role of PR Professionals
Determines “agenda topics” for influentials and publics we care about. Place our clients in media that our publics read/watch.
4 Step Process for PR Programs
Research in public relations: understanding opinions of key publics.
Planning in public relations: ensuring the effectiveness of the process.
Action and communication: transmitting messages to motivating people to act.
How public relations is evaluated: ways in which practitioners assess outcomes.
PR Research Is…
The systematic way of gathering information to: more precisely describe the problem or opportunity, check out our assumptions on publics and opinions, consider possible barriers and consequences.
Relevant Publics Defined as…
Groups that share a common problem, goal, and/or interest and recognize their common interest.
Ways to Categorize Publics
Demographics or Psychographics
Internal and External Publics
Primary and Secondary
Tips for Researching Your Publics
Avoid the general public.
Define broad categories and then narrow to smaller group.
Set priorities.
Identify gatekeepers (i.e. intervening publics, influentials).
Examine overlaps in publics.
Types of PR Research
Preliminary
Formal and Informal
Primary and Secondary
Quantitative and Qualitative
Preliminary Research
Helps understand the situation. What we already know or can easily figure out.
Formal Research
Structured methodology that is valid, reliable, generalizable and empirical. Methods include: Surveys Content Analysis Experiments Observation
Universe
Population you care about
Respondents
Participants in the study
Data
Inferential or what you can infer from the sample
Informal Research
Not as rigorous as formal research. Gains a solid understanding of problem and publics. Methods include: Check records/files Environmental scanning/monitoring Interview key contacts and content experts Database searches Focus Groups Special Committees
Primary Research
First hand information you collect or commission.
Secondary Research
Research someone else collected or commissioned.
5 Types of Sampling
Simple Random: allows each member of a population an equal chance to be selected.
Systematic: uses a list or directory to select a random sample.
Stratified Random: the population is divided into two groups and samples are drawn from each.
Cluster: groups rather than individuals are selected at random.
Quota: Fixed numbers of individuals are drawn from sub-groups.
Environmental Scanning
A methodology for coping with external competitive, social, economic, and technical issues that may be difficult to observe or diagnose but that cannot be ignored and will not go away; aka knowing what is going on.
PR Audits
A broad-scale study examining the internal and external PR in an organization.
Communication Audits
Research that determines the effectiveness and flow of communication within and organization.
Social Audit
Reviews the organization’s programs in the public interest to gauge social responsibility.
Problem Statement
Describes main difficulties and potential consequences if problem is not solved.
RPIE
The planning communication process of Research, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation. A solid way to make sure your key messages have the greatest opportunities to reach your target audiences.
Strategic Plans
Long-Range. Involves major organizational goals.
Tactical Plans
Short-range, more day-to-day. Might involve products/services or employee recognition.
Single-Use Campaign Plans
Developed for one situation. Product introduction, milestone or recover reputation.
Standing Plans
Standardized. For use in specific situations: employee anniversaries, annual conference, campus convocation. Commonly used for emergencies.
Establish Long-Term Goals
Short, crisp statements of end result. Describe hoped-for outcomes.
Identify Your Publics
Select and understand your target publics. Those whom support or failure depends on. Learn about their perceptions via research. Identify the communication channels they use.
Objectives
Steps to achieve on the way to reaching your goal. Quantifiable end states. Should be about changes in the public’s awareness, attitude or actions.
Objectives should be SMART
Specific Measurable Attainable Related to overall mission and vision Time Bound
Output Objectives
Measures your outreach efforts.
Outcome Objectives
Achieves change in public’s awareness, attitudes or actions. Prove that the campaign moved the needle of public opinion, motivated behavioral change.
Strategies
The approaches to achieve objectives. The intermediate step between objectives and tactics.
Proactive Strategies
Take the initiative and communicate.
Reactive Strategies
Respond to an issue that arises and responds to a competitor’s/opponents actions. Either communicates or stays quiet.
Tactics
Tools and techniques that accompany your strategy and make it work.
Activities
All materials/items involved in each tactic.
Timetable
Determines timeframe for each tactic. Determines time or each segment of tactic.
SWOT
Strengths: attributes of the organization that are helpful in the achievement of the objective.
Weaknesses: attributes of the organization that are harmful in the achievement of the objective.
Opportunities: External condition that are helpful to the achievement of the objective.
Threats: External conditions that are harmful to the achievement of the objective.
Grunig’s Definition of PR
The management of communication between an organization and its publics.
False Light
Law deals when true facts are embellished with falsehoods.
Fair Use
Content used for non-commercial purposes.
Difference between libel and slander?
One is written, one is spoken.
4 Major Categories of Communication Theory
Post-Positivist: Theory based on empirical observation
guided by scientific method.
Hermeneutic: Theory based on understanding,
especially through interpreting action and text.
Critical: Theory seeking emancipation and change in a dominant social order.
Normative: Theory that explains how systems operate in order to conform to or realize a set of ideal social value.
Theoretical Constucts
Concepts in the theory
Operationalization
How the constructs are measured.
Grunig’s 4 Models
One-Way Press/Agentry
One-Way Public Information
Two-Way Asymmetrical
Two-Way Symmetrical
Diffusion Theory 5 Phases
Awareness (through personal experience) Interest (through mass media) Evaluation (through experts and 3rd parties) Trial (through friends and family) Adoption (through sales and advertising)
Summative vs. Formative Evaluations
Summative: Reported at the end of campaign.
Formative: Reported at the middle of the campaign.
PRSA Definition of PR
Public Relations is a strategic communication process that develops and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their key publics.
Fathers of PR
Ivy Lee: Created press conferences, press releases, and crisis communications.
Bernays: Founder of behavioral PR, taught 1st class, wrote 1st book, events.
Differences between marketing and PR?
Marketing: Controlled, Transaction/Consumer Focused
PR: Uncontrolled, Relationship Focused
Things that the best PR campaigns have in common:
Well-Planned Multidimensional Tactics Compelling Storylines Strong Visuals Exquisitely Executed Clear Evaluation and Results
