Terrorism and public relations
Abstract This paper asks what we can learn from the parallels between terrorism and PR, either for the understanding of terrorism or—of more direct concern here—for the understanding of PR and its place in contemporary society. The already poor public image of PR may suffer from insufficient clarity about these parallels. It is suggested that while analogising between the two is of value, the differences between terrorism and PR also need to be stressed. Public communications need to be differentiated in two ways, firstly in terms of the distinction between spectacular and participatory types of public sphere, and secondly in terms of the distinction between values-based and power-based modes of address. Combining these concepts generates a simple 2×2 matrix for c1assifying public communications. This can help both to identify terrorism and PR as different forms of public communication, and also to identify the practical PR challenges facing governments and civic society in the struggle against terrorism.
Rethinking Public Relations: The Spin and the Substance
1. 'It's a PR job': The argument in overview A small dose of deceit? Benefits and costs Markets, politics and media Reputational matters An alternative? The political economy as context 2. The PR industry from top to bottom The public relations of public relations Advantages for funders and producers Comparisons with advertising and journalism Summary 3. Profession of the decade - Part One: Why so pervasive? Insiders' view PR and accelerated pluralism The promotional mind-set More groups, more PR More business, more PR More markets, more PR Summary 4. Profession of the decade - Part Two: Wht so insistent? PR links to external and internal media and persuasion Celebrity culture The souring of pluralism PR as internal media PR theory and persuasion Summary 5. The balance sheet An anatomy of PR PR benefits The American experience Bernays, Lee and Grunig Further critiques Summary 6. PR as manipulation and propaganda Early PR in the UK PR and manipulation PR and propaganda Response to the propaganda charge Summary Communicative equality and markets Free markets and PR MPR and 'soft' selling Relationships with marketing PR as marketplace information Consumer friend or foe? MPR as noise PR and financial markets Summary 8. PR, electoral politics and lobbying Spin doctors as folk devils Lobbying for advantage The upper class voice Reforming lobbying Summary 9. PR, journalism and the media A love-hate relationship PR-isation of the media
Internal War: Problems and Approaches
Using illustrations from past and current internal wars, thirteen social scientists here apply their many perspectives--derived from the fields of sociology, political science, and economics--to a variety of aspects of internal wars.