Big Ideas On Public Relations (Ch. 12)

1. Ivy Ledbetter Lee/ Edward and Doris Bernays
2. Strategies used by Public Relations Professionals
3. Controversies

Starting in the early 20th century, Ivy Lee was blazing the trail for modern PR professionals. He is widely recognized as being the "Father of the modern public relations industry". Lee was responsible for changing the way public relations was published: Instead of lying to the public or ignoring the publics concerns, Lee believed that businesses should go out of their way to be on the same page as the public and their interests, not the other way around. He also believed that corporations should fit a certain image that PR professionals build for them, in order to appeal to the general public. This tactic has proved effective and works in today's society because most Big corporations rely on their PR representatives to give an image to the public...an image that helps the publics forget about the old white RICH very rich men that are probably the CEO of the corporation who don't really care about anything but getting money, kind of like the Vanderbilts and Rockefellers of our time.

Likewise, Edward and Doris Bernays made strides in the PR Industry because they opened the communication between their clients and the public. They were the one's to coin the term "public relations counsel" and start the first PR course at NYU in 1923.

The strategies used by PR professionals include: News Management, Community Relations, Crisis Management, and Lobbying. These strategies are in connection with the controversies and criticism of their work. One of the controversy is centered on the practice of "spinning" a story. The definition varies between public relation professionals, who say its telling a story by putting the best possible face to the facts, and critics, who say that its a form of lying.

So as conclusion, after reading this chapter I found that I had no questions about the PR profession and its future in society. People will ALWAYS need public relations because businesses, corporations, individuals always want to be liked by the public. The only difference is how that message is projected, and as technology improves so will PR.