Annotated Working Draft and Hot Spots in Public Relations

Component Assignments:

1.            Relating to the Public

This post explains that the functions of public relations include building relationships, strategic planning and effective communication. I also show the importance of Kairos, ethos, pathos and logos in crisis communication and creating campaigns targeted towards specific publics.

2.            Storytelling in Public Relations

In this post I use the example of cyanide-laced Tylenol killing several people and how public relations saved Johnson & Johnson’s reputation. This shows how public relations professionals use stories creatively and succinctly to generate ideas and resolutions.

3.            Public Relations within the History of Civilization

Public Relations dates back to ancient rhetoricians. In this post, I briefly outline the stages and development of public relations from ancient times to modern practices involving the convergence of marketing, journalism and advertising.

4.            Institutional Authority and Communication in Public Relations

This is a fictional story about a student who turns to his mentor—a professor at BYU—for ways to continue networking past graduation at BYU. It talks about the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)—one of the key ways to stay connected while working in the field—and some of the resources and opportunities it offers including the PRSA International Conference.

Hot Spots

1. (Field/History) In the past, such as with the example of P.T. Barnum, public relations has had a reputation for using ‘stunts’ to rope people into purchasing or committing to a company in some way. On the contrary, most public relations initiatives today focus on complete transparency as many companies have found that being completely honest with the public fosters better relationships.

2. (Personal) Many times, public relations focuses on money and commercial gain as quantifiable measurements of success in crisis communication and campaign planning. As I want to focus on more non-profit and humanitarian public relations, I want to be able to measure success by people helped and lives changed—raising awareness of positive messages and relationships.

3. (Authority) Sometimes, public relations practitioners are put in a position where their superiors instruct them to build messages based off of dishonest intentions to boost or save a reputation. Employees must strategically make decisions based on their ethical standards and the standing of their careers.