Cook 1 Brandon Cook Professor Malcolm Campbell English 1103 16 February, 2016 Topic Proposal: PR, Propaganda’s Facelift ' Introduction/Overview TLeBale he wanted © Meer pect : Twill be examining the field of Public Relations and the use of propaganda. Meriam- - Webster defines public relations as “the business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm, or institution’ but its much more than that. It is also -used to sell products, change culture, and influence the population’s opinion towards something, whether it be good or bad. Edward Bernays, one of the founders of modern public relations, often refers to public relations as propaganda throughout his book, Crystallizing Public Opinion. In public relations, any and all forms of communication are used to achieve their aim; and our society is more connected to media than ever before, soit is important to call into light these ‘mediums of communication and the regulation thereof. The media has been slowly consolidated ‘over the years into the control of just a handful of powerful corporations with interest that touch on almost every aspect of life. One might say there could be a “conflict of interest” when it ‘comes to providing the public with information of any kind, Also, regulations governing media have been weakened or removed. Noam Chomsky talks about this quite a bit in his book ° Manufacturing Consent. Some say that the media is influenced by the public, almost as if't is a mirror for society. Others believe that the media molds public opinion, and that society is greatly influenced by it. Those that say the media is the product of the people tend to call for theCook 2 deregulation of the industry; those that believe the public is susceptible to influence from the media generally call for much greater regulation of the industry. Initial Inquiry Question(s) ‘What regulations governing the media are currently in place? How have the regulations changed over the years? What new regulations should be added, if any? My Interest in this Topic am interested in public relations/propaganda for the same reason I’m interested in psychology and sociology, human beings are infinitely complex and fascinating to me. Tlove to people watch and observe human interaction, it helps me to learn more about myself. Learning more about oneself also makes it easier to understand others. If you know why you feel how you feel, or why you do what you do, it is easier to understand the actions or reactions of others. I am interested in this topic because I am extremely concerned about the direction society seems to be moving in, and I believe the media, whether directly or indirectly, and whether intentionally or unintentionally, is the driving force behind it. Next Steps have several books that I plan on using as I continue my research. I am already reading Crystallizing Public Opinion by Edward Bernays, and Manufacturing Consent by Edward Herman and Noam Chomsky. I also have several other books such as Public Opinion by Walter, Lippmann, Public Relations by Edward Bernays, Media Control by Noam Chomsky, and Propaganda by Edward Bernays. I will also be researching the laws regulating media and any