INTRODUCTION TO PUBLIC RELATIONS

(until oct 18th)

(oct 11th group presentations)

Communication moves the world, when we communicate we tell stories. Thanks to this we
have changes in our world (revolutions, social media, etc). Telling stories and giving
information can engage, restore confidence and manage reputation.

From a common sense perspective, communication is important because it helps us

relationate with others. It helps us organizate everything inside our society, it covers different
institutions and companies.

Public relations is a very powerful source. A good communicator is someone who puts all
their abilities, virtues and opportunities as intelligent and honest experts at the service of
others.

What public relations is about and why it matters

What the “social license to operate” and the “legitimacy gap” means
Analyze a recent example of what pr is (when compared to advertising and marketing)

LESSON 1
What is Public Relations?
It is about an organization’s story and it has to do with transparency. Getting media attention
(events-stunts), as a part of marketing strategy is also part of it. Creating long-lasting
relationships with the public, in-house departments (internal and external). Also, it deals with
the relationship with real people (stakeholders). This involves social/or not media, and is a
mix between making/being news. Public relations is a good opportunity to affect attitudes
and change perceptions/behaviors. PR changes the way people think about issues, but not
only that, it also changes the thoughts about companies and people too. It is more than
publicity, this is not advertisement. Publicity is the unpaid dissemination.

It is not about journalism, spin (manipulation, lying, discrediting competitors), public

diplomacy, propaganda, or about casual/spontaneous conversation (planning). It isn’t about
blasting press releases either. The only component of “image” isn’t the reputation.

Theoretical context for the practice of PR: The classical assumption of mass media theory,
mass media shaped public opinion. But why? Mass media became mediators and
spokespeople for institutions. But they wanted to improve their sales, and when they
communicated to get this they used advertising. Institutions communicated only for
commercial interests. Here we see that the media is taken as an instrument of power and
dominance.
However, we have the right to freedom of speech and expression as well as the right to be
informed (to access information). Thomas Jefferson said that “error of opinion may be
tolerated when reason is left free to combat it”. Although we live in a democratic country and
have these rights, the conclusion is that information should not be the exclusive domain of
the media and institutions are also entitled to send out information.
Communication is a strategy for:
1. Contribution to free and democratic flow of ideas (social role)
2. Differentiation/competitiveness: communication is a huge point to differentiate
companies and to create competition
3. Public acceptance: survival (social license to operate)

Normally companies are aware that they need a legal or regulatory license to operate in the
market but in this context it is a license that the public offers. Anyone running a company is
aware of the social license that is required to operate in a market, to become a legitimate
organization. The ongoing recognition and acceptance of a company or industry’s standard
business practices and operating procedures by its employees, stakeholders and the
general public. Nowadays there is important public pressure that affects the company, which
creates a lot of competition to continue operating. Many communication strategies are now
using the social license to get acceptance. The reputation must be accepted by more than
the local community.

The social license to operate is created with trust, credibility and legitimacy. Trust is
important because it is a high quality when talking about a relationship, is the willingness to
be vulnerable to a person, in this case to a company. You are legitime when you follow the
rules. Credibility is the capacity to provide true and real information to the company. These
three points are the base for creating any good company.

The atom of Public Relations: It builds and sustains the relationships we need to keep our
license to operate. Relationships are the nucleus of PR, and around it we have
communication, good behavior and understanding. Together understanding, communication
and good behavior sustain the relationships organizations need to keep their license to
operate. This is the reason why manipulation doesn’t fit in companies.

In order to keep your social role, firstly you should do something good/right to society. Then
you communicate what you did. This starts by communication on a regular basis. With this,
they show their true identity and prove it to the public.

The legitimacy gap: “difference between an institution’s performance and a society’s

expectations for right and proper performance”. This gap can become a crisis in a matter of
seconds. In consequence you can lose your social role. That’s why you should build
strategic communication, to maintain and strengthen relationships.

“Strategy without tactics is the slowest route to victory. Tactics without strategy is the noise
before defeat”.

LESSON 2
What is a communication plan?
Definition: The formulation and implementation of an organization’s communication strategy
in several steps. There are three reasons why a communication plan is strategic:
1. There is a scientific plan behind that formulation and implementation. The plan is
going to be scientifically managed. It is not spontaneous. It is going to include a set of
fundamentals that are going to guide the whole communication plan.
 2. It includes objectives as measurable and precise as possible, it needs to be crystal
clear.
3. It is going to be linked and connected to the overall organization’s strategy. That
means that our communication plan has to respect the vision, values and purpose of
our organization.
It is dependent on the whole organization strategy. The important things are intangible
assets. Relationships with stakeholders and hoping to build a strong reputation.
“A communication strategy involves the formulation and implementation of a desired position
for the organization in terms of how it wants to be seen by its different stakeholder groups”.

Four steps of the communication plan:

1. Research and problem statement: is going to answer the question of what’s
happening, and the problem/opportunity that the organization is facing?
2. Planning and programming: if there is something that we don’t like we should change
it, and that is going to be the question we need to answer.
3. Implementation or communication: what should we do and say? who? when? where?
and how?
4. Evaluation: we need to know how are we doing or how did we do

Although this is a communication plan, the only step where we can find proper
communication is in the third step. Therefore, communicating is very important, but
researching, planning, and programming is very important before communicating. And
evaluating is important after communication.

Step 1: it has two different parts

- Situation analysis: collection of all the background information needed to illustrate the
meaning of a problem (history, forces operating on it, people involved…), know as
much as you can.
- Problem statement: a final concise description of the situation, often written in a
sentence. Describe the most important part of the problem.
Research here is very important, because without researching a problem situation,
practitioners run the risk of acting like the six bling men from Indostan. But, what is research
in PR? Research is the systematic gathering of information to describe and understand
situations and to check out assumptions about public and PR consequences.
Types of research (depending on two purposes):
- Formative: to lay a foundation or to inform a plan (prior to the plan)
- Evaluative: to determine/evaluate whether tactics meet (or met) objectives (during
or/and after the plan)

Step 2: practitioners must determine what goal is desired, either to mitigate the problem or to
capitalize on the opportunity, and then devise a strategy for achieving that goal. Elements:
- Goal(s) setting
- Planning: strategies, key publics (or stakeholders), and tactics
What is a stakeholder? Any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the
achievement of the organization's objectives. For example: employees, shareholders and
investors, suppliers, consumers, traditional and social media, regulators, activists,
volunteers, local communities, governmental bodies…
Step 3: taking action and communicating
- Implementation is the coordinated execution of both strategies and their tactics.
- Message content, selection of delivery channels and dissemination, schedule..
Tools or tactics used in a communication plan:
1. Press releases - press conferences - feature writing (media relations), and publicity
2. Brochures and other printed material
3. Websites and blogs (social media), “community manager”
4. Advocacy advertising and issues management
5. Storytelling
6. Event planning and conferences
7. Activism
8. Media training (when you prepare people in order to face journalists)
9. Public information and awareness campaigns
10. Lobbying
11. Fundraising
Remember, communication and actions are not the ends, but only the means to ends

Step 4: evaluation is not simply a postmortem exercise but an ongoing process and a means
for managing continual improvement in PR. You will use this information to start over again
with your communication strategy.

If you really want something to happen you need a strategy, that’s why the preparation is key
because hope is not a strategy. A cyclical process of the steps: you need to understand why
it succeeded or not.

Analyzing a historical situation

“The 20th century was the century of propaganda” by Jürgen Wilke
The Persian Gulf War (1990-1991) was unique in American history. Why?
1. First “real-time” war
2. Not an American war
3. Motivated by economic and political interests, but not by military threat against the
United States
4. Unevenly matched contenders
5. A unique rhetorical challenge to Bush and his Administration, American politicians
and the military after Vietnam

The four steps of a communication plan are divided into formative research and evaluative
research. The first two are the formative ones and the evaluative are the last two steps.
When selling a war the communication plan changes because there’s a critical analysis.
1. Research and problem statement: it is a formative type of research (prior to the plan
to lay a foundation): *focus groups* (conducted by the Wirthlin group)... After the
research analysis, the findings for example are the Vietnam precedent and the public
ignorance about Kuwait. As for the problem statement, it is a negative PO (public
opinion) of the prospect of a war (plenty of time to gather the information).
2. Planning: the goal or aim: altering public opinion perception of a military invasion,
raising awareness and popular support for a hypothetical American military
intervention. The strategies have to be informative (information about Kuwait, they
put the country on the map), and need to have an emotional approach(patriotism,
 vilification of Iraq, Saddam as an unscrupulous dictator). Publics and stakeholders
are also quite important, such us the media, politicians and American citizens,
international community, etc. The tactics can be fundraising stands, events, rallies,
etc. As well as information material for the media (daily newscast, video releases and
soundbites) and media relations, media training and image improvement (for Kuwait’s
ambassador), and meetings with politicians. Storytelling (Nayirah’s testimony,
narratives good vs. evil) and the third party endorsement are tactics too.
3. Implementation: there’s a first state with the information campaign (citizens for a free
kuwait and hill and knowlton)
a. For citizens: socio-cultural messages (conferences, events, fundraising…)
b. For the media: background informations
c. For politicians: public affairs
The second stage is the disinformation campaign, as for example citizens for a free
Kuwait. In this case, Hill and Knowlton make up an emotional (newsworthy) event
that builds political and social consensus: Nayirah’s testimony. Its result is a massive
media coverage, with international military intervention (UN).
4. Evaluation: we need to know if it is a successful strategy and tactics. For example,
Americans are in favor of American military intervention in the Persian Gulf; from
37% in November to 84% in january. There’s two types of research, apart from the
first one, we have an evaluative research that is made during and after the plan.
They did daily tracking surveys and biweekly surveys to check the objective of the
overall campaign was achieved.

Misinformation vs Disinformation:
- Misinformation: “false information that is spread, regardless of intent to mislead”, it is
simply a term for any kind of wrong or false information, but doesn’t care about intent.
- Disinformation: “false information disseminated in a hostile act of tactical political (or
any other type of ) subversion”, deliberately misleading or biased information;
manipulated narrative or facts to deceive and misguide people.
The main difference between these two is what you intend to do. For example, propaganda
can be disinformation, because only disinformation is wrong on purpose to hurt or dama.
The use of misinformation is when you don’t know for certain why someone is spreading bad
or wrong information.

Richard Edelman said that public relations is more than a set of tactics and tools, it is a
mindset. He is trying to say that it is about having a strategic mind, about understanding
what is behind.

exam: name 5 leading public relations consultancies

The third party endorsement: the creation of an association that apparently has nothing to do
with the parties involved in a conflict. It is this third party who asks for involvement or else
defends a position without apparently not being involved. The results are getting more
credibility and more empathy. Some related terms:
- Astroturfing: is a type of initiative that seeks to gain entry into popular culture under
the guise of appearing to be a spontaneous movement. However, it is usually
orchestrated by traditional power structures. The goal is that in the absence of
 widespread support for a position, some unseen entity manufactures the appearance
of it.
- Grassroots: a grassroots movement is one driven by the politics of a community or by
a local community (operating at the grass roots). For example, the BLM movement
and the Yellow vests in France, or the #Metoo movement in 2020. These movements
became stronger with the use of social media. All these grassroots movements have
in common that it involves recruiting, training and mobilizing people to raise
awareness and advocate for positive change as a response to:
a) perceived social injustice
b) environmental degradation
c) economic inequity
Also, they share some features where they are all natural and spontaneous
movements. Moreover, they have scarce resources, not only economic ones but also
human resources. They are self-organized local-level movements and are quite
powerful (potentially).
But the problem with astroturfing is that you aren’t aware that new movements are created,
and you need to know what type of movement is being created. For example, in 2013
Samsung hired the services of the commentators in Taiwan, it was something local. After a
couple of months they realized that it was a third party endorsement.

Public Relations in-house

What is an in-house PR department? A public relation unit that functions as a part of an
organization and is not independent. Providing this definition, when a company says they
handle PR “in-house” it means they have (at least) one PR practitioner on staff. When we
think about a communication department we have different roles:
a. Managing website, blogs and social media
b. Organizing events
c. Overseeing media relations
d. Public speaking
e. Safeguarding corporate reputation
f. Handling crisis communication
g. Creating and implementing an annual communication plan
h. Overseeing internal communication
i. Coordinating marketing materials (sometimes)
As we see it, communication and marketing need to work together all the time. In summary,
there are two basic rules that a department is going to cover, these are the external (external
of your organization) and internal communication (inside stakeholders, the ones inside of
your company).

What media relations is about: is a specialty of PR that builds and sustains positive
relationships with media gatekeepers. Its goal is to communicate a newsworthy message,
and this is crucial. An effective media relations program means that you work with and not
against journalists, as a source of information. The basic tools are:
- Press release: written or recorded communication directed at members of news
media for the purpose of announcing something newsworthy
- Press/news conference: an organized meeting for the purpose of officially distributing
information to the media and answering questions from reporters. Rueda: press
 conference organized by anybody. Conferencia: organized by the Chief of State or
Government.
Usually a media relation program is prepared to create publicity.

What is publicity: it is the (unpaid) dissemination of facts/ideas/news about a product,

service, brand or person in various media. Some features of publicity:
- Uncontrolled method of placing messages in the media
- Generally short-term focused
- Negative as well as positive
- High news value
When you compare publicity and advertising, we find some advantages:
- More credible than advertising, endorsed by the medium in which it appears
- Cheaper than advertising, even though it isn’t free (human resources behind)
Vehicles:
- News releases
- Press conferences
- Special events and stunts
- Captioned photos
- Feature articles
- Social media

Public Relations industry. Consultancies

What is a PR consultancy/firm/agency?
It is a company that works for a number of clients often across different sectors offering
diverse communication services. A strategic partner who helps clients/businesses
successfully bridge the gap between them and their publics and protect or build reputation,
they have a lot of expertise and know how to handle companies. There are different roles
that a PR consultancy can cover:
- Editorial content and Media Relations (from press releases to public speeches)
- Research methodologies: anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion
- Communication plan/programs
- Public Affairs; influencing public policies
- Organizing special events
- Handling Social Media
- Managing Crisis

Advantages in-house:
- Loyalty of professionals
- High motivation (company's success)
- Saves time
- Access to historical confidential information about a company

Advantages PR consultancies:
- Knowledge of industry: expertise
- Maximize knowledge and minimize budget criteria/risks
- Stronger list of contacts
- Wider range of skills
Disadvantages PR in-house:
- Less people doing all the work
- Fewer contacts
- Less creativity (less people)
- Lack of impartiality (in favor of insiders, they give a blind eye and deaf ear to
outsiders)

Disadvantages PR consultancies:
- Price: it can be costly to obtain public relation services
- They might require more time to understand problems (and they charge clients
according to their time worked)

LESSON 3:
Propaganda
For example, “Help Catalonia”
- Sender (official): Òminium Cultura, released on october 17th, 2017)
Òminium Cultural has worked for over fifty years as a civil society agency to promote the
Catalan language and culture and also to disseminate Catalonia’s will for freedom. Its goals,
in recent years one of their aims, has been to assist Catalonia in its quest to become a new
independent state. The contents:
- Compelling narrative: the video tells a good and current story. The video denounces
the Spanish Government for attacking Cataln “human rights”.
- The video takes you on an emotional roller-coaster, it portrays Catalonia in almost a
state of war (repression, anguish, violence)
- Mobilization (to put in a state of readiness for active service, to motivate people to do
something about something)
Publics are the international community, such as opinion leaders (European citizens,
politicians, EU officials, European media…) and public opinion (mainly young people, willing
to sign a petition and put pressure on the Spanish Government).

*teacher’s opinion*
- Strong in moralizing, zero analysis or context (objective facts), an elaborate (hidden)
agenda underneath
- Simple language, fast images and audio (not much time to think)
- Simplification of a complex problem
- There is an enemy: Spanish State
- Appearance of journalistic reporting
- We are told one side of the story, one point of view (partiality)
- Use of storytelling
- Emotional appeals, “universal human rights under attack”
- Sense of urgency
- Once emotions have been stirred, agenda is defined: call to action

“Nothing is so stupid as to conquer; true glory lies in convincing”

exam: she’s not going to ask about the definition of propaganda, but we need to
identify it
Propaganda, nowadays, has become an accepted part of all communication studies. Is a
revival of interest in the important role of propaganda in different areas. Everybody is aware
that nowadays propaganda is everywhere in our society. However, particularly in Spanish
there is an inappropriate (ab)use of the term, because propaganda does not sell products, it
is related to ideologies. It is a controversial subject, because the essence of propaganda is
about changing people’s minds and adapting different opinions. Propaganda needs to be
seen as a neutral technique; which only in its specific application becomes “good” of “bad”.
Depending on how you spread the news, is where the good or bad are going to be
highlighted. The origins of the term became with Pope Gregory in 1622, XV. Its aim and
purpose is to control (deliberate attempt to alter or maintain an established balance of power
that is advantageous to the propagandist) and the very essence is to achieve the
acceptance of the propagandist’s ideology by the people to reinforce or modify attitudes,
behaviors, or both.
Different definitions of propaganda:
- Harold Lasswell (1927): Propaganda is the expression of opinions or actions carried
out deliberately by individuals or groups with a view to influence the opinions or
actions of other individuals or groups for predetermined ends through psychological
manipulations.
- Joseph Goebbles (1897-1945): “a carefully planned set of statements, which whether
true or false, can be made to undermine held ideas and to construct new ones that
will take their place”, “it would not be impossible to prove with sufficient repetition and
a psychological understanding of the people concerned that a square is in fact a
circle. They are mere words, and words can be molded until they clothe ideas in
disguise", “The best propaganda is that which works invisibly, penetrates the whole
life without the public having any knowledge of it”. Propaganda works best when
those who are being manipulated are confident they are acting on their own free will.
- Leonard Dood (1948): The attempt to affect the personalities and to control the
behavior of individuals towards ends considered unscientific or of doubtful value in a
society at a particular time.

In this course, we understand propaganda as the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape

perceptions (sometimes manipulate cognitions) and direct behavior to achieve a response
that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist.

Propaganda is going to be a one-way communication model, transmitting a particular

message to a direct receiver from the sender. The contents are opinion, symbols, ideas,
selected metaphors/images and emotions to enlist public support for the propagandist’s
opinion. It is always persuasive, and sometimes psychologically manipulative. Fields of
operation? Propaganda is ideological and persuasive communication, motivated by an
individual or group, to spread an ideology in order to win over followers/converts.

Propaganda uses informative communication, but the purpose exceeds the notion of mutual
understanding. Because when we communicate we have a specific purpose. In the case of
propaganda, we want to promote a partisan or competitive cause in the best interest of the
propagandist, but not necessarily in the best interest of the recipient.

The idea of communication is a continuum that flows through different stages and between
two extremes. This concept allows for diverse communication practices, and emphasizes
major concerns of communication. It also is a way of enhancing responsible communication
practices. There are some stages of the communication continuum:
- Dialogue: It is the perfect communication situation, because we find a balance
between the sender and the receiver. A dialogue is a space of civility and equality in
which two who might differ listen and speak together. In a dialogue, both sides are
active all the time, because they are exchanging information. Dialogue has always
been used to pursue justice, truth...
- Education: at this second stage, the sender is trying to remediate the ignorance of
the receiver. Then, the receiver is expected to build its own criteria based on what the
sender has sent.
- Persuasion: here, the sender is going to work on either the ignorance, the passion of
neutralism of their receiver. In addition to this, the sender tries to make their recipient
their own criteria to judge reality. Persuasive speech:
- it distinguishes between premises and conclusions
- it does not use emotional appeals
- it uses clear and specific language
- it uses contrasted and reliable sources
- it does not use personal attacks as a way to discredit
- Manipulation: it is similar to persuasion, but in manipulation the information
relationship is completely imbalanced, and this imbalance is filled with lies. The
sender is not going to respect the intellectual criteria of the receptionist. The latter is
not going to be able to build his or her own criteria to judge really and he is not going
to be aware of the fact that he is being manipulated. Contents: injustice… The sender
has an objective and that is all that matters. Features of manipulative speech:
- the use of stereotypes (german woman)
- change in names and words to achieve a stronger impact or disguise the true
nature of what is being described
- selection of facts or ideas to insist only on those which benefit the sender
- categorical claims from one point of view
- use of lies
- an enemy to blame for all the bad things happening (in this case, the enemy
is Germany and all of the axis powers, but also (and especially) hitler. This
can be specially seen in the first two shorts, where hitler is seen as a scary
and bad leader who controls the Germans (they have to salute him every time
they see a picture of him, he recluts people even if they don’t want to fight,
etc.)
- Imposition: At this stage, no communication takes place, because the message is
imposed. The communication between the sender and the recipient is broken.
Blackmail and violence are some examples.
Once you get to the imposition step, you have no room for communication. We need to find
a balance between the sender and the receiver. When you cross the limit and start using
features of manipulative speech, the problem starts.

There are three typologies according to propaganda. Each of them is going to be related to
one criteria:
1. Source acknowledgement and accuracy (Jowett and O’Donnell): do we know for sure
who is talking? and the content (true or false)?
 a. White propaganda: is going to come from an identified source, and the
information in the message tends to be accurate.
b. Black propaganda: is also known as the “Big lie”, and is only successful at
times when the power isn’t democracy. The source is concealed or credited to
a false authority and spreads lies, fabrications and deceptions.
c. Gray propaganda: as the name suggests, is a mix between white and black
propaganda. The source may be identified, but the accuracy of information is
uncertain. Or also, the source may not be correctly identified and the
accuracy of information is correct.
d. Subpropaganda: the propagandist's task is to spread an unfamiliar doctrine
through different stimuli (others…) and eventually have it accepted. When you
use others in order to spread your message, you are using subpropaganda.
The third part of party endorsement can be considered subpropaganda (if it's
related to spreading an ideology).
2. Object (Sotelo): according to Sotelo, in order of the object we have different types of
propaganda:
a. Political propaganda: aimed at spreading information about those who are in
power or want to be in power.
b. Ideological propaganda: planned to spread an ideology or win over
followers/converts to the propagandist's ideology.
c. War propaganda: is also known as psychological warfare, it includes all the
informative actions made by the Estate to promote patriotism or hate (of
enemies) among soldiers and public opinion. Following the typology, it is
political propaganda and ideological propaganda.
d. Commercial propaganda: when the sender wants to promote the acquisition
or purchase of a good or service. This is not propaganda, because
propaganda does not promote tangible products.
3. Purpose (Jacques Ellul):
a. Agitative propaganda: it introduces unconventional and ground-braking
values/ideas usually against the current standards of society. It is usually
used in order to promote a revolution.
b. Integrative propaganda: we find it after a revolution or after a war. Attempts to
maintain the legitimacy of the institution it represents and thereby to ensure
the legitimacy of its activities. It attracts persuaders to a common set of
beliefs.

Conclusion:
- Origins and definition of the term, examples, nature and typologies
- The important thing is not defining, but rather identifying propaganda
- Although we cannot say that propaganda is bad from an academic perspective, we
must admit that it has a negative connotation outside. Spanish-speaking countries.
But propaganda becomes positive or negative in its specific application.
- Understand propaganda as a precedent of public relations, from a historical point of
view.
- Characteristics:
- One way communication model
- Aim: to maintain or alter the balance of power
 - It mobilizes/seeks a response: changes, reinforces, or modifies
attitudes/behaviors
- One side of the story: partiality
- It exceeds the notion of mutual understanding between the sender and the
receiver.
- It disseminates biased ideas (ideologies) to further the desire intent of the
propagandist:
- When there is “voluntary acceptance” (attempts to satisfy the needs of
both persuader and persuade): persuasion
- When there is “involuntary acceptance” (purpose is to achieve
acceptance of an ideology in the best interest of the propagandist, but
not necessarily in the best interest of the recipient): manipulation

LESSON 4
The concept of public relations struggled a lot, it began in the US at the beginning of the
XXth century. But this struggle nowadays is still active, because many people think that PR
is related to propaganda and advertising. “The essence of PR is not the presentation of a
point of view, not the art of tempering mental attitudes, nor the development of cordial and
profitable relations… but to reconcile or adjust in the public interest those aspects of our
personal and corporate behavior which have a social significance” Said by Harwood L.
Childs. If we take a historical perspective, we can find two aspects related to PR (not
synonyms):
- Publicity: it is the (unpaid) dissemination of facts, ideas, news about a product,
service brand or person in various media.
- Press agentry: it is the practice of attracting the attention of the media through
techniques that manufacture news, no matter how bizarre, in order to get public
notice. It has some methods that the press agentry uses (staged events or publicity
stunts, faux rallies or gatherings, spinning, and hype). From an historical perspective,
it was a common practice in the late 18090s and early 1900s in the US. That is the
reason why it is also considered publicity. It cannot be considered public relations.
Rather, it is a practice primarily associated today with major entertainment-related
events, such as Hollywood premieres and boxing events. The main goal of press
agentry is to attract attention rather than gain understanding.

The origin of the term came with Edward L. Bernays (1923). Its context is the right to
freedom of speech and expression, the right to be informed (to access information) and
political equality. With these three points, we get shared sovereignty.

The public sphere: “An abstract area in social life where individuals come together to freely
discuss and identify societal problems, and through that discussion influence political action”
said by Hauser, in 1988. There is going to be a deliberated exchange between the company
or institution and its stakeholders. In the short term, the purpose of that information
exchange is demanding the active participation of the recipient. The final goal of public
relations, the activines is getting to a mutual understanding between both parties. In the long
term, you think about strengthening social relations. This means that, we are going to
respect the intellectual freedom of the recipient, that person is going to be able to build their
own intellect and the communication continues. When we say that the recipient's intellectual
freedom is going to be respected, that intellectual is going to change the way we think inside
the institution.

…
There are different levels:
- System: a consistent totality (an organization)
- Suprasystem: the system’s environment/context (society)
- Subsystem: a system’s component (department or unit of an organization)
We are like systems, and there is a system theory (closed systems - open systems):
1. Livins systems engage in exchanges with their environments producing changes in
both (the systems and their environment)
2. Systems can be classified in terms of nature and amount of interchange with their
environments

A system is a set of interacting units (parts or subsystems) that endures through time within
an established boundary by responding and adjusting to change pressures from the
environment to achieve and maintain goal states. Each subsystem affects the other
subsystem, if something happens inside subsystems it has consequences on the others.
1. Closed systems have impermeable boundaries: they cannot exchange matter,
energy, or information with their environments
2. Open systems exchange inputs and outputs through boundaries that are permeable:
they are responsible for environmental changes, their survival and growth depend on
interchange with its environmental variations.

To prosper and endure as an organization, you must:

1. Accept the public responsibility imposed by an increasingly interdependent society
(public sphere). Is not about looking great, but about accepting responsibility.
2. Communicate, despite multiplying barriers with publics that are often distant and
diverse. You are an open system and your boundaries are permeable, that means
you have to communicate with your stakeholders.
3. Achieve integration into the communities that they were created to serve. You also
have to achieve integration to your local community, you have to interact with them
because you all are interdependent.
All this is achieved with public relations. PR’s essential role or ecological role is to help
organizations adjust and adapt to changes in their environments. But what is the ecological
role in public relations? We need to explain the whole thing. If you want to survive you have
to adapt to changes in the environment.

There are some activities (especialites) that help public relations:

- Media relations: “a specialty of public relations that builds and sustains positive
relationships with media gatekeepers”. There are some basic tools:
- Press releases
- Press conferences
- Employee or internal communication: “internal relations is the specialized part of
corporate public relations that builds and maintains a mutually beneficial relationship
between managers and the employees on whom an organization’s success
depends”.
 - Public affairs: the future of public relations is inside public affairs. It “is the specialized
part of public relations that builds and maintains organizational relationships with
governmental agencies and community stakeholder groups to influence public
policy”.
- Lobbying: “it is the specialized part of public relations, and public affairs, that builds
and maintains relations with government and political actors, primarily to influence
legislation”.
- Crisis management: “it is the public relations specialty that helps organizations
strategically respond to negative situations and to dialogue with stakeholders
affected by perceived and actual consequences of crises”.
- Investor relations: “it is the specialized part of corporate public relations that builds
and maintains mutually beneficial relationships with shareholders and others in the
financial community to maximize market value”.
- Development/Non-profit: “it is the specialex part of public relations in nonprofit
organizations that builds and maintains relationships with donors, volunteers, and
members to secure financial and volunteer support”.

What people think we do: media relations. But what we really do: internal communication,
events, social media, marketing, crisis communication, reputation management, investor
relationships, etc. and a lot more.

Definition: “pr is the management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial
relationships between an organization and the public on whom its success or failure
depends”.

When we talk about corporations we mean a structured human organization (company,

business, public or private firm) that is formed for a particular purpose within a given
community to which they provide cohesion and paradigm”. A corporate communication is a
management function that offers a framework for the effective coordination of all internal and
external communication with the overall purpose of establishing and maintaining favorable
reputations with stakeholder groups upon which the organization is dependent.

In order to survive, any group or individual who can affect or is affected by the achievement
of the organization’s objectives. Those groups without whose support the organization would
cease to exist. These may include:
- Customers/consumers
- Employees
- Shareholders and investors
- Suppliers
- Political action groups
- Environmental or activist groups
- Volunteers
- Local communities
- Civic and business organizations
- Traditional and social media
- Financial institutions or groups
- Regulators or governmental bodies… and more
A corporate identity is the sum of all factors that define and project what an organization
really is and where it is going. The component of corporate identity emerges from:
- The organization’s core mission and strategic vision. Nowadays companies use the
word “purpose” instead of “mission”.
- The corporate culture. Its values
- The organization’s communication. It is going to be the vehicle to spread all of those
above.

A tool to manage identity: advertisement or public communication that attempts to influence

public opinion on specific political, economic or social issues. There is no product or service
in play but a cause/issue at the center of the ad. That is why this type of advertising is also
called “issue advertising”. It supports a particular cause, point of view or a matter of public
importance or interest.

Corporate image is the immediate mental picture that audiences have of an organization. It
is very important to understand how you build that picture, of that person or company. The
institutional image formation process:
1. Institutional members decide an organization's identity.
2. Identity is spread through communication policies (or tools such as advocacy or
issues advertising).
3. As a result of many communication impacts, an idea about the organization as a
whole exists in the minds of its audiences/publics.

Corporate advertising: advertising by an organization where the company, rather than its
products or services, is emphasized.
Corporate reputation: an individual’s collective representation of past images of an
organization (induced through either communication or past experiences) established over
time. A corporation critically depends on its reputation.

As a summary, corporate communication needs to link corporate identity (what the institution
really is) and its image (picture of the institution that is presented to external stakeholders).
And the final result is coherence between expressed identity and perceived image. But
image is not identity, the first is just a consequence of the latter and of how it is
communicated. Corporate reputation does not belong to the company, but it is still an
intangible asset that should be managed.

To conclude, public relations is about relationship building and reputation management. It

must create value for the organization. Reputation is a long-term indicator of
communicaiton’s value creation. It includes deliberate efforts to formally communicate (a
two-way communication model). It is the voice that corporations and institutions use to
interact with the outside world and includes many activities. It happens when an organization
needs to communicate a message to inform and/or persuade public opinion, consumers,
media, investors, and other stakeholders.