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Communications 349 Section 1 f99 Public Relations Principles MWF l2:30- l:20 SB 202 Fall 99: Section Dr. Robert E. Brown Associate Professor Department of English & Communications Office: Sullivan 200 A (upstairs) Phone:978 542 6955 (Do not call English Department) e: d28man@mindspring.com
Syllabus
Introduction This course covers public relations from the real-world perspective of a veteran public relations "practitioner" -- that is, someone who has been paid for public relations services, knowledge, experience and skills The course encompasses the major dimensions of P.R.: defintions; history and development; organizations (agencies and departments); applications (consumer, media, investor, crisis, international,high tech, health care, higher education, not-for-profit, employee/internal); tools and techniques (press releases, press kits, pitch letters, speakers bureaus, wire services, byliners, trade show support, speech writing, corporate advertorials, press conferences); and debatable issues in PR (ethics, professionalism, licensure, career development).
Learning Objectives
Texts Seitel, F. The Practice of Public Relations. Seventh Edition. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers, 1999
Assignments
Grade Your grade for the course will be based on your grades for projects, tests, completion of homework and in-class exercises, class participation and attendance. Policies and Professional Expectations
About Your Instructor Dr. Robert E. Brown served the public relations departments of three major corporations -- Atlantic Richfield Company (Energy); W.R. Grace (Chemicals); and Coopers and Lybrand (Accounting and Consulting). He was a Senior Account Executive at Bostons largest public relations agency, Newsome and Company, and since l986 has been Senior Editorial Consulting to Sharon Merrill Associates, a financial public relations firm in Boston. Dr. Brown publishes scholarly studies of public relations in a variety of journals, including Business Year Book (l999), The Strategist (l997), Public Relatons Review (l996), World Communication (l993), New, York State Speech Journal (l993) and Social Science Monitor (l990). Dr. Brown s scholarship on P.R. is cited in F. Seitels, The Practice of Public Relations, Fifth Edition, and acknowledged in L. Barton Crisis in Organizations (1992). Dr Brown is a l5-year-member of the New England Publicity Club, where he serves on the Scholarship Committee. His consulting work includes training agency account executives in writing techniques.
Class Schedule (dates to be filled in!) Week 1 Orientation F 9/3 Your syllabus
Week 2 Definitions M 9-6 Labor Day Holiday W 9-8 Definitions Assignment: Based upon your reading of the first two chapters, write your own definition of public relations; give three examples. Readings: Seitel, chapter 1 (What is Public Relations?); chapter 2 (Evolution) F 9-10 Publicity Assignment: Bring to class the Salem Evening News. We will evaluate it in terms of publicity. Find Salem Eve. News on the web, using Northern Light search engine. Readings: Chapter 11 (Publicity and the Media); Chapter 11 (Electronic Media)
Week 3 M 9-13 Assignment: Read through a local daily newspaper, looking for articles based on press releases. Cut one of these articles out and staple it to a sheet that has typed responses to the following: audience(s) or public(s); List the objectives. Explain why you think the article was originally a release. Note: Dont choose the Globe, Herald, U.S.A. oday, New York Times or other major, national newspaper. Instead, choose a local, daily newspaper like the Salem Evening News or Lynn Item. . Dont choose articles that have byline or a wire service article from AP (Associated Press) or Reuters. W 9-15 Publications Assignment: Bring into class an example of a publication used for P.R. purposes. You can choose a newsletter, a brochure, a company magazine, or an annual report. Be prepared to tell the class the name of the organization, the publication’s objectives, the public targeted. Additionally, consider whether you think the publication is effective and, if so, why. Reading: Chapter 14 (Employees)
F 9-17 Corporate Ethics Assignment: Based on the reading, bring to class a list of four critical items that you think should be included in all corporate codes of social responsibility. Be prepared to discuss your list. Assignment #2: One-page assignment:How can the PR department the "conscience" of a company? Reading: Chaper 4 (Ethics). Read the Grace case , p.94 and the CNA case. Read the Barbara Toffler piece, page 97. implem Press Releases and Other P.R. Writingelr Ins Yom Kippur Holiday. No class. t ctor f Reading: Chapter 8 (Public Relations Writing); chapter 9 (Writing for the Ear and Eye); in-class writing workshop, covering press releases.feedback Assignment: Bring into class one press release (to be assigned).onp
public r Research: Step #1 e public 4 Step-Process: #1 Research Reading: Seitel, ch. 5 (Research)r Assignment: Identify three inds of research used in public relations, giving examples of each. elation sThe Individual in Public Relations. We begin a series of discussions on the role of P.R. practitioners and the four-step process used to plan public relations campaigns. Reading: Background reading may include Wilcox, chapter 4 (The Individual in Public Relations. The instructor will provide lecture notes and there may be a guest practitioner. Reading: Seitel: pp. 159-60(What Manner of Man or Woman?) pracExam #1 based on readings and class discussionslafield. I neompani eYou will now begin thinking about putting together a public relations plan that will effectively respond to one of the following problems/ challenges:
(1) Problem Consciousness-raising. Alcohol abuse among college students at Salem State College. The plan you create must be good enough to be presented to ADEPT (Alcohol & Druge Education Prevention & Training) Office. (2) Lighting a Fire. Lagging interest in a major academic subject. Select a department on campus whose enrollees are declining and thus needs to generate more awareness and student number growth. Goal: You would submit and present your plan to the Chair of the academic department you select. (3) Managing Image. A town on the North Shore that needs to improve its image. Or the objective could be for a town to increase tourism. Goal: You would submit and present your plan to the towns Chamber of Commerce. Reading: Seitel, chapter 7 (Management). We are looking at Step #2. Commu Management : Step #2. Discussion of the PR proposal assignment. ities an Step #2 Managementd sAssignment: Bring to class a memo to the Instructor detailing your selection of a topic from the above three. rganizat that management? What role does PR pl Communication: Step #3 aWhat is the Sender-Receiver Model of Communication, and why is it fundamental to the preparation -- and execution -- of an effective public relations plan? Reading: Seitel, chapter 6 (Communication); See also chapter 3 (Public Opinion)y? 10-14 Communication Assignment: Based on the Jack in the Box case (pp. l37-139) type and bring to class answers to the text book questions on page l39. Reading: Chapter 6 (Communication)
Week 8 M 10-18 Evaluation: Step 4. Reading: Class lecture on Evaluation. Supplementary reading includes Wilcox text book, chapter 9 (Evaluation). The text book will be placed on reserve in the library. Basic information for your exam will be provided by instructor. The Wilcox chapter provides help on how you will evaluate your own P.R. plan after it’s implemented. W 10-20 We will examine evaluative criteria from actual public relations reports. Reading: From Research and Evaluation, in Public Relations Review. (To be placed on Reserve in the Library at the Circulation desk F 10- 22 When you draft your PR plan, you will have to include a section of Evaluation Criteria. But how do you write up such criteria when you will never actually implement the plan -- that is, put it into action?
Week 9 M 10- 25 Bring in a complete, typed draft of your a public relations plan. W 10-27 Instructor feedback on the PR plan drafts. F 10-29 Final draft of public relations plan is due. We will discuss the Final Project, due the final week of class. Handout: Final Project: The work of public relations practitioners in a particular field. Includes interview questions.
Week l0 Crises, Companies, Communities and Communication M 11-1 We will look at Crisis Communication. How does an organization manage the inevitble crises it will face. How does the public relations department support that management? What role does PR play? Reading: Chapter 19 (Crisis Management). Supplementary: Barton. Crisis in Organizations. Handout: PR Principles: Crisis Communication. W 11-3 Reading: Chapter l5 (Multicultural Communities). Read the cases, too. Assignment: Bring to class a list of community relations objectives. F 11-5 Discussion of Final Project What field have you chose for your final project? What public relations professional will you be interviewing? Where does this person work? (Your interviewee will be a full-time, paid, public relations practitioner.)
Week 11 Persuasion: Opportunities M 11-8 The audience for public relations -- and all forms of persuasive mass communication -- must never be assumed but analyzed. What is the nature of public relations audiences? What are attitudes? What is persuasion? How does it differ from propaganda? Reading: Seitel, chapter 3 (Public Opinion) W 11-l0 What is Integrated Marketing Communications -- and how does it supplement and compare with P.R? Reading: chapter 13 (Integrated Marketing Communication) Assignment: Bring to class a list of five P.R. opportunities and five I.M.C. opportunities -- all of which support awareness-raising for Salem State College. F 11-l2ws No in-class meeting today. Students may be interviewing P.R. practitioners or completing other parts of their project assignments
Week l2 M 11-15 Instructor provides a review for the Exam on 4-step process. W 11-17 Instructor returns & discusses the Midterm Project (Public Relations Plan) F 11-l9 Exam covering the Four-step process: Research (chapters 3 and 5); Planning (chapter 7); Communication (ch 6) and Evaluation (chapter 7. -- pp.112-115) and instructor’s-class notes from Wilcox, Ault, Agee, chapter 9 on Evaluation)
Week l3 M 11-22 How does the Law affect public relations practices? Reading: Chapter 15 (Public Relations and the Law) W 11-24 Thanksgiving recess. No class.
Week l4 M 11-29 Reading: Chapter 2 (Evolution of Public Relations) W 12-1 Consumers What is consumer activism and how did it affect the practice of public relations? Reading: Chapter 16 (Consumers) F l2- 3 Assignment: Based on your reading of the chapter on consumers and P.R., you will be able to have more insight into consumer-related P.R. problems like the one that faced Calvin Klein (page 382). See if you can locate some CK ads to class -- the ads which caused the roof to fall in on Calvin Klein. Bring the ads to class.
Week l5 P.R. Specialties M 12- 6 What is Public Affairs? What is Government Relations? Reading: Chapter l7 (Government) W l2-8 What is Investor Relations and why is it the highest paid P.R. specialty? How can you develop a career in I.R.? Reading: R. Brown, in Social Science Monitor. Other materials to be placed on reserve at Library Circulation desk.
F l2-10 Careers Wrap Up: Careers and Resumes; Networking; P.R. Organizations
M 12-13 Final Project due in class. No late work accepted. Include a cover sheet with your name, phone number, name of course. Staple and number all pages. You must be in class to hand inthe paper. No late papers will be accepted.
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