Public Relations Department Research Articles

Una aproximación a la gestión de la comunicación en los museos: Cambios y tendencias en el cambio de siglo

La presente investigación tiene como objeto el estudio y análisis de las relaciones y la comunicación que desarrollan los museos con sus públicos, y que se gestiona desde el departamento comunicación y relaciones públicas. A través del conocimiento y análisis de este departamento y sus funciones, se busca profundizar en la propia gestión, sus objetivos y estrategias. La base teórica de la investigación la constituye la obra de J. Grunig y T. Hunt (1984 y posteriores) donde se establecen las pautas para realizar una auditoria a la actividad de relaciones públicas, en función de sus modelos. Por esta razón, la hipótesis principal de la investigación utiliza como base teórica esta teoría: los museos gestionan su comunicación siguiendo el modelo de relaciones públicas de información pública, cuyo objetivo es difundir la información, sin otro objetivo persuasivo o de comprensión mutua. La entrevista en profundidad, la observación directa y el análisis de contenido fueron las técnicas de investigación seleccionadas para el estudio. Bajo la hipótesis de que los museos aplican un modelo de relaciones públicas cuyo objetivo es difundir la información, sin investigación previa y sin otro objetivo persuasivo, se desarrolló esta investigación, de la que se muestran los primeros resultados de manera general.

Beyond preformulation: an ethnographic perspective on press releases

It has been shown that press releases are heavily preformulated, that is to say, they exhibit a number of metapragmatic features that make it easy for journalists to copy them in their own news reporting. The present article sets out to further explore this notion of preformulation by presenting ethnography-based work on how press releases are being written at the public relations (PR) department of a major Belgian bank. In particular, zooming in on the complex story of the bank's sponsoring involvement in an educational website, we will demonstrate how our fieldwork serves to foreground some of the practical as well as political concerns that have been glossed over in previous discourse-analytic and (semi-)experimental writing on the topic.

Un-presidented: a qualitative framing analysis of the NAACP's public relations response to the 2000 presidential election

The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) has a 100-year history of mobilizing minority voters. Millions responded to the NAACP's multi-million dollar publicity campaign in the 2000 presidential election. When the election stalled unexpectedly, the NAACP's communications response was intended to help U.S. voters interpret the unusual circumstances. The NAACP's public relations department uses the media and the Internet to reach its audiences. This study qualitatively examined the NAACP's messages and compared them to almost 400 post-election news articles in six mainstream newspapers. There was little overlap between the media's frames and those advanced by the NAACP, which suggests that the NAACP's messages were ignored.

Impact of the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial on Radiology

Impact of the International Subarachnoid Aneurysm Trial on Radiology

Corporate hospitality: executive indulgence or vital corporate communications weapon?

Heads of marketing in 189 UK companies known to engage in corporate hospitality (CH) completed questionnaires regarding their attitudes and approaches towards the practice. A cluster analysis of the replies revealed four distinct groups of enterprise: CH “warriors”, “pragmatists”, “reactors”, and “strategic hopefuls”. Corporate hospitality warriors displayed strategic CH orientations and carefully measured the outcomes. Pragmatists also evaluated the impacts of CH, but adopted essentially ad hoc approaches. Strategic hopefuls used CH strategically, yet without bothering to assess its consequences. Reactors undertook CH only because their competitors did so. Additionally the research examined the extents to which the sample businesses applied conventional marketing management methods to the CH function, and the respondents’ perceptions of the benefits and problems of CH. A regression analysis identified some major sources of satisfaction with CH activities. These included the employment of formal market research to match CH events with clients, the location of responsibility for CH in a marketing or public relations department, the adoption of strategic approaches to CH, and the formal evaluation of outcomes.

Analysis of Fire Data in Oman

The aim of this study is to illustrate the problem of fire accidents in the Sultanate of Oman and their causes in order to find out how the existing data could be used as a base to improve fire resistance, to detect the weak points (vulnerability to fire) in existing structures, and to minimize fire occurrences in places where it is high. This will also provide useful recommendations with regard to fire safety including causes, people’s awareness and education, etc. Fire data in Oman were collected from two sources: The Directorate General of Civil Defence (Public Relations Department) and Sultan Qaboos University library. The collected data represent the number of fires in Oman during the last decade. It also includes fire distribution by type and averages. The analysis shows that there is a linear increase in the number of fire accidents in the last decade with time. Many factors are included as potential sources, which are explained in the paper, and suggestions are made for possible control.

Measuring Contingencies: Using Scales to Measure Public Relations Practitioner Limits to Accommodation

The contingency theory of accommodation in public relations posits that public relations practice moves on a continuum from total client or employer advocacy to total accommodation of a public. A survey of ninety-one top public relations practitioners was used to quantify contingency theory by constructing scales of five theoretical constructs: external threats, external public characteristics, organizational characteristics, public relations department characteristics, and dominant coalition characteristics. While the default response of practitioners was that bridge building is the best public relations practice, specific contingencies were found to limit bridge building or accommodation. Practitioners cited fear of legitimizing activist claims, credibility and commitment of an external public, and the place of public relations in the dominant coalition as contingencies impacting dialogue with contending publics.

Attitudes towards a high security hospital.

To study attitudes towards Rampton Hospital by reviewing the attitudes of external students and professionals in training following an arranged guided tour of the hospital; and examining media coverage of the hospital over one year. All visitors had a guided day tour of Rampton. Everyone was given a questionnaire to complete at the end of the tour, and responses were reviewed. Rampton public relations department collects all print media coverage and monitors broadcasts in the UK. The department then assimilates this information into an annual report, which was examined for the relevant year. Questionnaires were given to 995 visitors and completed by 416 (42 per cent). Of those that returned the questionnaires, 95 per cent (n = 395) rated their satisfaction with the tour as either 'satisfied' or 'very satisfied'. A positive change in attitude was indicated by approximately one quarter of respondents (n = 105) following their tour. There were no negative changes in attitude expressed. Of the 203 press cuttings relating specifically to the hospital, 59 (29 per cent) were classed as positively enhancing and building the reputation of the hospital, 86 (42 per cent) were classed as negative and 58 (29 per cent) were classed as neutral. The tour of Rampton was valuable in bringing about a positive attitude change in the visitors. Although some media coverage assessed was negative, it had been expected to be more so. The authors wonder whether people's negative impressions are formed from the wider media, such as television dramas and movies.

We shall Fight on the Seas and the Oceans…We shall

We shall Fight on the Seas and the Oceans…We shall

Nation, Capitalism, Myth: Covering News of Economic Globalization

This study analyzes U.S. newspaper coverage of the merger of the automobile manufacturers Daimler-Benz and Chrysler. It argues that a discourse of national distinctions was created through a major public relations effort that was accepted by elite U.S. newspapers. To substantiate a “merger of equals,” the public relations department of DaimlerChrysler tied its campaign to the mythic frames of “marriage” and “birth.” The ensuing appropriation of “marriage” as mythic category by journalists resulted in a story line along an “objective” idealized equilibrium that was structured by national difference and reduced the coverage to a few players. This meant a failure to help readers understand the global relevance of this merger, the oligopolistic tendencies of the car industry, and the global dependencies of the world economy. Ultimately, the coverage supported an ethnocentric vision of capitalism, which suggests an underlying resistance to economic globalization and the dissolution of the nation-state.

We shall soon be nothing but transparent heaps of jelly to each other

We shall soon be nothing but transparent heaps of jelly to each other

Roots of American Psychiatry Lie Deep in Philadelphia’s Soil

Back to table of contents Previous article Next article Information on Host City and Meeting HighlightsFull AccessRoots of American Psychiatry Lie Deep in Philadelphia’s SoilChristine LehmannChristine LehmannSearch for more papers by this authorPublished Online:15 Feb 2002https://doi.org/10.1176/pn.37.4.0013Benjamin Rush, M.D., perhaps best known to APA members as the father of American psychiatry, was born on a farm near Philadelphia in 1745. Rush’s contributions as a physician, patriot, and humanitarian are legendary.Rush began his medical education in the newly formed medical department of the College of Philadelphia (later the University of Pennsylvania). Later he joined the college as America’s first professor of chemistry and eventually became a professor of medicine. The portraits of Rush and the other three original professors hang today in the mezzanine of the John Morgan Building at the medical center.Rush vigorously supported the American Revolution and was one of five physician signers of the Declaration of Independence, according to Medical Landmarks USA, by Martin Lipp, M.D. During the war with Britain, Rush became surgeon general of the Continental Army. He also founded the first free medical clinic for the poor in the United States, a society to abolish slavery, and the nation’s first organization to rehabilitate felons.A man ahead of his times, Rush believed that improving the physical health of the world would improve mental health as well. For 30 years, Rush studied and treated the mentally ill, which led to his famous book Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind, published in 1813.Rush also helped found the College of Physicians in Philadelphia in 1787 at 19 South 22nd Street. The college took positions on public health issues to influence legislation and public opinion. Famous members have included Samuel David Gross, Silas Weir Mitchell, and William Osler. It is open to the public Monday through Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. The highlights include the Hall of Portraits on the second floor and the library’s rare editions of books by Hippocrates, Celus, Vesalius, Morgagni, and Harvey, as well as medieval illuminated manuscripts.The college’s Mutter Museum hosts a vast collection of pathological specimens including over 100 human skulls and 100 intricate wax models of the human eye. The instrument collection includes Benjamin Rush’s medicine chest, a Laennec stethoscope, a Helmholtz ophthalmoscope, and one of Lister’s carbolic-spray devices.Another prominent Philadelphia native, Thomas Kirkbride, M.D., was instrumental in founding the American Psychiatric Association. As chief physician and superintendent of the Institute of the Pennsylvania Hospital, the psychiatric hospital affiliated with the Pennsylvania Hospital, Kirkbride gathered 12 other hospital superintendents together in 1844 and formed the Association of Medical Superintendents of American Institutions for the Insane, now APA. Kirkbride is best remembered as a superb planner and administrator who pioneered designs of mental hospitals in the United States.In 1998 the Institute was sold to Philadelphia-based CoreCare Systems Inc., a provider of behavioral health care services, and renamed the Kirkbride Center.Kirkbride and another APA founder, Pliny Earle, M.D., along with Isaac Ray, M.D., the father of forensic psychiatry, trained at Friends Hospital in Philadelphia. Founded by the Quakers in 1813, it was the first private psychiatric institution in the nation and used the Moral Treatment approach rather than chains and corporal punishment, which were the preferred “treatments” of the time. Friends Hospital is still in operation today and not open to the public.Here are other historical medical institutions that are worth a visit:• The Library Company, 1314 Locust Street, (215) 546-3181. Established by Benjamin Franklin in 1731, the company has the largest collection of 17th- and 18th-century medical books in North America, including the personal library of Benjamin Rush. Open from 9 a.m. to 4:45 p.m.• Pennsylvania Hospital, Eighth and Spruce streets, (215) 829-3000. The colonies’ first hospital, founded in 1751, includes a surgical amphitheater, nursing museum, and the Physick Garden, named after Phillip Physick, the father of American surgery. Information about walking tours is available from the hospital’s Marketing Services Division.• Medical College of Pennsylvania, 3300 Henry Avenue, (215) 842-4000. Incorporated in 1850 as the first Female Medical College of Pennsylvania, the main attraction is the Archives and Special Collections on Women in Medicine. Tour information is available from the Student Affairs Office.• Philadelphia College of Pharmacy and Sciences, Woodland Avenue at 43rd Street, (215) 596-8800. Founded in 1812, it is the oldest pharmacy college in the United States. Graduates include Eli Lilly and John Wyeth. Information on touring the vast pharmacy collection can be obtained from the college’s public relations department.• Temple University School of Dentistry, 3223 North Broad Street, (215) 221-2799. Founded in 1863, it is the nation’s second oldest dental college. The university’s dental museum is enormous and among the best. Additional information is available by contacting the visual education department at (215) 221-2816. ▪ ISSUES NewArchived

The Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission and Beach Integration, 1959-1963: A Cotton-Patch Gestapo?

ON APRIL 24, 1960, THE SEGREGATED BEACHES OF HARRISON COUNTY became the first battleground for integration in Mississippi when nearly 125 black men, women, and children walked upon the sand with the intention of holding a peaceful wade-in demonstration in the Gulf of Mexico. A large group of agitated whites met the protesters at the beach and attacked them with pool sticks, clubs, chains, lead pipes, blackjacks, and a wire cable fashioned into an eighteen-inch-long whip. The assault began what the New York Times called the worst racial riot in Mississippi history, as at least fifteen African Americans sustained serious injuries inflicted by the white mobs who patrolled the area into the next morning. (1) While historians have focused on other segregation protests in Mississippi during the civil rights era, they have paid virtually no attention to the integration of its coastal beaches. Yet beach desegregation in Mississippi is an especially compelling topic, not only as an example of grassroots black protest, but also due to the role played by the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission in the episode. A cloud of secrecy has surrounded the commission since state legislators created it in 1956 to defend segregation throughout Mississippi. Its reticence regarding its activities during the civil rights era has been compounded by the fact that commission files remained sealed until 1998; scholars have consequently written little concerning the agency. (2) Since the coastal protests provide insight into the commission's operation, tactics, successes, and failures in suppressing black equality during the late 1950s and 1960s, the process of Harrison County beach integration significantly illuminates the nature of white resistance in Mississippi during the civil rights movement. (3) The 1954 Brown v. Board of Education case played a crucial role in the solidification of white southern resistance to racial change. As Michael J. Klarman has argued, Brown produced a southern political climate in which racial extremism flourished, catapulting into public office politicians willing to use any necessary means to preserve Jim Crow. This proved particularly true in Mississippi, where the decision instigated a new phase of organized white resistance characterized by an increased level of state-subsidized support. Public reaction to the case certainly influenced the 1955 Mississippi gubernatorial election's outcome, as candidate James P. Coleman's vocal opposition to forced integration attracted many voters. Shortly after his election, Coleman promised to release a bombshell measure to fight integration that could be heard `from the Atlantic to the Pacific.' (4) In 1956 Coleman sent a bill to the legislature to create an official bureau, the Mississippi State Sovereignty Commission, dedicated to the preservation of segregation in the state. The commission had the ambiguous power to perform any and all acts and things deemed necessary and proper to protect the sovereignty of the state of Mississippi, and her sister states, from encroachment thereon by the Federal Government if it forced civil rights legislation and court decisions, such as Brown, on the state. To fulfill these vaguely defined goals, the commission possessed extensive investigative and subpoena powers, the use of fines and imprisonment to enforce obedience to and cooperation with Mississippi's segregation policies, a public relations department, and a two-year state appropriation of $250,000. The governor served as the agency's ex-officio chairman, while the senate president, attorney general, and house speaker held honorary positions. Coleman's bill passed through the lower house with a resounding 130-2 victory, with only 8 abstentions. Despite substantial approval, the commission's broad power and public funding nevertheless aroused misgivings in some state legislators, who pushed for another vote. The bill passed its second consideration with a closer 91-23 vote, as 26 representatives refused to participate. …

Techniques of Thrombolysis

disease and treatment options, Each local medical market organizes interventional radiologists a nd vascular physicians with their hospitals to perform the screening program, Media releases are distributed throughout the market to hospital public relations departments, television stations, radio stations, newspapers, and local publications to reach a broad spectrum of the public. Although the screening program can only accommodate a limited number of symptomatic patients, the widespread media education exposes the entire local population to the increased awareness of vascular disease and to the interventionalist's ro le in diagnos is and treatment of patients. The Sociery of Cardiovascular and Interventional Radiology, through the efforts of the p ilot program in the Fall of 1998 and the national roll-out in the Fall of 1999, have developed the beginnings of a superb national program for the identincation of peripheral vascular disease. Through continued efforts of screening programs and media exposure, the public and primary care physicians will continue to be exposed to information about pe ripheral vascular disease, which wi ll lead to earlier diagnosis and treatment. The role of the interventional radiologist continues to be highlighted, along with other vascular specialists, in the early diagnOSis and treatment of peripheral vascular disease. These efforts will continue to improve the cardiovascular health of communities. The National Screening Program is a win-win program.

State Patronage of Design? The Elitism/Commercialism Battle in the General Post Office's Graphic Production

This article focuses on the graphic design policy at the General Post Office during the inter-war period. The GPO set out fundamentally to redesign its corporate image when it established a Public Relations Department in 1933 and organized the Poster Advisory Group in 1934. However, after three years, the PAG was liquidated due to conflict between the GPO staff and the Group consisting of Kenneth Clark, Clive Bell and other cultural elites. The article examines the cause and effect of the conflict through which the GPO's pragmatism in the use of modem styles was revealed, together with wider issues of state intervention and the production and consumption of modernism. It goes on to argue that the GPO, a pioneer in governmental publicity, was also cultivating a novel field in the state patronage of modern graphic design.

Teaching PR Campaigns: The Current State of the Art

As course in public relations education, campaigns course bears significant responsibility to both student and profession. From survey of 598 public relations professionals, Cameron, Sallot and Weaver Lariscy (1996) determined that educators have responsibility to all students; practitioners look forward to continued influx (of students) actually trained in public relations who may carry clearer sense of how to perform as professionals. Perhaps most important function of capstone courses in journalism and mass is to prepare students for real world. These fledgling commodities, if you will, become increasingly more marketable as higher education adapts to needs of various constituents. As public relations education shifted from being variant of liberal arts degree to training for profession, campaigns course must supplement skills training for technician role with managerial values and skills. Instead of focusing our energies on defining discipline, we should concern ourselves with refining it. Future practitioners need to possess real-world communicative and planning skills, while basing their strategies on substantive case studies, sound research, and theoretical underpinnings. L. Grunig, J. Grunig and Ehling (1992) wrote that public relations fits into what organizational sociologists call boundary-spanning role. Since practitioners manage relationships with external groups, public relations contributes to overall organizational effectiveness. It stands to reason that campaigns students need to experience realworld, organizational situations in order to be prepared to manage publics and be member of an organization's dominant coalition, rather than toil as subservient technician. The campaigns course can never be sufficient to fully prepare students for real-world experiences. For example, Strohmaier, Stratton, Novak and Leipzig (1992) argued that many students lack communication competence, shortfall which could be partially remedied by an introductory course in speech communication. The authors posit that this course could serve as foundation for acquisition of advanced communicative skills in discipline-specific situations (i.e. campaigns class) later in student's collegiate career. Teaching campaigns Many researchers lament current state of public relations as being steeped in technicianship and low in managerial excellence. As acknowledged class in most public relations programs, campaigns courses, according to Kendall (1998), should be designed to hone both practical (research, planning and oral/interpersonal) skills and incorporate theoretical significance. How do we prepare well-rounded public relations practitioners? Grunig (1989) noted that truly excellent public relations departments employ managers who supervise work of He contended that we should develop sequences, programs or departments of public relations which produce graduates that will serve organizations - and society - well in future. Leichty and Springston (1996) warned that a lot of meaningful information is lost by categorizing practitioners as either managers or technicians. Although too much may be made of distinction in practice, campaigns course is usually last (oftentimes only) opportunity for students to integrate production skills with strategic management abilities. An ongoing battle between academia and old-school practitioners continues over relevance of public relations theory. Grunig (1998) contends that theory has gotten black eye among many practitioners because theories taught in public relations frequently have had little application in public According to Grunig, two most important principles in teaching theory - which he claims is the most important thing we teach public relations students in university - are: Showing students how all of theories related to public relations fit into cohesive whole and showing students applications of these theories in real-life practice of public relations. …

Corporate philanthropy in France, Germany and the UK

Mail questionnaires were distributed to corporate donors in France, Germany and the UK in an attempt to ascertain the extents to which European businesses applied commercial principles to the management of their philanthropic activities. Substantial commercial orientation towards the corporate philanthropy (CP) function was observed among firms in all three countries, especially France. Majorities of businesses in the three samples located responsibility for CP in a marketing or public relations department, and large majorities of French and German respondents stated that CP was considered when drafting marketing plans. Significant differences in national approaches to the management of CP emerged in a number of areas: objective setting, centralisation of CP decision taking, use of external advisors, evaluation, and the degree of integration of CP into a company’s marketing communications mix. In general, respondents reported favourable perceptions of the contributions that CP could make to marketing communications.

Marie Curie Cancer Care.

European Journal of Cancer CareVolume 7, Issue 4 p. 214-216 Marie Curie Cancer Care Stead, Stead Public Relations Department, Marie Curie Cancer Care, London, UK.Search for more papers by this author Mercer, Mercer Marie Curie Cancer Care, London, UK.Search for more papers by this author Stead, Stead Public Relations Department, Marie Curie Cancer Care, London, UK.Search for more papers by this author Mercer, Mercer Marie Curie Cancer Care, London, UK.Search for more papers by this author First published: 09 October 2008 https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2354.1998.00111.xCitations: 1 SharonStead Public Relations Department, Marie Curie Cancer Care, 17 Grosvenor Crescent, London SW1X 7XZ, UK. AboutPDF ToolsRequest permissionExport citationAdd to favoritesTrack citation ShareShare Give accessShare full text accessShare full-text accessPlease review our Terms and Conditions of Use and check box below to share full-text version of article.I have read and accept the Wiley Online Library Terms and Conditions of UseShareable LinkUse the link below to share a full-text version of this article with your friends and colleagues. Learn more.Copy URL Share a linkShare onFacebookTwitterLinked InRedditWechat Citing Literature Volume7, Issue4December 1998Pages 214-216 RelatedInformation

German Government online

The Press and Information Office of the Federal Government of Germany, the Public relations department of the German Government, has been on the Web since 1996 as a complement to conventional publication methods. It acts as an entry point for the German Government referring to the Web pages and servers of the German Government itself, other German constitutional bodies, German embassies, Permanent Missions and information centers, and other German institutions. It started with existing information material, converted to HTML. Due to the national mandate and due to the information of public concern in this Web site, additional requirements had to be fulfilled: A highly automated information processing around the clock, a high security level implemented, and online ordering of booklets and actual information (Webcasting). The paper describes how we succeeded together with our co-operation partners to bring the German Government represented by the Press and Information Office into the Web. Naturally it covers only some parts of our two-years-project which ended in March, 1998.

Are the IABC's excellence principles generic? Comparing Slovenia and the United States, the United Kingdom and Canada

This paper reports research results from a replication of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) ‘Excellence’ study of 30 Slovenian organisations. It has been theorised that the Excellence principles are generic throughout the world but that these principles must be applied differently in different cultures, political and economic systems, stages of development, media systems and levels of activism. Results of this quantitative study showed that the principles of Excellence clustered into an identical index for Slovenia and for the Anglo countries. Differences among the four countries emerged, however, which had implications for specific application of the principles in Slovenia. Slovenian organisations had somewhat lower overall Excellence scores. Public relations departments in Slovenia had less support from the dominant coalition and were involved less in strategic management than in the English‐speaking countries. Slovenian public relations departments reported less knowledge of practising four models of public relations and two roles. However, Slovenian CEOs were somewhat more supportive of symmetrical public relations than their English‐speaking counterparts. Slovenian organisations reported equal levels of activism to the Anglo organisations. However, Slovenian organisations reported a less conducive internal context for Excellence — more authoritarian organisational cultures, more asymmetrical internal communication, and lower levels of individual job satisfaction and satisfaction with the organisation.