Public opinion; Public relations; Publicity; Social psychology
A striking example of this interaction is illustrated in what
occurred at the Hague Conference a few years ago. The effect of the
Hague Conference’s conduct upon the public was such that officials
were forced to open the Conference doors to the representatives of
newspapers. On June 16th, 1922, a note came from The Hague by the
Associated Press that Foreign Minister Van Karnebeek of Holland
capitulated to the world’s desire to be informed of what was going
on by admitting correspondents. Early announcement that “the press
cannot be admitted” was, according to the report, followed by anxious
emissaries begging the journalists to have patience. Editorials printed
in Holland pointed out that the best way to insure public coöperation
was to take the public into its confidence. Minister van Karnebeek, who
had been at Washington, was thoroughly awake to the invaluable service
the press of the world rendered there. One editorial here pointed out
that public statements “were used by the diplomats themselves as
a happy means of testing popular opinion upon the various projects
offered in council. How many ‘trial balloons’ were sent up in this
fashion, nobody can recall. Nevertheless each delegation maintained
clipping bureaus, which were brought up to date every morning and which
gave the delegates accurate information as to the state of mind at
home. Thus it came about that world opinion was ready and anxious to
receive the finished work of the conference and that it was prompt to
bring individual recalcitrant groups into line.”
Let me quote from the _New York Evening Post_ of July, 1922, as to the
important interaction of these forces: “The importance of the press
in guiding public opinion and the coöperation between the members of
the press and the men who express public opinion in action, which has
grown up since the Peace Conference at Paris, were stressed by Lionel
Curtis, who arrived on the _Adriatic_ yesterday to attend the Institute
of Politics, which opens on July 27 at Williamstown. ‘Perhaps for the
first time in history,’ he said, ‘the men whose business it is to make
public opinion were collected for some months under the same roof with
the officials whose task in life is the actual conduct of foreign
affairs. In the long run, foreign policy is determined by public
opinion. It was impossible in Paris not to be impressed by the immense
advantage of bringing into close contact the writers who, through the
press, are making public opinion and the men who have to express their
opinion in actual policy.’”
Harvard University, likewise, appreciating the power of public opinion
over its own activities, has recently appointed a counsel on public
relations to make its aims clear to the public.
The institutions which make public opinion conform to the demands of
the public. The public responds to an equally large degree to these
institutions. Such fights as that made by _Collier’s Weekly_ for pure
food control show this.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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