Public opinion; Public relations; Publicity; Social psychology
Truthful and accurate must be the material which the public relations
counsel furnishes to the press and other mediums. In addition, it must
have the elements of timeliness and interest which are required of all
news--and it must not only have these elements in general, but it must
suit the particular needs of each particular newspaper and, even more
than that, it must suit the needs of the particular editor in whose
department it is hoped that it will be published.
Finally, the literary quality of the material must be up to the best
standards of the profession of journalism. The writing must be good,
in the particular sense in which each newspaper considers a story well
written.
In brief, the material must come to the editorial desk as carefully
prepared and as accurately verified as if the editor himself had
assigned a special reporter to secure and write the facts. Only by
presenting his news in such form and in such a manner can the counsel
on public relations hope to retain, in the case of the newspaper, the
most valuable thing he possesses--the editor’s faith and trust. But it
must be clearly borne in mind that only in certain cases is the public
relations counsel the intermediary between the news and the press. The
event he has counseled upon, the action he has created finds its own
level of expression in mediums which reach the public.
The radio stations offer an avenue of approach to the public. They are
controlled by private organizations, large electrical supply companies,
department stores, newspapers, telegraph companies and in some cases by
the government. Their programs broadcast information and entertainment
to those within their radius. These programs vary in different
localities.
To the public relations counsel there is a wide opportunity to utilize
the means of distribution the radio program affords. In partisan
matters, the controllers of the radio insist upon the presentation of
all points of view in order to have the onus of propaganda removed
from their shoulders. The public relations counsel is therefore in a
position to suggest to the broadcasting managers a symposium treatment
of the subject in which he happens to be interested. Or in the case of
information, which has not this partisan character, he is in a position
to assure treatment of his subject by embodying his thesis in the form
of a speech delivered by some individual of standing and reputation.
In the case of events which the public relations counsel may be
instrumental in creating, such as large public meetings, the radio
to-day becomes a natural form of distribution, just as news treatment
in a newspaper does, and the broadcasting to thousands and thousands
of people of the speeches becomes a corollary of the event itself. The
broadcasting of Lord Robert Cecil’s speech on the League of Nations,
delivered at a banquet in New York, is a case in point.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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