It's Not Just PR

W. TIMOTHY COOMBS AND SHERRY J. HOLLADAY

PUBLIC RELATIONS

IN SOCIETY SECOND

EDITION

It’s

Not

Just

It’s Not Just PR COOMBS AND HOLLADAY PUBLIC RELATIONS IN SOCIETY

PUBLIC RELATIONS

IN SOCIETY SECOND

EDITION

It’s

Not

Just

Whether one sees it as unwelcome, underappreciated, or unnoticed, public relations

has an important infl uence on modern society. In the second edition of their award￾winning book, W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay provide a broad and

thorough look at the fi eld of public relations in the world today and assess its

impact on society’s values, knowledge, and perceptions.

The authors show how public relations aff ects society – both positively and

negatively – and use a range of global, contemporary examples from multinational

corporations through to the non-profi t sector to prove their point. The authors have

thoroughly revised and updated the book with discussion of new issues, including

the search within the profession for a defi nition of PR; the role and limitations of

social media; the emergence of issues management; how private politics is shaping

corporate behavior; and the rise of global activism and the complications of working

in a global world. The authors also provide a nuanced and balanced discussion of

ethical concerns for professionals in the fi eld that doesn’t rely on oversimplifi cation

of the issues. Well organized and clearly written by two leading scholars, this is a

must-read for students and professionals in strategic communication.

W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay are Professors in the Nicholson

School of Communication at the University of Central Florida. They are co-authors

of Managing Corporate Social Responsibility (Wiley Blackwell, 2011) and PR Strategy

and Application (Wiley Blackwell, 2009), and co-editors of The Handbook of Crisis

Communication (Wiley Blackwell, 2010).

ISBN 978-1-118-55400-5

“Concise and thought-provoking examination about ‘what counts’ as public relations

and the fi eld’s impact on society; an excellent discussion primer about the issues

facing the profession today and in the foreseeable future.”

Michael J. Palenchar, University of Tennessee

“This is an engaging introduction to PR. I like its quick overviews of key authors, ideas,

and debates, its easy style, but, most of all, that it makes the reader think.”

Magda Pieczka, Queen Margaret University, Edinburgh

SECOND EDITION

It’s Not Just PR

For Megan, Molly, Ben, Martha, Matthew, and Brandon

who are the future.

About the Authors

W. Timothy Coombs is Professor in the Nicholson School of Communi￾cation at the University of Central Florida. His books include the award￾winning Ongoing Crisis Communication (2007) and Code Red in the Boardroom

(2006). With Sherry J. Holladay, he is co-author of Managing Corporate

Social Responsibility (Wiley Blackwell, 2011) and PR Strategy and Application

(Wiley Blackwell, 2009) and co-editor of The Handbook of Crisis Communi￾cation (Wiley Blackwell, 2010). He has worked with consulting firms in

the U.S. and Europe on ways to improve crisis communication efforts for

their clients.

Sherry J. Holladay is Professor in the Nicholson School of Communi￾cation at the University of Central Florida. She teaches courses in public

relations and corporate communication and her research interests include

corporate social responsibility, crisis communication, reputation manage￾ment, activism, and stakeholder relations. Her work appears in the Journal

of Public Relations Research, Public Relations Review, Management Communi￾cation Quarterly, Journal of Communication Management, and International

Journal of Strategic Communication.

It’s Not Just PR

Public Relations in Society

Second Edition

W. Timothy Coombs

Sherry J. Holladay

This second edition first published 2014

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Edition history: Blackwell Publishing Ltd (1e, 2007)

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1 2014

Contents

Acknowledgments vi

Introduction to the Second Edition 1

1 Does Society Need Public Relations? 4

2 Ethical Implications of Public Relations 36

3 Who Practices Public Relations? 60

4 Public Relations Influences Society 90

5 Shifting the View of Public Relations 123

References 141

Index 159

Acknowledgments

We would like to thank Elizabeth Swayze and Wiley Blackwell for their

support of this book over the years. The book was a bit of a risk given

its topic and format but it seems to have worked for all involved, including

its readers. We also would like to thank Allison Kostka and Julia Kirk for

their patience and help with the revisions, and to thank those reviewers

who provided feedback to the revision plan. It takes a team to publish a

book, and we are happy to be part of such a great team.

It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society, Second Edition.

W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay.

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Introduction to the Second Edition

When we had the opportunity to write the first edition of this book, our

task of developing a title was challenging due to the book’s unconven￾tional approach and topic coverage. But the title, It’s Not Just PR: Public

Relations in Society, seemed to capture our ideas quite well. The title was

designed to reflect the frustration of many academics and practitioners

who feel the term “public relations” is trivialized, misunderstood, and

misused. Its colloquial use tends to be tainted with negative connotations

as critics lament the substitution of “public relations” for facts, substance,

or the “real story.”

We welcome our opportunity to broaden readers’ understanding of

public relations by offering a perspective designed to “complicate” public

relations by addressing corporate uses and limitations of a corporate-￾centric view of public relations but also presenting alternative views and

analyses to expand our thinking about “what counts” as public relations.

Public relations activities continue to be equated with distortion,

manipulation, and stonewalling, and depicted in negative ways. The pub￾lic’s dependence on the media, coupled with the media’s misuse of the

term, translates into a lack of understanding of the practice. Unfortunately,

there are far too many incidents where corporations have used public rela￾tions in unethical ways to pursue economic self-interests at the expense of

the public interest, thereby reinforcing its tainted image. In spite of reports

It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society

2

of activist actions that positively impact on society, such as those of

Greenpeace, Labour Behind the Label, UK Uncut, and PETA, the public

is unlikely to identify these as examples of public relations. Negative con￾notations of public relations may lead people to wonder if society would

be better off without public relations.

Consistent with the vision of the first edition, the second edition of

It’s Not Just PR invites readers to develop a more complex and complete

understanding of the practice of public relations. Societal developments,

including the increasing effects of globalization and communication tech￾nologies on business and activist practices, as well as events that spotlight

both ethical and unethical uses of public relations, are well represented in

this new edition. New extended examples that illustrate the use and grow￾ing importance of social media as a communication tool are included.

This second edition of It’s Not Just PR should help readers understand

why society benefits from the practice of public relations. The new edition

expands our examination of the role of power in public relations and the

use of public relations by non-corporate entities. At the time the first

edition was written, the concern with power along with critical and post￾modern approaches to public relations were underdeveloped, especially

within the United States. We are proud to have helped introduce readers

to these perspectives and are gratified with the positive responses we

receive to our presentation of these ideas. In many ways we were well

ahead of the curve in exploring these ideas, which is not always the most

comfortable position for publishers. We hope that the increasing interest

in power and activism, along with greater acceptance of more “radical”

ideas in the published academic literature, confirms the value of our

vision that guided the development of the first edition.

This edition examines both the microlevel and macrolevel (societal,

global) processes and outcomes of the practice of public relations. The

microlevel examines what defines and constitutes public relations. We

focus on the relationship between organizations and their stakeholders,

people who are affected by and can affect the organizations. The issue of

power is central to our exploration of the relationship dynamic. People

often think of corporations, especially multinational corporations, as

very powerful compared to average citizens. Sources of power for stake￾holders and organizations are discussed with an eye to demonstrating

stakeholders’ potential for influence on corporations and society. As sug￾gested by stakeholder theory, stakeholders can develop power resources

Introduction

3

to participate in the marketplace of ideas. However, in most cases the

power advantage lies with the corporation. The interdependence between

organizations and stakeholders is central to our appreciation of power

dynamics and ethical practices in the web of relationships.

The macrolevel focuses on how public relations can impact society by

influencing laws, behaviors, and values. A macrolevel examination exposes

limitations of a purely corporate-centric approach to public relations. We

address how the practice of public relations extends well beyond corpora￾tions and national borders and must be considered within the global con￾text. Global public relations as a form of transnational activism and public

diplomacy has been growing. Its expansion and effectiveness has been

aided by the Internet. Case studies illuminate how activists, including

PVOs, use the Internet and public relations practices to influence corpo￾rate and governmental practices around the world.

We are not so naive as to believe that public relations is not used to

pursue or to obscure courses of action that harm stakeholders and society.

Public relations is not all-powerful, exclusively corporate, or always harm￾ful to stakeholders and society. Nor is it only used by activists and non￾profits to benefit stakeholders and society. The reality is that public

relations is a complex mix of all these factors and more. Our goal is to

complicate your thinking about public relations by peering behind the

misuses of the term to examine its role in society. In the end, we hope this

book demonstrates how public relations does have a place in and can be

beneficial to society.

It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society, Second Edition.

W. Timothy Coombs and Sherry J. Holladay.

© 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Published 2014 by John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Does Society Need Public Relations?

1

Conceptualizations of what constitutes public relations cast a wide net

and demonstrate a lack of consistency. And when something is labeled by

the media as a “public relations” action, it seems to be with a negative,

disparaging tone (e.g., “mere public relations,” “PR spin,” “PR hype,” “PR

rhetoric,” or “a public relations stunt”). As described in the media, virtu￾ally anything that a corporation or its representatives does may be labeled

as “public relations” and treated with suspicion. Activities as diverse as

attempts to explain a negative financial report, launch a new product,

encourage employees to volunteer in the community, and donate money

to a charity, have all been identified as “public relations.” What, then, is not

public relations?

Critics of public relations tend to focus attention on what they call

public relations efforts involved in defending the most obvious and

egregious violations of the public trust: cover-ups (such as Enron, Tyco,

and HealthSouth), CEO/CFO scandals, the spokesperson who deceives

the public in order to defend the actions of the organization, and illegal

dumping of toxic chemicals. Attempts to minimize or conceal these

scandalous actions often are cast as “PR ploys” designed to deflect the

negative impacts of questionable corporate actions including suspicious

financial reports, management misbehavior, dubious environmental

Does Society Need Public Relations?

5

records, or human rights violations. Public relations becomes equated

with stonewalling. Stonewalling is the attempt to hide information or

delay its release. The public relations practitioner becomes a barrier to the

truth, not the bringer of truth.

Scandals attract attention. Good deeds and the mundane are less likely

to generate media exposure. What go unrecognized are the more com￾monplace and typical PR efforts that characterize the daily existence of

organizations (e.g., employee communication, community relations,

etc.). Examples include announcements about promotions, recognition

of awards won by an organization, or efforts to support local charities or

community groups. These more accurately characterize the PR efforts

of most organizations. Very few PR practitioners are ever in the position

of managing major scandals like those generated by News Corporation,

Lance Armstrong, and Olympus. Public relations is the subject of heavy

criticism in a number of cultures. Upon learning of these criticisms, peo￾ple are often left to ponder if society needs public relations. Without it,

would society be better or worse off ? Both professionals and academics

have tried to defend the practice. Often the defense attributes to public

relations very lofty pursuits, which seem rather unrealistic. By reviewing

the good and bad of public relations we can better appreciate its place

in society.

The first half of the chapter examines the negative effects of public

relations. We start by reviewing media portrayals. Most people learn

about the practice of public relations through media coverage of the field

and use of the term. Hence, the media help to construct people’s percep￾tions. Public relations has some individual vocal critics as well. We exam￾ine the main critics and the reasons for their disdain. As a corollary, some

of the popular press books on public relations are surveyed. Public rela￾tions can be its own worst enemy by emphasizing the aspects most

despised by its critics.

The second half of the chapter considers the utility of public rela￾tions in a democratic society. Practitioner and academic defenses of

public relations are presented. The chapter ends by offering our concep￾tualization of public relations. We provide a definition of public relations

that highlights the role of communication, relationship management,

and mutual influence between organizations and stakeholders. This

provides the basis for understanding where public relations fits into the

needs of society.

It’s Not Just PR: Public Relations in Society

6

Media Use and the Term “PR”

In late 2012, Internet reports began to appear that Instagram, an applica￾tion for sharing digital images, intended to sell any photos flowing through

the application to advertisers. In other words, Instagram could sell any of

your pictures that you posted through Instagram without your consent

or compensation. The CEO of Instagram, Keven Systrom, quickly began

blogging and backtracking on the idea as people began canceling or

threatening to cancel their accounts. One media outlet characterized the

CEO’s response as “more spin than anything else” (Adhikari 2012). In

December of 2012, the Armed Forces of the Philippines released a state￾ment saying the organization would celebrate National Human Rights

Consciousness Week with a variety of events designed to show their com￾mitment to the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. A news story,

critical of the Armed Forces, said the statement “is pure and simple PR

spin” (Legaspi 2012, para. 10). These examples illustrate how the media

often report on public relations as actions that are style with no substance

or even a type of deception.

Although we frequently hear people refer to public relations, the

practice of public relations is not well understood. The media may be at

least in part to blame for the public’s lack of understanding because they

tend to use the term “public relations” inaccurately and to focus on

some types of PR practice while ignoring others. It is important to con￾sider seriously these portrayals of the uses of public relations and its

professionals because they shape people’s perceptions of what PR is,

when it might be used, and what PR professionals do. The unfortunate

part is that, as is shown by systematic research into media portrayals of

public relations, comparing them with the reality, these portrayals are

negative (for instance, they equate PR with deception) as well as quite

limited. They fail to capture the full range of PR activities and focus

mainly on publicity functions. Additionally, the media often label com￾munications and actions as “mere PR” when they really are not what PR

professionals would consider public relations. Overall, the media’s use

of the term “PR” seems fraught with negative connotations. Empirical

research has established the extent of distortion in these portrayals. In

1988, Bishop discovered PR was equated with “publicity” in the newspa￾per coverage in a sample of three newspapers. Keenan (1996) found

Does Society Need Public Relations?

7

nearly half of the references to public relations in major network media

coverage reflected the press agency model. Public relations was por￾trayed as nothing more than trying to generate media coverage. Julie

Henderson (1998) examined the use of the term “public relations” in

100 popular press media articles. In about 5 percent of them the term

PR was used accurately, in ways that would be acceptable to the Public

Relations Society of America (PRSA), the professional association. This

is problematic because the media are a key source of cues for building

reputations when people have little interaction with an entity (Dowling

2002). Most people learn about public relations from the media, not

from practitioners.

The problem of limited or inaccurate conceptions of public relations

is compounded by the negative use of the term itself, as in the Instagram

example, and by negative comments about PR. Henderson’s (1998)

research found that in only about 7 percent of the articles could the

references to PR be considered “positive.” Spicer (1993) found the

majority (83 percent) of references to public relations in print media

were negative.

Scrimger and Richards (2003) explored Canadian journalists’ uses

of  metaphors of violent conflict to describe communication between

organizations and the public. They examined articles where journalists

used the term “public relations battle” or “public relations war.” They

found these phrases were invoked even though the reality of the situa￾tion often did not justify the use of inflammatory metaphors. In more

than one-half of the cases (55 percent), the terms were used in the first

paragraph of the story. In all cases the choice of word was the journal￾ists’; no sources were directly quoted as using either of the two phrases.

Thus, their research demonstrates that journalists are prone to frame

situations as “violent confrontations” (PR wars or battles) in spite of

the fact that the participants do not describe their situations in this way.

The media coverage offered a conflict frame even though there could be

areas of consensus or agreement between the parties. These types of

portrayals could lead the public to misperceive typical PR practices as

involving disputes rather than collaboration. Research consistently

demonstrates a negative portrayal of public relations and/or use of the

term in the media. Media treatment of public relations is an indirect

form of criticism. Others have been more direct in their disdain for

public relations.