On Rhetoric - 3 modes of persuasion
Aristotle
Ethos
appeal to ethics, credibility of speaker
Pathos
appeal to the heart, emotional
Logos
appeal to reason, logical
Kairos
timeliness of an argument or message
The ethics of persuasion
aim for the Golden Mean
Public Relations
Ralph Hansen: "The management function that establishes and maintains mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and the publics on whom its success or failure depends"
Press Agentry
Getting media attention for a client, often by creating outrageous stunts to attract journalists (P.T. Barnum)
Psuedo-Events
manufactured by individuals or organizations to capture the attention of the media and consequently the public i.e. protests, parades, press conferences
Ivy Lee
A modern practitioner of PR
PR rep for Standard Oil and Rockefeller
Shifted PR strategy with railroads from offering bribes to telling the truth and being transparent
Declaration of Principles
"Openly and honestly supply accurate and timely news to the press"
Edward L. Bernays
Considered the founder of modern PR
Used social scientific research techniques to study PR
Coined the term "engineering consent"
Best way to influence the public is to use messages from credible sources
Best PR practice should be 2-way communication (not the one-way comm practiced in press agentry)
Bernay's Three Major Functions of PR
Informing
Persuading
Integrating
Challenges for PR from the Internet
The Internet gives critics access to the world without the gatekeeper limits of journalism
The Internet makes confidential leaks easy
Rumors flourish on the internet
Online crises can't be contained