Deck 12: Public Relations and Framing the Message

Question 1

Ivy Lee used PR techniques to defuse public anger over the Ludlow coal strike of 1914.

Answer 1

True

Question 2

The first public relations practitioners were primarily theatrical agents who staged stunts to get newspaper coverage for their clients.

Answer 2

True

Question 3

Journalists have traditionally held PR practitioners in low esteem.

Answer 3

True

Question 4

Deadheading was the practice of giving reporters free rail passes with the tacit understanding that they would write glowing reports about rail travel.

Question 5

PR practitioners find focus groups and surveys less helpful than instinct in planning campaigns.

Question 6

Edward Bernays worked on propaganda to help the U.S.government during World War I.

Question 7

In-house PR departments usually just create newsletters.

Question 8

Exxon's response to the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Alaska is an excellent example of a company using thoughtful crisis management to help its public relations.

Question 9

Companies often hold plant tours and open houses to convince their local communities that they are good citizens.

Question 10

Independent PR firms are usually huge organizations with a national clientele.

Question 11

Unlike the wide use of press releases in print journalism, television journalists rarely use video news releases (VNRs).

Question 12

Reporters object to PR professionals who make it difficult for them to get access to people they want to interview.

Question 13

Public relations is largely a male profession, with relatively few female practitioners.

Question 14

Edward Bernays preferred to call himself a "publicity agent."

Question 15

It is illegal for most companies and organizations to engage in lobbying.

Question 16

Ivy Lee, one of the founders of public relations and often dubbed "Poison Ivy," believed that deception was better than honesty in public relations.

Question 17

Individuals and organizations with extensive PR resources usually receive more coverage in the media than those without such PR resources.

Question 18

Reporters would have a harder time doing their job without the help of PR practitioners.

Question 19

P.T.Barnum used gross exaggeration, fraudulent stories, and staged events to secure newspaper coverage for his clients, his American Museum, and his circus.

Question 20

Press releases are created using a specific PR style of writing.

Question 21

Media relations specialists

A)Perform damage control
B)Recommend advertising
C)Direct reporters to experts
D)Speak for their clients
E)All options are correct

Question 22

Which of the following refers to the process of attempting to influence the voting of lawmakers to support a client's or an organization's best interests?

A)Lobbying
B)Deadheading
C)Outsourcing
D)Cultivation

Question 23

Video news releases (VNRs)are

A)Public service announcements (PSAs)
B)Aired by TV stations as part of their requirement to serve the public interest
C)Produced by PR agencies and companies for use in TV newscasts
D)Eagerly accepted by TV news departments, especially in large markets
E)All options are correct

Question 24

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)tends to downplay ethical issues in public relations.

Question 25

What did Ashton Kutcher's experience with Twitter illustrate about public relations?

A)Stars do not need PR professionals to communicate
B)Twitter cannot substitute for press releases
C)Stars need professional help to manage Twitter
D)Twitter has no advantages for celebrities

Question 26

The claim that public relations encourages reporter laziness is based on PR firms that

A)Strictly control access to news sources
B)Seduce reporters with bribes, liquor, free tickets, and other freebies
C)Play on reporters' egos by praising them for superficial work
D)Supply information that reporters can easily turn into stories
E)All options are correct

Question 27

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)

A)Accredits PR practitioners and firms
B)Avoids involvement in ethical issues
C)Was formed by the federal government
D)Is a consumer group that monitors public relations Fill in the Blank

Question 28

Communication strategically placed, either as advertising or as publicity, to gain support for a special issue, program, or policy is known as

A)A pseudo-event
B)Propaganda
C)Improper-ganda
D)A public service announcement
E)Lobbying

Question 29

Which of the following statements about public relations is not correct?

A)Public relations focuses on image, whereas advertising focuses on sales
B)Advertising and public relations both give people and corporations direct control over the message
C)Special events are a type of public relations
D)Public relations is a strategy to persuade the public to a certain point of view

Question 30

When someone put poison in a few bottles of Tylenol, company executives decided to withhold comment for a few days while they assessed the damage.

Question 31

PR firms often raid news staff for talent because

A)Reporters are more ethical than PR practitioners
B)Reporters work cheap
C)Reporters have contacts in the news business
D)Reporters are easily trained to write in PR style

Question 32

In the 1800s, America's largest railroads used press agents to

A)Drum up passenger business
B)Sell shares of stock
C)Campaign for government funding
D)Obtain the right to ship coal

Question 33

On what part of society does public relations have the most significant impact?

A)Entertainment
B)Business
C)Politics
D)Religion

Question 34

Buffalo Bill's publicity agent, John Burke, used _______________ to promote Bill's Wild West show.

A)Newspaper stories
B)Dime novels
C)Movies
D)All options are correct

Question 35

There are about 200 public relations agencies in the United States.

Question 36

Converged and viral media have made public relations more difficult for the U.S.military.