Abstract
High praise in rear cover endorsements from the Chief Executive of the Public Relations Consultants Association and the President of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations, along with potted biographies of the authors that emphasize their extensive experience in public relations (PR) practice, set the tone for a book that is strongly focused on the practice of public relations in the UK. The main text is interspersed with small contributions from people the authors hold up as ‘top practitioners and experts from a variety of fields’ including some strong critics of public relations such as Nick Davies, author of Flat Earth News (2008).
Part 1 of the book, entitled theory and analysis, is extremely short on theory and the analysis is rather superficial. The authors are dismissive of almost all existing theory applied to PR, even that which could be of great practical use such as media effects theory, and seem quite happy when they describe how, in their experience, ‘very few PR practitioners – including the most senior and the best known – have bothered to read books about PR or study PR “theory” of any kind in a formal way.’ (pp.24–5)
They dismiss most current definitions of PR as misleading and as ‘promoting a positive rather than an objective view of the practice of PR’, fair comment I would say, and then go on to provide their own definition:
Public relations is the planned persuasion of people to behave in ways which further its sponsors objectives. It works primarily through the use of media relations and other forms of third party endorsement. (p.6)
This emphasis on media relations permeates the book, though they do find space to briefly discuss other areas of practice such as lobbying, corporate social responsibility (CSR) and internal communications.
The UK focus of the book makes it rather surprising that the discussion of PR history comes from a strongly US perspective – P.T. Barnum, Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays, they’re all there. This despite the fact that the authors are obviously aware of Jacquie L’Etang’s work on the development of PR practice in the UK, which they describe as ‘Perhaps her most useful contribution to PR scholarship’ (p. 26).
An interesting chapter on PR ethics points out many of the challenges faced by practitioners and the authors do a good job of highlighting some of the complications and contradictions that can arise in practice. But they don’t come up with any practical advice as to what practitioners should do when faced with such dilemmas.
The authors are strongly opinionated and, in places, highly critical of current practice. For example, they describe citizens of liberal democracies’ exposure to internal communications as ‘the closest they will ever come to experiencing the powerful, closed propaganda systems associated with communism, fascism or novels such as [George Orwell’s] 1984’ (p. 119) and observe that ‘CSR people seldom advise their paymasters to do something they think is “responsible” or “ethical” but which is unfashionable and unpopular – and which will lose money’ (p.167). This is more knockabout than a critical academic analysis, but it will strike a chord with many people and in places makes for an entertaining read.
Part 2 of the book provides a brief overview of planning and strategy that can only really scratch the surface of the subject in the 58 pages allowed.
In Part 3 on practice, the authors move on to discuss the fundamental skills they feel are required by practitioners. Public speaking, pitching, media handling, event management and crisis communications are all discussed in this section of the book, which provides a very useful primer for first-year students or practitioners just starting off on a career in PR.
In Part 4, the conclusion, the authors discuss what they see as the future of public relations as a discipline, a rather idealistic chapter that ends by holding PR up as a ‘symptom of freedom’ (p. 315).
Overall, a useful read for anyone contemplating a PR career in the UK, well written and thought provoking in places, but it certainly doesn’t live up to the claim that it is ‘a single PR textbook that covers all the ground effectively’ (p. xiii).