1. CA 218 – PUBLIC
RELATIONS
Professor: Amy L Stewart, MA

2. March 20 Schedule
 5:30 p.m.: Introductions and Syllabus Overview
 6 p.m.: Chapters 1-3
 7 p.m.: Break
 7:15p.m.: AP Sylebook Overview
 8 p.m.: Upcoming assignments
 Backgrounder
 Fact Sheet
 AP Stylebook Quiz
 Interview

3. Introductions
 Name
 Major
 What you want to be when you grow up
 Why you’re taking this class
 Interesting fact about yourself

4. Syllabus Overview
 Grading Scale
 Quizzes
 Mid-term
 Writing Assignments
 Portfolio
 Group Project
 Extra Credit

5. Books
 “Public Relations Writing: The Essentials of
Style and Format”
 “The Associated Press Stylebook”

6. Writing for Public Relations

7. What is Public Relations -
PRSA
1982
“Public relations helps an organization and its
publics adapt mutually to each other.”
2012
“Public relations is a strategic communication
process that builds mutually beneficial
relationships between organizations and their
publics.”

8. What is Public Relations -
Bivins
 It involves any activity that enhances the
reputations of your clients, mediates disputes
between various publics and your client, helps
achieve mutual understanding among all parties
involved in an issues, advocates on behalf of a
client or cause, provides guidance and direction,
and results in positive and mutual well-being

9. Book Launch 2.0

10. Controlled vs. Uncontrolled
Information
 Press Release
 NYT Newspaper Article
 Advertising
 Public Service Announcement
 NBC Action News Story
 Blog Article
 Interview
 Annual report
 Speeches

11. Ethical and Legal Issues in Public
Relations Writing

12. Ethics
 Public Relations Society of America
Translating values into principles of ethical practice,
the Code advises professionals to:
 Protect and advance the free flow of accurate and
truthful information
 Foster informed decision making through open
communication
 Protect confidential and private information
 Promote healthy and fair competition among
professionals.
 Avoid conflicts of interest
 Work to strengthen the public’s trust in the profession

13. Ethics Continued
Code guidelines, like tactics supporting strategies, zero in on
putting value and principles into play for working
professionals facing everyday tasks and challenges. Among
them, professionals should:
 Be honest and accurate in all communications
 Reveal sponsors for represented causes and interests
 Act in the best interest of clients or employers
 Disclose financial interests in a client’s organization
 Safeguard the confidences and privacy rights of clients and
employees
 Follow ethical hiring practices to respect free and open
competition
 Avoid conflicts between personal and professional interests
 Decline representation of clients requiring actions contrary to the
Code
 Accurately define what public relations activities can accomplish
 Report all ethical violations to the appropriate authority

14. Addressing Practice Challenges
Digging even deeper, BEPS takes on current
practice issues and challenges in periodic
Professional Standards Advisories (PSA's).
Applying the Code to specific scenarios, BEPS
has addressed practices including:
 Pay-for-play journalism
 Anonymous Internet posting, “flogs” and viral
marketing
 Front groups
 Disclosure of payment of expert commentators
 Truth in wartime communications
 Overstating charges or compensation for work

15. CASE STUDY:
GHOSTWRITING
Serious Speeches Pose a Serious Problem for a Speechwriter
 What ethical principles of ghostwriting most apply in this
case?
 Most ethical issues relate to promoting truth and avoiding
harm? Which of these principles most applies to this case,
and how so?
 What specific advice do you end up giving to Marina as far as
how to proceed with the communications portion of the
campaign, and how do you ethically justify this?
 What problems do you see in the future as a
possible weakness of this choice? And why do
you still feel your decision is the best option,
despite this weakness?
 What sections of the PRSA code apply to this
issue?

16. PR and The Law
 Commercial Speech
Allows corporations to state publicly its position on controversial issues
 Defamation
Any communication that holds a person up to contempt, hatred, ridicule, or
scorn
 Privacy
“Invasion of privacy”
 Copyright
Legal protection of intellectual property
 Registered Trademark
Indicates the user has registered the item with the federal government,
allowing maximum legal protection
 Trademarks
Typically given for the protection of product names, images, or phrases

17. Planning and Research

18. Planning
 Developing an issue statement
 Issue
 Affected publics
 Timing
 Strengths and Weaknesses
 Case Study: Sporting Kansas City
 Issue:
Name change from Wizards to Sporting
Kansas City

19. Research
 Evaluating Internet Resources
 Wikipedia
 New York Times
 American Heart Association
 Blog
 Analyzing the Target Audience
 Primaryresearch
 Secondary research

20. Interviewing
 Determine Interviewee with Research
 Draft Interview Questions
 Contact Interviewee to Schedule Interview
 Conduct Interview
 Draft Article
 Contact Interviewee when the Article is
Published

21. Writing Objectives
Objectives: The concrete steps that you need to take to reach
your goal
Write objectives for the following goals:
 As the corporate communications manager for your company,
you want employees to attend the annual company picnic
next month.
 As a concerned parent, you want parents in your school
district to support a new school lunch program.
 As a volunteer, you want people to donate blood to the Red
Cross during summer months.
 As a financial planner, you want to increase subscriptions to
your newsletter.
 As a political candidate, you want to change the negative
tone the media has set concerning your environmental
record.

22. Timeline
Client: LEGOLAND Discovery Center Grand Opening at Crown Center
Project: Press Release
Project Preliminary Due Dates
Work
Identify Week 1 April 23
Interviewees
Draft Interview Week 1 April 23
Questions
Set-up Interviews Week 2 April 30
Conduct Week 3 May 7
Interviews
Draft Press Week 4 May 14
Release
Internal Review Week 5 May 21
Process
Distribute Press Week 6 May 28

23. Budget
 Things to consider when planning a budget
 How will you bill (per project or per hour)?
 How much time will it take?
 What materials will be involved?
 Will you use an in-house team or outside
contractors?
 What additional expenses will you incur?

24. Associated Press Stylebook

25. Upcoming Assignments
 Backgrounder – Due Next Week
 Factsheet – Due Next Week
 AP Styleguide Quiz – Open Book Next Week
 Interview with a Public Relations Professional
– Due in two weeks

26. Backgrounder
 Information about a person or organization in
paragraph format
 One page
 Examples:
 Hallmark Cards
 Livestrong
 Barack Obama

27. Fact Sheet
 Numbered or bulleted information relevant to
the organization and/or event
 One page
 Examples:
 Hallmark Cards
 Southwest Airlines
 Park University