Week 2: The history of PR

READINGS
·  Public Relations Through the Ages: A Timeline of Social Movements, Technology Milestones
and the Rise of the Profession” from The Museum of Public Relations.   
http://www.prmuseum.org/pr-timeline
·   A (very brief) history of PR by Tom Watson for Communication Director, 2012. 
https://www.communication-director.com/issues/b2b-or-not-b2b/very-brief-history-
pr/#.X1u9T5NKjs0 
·   “Public Relations Defined, After an Energetic Public Discussion” By Stuart Elliott in The
New York Times, 2012
https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/business/media/public-relations-a-topic-that-is-tricky-to-
define.html?_r=1&ref=business
Week 3: The role of PR today
Readings
·   “The Fixer” by Ken Auletta in The New Yorker, 2007
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2007/02/12/the-fixer
 
·   “Here's How Facebook Has Reduced the Need to Pay for PR” by Greg Shugar for
Entrepreneur, 2017
https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/286342

·    “Public Relations: A Comprehensive Guide for 2020” by Gemma Clay for Class:PR, 2020
https://class-pr.com/blog/public-relations/ 
 
·   “AMP Spotlight: Top PR Trends to Watch in 2020” by Ad Age Studio 30 for Ad Age, 2019
https://adage.com/article/cmo-strategy/amp-spotlight-top-pr-trends-watch-2020/2208751 

Week 4: The ethics of PR

Readings
·   “The Master of Spin” by Lyz Lenz in Columbia Journalism Review, 2019      
https://www.cjr.org/special_report/the-master-of-spin.php
 
·    “Is PR ethical? Only when its practitioners are by Shannon Bowen in PR Week, 2016.
https://www.prweek.com/article/1400160/pr-ethical-when-its-practitioners
 
•  “Social Care and Professional Standards: Developing an Ethical Decision-Making Model” by
Carolyn Mae Kim, Ph.D., APR and Karen Freberg, Ph.D. for Institute for Public Relations, 2020
https://instituteforpr.org/social-care-and-professional-standards-developing-an-ethical-decision-
making-model/ 
 
•  “Diversity in Public Relations: the Implications of a Broad Definition for Pr Practice” by
Caitlin Wills for Institute for Public Relations, 2020
https://instituteforpr.org/diversity-in-public-relations-the-implications-of-a-broad-definition-for-
pr-practice/
Week 5: PR in the time of COVID-19
Readings
•  “The Art of the Pitch in the Midst of a Pandemic” by Brooks Barnes in The New York Times,
2020
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/07/style/publicists-marketing-coronavirus.html
 
•  “The Coronavirus and How Political Spin Has Worsened Epidemics” Evan Osnos in The New
Yorker, 2020
https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-comment/the-coronavirus-and-how-political-spin-has-
worsened-epidemics
 
•   “Roy Green: Will inconsistent coronavirus messaging from leaders contribute to a second
wave?” By Roy Green for Global News, 2020
https://globalnews.ca/news/6973102/coronavirus-canada-government-response/
Week 6: Law and PR
READINGS
The contentious relationship between PR and legal
https://www.mediabullseye.com/2017/04/the-contentious-relationship-between-pr-and-legal/
Knowing When It’s Legally Safe to Say “I’m Sorry”: the Legal Effects of Mortification Strategy
https://instituteforpr.org/knowing-legally-safe-say-im-sorry-legal-effects-mortification-strategy/
Week 7: Identifying publics
Readings
•  “What is Microtargeting?” by Martin Luenendonk for Cleverism, 2019
https://www.cleverism.com/what-is-microtargeting/
 
•  “Chapter 7: Identifying and Prioritizing Stakeholders and Publics” from Public Relations v. 1.0
https://2012books.lardbucket.org/books/public-relations/s08-identifying-and-prioritizing-s.html

•  “Virgin Trains Launches Bizarre #Avocard promotion for those unable to get millennial
railcard.” By Ronan J O'Shea for The Independent, 2018.
https://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/virgin-trains-avocard-millennial-railcard-
avocado-station-cheap-train-tickets-a8255031.html