Publics & Public Opinion Dr. Linda M. Perry The publics in public relations: Groups whose common interests are affected by the organization, or whose acts and opinions affect the institution. Overlapping memberships. Basic publics: Active Latent. Identifying publics: Organizations need to List all publics. Identify primary publics. Focus of a PR effort is priority public. Key to identifying and rank-ordering (prioritizing) publics is research. Issues management Must monitor environment for issues. Must constantly monitor public opinion and interpret for organization. Issues identification includes an examination of the publics involved. Problem exists when there is discrepancy between an organization's perception of issue and perception of an important public. Goal is to arrive at a consensus (Co-orientation). Classical public opinion Monolithic Jean Jacques Rousseau, 18th century All governments rest on opinion James Madison, 18th-19th century Public opinion is the real sovereign Tyranny of the majority John Stuart Mill Tyranny of public opinion Walter Lippmann, 20th century Imperfect knowledge of world creates pseudo-environment&emdash;pictures in our heads. Whatever we believe to be a true picture, we treat as if it were the environment itself All anyone can have about an event not experienced is the feeling aroused by the mental image of that event: Until we know what other others think they know, we cannot understand their acts. Behavior is a response to the pseudo-environment. Behavior, consequences, operate not in the pseudo-environment where the behavior is stimulated, but in the real environment where action occurs. We have to act in the environment, but reconstruct it on a simpler model to manage it. What each person does is based not on direct and certain knowledge, but on pictures made by himself or given to him, often by the media. The way we imagine the world determines what we do: effort, feeling, hopes. The world we have to deal with politically is out of reach, out of sight, out of mind. It has to be explored, reported and imagined. People rely on the press for a true picture of the outer world. Propaganda is the effort to alter the picture to which people respond. Factors limiting access to facts: 1. artificial censorship; 2. limitations of social contact; 3. time available for attention to public affairs; 4. distortion because events are compressed into short messages; 5. a limited vocabulary in a complex world; 6. the fear of facing facts which threaten established routines. Modern Public Opinion Distribution of individual opinions Bernard Hennessey&emdash;Complex of preferences expressed by a significant number of persons on an issue of importance. Five factors of public opinion: 1. PRESENCE OF AN ISSUE ; 2. THE NATURE OF PUBLICS: a recognizable group of persons concerned with an issue. Each issue creates its own public. Publics are transient, occasional. 3. COMPLEX OF PREFERENCES: All points of view entertained by members of the public about a given issue.: 4. THE EXPRESSION OF OPINION: Internal opinion&emdash;views not expressed&emdash; are NOT public opinion. They are latent. Expression of views around an issue. Words&emdash;printed or spoken. Gestures. 5. NUMBER OF PERSONS INVOLVED: Significant number; does not require a majority. Opinions, attitudes, behavior 1. opinion&emdash;an expression of estimates or judgments on an issue; a point of view. 2. attitude&emdash;inwardly held tendencies or orientations toward something or someone&emdash;a state of mind, a disposition. function: enables us to cope with situations 3. behavior&emdash;action 4. beliefs&emdash;convictions in our value systems. Source of attitudes Primary factors: experience. Secondary factors: family (ages 3-13; 7), school, culture, class and status, religion, race. Basic objectives of persuasion: reinforce or conserve positive opinions (effect of most campaigns). crystallize unformed or uncommitted (fluid) opinions. change or neutralize opinions (rare). Opinion leaders Part of power structure. Issue determines opinion leaders. Part of multi-step flow of communication. Spiral of silence Tendency of people who perceive themselves in minority to remain silent rather than risk isolation from group; False uniqueness; Increasingly establishes one opinion as the prevailing one. Elisabeth Nowell-Newman; authoritarian Third-person effect Individuals tend to estimate others as more affected than themselves by mass media. False uniqueness. Will take action in conformity with the perceived influence on others. Juries: Obscenity Other public opinion problems False consensus&emdash;individuals see their own positions as normal and appropriate and assume their opinions are held by others. Pluralistic ignorance&emdash;Majority thinks it's the minority (false uniqueness); minority thinks it's the majority (false consensus). Individual tendency to overestimate consensus; underestimate consensus. Lobbying All branches and levels of government Lobbying Reform Act of 1995 Expanded definition of lobbyist Someone hired to influence lawmakers, government officials or their aides and who spends at least 20% of time representing any client in a 6-month period. Requires lobbyists to Congress to register Disclose clients & issue areas of lobbying activities How much paid for service Limits buying meals & other gifts, travel Grassroots lobbying exempted. Grassroots Lobbying $800-million industry Tools include: Advocacy advertising, websites, computerized direct mail & email aimed at generating phone calls and letters from public to Congress Stealth lobbying Grassroots lobbying under the cover of front groups (public not told of interests behind campaign). Often founded with corporate seed money, funneled through PR firms PACs & Soft Money Political Action Committees More than 4,000 (since 1974) Gave $6.1-million to candidates in 1998 Mostly majority party & incumbents in Congress Also chairs and members of key committees Buying access Corporations can also give soft money $173-million in 1998 Ethical Guidelines for PR Adhere strictly to law governing lobbying Represent clients/employers in good faith Act in accord with public interest Adhere to truth, accuracy Disclose source of ads & publicity Avoid corrupting political process (gifts) Issues of PR in Government Cost to taxpayers Self-promotional Franking privilege Gatekeepers of public information Flood media Then why essential? Back to top Back to Lectures Index