Chapter 12 Knowledge Claims

1.) “Daniel Boorstin coined the term pseudo-event to refer to one of the key contributions of PR and advertising in the twentieth century.”

The book used the examples of pre-game shows, interviews, and press conferences to demonstrate the idea of a pseudo-event. While I was familiar with these types of happenings, I never really gave much thought to their purpose. The basic idea is that they will draw public attention to the main event. The book discusses how many of these events are planned around the schedules of local news outlets to ensure that they will be on the scene to report when they begin.

2.) “In many firms government relations has developed into lobbying: the process of attempting to influence to voting of lawmakers to support an industry’s or organization’s best interests.”

In Washington D.C. there are more than 34,000 lobbyists registered. The book breaks this down for us and explains that this equals an incredible sixty-three lobbyists for each member of Congress. Some of the most common techniques used by these lobbyists in their attempts to draw up support include phone banks and emails. These practices are commonly used in what is referred to as Astroturf lobbying. In this form of lobbying, activists lead people to believe that their ideas are supported by many (even millions) of citizens.

3.) “The relationship between journalism and public relations is complex.”

In this section of the book the author talks about some friction that exists between these fields. It is mentioned that while many journalists make the leap from writing to public relations, it seldom happens the other way. Aside from the friction though, it is explained that journalism and public relations remain reliant on each other.