LS-Sb87091

МИНОБРНАУКИ РОССИИ

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Санкт-Петербургский государственный электротехнический университет «ЛЭТИ»

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И. А. ЛЕНЬКОВА

READING PRACTICE

Учебное пособие

Санкт-Петербург Издательство СПбГЭТУ «ЛЭТИ»

2011

УДК 372.881.111.1 (07) ББК Ш 143.21

Л 46

Ленькова И. А.

Л 46 Reading practice: Учеб. пособие. СПб.: Изд-во СПбГЭТУ «ЛЭТИ», 2011. 40 с.

ISBN 978-5-7629-1155-9

Содержит оригинальные профессиональные тексты на английском языке, предназначенные для чтения, устного и письменного переводов, а также задания на понимание и обсуждение прочитанного.

Предназначено для студентов гуманитарного факультета, обучающихся по специальности «Связи с общественностью».

УДК 372.881.111.1 (07) ББК Ш 143.21

Рецензенты: кафедра английского языка Института иностранных языков; канд. техн. наук Ф. М. Ярмухамедова (НОУ ВПО «АИГО»).

Утверждено редакционно-издательским советом университета

в качестве учебного пособия

PART ONE

Text 1. Early Public Relations Experience

Although we think of public relations as a twentieth-century phenomenon, its roots are ancient. For example, the Babylonians of 1800 B. C. hammered out their messages on stone tablets so that farmers could learn the latest techniques of harvesting, sowing, and irrigating.

Later on, the Greeks put a high premium on communication skills. Occasionally, aspiring Greek politicians enlisted the aid of Sophists to help fight verbal battles. Sophists would gather in the amphitheaters of the day and extol the virtues of particular political candidates. Often, their arguments convinced the voters to elect those candidates. Thus, the Sophists set the stage for today’s lobbyists, who attempt to influence legislation through effective communication.

The Romans, particularly Julius Caesar, were also masters of persuasive techniques. When faced with an upcoming battle, Caesar would rally public support through assorted publications and staged events. Similarly, during World War I, a special U. S. public information committee, the Creel Committee, was formed to channel the patriotic sentiments of Americans in support of the U. S. role in the war. According to a young member of the Creel Committee, Edward L. Bernays (later considered by many to be the father of public relations), «This was the first time in our history that information was used as a weapon of war».

Even the Catholic Church had a hand in the beginnings of public relations. In the 1600s, under the leadership of Pope Gregory XV, the Church established a college of propaganda to «help propagate the faith». In those days, the term propaganda did not have a negative connotation; the Church simply wanted to inform the public about the advantages of Catholicism.

Later Thomas Paine, early practitioner of public relations, wrote periodic pamphlets that urged the colonists to band together. In one issue of Common Sense, Paine wrote poetically, «These are the times that try men’s souls. The summer soldier and the sunshine patriot will, in this crisis, shrink from the service of their country». The people listened, were persuaded, and took action — testifying to the power of early American communicators.

The creation of the most important document, the Constitution, also owed much to public relations. Federalists, who supported the Constitution, fought tooth and nail with Anti-Federalists, who opposed it. Their battle was waged in newspaper articles, pamphlets, and other forms of persuasion, in an attempt to

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influence public opinion. To advocate ratification of the Constitution, political leaders like Alexander Hamilton, James Madison, and John Jay banded together, under the pseudonym Publius, to author letters in leading newspapers.

The practice of public relations continued to percolate in the nineteenth century. Among the more prominent — yet negative — antecedents of modern public relations that took hold in the 1800s was press agentry. Three of the betterknown — some would say notorious — practitioners of this art were Amos Kendall, Phineas T. Barnum and Ivy Lee.

In 1829, President Andrew Jackson selected Kendall, a writer and editor living in Kentucky, to serve in his administration. Within weeks Kendall eventually became one of Jackson’s most influential assistants. Kendall performed just about every White House public relations task. He wrote speeches, state papers, and messages and turned out press releases. He even conducted basic opinion polls. Although Kendall is generally credited with being the first authentic presidential press secretary, his functions and role went far beyond that.

Most PR-professionals would rather not talk about Phineas T. Barnum, who was a huckster – pure and simple. His end was to make money, and his means included publicity. He remained undaunted even when the facts sometimes got in the way of his promotional ideas. «The public be fooled» might well have been his main motto.

Ivy Ledbetter Lee was a former Wall Street newspaper reporter who plunged into publicity work in 1903. To Lee the key to business acceptance and understanding was that the public be informed. Instead of merely appeasing the public, Lee thought a company should strive to earn public confidence and good will. Hired by the anthracite coal industry in 1906, Lee set forth his beliefs in a Declaration of Principles to newspaper editors. Moreover, he urged the American Tobacco Company, for example, to initiate a profit-sharing plan. He advised the Pennsylvania Railroad to beautify its stations. He educated the American public about ocean travel to overcome the negative impressions of the Titanic and Lusitania disasters. In addition, he was instrumental in working with Admiral Richard Byrd and aviator Charles Lindbergh to combat the public’s fear of flying.

1.Answer the questions:

1)Without referring back to the article, can you remember in what context Julius Caesar is mentioned?

2)In what way did the Constitution influence PR?

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3) Having read the article, what can you now say about Amos Kendall, Phineas T. Barnum and Ivy Lee?

2. Match the verbs below to the verbs used in the text:

Pitch out, tie together, immerse, forge, carry on, impel, evade, muster, increase, support, strain.

3. Correct the four factual mistakes in the following summary:

In the 1700s, under the leadership of Pope Gregory XV, the Church established a college of propaganda to «help propagate the faith». In those days, the term propaganda had a negative connotation; the Church simply wanted to inform the public about the advantages of Catholicism. In 1829, President Andrew Jackson selected Ivy Lee, a writer and editor living in Kentucky, to serve in his administration. Kendall thought a company should strive to earn public confidence and good will.

Text 2. The Growth of Modern Public Relations

During World War I President Woodrow Wilson established the Creel Committee under journalist George Creel. It proved to be an effective force, mobilizing public opinion in support of the war effort and stimulating the sale of war bonds through Liberty Loan publicity drives. Not only did the war effort get a boost, but so did the field of public relations.

During World War II, the public relations field received an even bigger boost. With the Creel Committee as its precursor, the Office of War Information (OWI) was established to convey the message of the United States at home and abroad. Under the directorship of Elmer Davis, a veteran journalist, the OWI laid the foundations for the United States Information Agency as the voice of America around the world.

World War II also saw a flurry of activity to sell war bonds, boost the morale of those at home, spur production in the nation’s factories and offices, and, in general, support America’s war effort as intensively as possible. By virtually every measure, this full-court public relations offensive was an unquestioned success.

The first public relations firm, the Publicity Bureau, was founded in Boston in 1900 and specialized in general press agentry. The first Washington, DC, agency was begun in 1902 by William Wolff Smith, a former correspondent for the New York Sun and the Cincinnati Inquirer. Two years later Ivy Lee joined with George

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Parker to begin a public relations agency that was later dissolved. Lee reestablished the agency in New York in 1919 and brought in T. J. Ross as a partner.

One public relations pioneer who began as a publicist in 1913 was Edward L. Bernays, nephew of Sigmund Freud and author of the landmark book Crystallising Public Opinion. Bernays was a true public relations scholar, leaching the first course in public relalions in 1923. Bernays’s seminal writings in the field were among the first to disassociate public relations from press agentry or publicity.

Other leading public relations educators included Milton Fairman, a Chicago news reporter and corporate public relations practitioner who later served as president of the Foundation for Public Relations Research and Education; Rex F. Harlow, who formed the American Council on Public Relations in 1939 and later presided over its merger with the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) in 1947; and W. Howard Chase, a founding member of the PRSA, who advocated that public relations professionals should concern themselves with public issues management rather than with more narrow communications problems.

Ironically, the public relations profession received perhaps its most major forward thrust when business confidence suffered its most severe setback. The economic and social upheaval caused by the Great Depression of the 1930s provided the impetus for corporations to seek public support by telling their stories. Public relations departments sprang up in scores of major companies, among them Bendix, Borden, Eastman Kodak, Eli Lilly, Ford, General Motors, Standard Oil, Pan American, and U. S. Steel. The role that public relations played in helping regain public trust in big business helped project the field into the relatively strong position it enjoyed during World War II.

Disenchantment with big institutions reached a head in the 1960s. The conflicts during the early part of the decade between private economic institutions, especially large corporations, and various disenfranchised elements of society arose from longstanding grievances. As one commentator put it, «Their rebellion was born out of the desperation of those who had nothing to lose. Issues were seen as black or white, groups as villainous or virtuous, causes as holy or satanic, and leaders as saints or charlatans».

The 1970s brought a partial resolution of the problems that afflicted society in the 1960s. Many of those solutions came through the government in the form of affirmative action guidelines, senior citizen supports, consumer and environmental protection acts and agencies, aids to education, and a myriad of other laws and statutes.

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This new policy of social responsibility became corporate gospel in the 1970s and has continued to the 1990s. Corporations have come to realize that their reputations are a valuable asset, to be protected, conserved, defended, nurtured, and enhanced at all times. In truth, institutions in the 1990s have had little choice but to get along with their publics.

The spread of worldwide democracy in the 1990s underscored the impact of public opinion as a force in society. People everywhere in the 90’s were «being heard». In Russia, for example, the totalitarian teachings of Karl Marx and Josef Stalin and Nikita Khrushchev were giving way to the more moderate, democratic dialogue of 1990 Nobel Peace Prize winner Mikhail Gorbachev. And while the world in the 1990s became more open to democratic ideas, the public relations challenge increased significantly.

The scope of modem public relations practice nowadays is vast. Press relations, employee communications, public relations counseling and research, local community relations, audiovisual communications, contributions, and numerous other diverse activities fall under the public relations umbrella. Because of this broad range of functions, many public relations practitioners today seem preoccupied with the proper title for their calling — public relations, external affairs, corporate communications, public affairs, corporate relations, ad infinitum. They argue that the range of activities involved offers no hope that people will understand what the pursuit involves unless an umbrella term is used.

Practitioners also worry that as public relations becomes more prominent, its function and those who purportedly practice it will be subject to increasingly intense public scrutiny.

1.Answer the questions:

1)Why are Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays considered two of the «fathers» of public relations?

2)Identify and discuss the main stages of public relations development in the second part of the 20th century.

3)What are some of the yardsticks that indicate public relations has «arrived» in the 1990s?

4)What do you think of the tendencies of PR development in Russia nowadays?

2.Explain the meaning of the words in bold in the text.

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3. Fill in the correct prepositions:

a)Problems _____ the perception ____ corporations and their leaders dissipated _____ the United States _____ the wake _____ World War II.

b)Page’s five principles _____ successful corporate public relations are

_____ relevant now _____ they were ______ the 1930s.

c)The Truman years marked a challenging period _____ public relations practitioners and that era was characterised _____ controls _____ information

_____ the name _____ national security.

d)____ big business became more and more cognizant _____ the vulnerable public role it played, so too did corporate managers become increasingly aware

_____ the important role that could be played _____ skilful public relations practitioners.

e)Today approximately 200 journalism or communication programs offer concentrated study _____ public relations ______ nearly 300 others offering

______ least one course dealing ______ the profession.

4.Fill in the gaps with the correct form of the verb in brackets:

a)From its gradual beginnings, the practice of public relations (emerge) in the 1990s as a potent, persuasive force in society.

b)Clearly, the public relations field today — whatever (call) and by whomever (practice) — is in the spotlight.

c)Garrett once reportedly (explain) that the essence of his job (be) to work with the public.

d)Many professionals (recognize) that Ivy Lee (be) the individual who (bring) honesty and candor to PR.

e)The 20th century (begin) with small mills and shops, which (serve) as the hub of the frontier economy, (give) way to massive factories.

Text 3. Public Relations Marketing

Public relations is different from marketing. But elements of public relations, among them product publicity, special events, spokespersons, and similar activities — can enhance a marketing effort. A new discipline — marketing communications — has in fact emerged that uses many of the techniques of public relations. While some may labor over the relative differences and merits of public relations vs. advertising vs. marketing vs. sales promotion, the fact remains that a smart communicator must be knowledgeable about all of them.

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Marketing, literally denned, is the selling of a service or product through pricing, distribution, and promotion. Public relations, liberally defined, is the marketing of an organization. Most organizations now realize that public relations can play an expanded role in marketing. In some organizations, particularly service companies, hospitals, and nonprofit institutions, the selling of both individual products and the organization itself are inextricably intertwined.

Stated another way, while the practice of marketing creates and maintains a market for products and services and the practice of public relations creates and maintains a hospitable environment in which the organization may operate, marketing success can be nullified by the social and political forces public relations is designed to confront — thus the interrelationship of the two disciplines.

In the past, marketers treated public relations as an ancillary part of the marketing mix. They were concerned primarily with making sure their products met the needs and desires of customers and were priced competitively, distributed widely, and promoted heavily through advertising and merchandising. Gradually, however, these traditional notions among marketers began to change for several reasons:

Consumer protests about both product value and safety and government scrutiny of product demands began to shake historical views of marketing;

Product recalls — from automobiles to tuna fish — generated recurring headlines;

Ingredient scares began to occur regularly;

Advertisers were asked to justify their messages in terms of social needs and civic responsibilities;

Rumors about particular companies — from fast-food firms to pop rock manufacturers — spread in brushfire manner;

General image problems of certain companies and industries — from oil to banking — were fanned by a continuous blaze of criticism in the media.

The net impact of all this was that, even though a company’s products were still important, customers also began to consider a firm’s policies and practices on everything from air and water pollution to minority hiring.

Beyond these social concerns, the effectiveness of advertising itself began to be questioned. The increased number of advertisements in newspapers and on the airwaves caused clutter and posed a significant burden on advertisers to make the public aware of their products. In the 1970s, the trend toward shorter TV advertising spots contributed to three times as many products being advertised on

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