Q: Write a post about the aspect of public relations that you have chosen for your presentation this semester. If you have created a PowerPoint or Prezi, embed it into your post.
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My presentation, which I gave on December 6, 2011, was how PR is relevant and used in the three levels of government today.
Click here to view my Prezi that I showed as I presented.
This is the page that will appear when you click the blue "here"... press that "Play" arrow and Enjoy! 🙂
(Quick Free Advertisement: If you’ve never ever used Prezi, I recommend that you do! It’s fun, different and easy to figure out and use. If you do decide to use it, give yourself plenty of time to play around with it as you create your masterpiece.)
Below are my speech notes so that you can make sense of each click on the Prezi.
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Numbers correspond with each click: (Un-Bold Words is my Speech Commentary)
Personal Introduction: Greeting, Name and Chapter being presented:
1) Today I am presenting to you how PR is important in and demonstrated by the 3 areas of government:
2) (PIC of Branches) Many of you automatically thought of the Executive, Legislative and Judicial Branches…But NO, I don’t mean those three!
3) I am referring to the Federal, State and Local Areas, or levels, of governments.
4) The first level is the FEDERAL GOV.
Now the Federal Government includes/is comprised of the Federal Executive, Legislative and Judicial branches and all of their entities. That means, the president, Congress, Supreme Court, and the like. It is one of the world’s greatest collectors, distributors and circulators of information is the US government. Advertising is a key activity: Without advertising, opportunities to grab potential voters are lost. They want to prove that they are worth the vote, the volunteer effort or the donation. Federal agencies spend several hundred million dollars each year on public service advertising. Now, CAN ANYONE GUESS what is considered to be “The Apex of PR efforts” for the Government?
5) The…. WHITE HOUSE! Yes! 🙂 and this is inclusive of both the president and his staff and it is the most prominent area of the Federal Government.
6) It is habit, almost unspoken policy, that the president of the United States receives the most media coverage and receives more FACE TIME than Congress and all the federal agencies combined.
7) Looking back through US history, its easy to see that each president had his own personal styles of PR and ways of communicating with the public and media.
To prove this, I will be providing a few examples.
8) First president we will review is… (Reagan comic PIC)
9) REAGAN
10) Reagan was a master of communication! We know he had an acting career before politics, thus giving him lots of time and practice of speaking in front of a camera, which was evident in his ease and effectiveness on television. His speeches were always memorable and full of substance and real emotion. And just personally, as an-all-about American man and husband, father and actor, (which can be evidenced by his involvement in Hollywood), his personality and personal appeal gained him many loyal supporters 11) Next is… (Bush comic PIC)
12) Yes, that character was our President BUSH.
13) Like Reagan, Bush had some gifts in manners of stagecraft. As president, he had at his disposal the available skills of a complete TV and Video Expert Team to help him. However in comparison to other presidents, his communication was relatively limited. Not only did his Administration keep a tight control on information that was released, but he also had fewer press conferences than both President Clinton and President Bush, Sr. combined.
14) Moving on: we have President Barack OBAMA.
15) Now, being in this day and age, being up to date with how the media works as a public figure is important because it is instant and you are the one making the news. Obama definitely knows this and has shown himself to be very capable many times as a master of media. He is a skilled orator, with a riveting presence that, whether you agree with his policies or not, makes you want to believe everything he says. As demonstrated time and again with each of his seemingly convincing speeches, they tend to be style over substance. Many people have compared the manner, technique and the graceful sophistication of his vocal delivery to those of Reagan, Kennedy and MLK.
 16) The Federal Government has a whole team dedicated to producing news releases to inform and hopefully sway voters in their favor. The government knows that in order to reach today’s society, an outreach must be made ELECTRONICally. And they certainly do use it, to their full advantage. It was recorded that in only 9 months, $3.5 million was spent on political and campaign emails alone.
17) Â (News Phone PIC) For the Federal government, I think that PR is much more relevant and necessary today than in the past because of the immediate-ness of the press with stories and news. Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â Â
18) (And Social Net Outlet PIC) The constant instant-ness of information that we have access to—through our social networking tools, online news websites and live televised press releases—almost speeds up the reactions and, consequently, the final outcome of any happening event.
19) (Courier and telegraph PICS) In the past, say sometime in the 19th century, if a company, celebrity or businessperson was going through a time of failure, scandal, injury, bankruptcy, unethical blunders or anything that could potentially damage its/his reputation with the public, it/he would have time to take measures to hide the problem and perhaps even fix it or provide a distraction before the public or any newspaper reporter even knew about it.
20) (World Hands PIC) Even then, for the news to travel far, it would take extra time and effort through currier or telegraph just to reach a big city in the next state over; and that’s not even considering the journey a message had to take to get to another country around the world. Then it had to be typed and printed in a newspaper or given to a town crier. Even then, not everyone received the paper or was in proper social gossip circles. For instance…
21) The American Public Never Knew (PIC) about President Franklin D. Roosevelt and his constant struggle with illness. Even after his extensive 4 terms as president—that’s 12 years and 3 months in the White House!—America had no idea that he suffered from cardiac problems, skin cancer, tumors, and polio that made him a paraplegic in a wheelchair. How in the world did they not know he needed a wheelchair?!? (Source)
22) (News web//Tweet it PICS) The possibility that something like this could happen again is next to impossible. If it happened today, someone would find out, and send out a Tweet. Next thing you know, some news scout hears about it, and its on the air as breaking news within the hour, and every station has their journalists popping out web articles within the next few minutes announcing, “The US receives the blow: the President has Polio. Is he still fit to lead?” And his administration would be attacked and come to shreds.
23) (PIC of FDR in his car) But no, FDR and his family and staff kept it a secret from the people (Source). They even made him a special car that could be operated by hands only, and a special podium and if somehow someone did find out about it, they kept it a secret too, (perhaps out of respect for his position as the nation’s leader).
24) Another example is…President Johnson and His Secret War in Vietnam (TITLE). If you didn’t know anything about this time period or this war or this president: In a nutshell:
25) (PIC of Book with SUBTITLE: “Lyndon Johnson’s Secret White House Tapes”)
- We go to war with China in Vietnam.
- Things start to go badly.
- President Johnson begins to lie blatantly to the country about our progress.
- He even has secret taped conversations with some staff members about the war’s negative results.
26) (TITLE: The Pentagon Papers, a Study by the Department of Defense).
- The Department of Defense decides to do a completely confidential study on Vietnam relations & the war.
- Both Johnson and the rest of his administration don’t know about it.
- The study reveals the President’s lies.
27) (PIC of “Top Secret” over Vietnam Map)
- Also reveals that Johnson had taken measures to extend the war deceptively despite his campaign promise not to.
- The DOD realizes that neither the American public nor the media have been notified or aware of any of this.
28) (PIC of TIME Magazine Cover titled “Pentagon Papers: The Secret War”)
- An aide to the study’s taskforce leaked the report, now dubbed the “Pentagon Papers,” to the NY Times, exposing Johnson and his secrets.
- (Source)
29) I don’t believe that things like this could happen anymore, because we demand more transparency today, than before; we’re more curious and suspicious. And because of Twitter, Facebook, blogs, AOL/Yahoo news flashes, YouTube video documentation, news websites and even texting, once someone gets a clue or a leak, that information spreads instantly like wild fire across a nation (and then globally) within a few minutes, creating massive public opinion. And all you need is access to a smart phone, TV, or computer.
30) Now, moving on from the White House, we come to another area of Federal Government…  The Agencies. (TITLE)
31) As defined by Oxford American Dictionary, a Federal Agency is “an administrative unit of government.” These government-run organizations across America are put in charge to oversee and govern particular functions generally related to government duties.
32) (Comic PIC of “Federal Agency to Eliminate Federal Agencies”)
33) (PIC Rainbow Agency Chart) This image is only highlighting 45 government agencies. And the majority of these are involved in law enforcement: the CIA, Coast Guard, the DOD, Homeland Security, FBI, and Secret Service.
But there are also many more, in both number and variety. Congress, for example, is considered an agency. Customs and Border Protection, the Department of Energy, Department of Justice, and the Drug Enforcement Administration and Treasury Command are a few other examples.
34) Here are a couple of other agencies you may be familiar with: Public Affairs Officers, The United States Postal Service, Food and Drug, National Weather Service, Census Bureau…etc.
35) (VIDEO) …So you’ll see these types of commercials pop up randomly every once and awhile from different states: and its because they’re all competing first hand every day for your business, your money, and your loyalty—They know that if you come once, you’re likely to come back again or recommend your wonderful new vacation spot to all your friends.
36) That video was done by South Carolina’s (emphasis on>>) STATE GOVERNMENT, (TITLE) the second layer of government.
37) The state government is the collector and distributor of information from, for and to its residents and constituents. As I mentioned before, there is constant competition for tourism among the states, all wanting to attract new families and boosting the state’s economy with the extra revenue coming from outsiders. Also to help their economy, state officers are given the job of finding ways to encourage business growth for the whole state. So it can prove that it’s worthy of residents and tourists alike, the health and safety, with issues like bragging low rates of crime or a drop in air pollution, of the state is often targeted by PR campaigns.
38) And finally the last level: THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT. That means the individual governments of our cities, counties and provinces that employ information specialists to distribute news and information to the city’s inhabitants. They’re there to inform the people about (and take care of) all the public issues and procedures that make the city tick and make sure they are done properly. And like States, City governments (think LA, Las Vegas, NYC, Orlando!!) will promote themselves to attract new residents, businesses and tourists.
39) State and Local Government Agencies (TITLE) include…
40) …Organizations like Airports, Theme Parks, Visits Bureau, Police and Fire Stations and City Council.
41) (FULL VIEW) The End…Thank you for listening!
Isa's First Blog 