The word "propaganda" was coined by the Roman Catholic Church in 1622 when it established the "Sacra Congregatio de Propaganda Fide" in an effort to promote Christianity. In that era, propaganda was viewed simply as a means of spreading the Christian faith. However, 20th century conceptualizations of propaganda depict propaganda in various fashions. For example, some scholars view propaganda as a manipulative and deceptive campaign, as a means to achieve social control, and simply as a tool used to disseminate information.This study provides a foundation for creating a more unified conceptualization of propaganda. This appears particularly important given the resurgence of interest in propaganda research and recent technological innovations that provide for more widespread dissemination of propaganda. This study analyzes 20th century definitions of propaganda via the use of the constant comparative method of analysis. Through this method, key characteristics of these definitions are discerned, thereby providing scholars with a better understanding of the nature of propaganda and enhancing future propaganda research and theory construction. / Department of Speech Communication

捷克非營利組織的公共關係策略: 以「People in Need」為例 / This study deals with the topic of public relations in the context of the nonprofit sector in Czech Republic. It focuses on the Czech NPO People in Need, established shortly after the Fall of communism with aim to facilitate humanitarian aid and has grown into one of the largest NPOs in Central and Eastern Europe over the past two decades. The aim of this study is to monitor how People in Need uses public relations in order to support their organizational goals. The research covers the communication channels and the strategies used by People in Need to communicate with the public, the ways NPO access the media relations and the reflection of the cooperation between journalists and NPO representatives. Data for this qualitative study were gathered employing technique of in-depth interviews.

The purpose of this study was to investigate the difference in effectiveness of four unmanned interpretive devices, which were: 1) a visual shock display, 2) a written brochure, 3) written signs, and 4) an automated audiovisual presentation. These technique types have only been sparsely studied in the past with regard to their comparative efficacy. Examination of the differences in relative effectiveness was warranted to help establish guidelines for future interpretive technique design and utilization.The four techniques, along with a control, were compared two at a time using aluminum can litter/recycling as the concept being interpreted. The number of aluminum cans recovered from park trash containers during each treatment period was used to evaluate the techniques. The comparison between each set of techniques was made using a z-statistic for a large sample, normal population. The number of cans purchased prior to park visitation was also analyzed with this same statistic to determine if this outside factor had any influence on the data.Of the four unmanned interpretive techniques tested, the written sign and the visual shock display were significantly more effective at interpreting the concept than were the written brochure, automated audiovisual program or the control. The written sign and the visual shock display were equally effective, while the automated audiovisual program and the written brochure were not significantly more effective than a control. Cans purchased prior to park visitation had no detectable effect on these results. Also, rainfall and temperature patterns showed no correlation with the data.

The purpose of this study was to ascertain the relationship of a college publication, the Ball State Alumnus, and selected variables on the amount of financial support provided to a university by the graduates. The data for analysis were obtained from survey instruments designed for this study and were administered to 555 Bachelor of Arts degree recipients who in 1969-70, had given a monetary contribution to Ball State University.The final population numbered 495 alumni, ten of whom were eliminated for various reasons. Analyzing the survey instrument data was accomplished by a computor programed for the chi square test of independence. To be significant, the results had to fall within .01 or .05 level of probability.The research was planned to answer sixteen questions. The variables considered for comparison with the amount of monetary contribution to a university by its alumni included the following: age; sex; marital status; reading quantity of publication; time spent reading publication; number of readers in family; reasons for contributing (affective dimension); occupational status of alumni; total family income; recency of alumni graduation; number of family members who graduated or attended the university; promotion of the university to high school students, businessmen, and Congressmen and State Legislators; and campus visitations. Contributions were categorized as follows: $1 to $9; $10 to $24; $25 to $49; $50 to $99; and $100 to $499. A comparison was made of each respondent's age and time spent reading the publication as well.Of the sixteen null hypotheses examined, seven were sustained and nine were rejected.Review of data lead to the following conclusions:The amount of financial contribution given to a university by its alumni was not influenced by the reading or nonreading the alumni magazine, Ball State Alumnus. Furthermore, the length of time spent reading the publication did not influence the amount given to the institution by the graduates.Whether other family members of the alumni read or did not read the publication had little influence on the financial contribution given to the university by the alumni. The recency of graduation did not influence the amount of contribution given to their alma mater. Age of the contributor was not a factor in the amount of support. Furthermore, the marital status of contributing alumni was not an influencing factor on amount of financial support to the university.Promoting the university to high school students was not a factor in the amount of contribution given to the institution by its alumni.The affective dimension of support had a relationship with the amount of contribution provided to the university by graduates.Occupation of alumni was an influence on the amount of contribution provided the institution by its alumni. Furthermore, the yearly family income of donating alumni influenced the amount of monetary support given to the institution.A relationship existed between the amount of financial support provided the university by donating graduates and number of family members attending or graduating from the institution. The amount of contribution given to the university and the gender of contributing alumni had a relationship.A relationship existed between: amount of contribution provided the institution by its donating alumni and informing businessmen of the advantages available at Ball State University. Furthermore, a relationship existed between the amount provided the university and discussing the university needs with Congressmen and State Legislators.The number of visitations to the campus by its donating alumni had a relationship with amount of monetary support provided the university by graduates. Finally, a relationship existed between the alumni age category and the reading time devoted to the publication.

A valid, reliable survey instrument was created to be used by public relations student-run firms and other applied public relations courses to gauge client satisfaction. A series of focus groups and pilot tests were conducted to ascertain themes, refine questions, and then to refine the entire instrument. Six constructs to be measured, including strategies used by the students, project management, communication tools, professional demeanor, communication skills, and overall effectiveness, emerged as themes needing to be assessed. The final instrument included 40 scale questions, six follow-up questions (one for each set of scale questions), and four open-ended questions. As an outputs evaluation within General Systems Theory, this evaluative tool provides a feedback loop that did not exist prior for public relations applied courses and student-run firms. This survey, when used by public relations educators, will provide a standardized tool from which discussions can ensue and pedagogy may advance. / Department of Educational Studies

The digital media landscape has fundamentally changed the way audiences consume and share content, creating many opportunities and challenges for news companies and organizations of all types (private, public and non-profit). This research investigates how the latter have gained the ability to produce and distribute journalistic-like content through their owned channels, thus circumventing journalists and engaging with their audiences directly. It shows how digital media have altered the manner in which news about organizations is disseminated, and, subsequently, the roles of PR practitioners and journalists. Through a series of interviews with seasoned experts in these two competing and collaborating fields, this project provides insights regarding the erosion of journalists’ gatekeeping role and the advent of PR practitioners as content creators. It supports prior research regarding the value of reciprocity between journalists and PR practitioners and offers orientations as to the future of these two professions in the context of the digital media landscape.

The thesis sets out to examine the interaction between the British royal family and its 'public' in the period between the Hanoverian succession and the recovery of George in from 'insanity' in 1789. Throughout, emphasis is given to the reception of royal activity by the press, who circulated information around the kingdom. It argues that the emergence of the domestic, popular monarchy in the middle of the reign of George III was the result of longterm considerations which arose from the activities of earlier generations of eighteenthcentury royalty, and were further developed by George III and his siblings. The growth of the royal family, and the physical and social limitations of the eighteenth-century court, led to its members finding avenues for self-expression outside the court and consequently to the expansion of the public sphere of the royal family. The subject is approached through six chapters: the move from traditional - usually sacerdotal - manifestations of royal benevolence, to sponsorship of voluntary hospitals and similar charities; accession and coronation celebrations during the century; royal public appearances in general, including the theatre and the masquerade, as well as visits to the provinces; the royal residences; royal support for scientific endeavour; and the legacy of the seventeenth century on eighteenth-century royalty, including portraiture and the family's martial connections, and the appearance or absence of mythologized seventeenth-century images in relation to the Thanksgiving of 1789. The thesis is intended to complement recent work on the emergence of national consciousness in Britain in the eighteenth century, as well as on royalty itself. It attempts to identify some of the questions concerning the place the royal family had in the society of eighteenth-century Britain, how its public image reflected that context, and how this helped the monarchy to survive as a stronger institution.

Marketing theory has traditionally sought explanation of commodity consumption based upon psychological and economic assumptions of needs, utility and exchange value, a paradigm of understanding that is becoming increasingly problematic. An alternative perspective of commodity consumption is presented, drawing on contemporary social and cultural theory where the commodity form constitutes a cultural and social logic; a discourse of communication which consumers use to mediate and participate in daily life. Instead of defining commodities in terms of use value and economic value, the commodity is seen in terms of a specific subject-object relation experienced in late capitalism, manifest as sign value and sign exchange. Taking the case of the museum, a context that it increasingly applying the terminology of the market, consumer and commodity; a qualitative research project is undertaken to asses the credibility of the cultural theoretical approach. It is proposed that the museum functions as a site of commodification, presenting history and culture as a set of commodities for visitors consumption. Whilst sign value is a useful concept in explaining commodity consumption, it is suggested a clear distinction between use value, exchange value and sign value is unworkable in practice and that utility and exchange value can be most accurately represented as cultural conditions rather than economic ones. The study suggests that consumption should be conceptualised as a constructive, active and productive process which involves the consumer in a continual exchange, use and manipulation of signs. The role of marketing is thus most appropriately thought of as a facilitative capacity rather as a provisional or directive force that mediates consumption behaviour.

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This research responds to calls for the establishment of an overriding rationale, or raison d'être, for public relations practice. Several scholars are suggesting that the construct of legitimacy provides an overarching rationale that would link public relations practice across organisations, industries and countries (Boyd, 2000; Massey, 2001; Metzler, 1995, 2001; van Ruler & Vercic, 2005; Vercic, van Ruler, Butschi, & Flodin, 2001). However, existing public relations studies using legitimacy have focused on the communicative aspects, with little emphasis on long term and societal level effects for organisations. In seeking to accommodate these challenges, the central research question of this thesis is: Does legitimacy provide a rationale for public relations practice, and if so, in what ways? This study draws on institutional theory, with its central imperative of legitimacy, to address this question. Institutional theory considers the relationship between organisations and environments from a social constructionist perspective. Institutions created through the social construction of reality are based on shared, rational myths of legitimacy which drive organisational and social action, and with which organisations need to demonstrate compliance through their organisational ceremonies or practices. These two central contributors to legitimacy -- rational myths and ceremonies -- provide the framework guiding the study. The study was conducted around issues about the corporate social responsibility (CSR) of the four major Australian banks. In order to consider relationships between public relations practice and legitimacy as an institutional concept, Giddens' theory of structuration is used as a theoretical apparatus to straddle the rational myths of legitimacy at the level of institution, with public relations practice related to ceremonies at the level of action. 'Structuring moments' identified in media coverage provide sites of microanalysis of the intense social construction of rational myths of legitimacy that include organisations and publics. Through these theoretical devices, a number of guiding research questions shape the study: RQ i): What is learned about the social construction of rational myths about legitimacy by studying media coverage about CSR in Australian banking? RQ ii): What is learned about legitimacy by studying public relations practices in relation to media coverage about CSR in Australia banking? A longitudinal, qualitative, case study approach was taken to explore the research questions in this study. As legitimacy was viewed as a process of ongoing social construction, a temporal bracketing strategy (Langley, 1999) was used to examine the relationships between the level of institution and of action over the six year period of the study. Media coverage, annual and social impact reports, and interviews were used as sources of data to examine the institutionalisation of corporate social responsibility in the Australian banking industry. The findings of the study show that there is a dynamic relationship between public relations and legitimacy at both theoretical and practical levels. Through the duality of structure lens, theoretically public relations can be conceived as agency and legitimacy as structure. The influence of these two dynamically interrelated levels of agency and structure is both constituted by human agency and is the medium of the institutions (Sewell, 1992). Public relations practices, therefore, can be seen as human agency that both shapes and is shaped by legitimacy. If legitimacy represents a dominant concept of organisational success, it is also a rationale for public relations practice as an act of human agency that seeks to create alignment between organisations and publics in their environment. As such, public relations practices are not just activities. Rather, public relations practices constitute a central resource that organisations can access to exert power to create and manage their legitimacy within the broader environment. Public relations practices, therefore, are resources because they are embedded within the deep structures of society that influence organisational practice, but also are actions that allow the organisation to shape those structural arrangements. This process takes place within webs of communication and relationships between organisations and publics that form institutionalised legitimacy. This study also found that public relations practice is a balance between the demands of time and space. The traditional focus of public relations studies has been on incidents of compressed time and space, such as crises and campaigns. This study suggests that expanded periods of time and space are also integral to how and why public relations make a contribution as, over time, there were shifts to the institutional arrangements that guide public relations practices. This suggests that there is a compression of time and space as organisations and publics communicate in their relationship and an expansion of time and space to shift frames of social structures and legitimacy. It is through this juxtaposition of time and space, and across dual levels of structure, that legitimacy provides a rationale for public relations practices. The conclusions of this research make a major contribution to public relations theory by building a model for considering how legitimacy provides a raison d'être for public relations practices. As such, the model developed in this research provides a theoretical framework of how public relations practices contribute to organisational legitimacy at a societal level. The study also provides deeper insights to the role of public relations practices in managing organisational legitimacy at the level of action. In doing so, it addresses theoretical and methodological issues of the conflation of publics and environment. A number of opportunities for further research are presented by this study in understanding drivers of public relations practices and the role of inspection forums in processes of legitimacy. For practice, there are implications of taking a longer term perspective to considering the role of public relations practices, its impact on organisational success and, therefore, how it is evaluated.