Journalism 304: Public Relations and the Media
Anne Buckley
500 Ryland Hall
Tuesdays and Thursdays
11:15 a.m. - 12:30 p.m.
Email: abuckley@richmond.edu
Phone: 320-7535
Office Hours: After class or by appointment

Required texts:
"Essentials of Public Relations," Wilcox, Ault, Agee and Cameron, Addison/Wesley/Longman
"Public Relations Practices; Managerial Case Studies and Problems," Center and Jackson
"The Associated Press Style Book and Libel Manual," by The Associated Press (You've probably already got this)

In addition, you must read daily the campus newspaper, the Richmond Times-Dispatch and a national newspaper (The Washington Post, the New York Times, the Wall Street Journal -- any is fine, and online is OK). There also will be selected handouts in class or on reserve in the library. Please bring with you the first week a photo (head shot) of yourself.

Welcome to my class. I'm making three assumptions I hope you'll appreciate:

1) For whatever reason you chose to be in journalism, you're interested in writing and not scared of the written word particularly your own.
2) This is not an entry-level, required course, so you're here because you're interested in the topic and want to be here.
3) You had to pass news writing to get here, so we're not going to spend forever learning to write. We are, however, going to spend a lot of time doing it!

The practice of public relations can be very fun. It's fast-paced, exciting, sometimes glamorous and always governed by current events. The one requirement in any public relations job is for the practitioner to know how to write and how to write quickly, brightly and accurately.

By the end of this course, you should have a good idea of what public relations is. how it evolved, how to put together a solid public relations plan and how to perform some of the basic functions of a PR practitioner. You also should have a good understanding of how public relations drives the "media machine" (or tries to); how the media work with (and against) public relations practitioners; and how to think in both worlds.

Some basic rules:
1) The class begins at 11:15 a.m. If the door is closed, you've missed the class.
2) I urge anyone with "shyness issues" to work through them before this class. This is public relations, and there aren't too many behind-the-scene jobs.
3) Please leave your cell phones and beepers at home.

Attendance: Attendance is mandatory. Missed classes will affect your final grade. If you do miss a class, it is your responsibility to get the material and class notes from a classmate. Please don't call me and ask for an explanation of what you missed. Each unexcused absence beyond two will reduce your final grade by one letter.

Late assignments: All assignments are to be handed in at the beginning of the class in which they are due. I will not accept homework via email after the class. If you don't have your homework, and we are going to go over it in class, you must leave the classroom for the time that we spend going over it in class. Each day that an assignment is late is one letter grade off that assignment.

Grading assessment: Writing projects will be given letter grades. This is how they will be calculated in determining the final grade:

A+, B+, C+, D+ - 99, 89, 79 and 69
A, B, C, D - 95, 85, 75 and 65
A-, B-, C-, D- - 90, 80, 70 and 60
F = either a 55 or a 0, depending upon the effort

Final grades will be calculated this way:

A+ - 97-100
A - 94-96
A- - 90-93
The other letter grades will follow suit.

Grading distribution: Writing assignments and current events quizzes: 40 percent; midterm and final exams: 40 percent; final project: 20 percent.

Current events quizzes: One of the most important assets of a public relations practitioner is to be aware of what is going on in the news. It affects how you do your job on many levels. We will have random current-events quizzes. They will count toward the writing portion of the grading. Not keeping up with current events can sink your average.

Originality of work: ANY WORK THAT YOU TURN IN MUST BE ORIGINAL TO YOU. This means that you cannot plagiarize someone else's work or use material that is copyrighted without permission from the copyright holder.
It is illegal, unethical and a violation of the university's honor code. It also is very easy to check. Any offenses will be taken very seriously and will result in an automatic F for the course.

Please note, this is a guideline for the course, but we might vary as situations arise.

Jan. 7 Introductions, syllabus review. What is public relations? Exercise on "real news" vs. PR-generated news (ungraded). For next class read Agee chapters 1 & 2.

Jan. 9 Definition and evolution of public relations. For next class, read Agee chapter 19, pages 381-386, and handout material.

Jan. 14 How to write press releases. Finding and generating news; localizing leads. Homework assignment. Due Jan. 16.

Jan. 16 Types of press releases. In-class assignments. More press-release discussion and in-class writing. Review of homework. Assignment: Prepare a press release with information given out in class -- attach your photo. For next class, read Agee chapters 4 and 5

Jan. 21 The individual in public relations. Public relations departments and firms. Review readings. Discuss public relations firms and the types of jobs.
For next class, read Agee chapter 6. Handout from Carter, Ryley, Thomas. (We'll work with this handout as we go through the RACE acronym so keep it handy for reference.)

Jan. 23 Public relations research. In-class research assignment. Questionnaires. Homework assignment on questionnaires, due 1-28. For next class, read Agee chapter 7.

Jan. 28 Planning a public relations program. Assignment: Using information on page 138, put together a PR plan. Due 1-30. For next class read Agee chapter 8.

Jan. 30 Communicating in public relations. Homework assignment. For next class, read Center and Jackson, chapter 9 through page 344.

Feb. 4 Crisis communications. Homework assignments. For next class read Agee chapter 9.

Feb. 6 Evaluation. How do you know if your plan was successful? In-class sample review. Homework assignment due 2-11.

Feb. 11 Speaker, Mike Mulvihill, APR. Carter, Ryley, Thomas. Chief operating officer. In more than a decade of agency work, Mike has developed a wealth of overall public relations and marketing experience working with a range of clients from Fortune 500 companies, banks and government agencies to colleges and high technology firms. For next class, read Agee chapter 10.

Feb. 13 Public opinion and persuasion. Assignment. For next class, read Agee chapter 11 and Center & Jackson chapter 7, pages 206-211 and Case 7-3, GM vs. NBC.

Feb. 18 The Audience and How to Reach It. Creating media lists. Placing your story. Using media kits. Assignment.

Feb. 20 More media relations. Class discussion. Order your annual reports. Midterm review.

Feb. 25 Midterm exam. For next class read Agee chapter 16.

Feb. 27 Non-profit organizations. For March 13, read Agee chapters 3 & 12; Center & Jackson chapter 10, pages 362-368 and case 10-4.

March 11 Class project begins. Speakers presentations. Attendance is mandatory.

March 13 Ethics and professionalism. Not an oxymoron, the foundation of your work. Case study. Assignment, problem 10-A, p. 399. Also, your group needs to meet and come up with a formal public relations plan for your client. Plans are due 3-18.

March 18 Legal issues in public relations writing. Case study, to be assigned. For next class read the rest of Agee chapter 19 and some handout material in class.

March 20 All classes now will be devoted to the tools of communication and your group projects. We will cover press releases, pitch letters, media advisories, media kits, backgrounders, fact sheets, bios, video news releases, PSAs and annual reports. Handout material will be distributed in class accordingly. For March 25, read Agee chapter 21 and handout material.

March 25 Written tools of communication, continued.

March 27 Speaker - Bill Phelps, Siddall. Video tactics of public relations. Attendance is mandatory. For next class read Agee chapter 13 and Center and Jackson chapter 3, pages 36-43 and cases 3-1 and 3-2; and chapter 4, pages 69-74 and case 4-2.

April 1 Corporate, community and employee relations. For next class, bring annual reports.

April 3 Annual reports.

April 8 Manipulation. Not a bad thing. Public relations driving the media machine. How does George Bush do it?

April 10 Guests from the public relations community to discuss real-world situations, types of jobs, dealing with the media, trends in the field and how to forge a successful path in public relations.

April 15 No class, however, please schedule an in-depth group meeting to tie up
loose ends. Will need reports from group leaders on individual contributions to project.

April 17 Final projects due. Presentations. Final exam review.

April 22 FINAL EXAM, 2-5 p.m.