Successful campus public relations requires: (1) segmenting the mass audience into categories according to demographics, interest, lifestyles, and other factors; (2) analyzing how members of each segment respond to various messages and media; and (3) designing a campaign tailored to specific segments of the general audience. (MSE)

Reviews existing knowledge on the behavior of public relations practitioners in environmental problems, public concern and media coverage of pollution and deterioation of the natural environment. Available from: Public Relations Review, Ray Hiebert, Dean, College of Journalism, University of Maryland, College Park, MD 20742. (MH)

Argues that scholars from other communication disciplines could learn much from public relations research. Discusses public relations research at the micro level (individual public relations programs), the meso level (managerial), and the macro level (what makes excellent public relations possible). Offers an integrative theory explaining the…

Uses a multisystems theory of organizational communication and a coorientation paradigm to conceptualize which employees of an organization will achieve the highest level of accuracy in communication with an external public. Uses data from a study of a large business firm to test the conceptualization. (JMF)

Discusses the specialized contributions that Scott Cutlip has made to public relations, as well as his broader legacy--the world view that has provided the conceptual underpinnings for most research on public relations and its professional practice today. (NKA)

Outlines a model shift in public relations between those who use only symbolic activities and those who use substantive behavior. Investigates and deconstructs the meaning of image. Suggests that organizations focus on more precise concepts of symbolic objectives and evaluate their success in achieving them. (HB)

Identifies five reporter publics for corporate public affairs programs, some of whom are motivated by personal interests, others by institutional factors. (FL)

Surveys members of the Sierra Club to examine the link between two theories of public relations: a situational theory of publics; and an organizational theory of the relationship between environments and the public relations behavior of organizations. Reports that findings support the situational theory of publics. (MM)

Noting that little theory has been developed to explain how and why organizations choose to manage public relations, this paper argues that theorists cannot improve the practice of public relations until they can explain what public relations is and what it contributes to the functions of an organization. The paper addresses that issue by…

Offers a behavioral definition of a public, demonstrates how the definition can be used by public relations practitioners in researching and analyzing their publics, and reports on a formulative study of a suburban hospital that can serve as a model for public relations practitioners who wish to do similar research. (Author/GW)

Presents a brief history of public relations education. Proposes a model program for public relations education and discusses where such a model program logically fits in the university structure and where it would be most likely to receive necessary resources. (MS)

Addresses communication between organizations and publics. Proposes an expanded theory of communication behavior that explains when publics will become active and interpenetrate the organization. Uses this theory in a study to identify publics that arise from corporate public affairs issues and suggests how the corporate communication manager…

This monograph first reviews a theory of individual communication behavior and points out the similarities between that theory and the observed activities of public relations practitioners. It then reviews the literature of formal organizations to extend the theory to more complex systems. Next, it operationalizes this expanded theory and reports…

The results of a case study of organizational information seeking conducted by the Seminar in Corporate Communication in the University of Maryland College of Journalism are reported in this paper. The purpose of the seminar is to give students practical experience in public relations research. The case study involved the consumer information…

Situational theory was used to isolate two kinds of publics from a sample of 294 journalism and business students to determine whether journalism majors would fit better into different publics and use different cognitive strategies than would students more interested in or more favorable toward business. In contrast to the traditional "domino"…