This module addresses critically the multifaceted and widespread influence of the public relations industry on the news media and
explores the wider effects of this influence on democracy, politics, and society. It will enable students to look under the bonnet of the
news media and the PR industry, understand what makes them function, and how they affect each other. At the end of the course it is
hoped students will be more critical and clear-sighted readers, which will in turn help them become more informed and active citizens.
More specifically, it will invite students to engage with:
 the history of propaganda and the rise of PR throughout the 20th and 21st centuries;
 a wide range of critical theories of news sources and public relations (including liberal pluralist and political economic/Marxian
perspectives, as well as studies which focus on the activities of both journalists and source groups);
 work which attends to the growing importance of spin, political strategic communication, and the work of corporate and
non-corporate lobbyists; and
 a number of illustrative case studies of both media content and distinct kinds of media management campaigns (including the
source battles around health issues, police PR, food industry media management, and the rise of celebrity PR and promotional
culture).
This is not a module that will train you in practical public relations skills. It is an academic module that overwhelmingly focuses on the
critical literature in the fields of journalism/media studies and media sociology. Past feedback has indicated, however, that the knowledge
and understanding students gain on the course is useful for future careers in the communications industries, and this module is a good
complement for the skills-based communications courses also offered by JOMEC

On successful completion of the module a student will be able to:
 demonstrate an understanding of the influence of public relations on the quality and independence of the news, and reflect on
the consequences of this influence for the functioning of political, economic, and social life in Western capitalist democracies;
 develop knowledge of the history and rise of public relations from the early 20th century to the present day; and
 understand how different varieties of PR practice have contributed to the construction of important contemporary debates
around issues such as the environment, health, crime, social movements, and celebrity culture;
 read news texts critically and evaluate their independence and quality in an evidenced manner;
 critically examine the relationship between news texts, journalism practice, the practice of source groups and PR
professionals;
 develop media database research, advanced internet search, and essay writing skills; and
 test, and to critically apply, the theories they have encountered in completing their own studies on PR and the news.

This module will be taught as a combination of interactive lectures, seminar discussions, and “feed forward” media-monitoring workshops.
Lectures will primarily aim to disseminate knowledge. Seminars will be used to encourage discussion of key texts and films by relevant
academics, commentators, and practitioners, and to provide them spaces to use, test, and generate relevant ideas and theories.
Workshops will primarily be used in order to train students in critical media monitoring of news source activity and PR influence with a
view to effectively completing portfolio and essay work. In addition to these formal learning settings students will be expected to carry out
their own independent studies and enquiries using suggested reading in the module outline as a starting point as well as the physical and
electronic library resources available to them.

Subject-specific skills:
With varying emphasis, students will practice and develop the ability to do the following in relation to skills of intellectual analysis:
 engage critically with major thinkers, debates and intellectual paradigms within the field and put them to productive use
 understand forms of communication, media and culture as they have emerged historically and appreciate the processes
through which they have come into being, with reference to social, cultural and technological change
 examine such forms critically with appropriate reference to the social and cultural contexts, and have an understanding of how
different social groups with varying levels of social power variously make use of, and engage with, forms of communication,
media and culture
 analyse closely, interpret and show the exercise of critical judgement in the understanding and, as appropriate, evaluation of
these forms
 develop substantive and detailed knowledge and understanding in designated areas of the field
 consider and evaluate their own work in a reflexive manner, with reference to academic and/or professional issues, debates
and conventions
Academic skills:
With varying emphasis, students will practice and develop the ability to in relation to research skills:
 carry out various forms of research for essays and portfolios involving sustained independent enquiry
 evaluate and draw upon the range of sources and the conceptual frameworks appropriate to research in the chosen area
 draw on the strengths and understand the limits of the major research methods, and be able to apply this knowledge critically in
their own work
 draw on research techniques enabled or underpinned by emergent technologies
 explore issues in relation to news coverage of science that may be new and emerging, drawing upon a variety of personal skills
and upon a variety of academic and non-academic sources.
Generic skills:
With varying emphasis, students will practice and develop the ability to generic skills:
 work in flexible, creative and independent ways, showing self-discipline, self-direction and reflexivity
 gather, organise and deploy ideas and information in order to formulate arguments cogently, and express them effectively in
written, oral or other forms
 retrieve and generate information, and evaluate sources, in carrying out independent research
 organise and manage supervised, self-directed projects
 communicate effectively in interpersonal settings
 work productively in a group or team, showing abilities at different times to listen, contribute and lead effectively
 deliver work to a given length, format, brief and deadline, properly referencing sources and ideas and making use, as
appropriate, of a problem-solving approach
 put to use a range of information communication technology (ICT) skills from basic competences such as data analysis and
word-processing to more complex skills using web-based learning resources and databases

The module is assessed on the basis of two pieces of coursework:
1) Each student will be asked to develop critical “PR Watch” portfolios which include three entries composed of evidence of
public relations and other pre-packaged news influences behind a news article, explanatory analysis which reflects on each
example, and a final review
These will be worth 50% of your overall module grade
2) Each student will be asked to write an academic essay addressing, and engaging with, key ideas explored in the module.
Essay questions will be circulated in the module handbook, and students will also be given the option of choosing their own
topic and question in collaboration with the module leader
These will be worth 50% of your overall module grade
More detail on both of these forms of assessment will be made available the module outline, and guidance on assessment will be given in
lectures, seminars, and “feed forward” sessions (e.g. portfolio-specific computer workshops).

The following topics will be covered in depth, but there will be ample opportunities for students to focus their own analysis on current and
developing PR-relevant examples in their assessed work:
 The PR Industry in the UK: Introducing key concepts in public relations
 Flat Earth News: PR and news sources in the UK news media
 Defining Public Relations: How PR is, and has been, defined by those who seek to understand and practice it
 PR and Public Health
 Promoting Big Tobacco: “Front groups”, PR and the public sphere
 Celebrity PR and the News Media
 Publicising the Police: The police’s use of public relations and implications for coverage of crime and protest
 Political Communications and Spin
 PR and Class War: How corporations have used PR to cement social power and influence for over a century
There will be at least one guest lecture on the module from a prominent journalist, PR practitioner, and/or PR expert commentator

All essential reading will be provided to students in advance of relevant classes.
Moloney, K. (2007) Chapters 2 & 3, “PR From Top to Bottom”, and “A Future with PR”, in Rethinking Public Relations: Second Edition,
London and New York: Routledge, pp.15-40
Franklin, B., Lewis, J., and Williams, A. (2010) ‘Journalism and Public Relations’, The Routledge Companion to News and Journalism
Studies, Stuart Allen (ed.), London and New York: Routledge
Grunig, J., and White, J. (1992) Chapter 2: “The Effect of Worldviews on Public Relations Theory and Practice”, Excellence in Public
Relations and Communication Management, pp.31-64
Duffy, M. (2000) “There’s No Two-Way Symmetrical About It: A postmodern examination of public relations handbooks”, Critical Studies
in Media and Communication, 17(3), pp.294-315
Davies, N. (2008) Chapters 2, 3, & 4 “The Workers”, “The Suppliers”, “The Rules of Production”, in Flat Earth News: An Award-winning
Reporter Exposes Falsehood, Distortion and Propaganda in the Global Media, London: Chatto and Windus, pp.49-154
Smith, E. (2007) “‘It’s interesting how few people die from smoking’: Tobacco industry efforts to minimize risk and discredit health
promotion”, European Journal of Public Health, 17:2, pp.162-170
Beder, S. “Chapter 2: Fronting for Industry”, in Global Spin: The Corporate Assault on Environmentalism, Foxhole: Green Books, pp.27-
45
Mawby, R (2010) “Police Corporate Communication, Crime Reporting, and the shaping of Policing News”, Policing and Society, 20(1),
pp.124-139
Leishman, F. and Mason, P. (2003) Chapter 3: “Proceeding in a Promotional Direction”, in Policing and the Media: Facts, fictions and
factions, Cullompton: Willan, pp.27-42
Gilmor, Dan (2010) Chapter 2 “Becoming an Active User: Principles” and Chapter 3 “Tools and Techniques for the Mediactive
Consumer”, pp.15-51, Dan Gilmor
Strömbäck, Jesper and Kiousis, Spiro (2011) “Political Public Relations: Defining and Mapping an Emergent Field” in Political Public
Relations: Principles and Applications, Strömbäck and Spiro (eds.), Routledge: New York
Miller, David, and Dinan, William (2007) “Chapter 1: Public Relations and the Subversion of Democracy” in Miller and Dinan (eds.)
Thinker, Faker, Spinner, Spy: Corporate PR and the Assault on Democracy, Pluto: London
Jones, Nicholas, “The Tories’ Election Strategist and Arch Media Manipulator Lynton Crosby”:
http://www.nicholasjones.org.uk/articles/39-political-spin/the-role-of-spin-doctors/259-tories-election-strategist-lynton-crosby-davesrottweiler-
digs-in-for-a-grudge-match-in-2015
Turner, G. (2004) Chapter 2, “The Economy of Celebrity”, in Understanding Celebrity. London : Sage, pp.31-51
Turner, G. (2006) “The Mass Production of Celebrity: Celetoids, Reality TV and the Demotic Turn”, International Journal of Cultural
Studies, 9:2, pp.153-165 (an excellent partner piece for Hartley’s “Democratainment” essay below)
Miller, D., and Dinan, W. (2008) Chapters 3, 4, & 5 in A Century of Spin: How Public Relations Became the Cutting Edge of Corporate
Power, London: Pluto, pp.29-77
Carey, A. (1997) “Chapters 1 & 2”, in Taking the Risk Out of Democracy: Corporate Propaganda Versus Freedom and Liberty, University
of Illinois Press: Urbana and Chicago

Further detailed lists of background academic reading will be made available to students in the module handbook at the beginning of the
semester.