| active public | People who are aware of a problem and will organize to do something about it.
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| advergaming | Branded, interactive online entertainment used in conjunction with a marketing campaign. This is often delivered via pop-up ads on third-party sites.
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| advertainment | A branded entertainment experience on the Web.
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| agency of record | Being designated an "agency of record" usually means that the corporation has an exclusive agreement with an agency to work on a particular product or service.
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| agenda | Items or ideas the public relations practitioner wants to get across in a media interview.
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| annual meetings | Yearly meetings at which a corporation's stockholders have the opportunity to meet and vote on various issues related to company management.
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| annual reports | Yearly reports to stockholders prepared by publicly held corporations, containing required financial performance information and other material designed to promote the organization.
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| appropriation | Commercial use of a person's picture, likeness, or name without permission.
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| audience coverage | Whether and how well intended publics were reached, which messages reached them, and who else heard the messages.
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| audit | An evaluation and inventory of an organizational system.
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| authoritarian cultures | Centralized decisions made in organizations by top management.
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| aware public | People who know about a problem but don't act on it.
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| blog | Short for Web log, blogs are journals that allow authors to post thoughts, philosophies, and opinions to a Web site for public consumption.
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| boundary spanners | Public relations people who look inside and outside the organization to anticipate issues, problems, and opportunities.
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| B-roll | Extra video footage often sent along with a video news release (VNR) for use by TV stations to prepare their own video stories about the topic on the video.
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| brainstorming | A technique of group discussion used to generate large numbers of creative alternatives or new ideas.
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| branded news | An independent electronic news outlet that uses a corporate-sponsored Web site as its vehicle for reporting in-depth news about one particular industry.
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| campaign (project) budget | Zero-based budget where every tactic is given a cost to produce a budget for the public relations campaign.
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| change management expert | Someone who assists an organization in adapting to various changes, especially in relation to changes in culture.
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| civil libel | Cases involving published, defamatory information showing negligence and identifying the injured party; the injured party seeks monetary damage under civil statutes.
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| closed system | Organizations that do not seek new information from their environments.
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| closed-system evaluation | A pre-/post-event assessment that considers only the controlled message elements.
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| code of ethics | A formal set of rules governing proper behavior for a particular profession or group.
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| collective bargaining | A continuing institutional relationship between an employer and a labor organization concerned with the negotiation, administration, interpretation, and enforcement of contracts covering wages, working conditions, and other issues related to employment.
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| commercial speech | Public communication by business organizations through advertising or public relations to achieve sales or other organizational goals.
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| communication audit | Research to determine the flow of communication within an organization.
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| communication policies | Final statements of organizational positions related to communication activities and behaviors and information sharing.
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| community relations | A public relations function consisting of an institution's planned, active, and continuing participation with and within a community to maintain and enhance its environment to the benefit of both the institution and the community.
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| conference call (financial) | Video or phone conference with the chief executive officer (CEO) and the chief financial officer (CFO) of a company and analysts, financial reporters, and other investment stakeholders. The call usually is scheduled the day following the release of a quarterly report to enable the CEO and CFO to explain the meaning behind the numbers to the financial stakeholders.
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| conflict resolution | Efforts to reduce friction between individuals or organizations and publics.
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| consumer-generated media | Online information that is created, developed, initiated, distributed, and used by consumers. Such information is often thought to be unbiased, credible, and objective because it is perceived that its providers only want to be helpful and share personal experiences with products, brands, and issues.
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| consumer relations | The aspect of public relations that improves the organization's relationships and communication with consumers. This includes resolving customer complaints, disseminating consumer information, dealing with outside consumer advocacy groups, and advising management on consumer opinion.
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| content analysis | Systematic coding of messages into categories that can be statistically analyzed.
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| contract | A legal instrument that protects the rights of two or more parties.
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| controlled media | Those media that the public relations practitioner has actual control over, such as a company newsletter.
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| copyright | Legal protection from unauthorized use of intellectual property fixed in any tangible medium of expression.
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| corporate philanthropy | Recognition of corporate obligations and responsibilities to communities represented by monetary and other contributions to charitable organizations.
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| corporate public relations | Public relations activities that are intended to build a sound relationship between the organization and its employees.
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| criminal libel | Public defamatory communication causing breach of the peace or incitement to riot; the state, or the injured party through the government, seeks punishment under criminal statutes, which may result in fine, imprisonment, or both.
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| crisis | A situation, issue, or event that attracts public scruntiny through mass media and disrupts an organization's working environment.
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| crisis plan | A standing public relations action plan to deal with how to react to crisis situations that is instituted the moment a crisis occurs.
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| cross-disciplinary integration | Messages from all media are consistent.
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| cultural interpreter model | Model of public relations focused on explaining the culture of an organization's publics or stakeholders.
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| defamation | Any communication that holds a person up to contempt, hatred, ridicule, or scorn.
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| descriptive data | Data used to describe something, such as a particular group of people (a public).
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| diffusion of information | The way in which information spreads through a public.
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| diffusion theory | Theory that states people adapt an idea only after going through five stages: awareness, interest, evaluation, trial, and adoption.
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| dominant coalition | People who have the power to direct their organizations.
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| DVD | A digital video disc that has a large storage capacity, enough for a full-length, high-resolution movie.
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| elaborated likelihood model | A cognitive processing model that explains whether people skim messages for relevant cues (peripheral processing) or read and think through the material (central processing).
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| employee benefits | Aspects of employee compensation, often including health and life insurance, vacation and sick leave, pension programs, and other valuable considerations.
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| employee communication | A special audience within an organization that management must communicate with in order to have good internal public relations.
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| employee relations | Public relations activities that are intended to build a sound relationship between the organization and its employees.
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| environment | A concept in systems theory that suggests that organizations exist within social, political, and economic arenas.
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| environmental monitoring | Formal systems for observing trends and changes in public opinion that are used either once, periodically, or continuously.
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| environmental scanning | The monitoring, evaluating, and disseminating of information to key decision makers within an organization.
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| evaluation | An examination of the effectiveness of a public relations effort.
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| experimental research | Scientific testing that usually includes a control group that isn't tested; test results from the group or groups tested can be measured against the control group to determine the extent of difference.
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| extranet | An Internet-based external communication system that organizations use as a link to the media and other outside stakeholder groups.
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| fair comment | A defense against libel, the expression of opinion on matters of public interest.
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| fair use | Permission to use creative expression of others without compensation; it is based on four criteria specified in the 1976 Copyright Law.
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| false light | Part of privacy law that indicates privacy has been invaded if truthful information has been used either in an exaggerated form or out of context.
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| Federal Communications Commission (FCC) | A regulatory body established in 1934 to regulate television and radio broadcasting.
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| Federal Trade Commission (FTC) | The federal government regulatory body charged with ensuring fair dealing in relation to goods and services in terms of such things as truth in advertising; it governs all commercial advertising.
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| feedback | Information received in response to actions or messages about those actions or messages.
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| financial analysts | Investment counselors, fund managers, and others whose function is to gather information about various companies, develop expectations of the companies' performances, and make judgments about how securities markets will evaluate these factors.
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| financial press | Media outlets devoted to coverage of business and financial information.
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| financial public relations | The process of creating and maintaining investor confidence and building positive relationships with the financial community through the dissemination of corporate information.
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| First Amendment | The initial section of the United States Bill of Rights that guarantees the freedoms of press, speech, assembly, and religion.
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| focus group | A small group of people representative of a demographic or other characteristic of an organization's various publics who are called together, usually only once, to give advance reaction to a plan.
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| Food and Drug Administration (FDA) | The agency that regulates labeling, packaging, and sale of food, drugs, and cosmetics.
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| formal research | Scientific research or information gathering.
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| formative evaluation | Monitoring of a program or campaign at various intervals as it progresses to determine what is working and what isn't and where changes need to be made.
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| Form 10-K, Form 10-Q, and Form 8-K | Reports required by the Securities and Exchange Commission from publicly traded companies.
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| for-profit organization | An organization in which any extra monies not spent on overhead and operating expense are distributed on a prorated basis to company owners.
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| Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) | A law passed in 1966, and amended in 1974, requiring the disclosure of certain categories of government information.
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| globalization | The process of developing worldwide markets and overall economic interdependence among the nations of the world.
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| goals | Basic direction of an organization or other entity. Goals are generally considered to be the top priority within an organization because they provide a sense of direction.
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| grassroots lobbying | Organizing local constituencies to influence government decision makers.
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| guerrilla tactics | The concept of using nontraditional communication vehicles to gain visibility for a product or service. Sidewalk art, Internet chat rooms, and radio talk shows are some examples of guerrilla tactics.
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| hostile takeover | Company acquisition through an unfriendly takeover either through a tender offer or management change by a proxy fight.
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| impact analysis | Measuring the results of a public relations effort to determine its effect on an organization's program.
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| inferential data | Information that not only characterizes a particular group or situation but also allows researchers to draw conclusions about other groups or situations.
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| informal research | Nonscientific research or information gathering.
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| integrated communications | Coordinating public relations, marketing, and advertising to create and strengthen the relationship the organization has with a consumer while selling the product or service.
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| integrated marketing communications | Another term used for coordination of public relations, marketing, and advertising to create and strengthen relationships the organization has with a consumer while selling the product or service.
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| internal communication | Communication that takes place within an organization.
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| internal media | Channels of communication controlled by the organization and directed to audiences within the organization.
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| Internet | A vast, interconnected computer network that allows computers anywhere in the world to communicate instantly with computers in another part of the country or the world.
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| intervening publics | People who may make it more difficult for an organization to reach those it is aiming to influence or gain approval from.
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| interviews | Gathering of information from a respondent; they may be obtained in person, on the phone, by mail, or on the Internet.
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| intranet | An Internet-based internal communication system that organizations use as a link to employees and board members.
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| intrusion | Surreptitious recording or observing of other people's private documents, possessions, activities, or communications.
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| invasion of privacy | Four areas in which one entity may violate the privacy of another: appropriation, publication of private information, intrusion, or publication of false information.
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| investment conferences | Meetings attended by investment professionals especially for the purpose of hearing company presentations.
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| investor relations | Public relations efforts with a company's stockholders.
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| issue advertising (advocacy advertising) | Advertising designed to communicate an organization's stand on a particular issue and seeking to generate support for that position.
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| issues management | The process of identifying issues that potentially impact organizations and managing organizational activities related to those issues.
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| key contacts | People who either can influence the publics an organization is trying to reach or who have direct power to help the organization.
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| knowledge management | The computer-based system designed to increase productivity by getting the right information to the right people at the right time.
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| latent public | People who are not aware of an existing problem.
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| libel | Published defamation by written or printed words or in some other physical form that is communicated to a third party.
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| licensure | A formal certification process that indicates a person measures up to a set of professional standards and qualifications.
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| lobbying | The practice of trying to influence governmental decisions, usually done by agents who serve interest groups.
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| malice | A requirement of civil libel in cases involving public figures that states that the plaintiff must show the defendant's knowledge of the falsity of published material or a reckless disregard for the truth.
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| management by objectives (MBO) | A process that specifies that supervisors and employees will jointly set goals for employees; usually followed by a joint evaluation of the employee's progress after a set period of time.
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| manager's role | Refers to the public relations roles undertaken by public relations managers to identify and solve problems.
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| marketing | Business discipline concerned with building and maintaining a market for an organization's product or services. It focuses externally on selling and how quality, availability of a product, or service affect its ability to be sold in the marketplace.
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| mass opinion | The consensus of the public at large.
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| media agenda | The topics chosen by media to report.
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| media kits | See press kit.
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| media relations | Activities that are intended to build open channels of communication between an organization and the media, as a way of sharing news and features of potential interest to media audiences.
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| message | Words, pictures, and actions to which meaning is attached.
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| mission statement | Defines the overall direction for an organization.
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| model | A way of looking at something.
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| moderating publics | Those people who could make it easier for an organization to get its message through to the public it really wants to reach.
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| National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) | The federal government regulatory body charged with overseeing union activities and union/management relations. It governs communication between unions and employers.
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| network analysis | Research comparing organizational charts and communication policies to reality within the organization.
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| news conferences | Structured opportunities to release news simultaneously to multiple media with an opportunity for the media personnel to ask the subjects questions.
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| news release | A news story prepared for the media by the organization.
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| nonprofit organization | A group or company whose primary purpose is not to make a profit, regardless of whether it actually does so in a given year.
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| observations | Data or information secured by observing; qualitative evidence as contrasted with experimental or scientific evidence.
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| off-the-record | An agreement with an interviewer not to print information provided.
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| online | A situation where two or more computers are "talking" to each other.
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| open system | Organizations that seek new information and feedback from their environments.
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| open-system evaluation | An ongoing assessment of the effectiveness of public relations actions considering the impact of uncontrolled elements.
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| opinion leaders | People who are instrumental in influencing other people's attitudes or actions.
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| organizational culture | The values, symbols, meanings, beliefs, and ways of doing things that integrate a group of people who work together.
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| participative cultures | Organizational environment in which employees are empowered to make decisions in the organization.
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| personal influence model | A model of public relations based on friendships.
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| persuasion | The communication process intended to change awareness, attitudes, or behavior.
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| planned publicity | Publicity that is the planned result of a conscious effort to attract attention to an issue, event, or organization.
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| podcasting | A digital recording of an audio program that can be downloaded from the Internet and played on a digital music player.
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| policies | Types of standing plans that serve as a guide for decision making and usually are set by top management.
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| political action committees (PACs) | A group of people who raise or spend at least $1,000 in connection with a federal election.
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| press agents | Individuals who use information as a manipulative tool, employing whatever means are available to achieve desired public opinion and action.
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| press kit | A collection of publicity releases packaged to gain media attention; often called a "media kit. "
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| primary public | The group of people an organization ultimately hopes to influence or gain approval from.
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| primary research | The gathering of original information and data.
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| prioritize | Put in order of most important to least important.
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| privacy rights | Protection from unauthorized intrusion into a person's private life.
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| privilege | A defense against libel; the allowance of what might otherwise be libelous because of the circumstances under which a statement was produced. A person has "qualified privilege" to report fairly and accurately a public meeting or record, even if it turns out to be untrue.
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| proactive | Taking an action to be on the offensive.
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| pro bono | Professional services provided, without compensation.
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| procedures | Types of standing plans that consist of standard instructions for performing common tasks; procedures carry out an organization's policies.
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| product liability | The principle that companies are responsible for any damage or disease that might be caused by the use of their products.
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| product placement | The process by which marketers pay to have their branded products placed in advertisements, movies, and other such venues as a way to reach and influence consumer buying decisions.
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| propaganda of the deed | Provocative actions designed solely to gain attention for ideas or grievances.
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| proxy | Absentee voting rights; in publicly held companies stockholders may give their "proxy" to someone else to vote based on their shares of stock.
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| public affairs | That aspect of public relations dealing with the political or governmental environment of organizations.
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| public information/public affairs officers (PIOs/PAOs) | Public relations practitioners working for the U.S. government or other institutions using those titles.
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| public opinion | An attitudinal measure of the image a public holds concerning some person, object, or concept that is a collection of opinions within society.
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| public opinion surveys | Surveys to measure the attitudes and opinions of specific audiences.
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| public relations | A management function that helps define an organizational philosophy and direction by maintaining communication within a firm and with outside forces and by monitoring and helping a firm adapt to significant public opinion.
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| public relations audit | A research process to determine what the image of an organization is both internally and externally.
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| public relations counselor | One who works with both publics and organizations in the effort to create relationships of mutual benefit and support.
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| publication of private information | Part of privacy law that says even though it is true, some information, such as health records, can't be published without prior consent.
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| publicity | Publication of news about an organization or person for which time or space was not purchased.
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| publics | Groups of individuals tied together by common characteristics or responses.
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| qualitative research | A method of delving into audience opinion without relying on formal, rigorous, number-based research methods.
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| questionnaire | List of questions used to gather information or to obtain a sample of opinion.
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| readability study | An assessment of the difficulty an audience should have reading and comprehending a passage.
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| readership survey | A study to determine the characteristics, preferences, and reading habits of an audience.
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| receiver | The recipient of the message.
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| regulation | A proposition underlying systems theory that maintains that the behavior of systems is constrained and shaped by interaction with other systems.
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| relationship marketing | Another term related to integrated marketing. It focuses on building relationships with consumers through marketing, advertising, and public relations.
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| rhetoricians | Speechmakers who write or deliver speeches.
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| rich media | Media channels that more closely resemble face-to-face communication because they allow for continual feedback and touch more of the senses by incorporating words, visuals, and sound.
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| roles | The collection of daily activities that people do.
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| RSS | Really Simple Syndication is a way of distributing news headlines on the Web to subscribers. The XML file format can be used for Web feeds, Web sites, and blogs.
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| rules | Statements that specify the action to be taken in a particular situation.
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| rumor | An unconfirmed report, story, or statement that gets into general circulation.
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| sample | A subset of a population or public.
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| Sarbanes Oxley Act | a 2002 federal law that requires that corporations be open with information about their financial institutions.
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| satellite radio | Subscriber-based, commercial-free radio service.
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| scenario construction | A forecasting tool that explores likely consequences of alternative courses of action in a hypothetical, logical future situation.
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| secondary research | Research already done by someone else or another organization.
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| Securities and Exchange Act of 1934 | Requires adequate publicity for sale of stocks and full disclosure of any pertinent information when it becomes available; it set up the Securities and Exchange Commission to regulate financial markets.
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| Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) | Federal government regulatory body established by Congress in 1934 to oversee the trade of stocks and bonds and the operations of financial markets.
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| selective attention | Attending to only a few messages.
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| selective perception | Filters composed of needs, values, attitudes, expectations, and experiences through which individuals selectively process messages to derive meaning.
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| simple random sampling | A technique that allows each member of a public an equal chance of being selected.
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| single-use plans | Plans developed for use in one specific situation.
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| situational theory | A principal technique for segmenting audiences in public relations based on their likelihood of communicating.
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| slander | Oral defamation.
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| social audit | Research to determine the social programs of an organization to determine its ability to be a socially responsible organization.
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| social exchange theory | A theory that assumes individuals and groups choose strategies based on perceived rewards and costs.
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| social learning theory | A theory that attempts to explain and predict behavior by looking at ways individuals process information.
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| social marketing | Special form of public relations that involves changing attitudes and behaviors on behalf of a social cause whose work benefits society, not the sponsoring organization.
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| source | The initiator of the message.
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| spontaneous publicity | Publicity accompanying unplanned events.
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| stakeholder analysis | Method for characterizing publics according to their interest in an issue.
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| stakeholders | Individuals or groups who perceive themselves as having an interest in the actions of an organization.
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| standing plans | Plans for dealing with certain types of situations, particularly common situations and emergencies.
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| strategic plans | Long-range plans concerning a group's major goals and ways of carrying them out. These plans usually are made by top management.
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| summative evaluation | Measurement to determine the success or failure in reaching a program or campaign's objectives that is done at the completion of the program.
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| survey research | A formal or scientific study usually accomplished through the use of a questionnaire administered to a sample of the audience being studied.
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| systems theory | A theory that suggests how organizations are made up of interrelated parts and how they use these parts to adapt to the environment.
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| Sunshine Act | A law requiring meetings of governmental boards, commissions, and agencies to be open to the public.
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| systematic sampling | A technique that uses a list to select a sample at random.
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| tactical plans | Short-range plans for accomplishing the steps that lead up to achievement of an organization's goals. These plans are carried out at every level of an organization and on an everyday basis.
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| target audience | The primary group an organization is trying to influence.
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| target market | Communication with key publics to support the marketing function.
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| target publics | Key publics concerned with common issues.
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| technicians | Public relations practitioners who perform the skills of writing, editing, or producing the public relations materials.
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| tender offer | An offer above the market price of the company's stock that is high enough to entice shareholders to sell despite their loyalty to the company.
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| theory | An explanation or belief about how something works.
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| third-party endorsements | Testimonials or other support for an organization, person, or product by someone outside the organization to give validity to the message.
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| TiVo | A term that is now being used as a verb to describe users who record television shows and view them at their discretion. TiVo also refers to a popular digital video or television screen.
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| tool integration | Communicator chooses from a mix of media to use the medium or media needed to reach internal and external audiences necessary for a particular campaign.
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| trademark | A legally protected name, logo, or design registered to restrict its use to the owner.
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| uncontrolled media | Those media whose actions are not under the public relations practitioner's control, such as community newspapers and radio stations.
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| USA Patriot Act | A 2001 federal law that permits the government wider powers to access individual records.
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| uses and gratifications theory | A theory that asserts people are active and selective users of media.
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| video news release (VNR) | A video package sent as a news story for use on television news broadcasts.
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| video on demand (VOD) | Allows users the ability to view video at any time on a computer or television screen. Sometimes spelled VoD.
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| World Wide Web | Another term for the Internet, or interconnected computer system.
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| written consent | Defense against invasion of privacy and copyright violation when permission is given in writing.
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