Keynote address by Professor Tom Watson, Bournemouth University & Chair, International

History of Public Relations ConferenceUTS, November 13, 2012

“Historians are dangerous and capable of upsetting everything”

Nikita Khrushchev, 1956

“History: Gossip well told”: Elbert Hunnard

“History is simply one damned thing after another”: Winston Churchill

“History should always be studied in the morning, before anything else can happen...”: Peppermint Pattie (Peanuts)

“The causes of events are even more interesting than the events themselves.”

Marcus Tullius Cicero

“We cannot fully understand the features of the present unless we see them in motion, positioned in trajectories which link our world with that of our forebears. Without historical perspective, we may fail to notice continuities which persist, even in our world of headlong change” (Tosh 2008, p.141)

PR history “state of play”Based on IHPRC and JCOM 2008 papersHistoriography and scholarshipFuture directions?

“Historians had answered ‘what’ long enough; it was time to enquire as to ‘how’ things came about.”

(Craven, in Harwood 1989, p.75)

Move from Grunig’s four “models”Time for less corporatist approach;

“Reimagine” PR historyProto-PR and “Public Relations”Different directions in historiography

2008: 10 papers #2010: 32 papers (+2 keynotes)2011: 28 papers (+1 keynote)2012: 32 papers (+1 keynote)TOTAL: 106 papers

2010-2012: 180 abstracts (82 papers presented)

# Papers from JCOM special edition

#1 History and Events (37)#2 Professional & Practice (27)#3 National Histories (19)#4 Historiography (14)#5 Proto-PR (5)#5 Theories of Public Relations (5)

#1 Analytic (44+#1 Descriptive (37+#3 Critical (15+

National PR Histories: Specific Events of National or International

PR History:

Reflective, meta-theoretical or methodological studies:

Other voices“US scholars have always tended to assume

that activities referred to as PR have been invented by Americans and exported elsewhere.”

L’Etang 2008, p.328

Example of Germany and Austria

Away from Grunigian modelsNot appropriate for cultures “with different

paths of historical evolution”L’Etang 2008, p.319

Proto-PR and Public RelationsBefore 1875, it is Proto-PR: “not … seen as

strategically planned activity in medieval times and … did not use the framing of language and best practice accumulated now”

Watson 2008, p.20

“What historians write, about past events, about history”

(Tucker 2009, xi)

Lamme & Miller (2010): “Removing the Spin: New Theory of Public Relations History”

Bentele (2009, 2010, 2012): Functional-Integrative Strata

McKie & Xifra (2012): Challenge existing historiography; postmodern analyses

“… time to remove the spin from public relations history” (p. 356)

Embrace the EmbarrassingBe historians, not promoters or censors of

public relations’ history

Two directions in 45 years of PR historiography:

1. Fact-and-Event Oriented (FEOT) – Facts in historical order; focuses on personalities and their activities

2. Model-and-Theory Oriented (MTOT) – Give social explanation for developments; uses models/theories to reflect conceptual basis

Strata Period

#5 Public relations as a developing social system: 20th Century

# 7 Growth of PR research & science; internet, professionalisation, globalisation: 1995 –

#6 Boom of professional field and professionalisation: 1985 - 1995

#5 Consolidation of professional field: 1958 - 1985

#4 New beginning and upturn: 1945 - 1958

#3 Press relations and propaganda in the Nazi regime: 1933 – 1945

#2 Consolidation and growth: 1918 - 1933

#4 Emerging occupational field: 19th century # 1 Emergence of the field: mid-19th century to 1918

# 3 Communication of organisations: End of Middle Ages, Modern Age

Pre-history of public relations

#2 Public communication: Antiquity, Middle Ages Pre-history of public relations

#1 Interpersonal communication: History of mankind Pre-history of public relations

Go beyond professional limits and occupational barriers; take globalisation and environmental impact into account

Research products of history; e.g. “invention of tradition”, nationalism campaigns

“Bottom up” research for the undocumented perspectives

History is “increasingly liquid and is being refashioned and retheorised”

PR historiography ‘comfortable’ f0r too long

Take a more analytical, critical viewMove away from corporatist emphasis“Reimagine” PR history from activist viewBuild oral histories of unconsidered and

ignored voices (e.g. Somerville et al on IRA and Loyalist PR in ‘The Troubles’)

Show PR’s strengths, failings, impacts

Increase cooperation between PR historians

Map the archives available for researchersComparative studies; track international

PR across culturesGet greater leverage for bids to research

bodies and industry associationsCreate a peer reviewed journal for PR

history (WiP)

Push the boundaries; Away from Anglo-American focus

Separate proto-PR from ‘public relations’Avoid Grunigian analysisSeek new and “other” voicesTake a critical stance; “Reimagine” the

history of PRBe more dangerousCooperate across borders