Journal of Public Relations Research

Berger, Bruce K.

1999 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1103_01

This study conceptualizes organizational public relations as attempts to construct ideological world view. Three aspects of ideological world view—distortion, legitimation, and terrain of struggle—are elaborated and then grounded in a case study of the public relations practices of The Upjohn Company, a pharmaceutical manufacturer and researcher, during the Halcion(R) (sleeping pill) crisis in the 1980s. The case study reveals how such practices helped create a supportive scientific world view for Halcion, which may have contributed to the product's steady growth in sales and profits during the decade, despite intense media scrutiny and criticism and the restrictive actions of health authorities in some countries.

Hallahan, Kirk

1999 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1103_02

Framing is a potentially useful paradigm for examining the strategic creation of public relations messages and audience responses. Based on a literature review across disciplines, this article identifies 7 distinct types of framing applicable to public relations. These involve the framing of situations, attributes, choices, actions, issues, responsibility, and news. Potential applications for public relations practice and research are discussed.

Lee, Jaesub; Jares, Stella M.; Heath, Robert L.

1999 Journal of Public Relations Research

doi: 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1103_03

This research explored general legal counsel's encroachment into the corporate public relations function, cooperative relationships between public relations and legal counselors, and effects of organizational "excellence" and the quality of leader-member exchange on legal encroachment and cooperative relation in decision-making contexts in the process of organizational crisis management. The findings indicated that legal encroachment into public relations occurs. Nevertheless, public relations and legal counselors have highly cooperative relationships. Organizational excellence is negatively related to legal encroachment but positively correlates with cooperative relations. The quality of leader-member exchange positively affected the cooperative relationship between general counsel and public relations but not legal encroachment. These findings refine prior studies on encroachment and support predictions made by the Excellence Study.