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The right of Sue Curry Jansen to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.

First published in 2017 by Polity Press

Polity Press

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Cambridge CB2 1UR, UK

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Malden, MA 02148, USA

All rights reserved. Except for the quotation of short passages for the purpose of criticism and review, no part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior permission of the publisher.

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6481-1

ISBN-13: 978-0-7456-6482-8(pb)

A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Jansen, Sue Curry, author.

Title: Stealth communications : the spectacular rise of public relations / Sue Curry Jansen.

Description: Cambridge, UK; Malden, MA : Polity Press, 2016. | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Subjects: LCSH: Public relations–History.

Classification: LCC HD59 .J366 2016 (print) | LCC HD59 (ebook) | DDC 659.2–dc23

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016020989

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Acknowledgments

All books have more sources than their authors can know or acknowledge. Even some known sources may prefer anonymity, including some of the former and current public relations people who have shared industry stories with me, whether out of amazement, amusement, enthusiasm, indiscretion, indignation, or despair.

The field is vast. Its practitioners range from former world leaders who serve as high-paid strategic consultants, to governments, to unpaid volunteers creating press releases on behalf of their local food banks. Its borders are fluid, as are the tasks it encompasses. Many PR people work for causes that they sincerely believe in, and navigate the ethical challenges they face with integrity. They are not the primary subjects of this book.

Rather, I focus on those PR people who, in George Orwell's famous phase, make a living “defending the indefensible,” whether on behalf of politics – Orwell's primary target – markets, or the convergence of the two in neoliberalism.^¹ Corporate public relations, along with media systems that enable it, has, from its inception in the early twentieth century, been called upon to “engineer the consent” of the public in the service of private interests.^² Although not always successful in achieving that goal, these efforts contribute to the disempowerment of ordinary citizens, distrust of public institutions, disenchantment with democracy, and passive acceptance of economic injustices. They also cast a shadow over all PR practitioners and, more importantly, over “publicity” itself, which, in its original meaning, has an essential role to play in deliberative democracy.

During the conception and development of the book, I have received support and encouragement from my colleagues in the Media and Communication Department at Muhlenberg College, especially Jefferson Pooley, who has pioneered our collective effort to teach public relations from a critical liberal arts perspective. Jeff has read and critiqued the early chapters. Ashley Farkas Patwell and Lora Taub-Pervizpour brought important sources to my attention. I am also indebted to colleagues who participated in our summer writing group, where I tried out some of the ideas explored in this book; they include Jeff (again), Irene Chien, Amy Corbin, John Sullivan, and David Tafler. My collaborations with Brian Martin of the University of Wollongong inform the discussion of backfire in chapter 7. As always, Marsha Siefert of Central European University has been a thoughtful listener and wise advisor on many related topics. I also want to thank Andrea Drugan and Elen Griffiths at Polity for their helpful suggestions, as well as copyeditor Sarah Dancy for her superb work.

In addition, I have benefited enormously from the foundational work of critical PR authors, both “insider” scholars and activists and “outsider” cultural critics and scholars, whose efforts I try to partially synthesize in these pages. Although they are acknowledged in text and notes, my debts to them are greater than those obligatory gestures can capture. Of course, all errors and provocations are my responsibility alone.

This book is dedicated to Ann Curry Bialy and the late Beatrice Curry McKay.

Notes