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• Considers official attempts to manage the press in Britain in the Houses of Parliament in the 18th and 19th centuries. • Differs from previous work in that it focuses on parliament and not the civil service. • Argues for greater awareness of pre-history of PR in Britain, following similar work in Germany and the US. This paper considers a topic that has received scant attention in the historiography of public relations: official attempts to manage the press in Britain in the Houses of Parliament in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries. Existing accounts of the emergence of government public relations in the UK have tended to focus on the civil service in the first half of the twentieth century, but this article sheds light on a series of earlier developments, including the allocation of seats for reporters in the viewing gallery of the Commons in 1803, the construction of dedicated Reporters' Galleries in both parliamentary chambers in 1847–52 and the creation of a Westminster Lobby in 1884. Taken together, these reforms improved journalists' access to parliament in an era in which direct governmental control over newspapers lapsed. Yet, they also allowed politicians to influence media commentary by determining who was permitted access to parliament and what type of content made its way into print. A case can thus be made that Westminster, not Whitehall, played host to the earliest official attempts to manage the media in Britain, and this has important repercussions for current understandings of public relations history. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present meta-analysis study systematically reviews articles on media relations published from 1945 to 2021. It aims to explore media relations research in terms of progression, journals, theories, methods and data analytical tools, media genres and platforms, geospatial distribution of discussed issues and first author affiliations, organization types, most frequently used words, and major themes covered through a quantitative content analysis and a qualitative text mining approach. After applying the inclusion and exclusion criteria, 276 articles from 2006 to 2017 were collected as the final sample. Public Relations Review has published the most articles, while the most commonly used theories were agenda setting /building theory, rhetorical theory, and framing theory. Media relations articles utilize qualitative methodologies more than quantitative ones, while the commonly used data analytical tools were content analysis, interview, survey, and case study. Our analysis of the discussed regions and geospatial distribution of first-author show that the North American, European, and Asian continents and the US, the UK, China, and Australia have relatively more publications. The majority of media relations articles discussed governmental organizations. Five themes dominated media relations articles: public relations strategy, media relations practice, mass media and journalism, state–media relations, and organizational media relations. • The present meta-analysis study systematically reviews articles on media relations published from 1945 to 2021. • PPR has published the most articles of MR, while the most commonly used theories were agenda sitting/building theory, rhetorical theory, and framing theory. • MR articles utilize qualitative methodologies more than quantitative ones, while the commonly used data analytical tools were content analysis, interview, survey, and case study. • North American, European, and Asian continents and the US, the UK, China, and Australia have relatively more publications. • Five themes dominated MR articles: public relations strategy, media relations practice, mass media and journalism, state–media relations, and organizational media relations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Global models in the theory and practice of public relations tend toward hegemony and simplification. [•] The UK and Singapore are exemplars where hegemony has arguably succeeded and where it needs to be resisted, respectively. [•] Theoretical diversity is required to reflect the complexity of globalization. [•] Epistemological and practical subsidiarity can and should lead the way. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights: [•] Women's career experiences in British public relations in 1970s/1980s were exciting. [•] Evidence of agentic self-efficacy, not typically expected from women. [•] Male and female proxy agents and personal agency approach found. [•] Career experiences were not acknowledged as gendered labour. [•] Women did not act as change agents and were critical of subsequent generations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: On 19th January 2004, the UK government published An Independent Review of Government Communications () known as the Phillis Review, and announced that it would implement the recommendations in full. In the early 2000s, under the Government of the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair, there was some blurring of the lines between the role of impartial government communicators who were members of the Government Information and Communication Service (GICS) and politically appointed Special Advisors. In 1997, Alistair Campbell, Director of Communication, and Blair''s Special Advisor, had been given the power to direct government communicators and subsequently there were a number of incidents that reinforced the view that propriety lines were being breached. It was felt that the GICS was being increasingly politicised. The Phillis Review led to far reaching change, the most important being the appointment of a Permanent Secretary, a civil servant of the most senior rank to lead GICS. The impact on the GICS was significant. It re-established its independence from political advisors, its numbers increased and it found a renewed confidence and role in Government and public life. This apparent progress came to an abrupt halt in 2010. As part of its austerity measures to address the budget deficit, Government spending on communications was frozen and in January 2011, Matt Tee, the incumbent Permanent Secretary was made redundant and left Government service in March 2011. In June and December 2011, the Government made announcements that there would be far reaching changes to Government communications which will be implemented by the Spring of 2012. This includes the appointment of a civil servant of lesser grade to head the service. So, what does this mean for Government communications? This paper reflects on the changes in Government communications in the first decade of the 21st century and concludes that in many ways it has come full circle – history is in danger of repeating itself. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper contributes to the analysis of the interplay of public relations and news in crisis situations, and the conceptualization of strategic framing by introducing the idea of associative frames and the method of semantic network analysis to the PR research field. By building on a more advanced understanding of communication as process of social meaning construction that is embedded in networks of differential relations between different actors, it contributes to extend the perspective of first- and second-order agenda building towards a kind of “third order” or “network agenda building”. Via an automated content analysis of more than 3700 articles we examine agenda- and frame-differences between public relations, UK and US news in the BP crisis. The study documents that BP successfully applied a decoupling strategy: It dissociated itself from being responsible for the cause and at the same time presented itself as solvent of the crisis. It shows that in crises, associative frames in PR resonate partly to associative frames in news. Especially the US news followed BP and did not succeed in presenting political actors as solution providers. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: This paper presents exploratory research into the patterns and volume of cultural capital belonging to 178 PR practitioners in the UK. A survey was conducted among members of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations to establish the levels and types of embodied, institutionalized and objectified forms of cultural capital that the practitioners possessed. The findings differed from the national frequencies and corresponded to results for members of dominant social groups in the UK. The implications for PR research and practice are discussed. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Examines the strategies and impact of six activist group concerned about British broadcasting policies and programming. Emphasis on strategic relationship building; Political culture of United Kingdom; Role of public relations on the society.

Focuses on the image repair efforts of Queen Elizabeth II of Britain. Grief shared by the British Royal Family; Public relations problem of the suspicions on the absence of grief among the Royal Family; Use of denial and bolstering; Defeasibility and transcendence.

Examines developments which led to the establishment of the public relations occupation in Great Britain. Relationship between local government public relations and bureaucratic intelligence; Discussion on central government propaganda in peacetime prior to World War II; Private sector public relations; Description of wartime propaganda; Steps toward professionalization.

• Comparison of four seminal standards attempts in public relations M&E. • Traces M&E standards from their development to application. • Reveals strategies to develop rules, engage stakeholders, and promote implementation of M&E standards. To many, development and adoption of professional standards for measurement and evaluation (M&E) is one of the most promising approaches for advancing public relations practice. In recent years, there has been a surge in efforts to develop standards for M&E in different parts of the world. Prominent examples of this include standard terminologies, metrics, principles for best practice in the field, and evaluation frameworks. Regardless of their alleged importance, however, the acceptance and application of such M&E standards in the practice varies significantly. To better understand the process by which standards in this field are developed and adopted, this article draws on recent concepts from organization studies (cf. Slager, Gond, & Moon, 2012) to analyze the trajectories of four seminal standards attempts: The Barcelona Principles and the AMEC Integrated Evaluation Framework on an international level, the DPRG/ICV Framework used in German-speaking countries, and the GCS Framework in the United Kingdom. The article reveals, by way of an interpretive qualitative approach, the various strategies undertaken to a) develop common sets of terms and rules, b) engage relevant actors in the design, promotion, and implementation of proposed standards, and c) to reinforcing standards symbolically. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]