The Agenda-Setting of Ivy Lee.

Journalism historians in recent years have made good use of agenda-setting theory in research, but there has been one drawback: in concentrating on the political and economic views of publishers, editors, and reporters, the agendas of those working behind the scenes, the public relations men and women have been overlooked. The public relations agenda was particularly important in the 1920s, when it was estimated that over half of all stories in the "New York Times" and other major newspapers originated in public relations offices. Ivy Lee, the "father of modern public relations," had an agenda that can best be understood through an analysis of his economic and theological beliefs in an early twentieth-century context. Lee was one of the first public relations practitioners to oppose competitive enterprise and espouse alliances of large corporations with each other and the federal government. He combined sophisticated economics with "situational ethics" developed through assimilation of popularized Darwinian theory and Freudian thought. Lee's beliefs concerning economics and theology allowed him to conceal his major objectives with almost total assurance that he was working for a greater good. This helps to explain why Lee had such great success in dealing with the press: He was seen as a proponent of the economics of the future, and his liberalism proved influential. (Author/DF)