Problematising history in the public relations curriculum

Abstract

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to begin a conversation about historicising the public relations (PR) curriculum in universities.Design/methodology/approachThe paper discusses PR history and historiography to identify the underlying ideological and methodological influences. It considers scholarship on PR education, and the inclusion or, more often, the exclusion of history except where it serves to reinforce a narrative of steady, and apparently unproblematic, professional development. The paper reviews the presentation of history in textbooks and discusses the authors' experiences of teaching PR history. The paper concludes with a discussion of how the inclusion of history in the PR curriculum offers an important critical intervention in PR education.FindingsThe PR curriculum tends to meet industry expectations around practice and skills in order to develop students as future practitioners. But this paper argues that a more historical and historiographical understanding of PR can develop in students important skills in research, analysis and interpretation. It can also introduce students to working with ambiguity and alternate perspectives. Foregrounding new histories and challenging existing histories introduce students to richer and more complex understandings of PR. It also introduces students to epistemology and ethics, and therefore offers a way to introduce critical thinking into the curriculum.Originality/valueA more historical understanding of PR develops student skills in research, analysis and interpretation as well as critical thinking.

The first modern health communication campaign in Europe: explicit and implicit strategic intents

“…Jacquie L’Etang and Kate Fitch (L’Etang, 2014, 2015; Fitch and L’Etang, 2017, 2020) argue that the research on PR history should be centred upon larger processes of transformation and conflicts in society, as well as the power relations between dominant and subordinated groups (cf. Edwards, 2018, p. 6).…”

Public Relations History in Public Relations Education in Türkiye: Meeting the Past in the Present

“…In view of these proposals, the Communication Research Association, which accredits programs related to communication education in Türkiye, did not make any suggestions regarding the history of public relations for the programs gains in public relations and publicity and public relations and advertising programs. Overall, one of the most substantial studies in related literature that considers and questions public relations history in the curriculum was presented by Fitch and L'Etang (2020). Unfortunately, besides the above-mentioned study public relations history has not been the direct focus or concern of academic studies regarding education.…”

“…711-712). For this reason, Fitch and L'Etang (2020) argue that the inclusion of related history should be considered an important "intervention" for public relations curricula. Within this framework, Fitch and L'Etang (2020, p. 703) suggest that public relations education should be reshaped according to the insights provided by historical approaches and methodologies and call for a "milestone revision" of public relations education that currently presents related history as background information limited to introductory courses.…”

Editorial 29.1: History (and professionalization) of public relations

“…The conference has resulted in several special issues and edited books, which have contributed towards the development of the discipline (IHPRC, n.y) and the CCIJ has also supported this conference with a special issue published in Volume 25, Issue 4 guest edited by Anastasios Theofilou (lead conference organizer), Dustin W. Suppa, Kate Fitch and Anastasia Veneti, a group of scholars based in the UK, US and Australia. In that first CCIJ PR history collection, scholars analysed issues such as fascist propaganda (Thompson, 2020), the writing style of a prominent Irish PR educator (McGrath, 2020), open diplomacy and the link between diplomacy, PR and journalism (Gellrich et al , 2020), 19th century PR campaign to defend national sovereignty (Tantivejakul, 2020), a historical account of creating Chartered Institute of PR in the UK contributing to writing the history of institutionalizing PR (Gregory, 2020), the post-war television and PR in the context of family planners (Borge, 2020), PR measurements in the 1920s (Anderson, 2020), the history of teaching PR in Saudi Arabia (Zamoum and Gorpe, 2020), history in the PR curriculum (Fitch and L’Etang, 2020) and the role of PR in sponsored national narratives (Kinnear, 2020). The issue alone has made a meaningful contribution to the emerging discipline of PR history scholarship; however, other papers have been published from the same conference in other journals.…”