Chapter 20 Multiple Choice Self-Quiz

. "Public relations" can be defined as

a collection of techniques for persuading people to buy products they don't need.

a collection of techniques for persuading news organizations to give space or time to people or products that are not inherently newsworthy.

planned and continuous communication to provide information about an organization, issue or product to the public.

planned and continuous communication to obscure the inadequacies of an organization or product.

. Public relations professionals often deal with either internal or external communications. Which of the following best describes those two types of communications?

Internal communications deal with investors, clients, customers or contributors, and external communications keep company employees informed about the company.

Internal communications always flow from the top of the organization down, and external communications always flow from the bottom to the top.

Internal communications always are carried out by e-mail, and external communications always are carried out through the mass media.

Internal communications keep company employees informed about the company, and external communications deal with investors, clients, customers or contributors.

. Effective public relations practitioners first

send as many press releases as possible to as many people.

determine which media outlets best serve their purposes.

ask editors to promise to use their press releases.

find out which media have been most friendly to their client in the past.

. Which of the following is NOT among the reasons often cited by journalists for rejecting news releases?

They are not newsworthy.

They are too well written.

They are sent to the wrong person.

They fail to include important information.

. Public relations professionals should send news well in advance of the publication date because

news organizations move slowly and need plenty of time to rewrite the release.

a release received close to a deadline is likely to be thrown away.

a release received close to a deadline leaves news organizations with too little time to plan special coverage.

a release received too close to a deadline is less likely to be published.

. When localizing news releases, public relations professionals should consider

psychological as well as geographical closeness.

only geographical closeness.

only psychological closeness.

financial and geographical closeness.

. The ratio of news releases that are rejected by print or broadcast news organizations is about

100 to 1.

100 to 4.

10 to 3

1 to 1.

. When journalists say a news release lacks newsworthiness they often mean it

has limited interest, describes important events or is written to inform the public.

has wide interest, describes contrived events or is written to please the company's bosses.

has limited interest, describes contrived events or is written to inform the public.

has limited interest, describes contrived events or is written to please the company's bosses.

. Which of the following is NOT among the reasons journalists complain about a lack of objectivity in news releases?

The release describes an event or product that might interest the public.

The release is little more than a blatant advertisement.

The release is laden with adjectives and puffery.

The releases is telling the public what to do.

. If a news release contains a statement such as "Parents are worried about the amount of violence in our society," that release is of questionable news value because it is

probably a one-sided story.

stating the obvious.

full of puffery.

reporting a contrived event.

. If a news release contains a statement such as "Quantities are limited, so buy yours now," that release is of questionable news value because it is

stating the obvious.

reporting a contrived event.

telling the public what to do.

lacking attribution.

. If the most newsworthy information in a news release is in the middle or toward the end of the release, the reporter should

rewrite the release to put the news in the lead.

publish the release as it was written.

throw the release in the wastebasket.

send it back to whomever it came from and ask that it be rewritten.

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