PUBLIC OPINION AND PUBLIC OPINION AND PERSUASIONPERSUASION

1. Define and identify strategic publics for an organization.

2. Define public opinion, explain the formation of public opinion, understand the public relations function in public opinion, methods to monitor public opinion and factors influencing the public opinion.

3. Define persuasion and explain the persuasion process, uses of persuasion, principles in persuasion and ethics of persuasion.

4. Describe the role of media in forming public opinion.

Who are public relations public?

Publics in public relations differ from the “general public”.

According to Blummer, 1966, Public are group of people who are :-

• Confronted by an issue• Divided in their ideas as how to meet the issue ,

and• Engage in discussion over the issue.

Public according to John Dewey are group of people who :

• Face similar problem• Recognized that the problem exist• Organized to do something about the problem.

Public is a group of people internally or externally with whom an organization interacts.

Public is any group or possibly individual that has some involvement with an organization.

Public are any group of people who are tied together, however loosely, by some common bonds of interest or concern and who have consequences for an organization.

There are 4 reasons for PR to identify theirorganizations public:

1) To determine relevant public relations programmes.

2) To determine priorities and work within the budget and resources provided.

3) To reduce media cost.

4) To prepare message in a form that is acceptable and effective.

There are two categories of public :

1. Internal PublicsInternal publics are groups of people who are already part of the organization.

2. External PublicExternal publics are group of people who are not necessarily part of a particular organization.

There are 8 most important publics that are common to

most organizations:

1. Employees/The staff (Internal)2. Local community (External)3. Prospective staff and potential employee

(External)4. Suppliers and services (External)5. Distributors (External)6. Consumers and Users (External)7. Opinion Leaders (External)8. The media/ The Press (External)

1. Customers : Existing, potential and past.2. Members of the public in general.3. Trade and community distributors.4. Financial public.5. Opinion Leaders.6. Pressure groups.7. The media : electronic and print media.8. Overseas Government and International.9. Central and local government bodies.10. Research bodies and policy forming unit.11. Local trade unions.12. Employees.

Opinion leaders can be anyone who has an influence on society. Eg: parents, teachers.

Whatever they say is taken seriously by society therefore largely influencing society’s opinions.

Crucial distinction for segmenting a population into publics:

• Extent to which they passively or actively communicate about an issue.

• Extent to which they actively behave in a way that support or constraints the organization’s pursuit of its mission.

Publics are more likely to be active when:

1. They perceived that what organization does involves them. (level of involvement)

2. Consequences of what organization does is a problem to them. (problem recognition)

3. They are not constraint from doing something about the problem. (constraint recognition)

Definitions

Public Opinion is what most people in a particular area think. It is a collective opinion

(Dough Newson, Allan Scott and Judy VanSlyke,1993)

Public opinion is the complex of preference expressed by significant number of persons on an issue of general importance.

(Bernard Hennessy)

1. Focused on an issue, contemporary situation with likelihood of disagreement.

2. Must consist of recognizable group of persons concerned with the issue.

3. Complex of preference. 4. Expression of opinion involved printed,

spoken words, symbols or even gasp of a crowd.

5. The impact is a measurable effect.

Vincent Lowe defined public opinion by first defining what is Public, Opinion and Attitude.

• Public - A group of people who share common interest in specific

subject.

• Opinion - The expression of an attitude on a particular issue or subject.

• Attitude - A predisposition to respond in a given way to an issue or

situation.

Vincent Lowe conclude that:

Public opinion is a collection of views held by persons with interest on an issue.

Public opinion is the aggregate of many individual opinions on a particular issue that affects a group of people.

Public opinion represent a consensus that derived from many individual opinions that starts from people’s attitude toward the issue in question.

1. Public Opinion should be publicly expressed. It should not be held in private.

2. Should be a matter of public interest.

3. Should not be held by insignificant minority, but by the general public.

Understanding Public Opinion help PR practitioner to:

• Effectively monitor shifts in Public Opinion

• Pinpoint formal and informal opinion leaders who should be reach with specific messages.

• Use persuasion to change or neutralized hostile opinion, crystallize latent opinions and positive attitudes, and conserve favorable opinions.

Dennis L. Wilcox, Warren K. Agee and Phillip Ault ( 1986 )

OPINION LEADERS ( MAKERS )

Obtain Information from mass media

THE EXPRESSION OF OPINION

OPINION LEADERS SHARE THE INFORMATION WITH ATTENTIVE

PUBLIC

INATTENTIVE PUBLIC . Some will become interested or aware too.

There are seven methods to monitor shift in public opinion:-

Any communication to influence choices.(Winston Brembeck and William

Howell)

Any communication, intended or not that cause a change in a receivers attitude, belief , or action.

A process that changes attitudes, beliefs, opinions, or behaviors.

In persuasion, the critical factor in opinion change usually is information and how this information is presented or withheld. Information is power according to Herbert I. Schiller, a social scientist.

Persuasion involves using communication to win people over. There are essentially six steps in persuasion process:

Persuasion is used daily by Pr practitioner because job of PR involve purposive communication.

Persuasion involves using communication to win people over.

Persuasion is used to change or neutralize hostile opinions, crystallize latent opinions and positive attitudes, and conserve favorable opinion.

The easiest form of persuasion is to reinforce favorable opinion and the hardest part is to change hostile opinions into favorable ones.

There are 8 factors that can help PR practitioner to be

successful in their persuasion effort.

1. Audience AnalysisPrior knowledge of group’s beliefs and attitude helps the communicator to tailor message to the group’s beliefs.

2. Source credibilityA message is more believable to the intended audience if the source has credibility. People seek authority in sources most of the time.

3. Appeal to self interestPeople will react positively if the subject matter involves them.

4. Clarity of messagemessage has to be clear in order to be persuasive.

5. Timing and contextMessage is more persuasive if environmental factor support the message and situation in which the individual is familiar with.

6. Audience ParticipationChange in attitude or reinforcement of beliefs is enhanced by audience involvement and participation.

7. Suggestion for action People will endorse ideas only if the ideas are

accompanied by proposed action.

8. Content and structure of messageUse number of techniques to make message more persuasive including statistical data.

Mass media serve the primary role of agenda-setting.

When there’s no prior information regarding a subject, mass media play a role in telling people what to think.

Mass media are the most influential in making people aware of an issue or topic.

The influence of mass media is exaggerated.

1. Do not use false, fabricated, misrepresented, distorted or irrelevant evidence to support the claim.

2. Do not use unsupported or illogical reasoning.

3. Do not use irrelevant appeals to divert attention from the issue at hand. E.g. smear attacks on a person’s character.

4. Do not ask audience to link your ideas to emotion laden values, motives or goals to which is not related.

5. Do not deceive audience by concealing your real purpose or your self-interest, the group you represent or your position as an advocate of a view point.

6. Do not pretend to be an expert when you are not.

7. Do not hide, distort or misrepresent number, scope, intensity or undesirable features of consequences.

8. Do not use emotional appeals that lack supporting evidence or reasoning that would not be accepted if audience have time to examine it properly.

9. Do not oversimplify complex situation into simplistic two-valued, either or, polar views or choices.

10. Do not advocate something that you do not believe in yourself.