StudentShare
Contact Us
Sign In / Sign Up for FREE
Search
Go to advanced search...
Free

The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars - Article Example

Cite this document
Summary
In today’ complex business environment, organizations, countries and institutions have to care about their public image. This paper seeks to analyze how public relations companies played a role in publicizing various entities during the Syria, Libyan and Kuwait wars. …
Download full paper File format: .doc, available for editing
GRAB THE BEST PAPER98.2% of users find it useful
The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars
Read Text Preview

Extract of sample "The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars"

The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars In today’ complex business environment, organizations, countries and s have to care about their public image. No wonder many organizations strive to maintain good public relations with the local, national and even global audience. Business professionals have defined the term public relations in various ways. However, they agree on the fact that public relations is concerned with the cultivation of positive relations for products and organizations, to the key audiences, through the use various communication tools and channels. No doubt, public relations officers and organizations work closely with media houses so as to build a favorable image for their organizations. In most cases, the publicizing of the product or organization is done through print stories and other mass media. The general roles of public relations today include creating awareness and positive image for customers or organizations; monitoring various media channels on behalf of companies for public comments presented therein; building goodwill in the market; and managing crises that pose a threat to an organization or product. While public relations can be employed positively to encourage business growth and for the good of well meaning organizations, in some cases, it is applied to cover up ills committed through propaganda. This paper seeks to analyze how public relations companies played a role in publicizing various entities during the Syria, Libyan and Kuwait wars. The Role of Public Relations Firms during the Kuwait War In August, 1990, the Iraqi military force invaded Kuwait under the command of President Saddam Hussain. For a long time before this invasion, Iraq had been a close ally of the United States of America. During the Kuawait War, Kuwait engaged in a public relations campaign with an aim of convincing the world of the “ills” that Saddam and his blood thirsty troops committed (What Really Happened nd). One public relations firm by the name Hill and Knowlton played a unique role in this respect. The PR firm produced several video clips that cost well beyond 500 million US dollars, and free airtime worth tens of millions of US dollars. The video news releases (VNRs) were presented to viewers by various TV stations across the world. Little was known at this time that the public relations company behind these releases was run by Kuwaitis (What Really Happened nd). Instead of real journalism, innocent viewers were actually presented with well crafted propaganda in the form of news stories and footage. It was only after the war ended that the truth behind the releases came to be revealed. In fact, it was later noted that the more the people watched these releases the less they knew the facts about the war as they were. Even more, the more they watched these releases, the more people supported the Bush administration which locked horns with Iraq over the invasion. One Arthur Rowse sought to view some of the VNRs produced by the PR firm but the latter declined to offer him assistance in a bid to conceal the truth as noted by What Really Happened (nd). During the public relations campaigns, the Wirthlin Group engaged members of the public daily in opinion polls with an aim of helping Hill & Knowlton play to the highest with the people’s emotions. The essence of this was to establish the best themes and slogans that would best attract support for the US military action. One famous testimony that attests to the flawed representation of events during the Kuwait war is that of Nayirah (Fowler & Fedler 1991). The testimony, presented in October 1990 before the Congressional Human Rights Caucus, by a girl called Nayirah had it that during the Kuwait War, Iraqi soldiers committed grivious atrocities even to babies. The soldiers, according to the testimony, took babies out of incubators in a Kuwait hospital and left them for the dead. Public relations organizations took advantage of the testimony, at that time appearing to be credible in every sense. Due to this and other emotional testimonies, the US senate and president were convinced of the need to engage in the Gulf War. Later, after the war ended, it was realized that in fact the Nayiorah testimony was in fact unsubstantiated and was questionable in credibility. While it was indeed found that some babies died in hospitals, this was as a result of the fleeing of doctors and nurses from the hospital during military invasions. In 1992, the truth regarding the authenticity of the girl in question and the facts of her testimony came to the light. In fact, her name was Saud bin Nasir Al-Sabah, daughter of a senior Kuwaiti government official (Fowler & Fedler 1991). Furthermore, it was realized that the testimony that she gave was actually organized on behalf of the Kuwaiti government by Hill and Knowlton. Roles of PR Firms in Syria and Libyan Wars Former Libyan leader, the late Muammar Gadaffi is noted to have sought the help of reputable public relations firms during the civil unrest that punctuated the country’s mostly peaceful history. During the NATO led strikes against Tripoli, various press releases were posted to inform the world of how evil the leader was, and how his regime had propagated atrocities against its people (Marshall 2011). A lot of propaganda was posted to the effect that the leader was preparing to unleash terror oh more of his people. According to Nimmo (2011), reports that the French foreign minister Alaine Juppe once called for the establishment of a public relations campaign to garner support for military intervention in Syria. This is based on the assumption that the country’s government is biased toward propagating crimes against its citizens. Conclusion As came be seen from the discussion presented above, public relations firms have been used to garner support for war or to present concerned parties in good light. In spite of the massive support some organizations receive based on the PR activities that they enjoy, some of the information provided to the public is pure propaganda and cannot face the light of truth. Reference List Fowler G. & Fedler F., 1991, "A Farewell to Truth: Lies, Rumors and Propaganda as the Press Goes to War". Florida Communication Journal 22 (1): 22–34. Marshall A. , 2011, Lies, War, and Empire: NATO’s “Humanitarian Imperialism” in Libya 2011, http://andrewgavinmarshall.com/2011/08/26/lies-war-and-empire-nato%E2%80%99s-%E2%80%9Chumanitarian-imperialism%E2%80%9D-in-libya/ [Accessed 24 November, 2011] Nimmo K., 2011, Public Relations Campaign for Military Intervention in Syria Begins http://www.infowars.com/public-relations-campaign-for-military-intervention-in-syria-begins/ [Accessed 24 November, 2011] What Really Happened, nd, How the public relations industry sold the Gulf War to the US, the mother of all clients http://whatreallyhappened.com/WRHARTICLES/incubatorlie.html [Accessed 24 November, 2011] Read More
Cite this document
  • APA
  • MLA
  • CHICAGO
(“The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars Article”, n.d.)
The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars Article. Retrieved from https://studentshare.org/social-science/1584959-the-role-of-public-relations-companies-in-the-wars
(The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars Article)
The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars Article. https://studentshare.org/social-science/1584959-the-role-of-public-relations-companies-in-the-wars.
“The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars Article”, n.d. https://studentshare.org/social-science/1584959-the-role-of-public-relations-companies-in-the-wars.
  • Cited: 0 times

CHECK THESE SAMPLES OF The Role of Public Relations Companies in the Wars

Rise of Social Media in the Ability of Western Military

This essay shall argue that the rise of the social media has decreased the ability of the western military to control perceptions of contemporary conflicts, especially in relation to how these wars are fought, how necessary or unnecessary they may be, how long they are fought, and in what favor the wars should end.... The Egyptian civil war was known as the Facebook Revolution, largely in recognition for the huge role of Facebook and the social media on the turnout of the war in the favor of the majority of Facebook users....
12 Pages (3000 words) Essay

Objectives of an organizations public relations department

In doing so, the public relations department has to maintain contact with a number of connected entities such as customers, suppliers, media partners and the general public (potential customers) as well by using all forms of communication mediums possible, chief ones among them being newspapers, magazines, television, radio and the Internet. The first recognized and agreed upon definition of public relations was given by Edward Bernays who said that public relations was a management function that studies and records public attributes, lays down policies, strategies and procedures with a view to the aspirations of the organization, which is implemented by the setting into motion a sequence of actions capable of achieving a positive public perception and acceptance....
16 Pages (4000 words) Essay

The Role of Rhetoric in Public Relations Practice

To a… But every organization big and small is in effect engaged in some form of public relations activities during its normal course of business and also in handling the consequence of a disaster or an This is because any organization will need to protect its reputation in order to survive and grow, especially in the long run.... Thus, the process of public relations does happen in some form or the other in all organizations as well as in the case of individuals especially if he or she is frequently seen in the public eye....
11 Pages (2750 words) Essay

The Public Relations Industry

At the birth of the new millennium, the ascendency of digital technology into the mainstream has once again enhanced and redefined the nature and role of public relations industry.... This essay will pertain itself to the analysis of how Public Relations communications theory can help understanding the role of new media.... The public relations industry, which is an offshoot of the traditional advertising industry, turned into a dominant business institution through the course of the twentieth century....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

ICT and Digital Media in Public Relations Campaigns

hellip; This report will show how and why the current state of the firm can be improved by ICT and to briefly discuss predicted advancements in the field of public relations.... This report “ICT and Digital Media in public relations Campaigns” shows the current state of Information and communication technology and how it has made an impact on the PR industry.... ICT is one of the sectors driving the new economy and also the public relations sector....
6 Pages (1500 words) Assignment

International marketing exam

Market segmentation is the identification of the buyer subsets within a market, demonstrating same buyer behaviour and sharing similar needs (Croft, 1994).... The world is composed of millions of buyers with their own sets of behaviour and needs which the seller has to take into… Segmentation allows the seller to better satisfy the needs of the customers - existing or potential. Some questions that can help businesses in market segmentation are: Can the organization make a profit out of the segment (is it viable)?...
4 Pages (1000 words) Essay

Public Relations in Social Media

What role should public relations play in this regard, bearing in mind the observation of George Monbiot (2011) that public distrust of corporations is partly due to perceptions of ‘industry spin'?... om shed on public relations in the new era of social media?... How can companies protect their reputations in the digital age?... Opinions that are publicized or broadcasted can powerfully affect trade, public policy, and social relations....
6 Pages (1500 words) Essay

Role of Governments in the Global Oil Economy

This paper explores the role of governments in shaping the global oil economy.... hellip; It goes without saying that oil plays a major role in modern life.... The oil industry can be both a curse and a boon on the global economy.... The disastrous impact that oil can have on the economy has been proved after the price shocks in the 1970s....
6 Pages (1500 words) Coursework
sponsored ads
We use cookies to create the best experience for you. Keep on browsing if you are OK with that, or find out how to manage cookies.
Contact Us