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PR from risks
From: David Farber <farber () central cis upenn edu>
Date: Tue, 2 Nov 1993 20:41:59 -0500
Date: Mon, 1 Nov 1993 22:10:23 -0800 From: Phil Agre <pagre () weber ucsd edu> Subject: Public relations A new article by Oscar Gandy sketches the role of computers in the shifting place of public relations in policy formation in the US, together with some instances of PR affecting policies about information technology. His very useful central concept is the "information subsidy". He points out that many organizations, from the press to the Congress, run on vast amounts of information, but their ability to generate their own information is limited by their budgets. PR people and lobbyists, funded by whoever has enough money and a perceived stake in the outcome, fill the vacuum by supplying information that is customized to fill the organization's needs while simultaneously serving the interests of their patrons. The result is a growing commercialization of the public discourse and the political process, a development with worrisome implications for the cause of democracy. The full reference is: Oscar H. Gandy, Jr., Public relations and public policy: The structuration of dominance in the information age, in Elizabeth L. Toth and Robert L. Heath, eds, Rhetorical and Critical Approaches to Public Relations, Hillsdale, NJ: Erlbaum, 1992. Phil Agre, UCSD
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