1) Archaeologists inform us that public relations has roots in
A. Iraq, where bulletins informed farmers how to grow more food
B. England, where 18th century bulletins hailed the coming of the British Industrial Revolution
C. Rome, where tablets paid tribute to new rulers
D. China, where during the Ming Dynasty peasants wrote messages on the Great Wall
2) The word propaganda originated with
A. the Creel Committee during World War II
B. Pope Gregory XV, who established a College in 17th Century Rome to spread the word about Catholicism
C. Sophists, who walked around telling citizens of Rome who to vote for.
D. the farmers who grew grapes in ancient Italy
3) The growth of public relations as an accepted business-like practice in the United States of America stems from
A. the British Industrial Revolution
B. the American Industrial Revolution
C. the efforts of people like Samuel Adams and Amos Kendall
D. the hype of P.T. Barnum
4) Applying the widely repeated definition of public relations developed by the late Denny Griswold to serve an organization properly, practitioners ought to serve as
A. counsels to chief legal officers
B. honest brokers to management
C. advisers to human resources directors
D. consultants to directors of marketing
5) To effectively communicate with a public, it is important to recognize that
A. all publics have the same needs
B. all publics are most interested in the technology you use
C. all publics have their own special needs and require different types of communication
D. all publics have overlapping organizational needs
6) If you target “experiencers,” you’re likely using ________ to segment a public.
A. geographics
B. demographics
C. values and lifestyles
D. sociometrics
7) Employees would trust management more if they
A. were less visible
B. didn’t seek to empower the workforce
C. communicated more frequently and earlier
D. avoided sharing bad news
8) One major reason to do an in-depth interview of top management and communicators before designing an effective employee communications program is to
A. minimize the discontinuities between what each group thinks the other wants.
B. ignore what communicators think management wants from them
C. ignore what management thinks it wants from communicators
D. to minimize groupthink
9) As arbiters of communications in organizations, it’s been the charge of public relations people since the 1960s to
A. deal in an enlightened manner with the realities of a multicultural society
B. sensitize the rest of the world to multicultural needs of Americans
C. make an impact on renewing the energies of various ethnic communities
D. enhance the power of the disenfranchised
10) A typical goal of consumer relations is to keep former customers because
A. most product complaints are made by new customers
B. most service complaints come from new customers
C. most requests for product upgrades come from prospective customers
D. most sales are made to established customers
11) How does advice to clients from lawyers differ from advice given to clients by public relations practitioners?
A. Lawyers advise clients what they should do, within the letter of legal requirements, to defend themselves in the court of public opinion.
B. Public relations practitioners advise clients what they must do to defend themselves in a court of law.
C. Lawyers advise clients what they should do to act ethically and socially responsible.
D. Public relations practitioners advise clients what they should do to defend themselves in the court of public opinion.
12) Litigation public relations can best be defined as
A. attempting to influence a potential jury prior to the beginning of a case
B. attempting to gain buy-in from the legal teams associated with the case
C. attempting to settle the case out of court
D. attempting to manage the media process during the course of a legal dispute so as to affect the outcome or its impact on the client’s reputation
13) An organization’s social responsibility image is often determined by
A. its desire to earn a profit above all else
B. its focus on being the number one patron of the arts
C. its attention to be ethical and to improve the quality of life for people
D. its focus on looking good rather than doing the right thing
14) The success of public relations in the 21st century is likely to depend heavily on
A. following the Code of Ethics published by the Society of Professional Journalists
B. following regulatory standards set forth by the Federal Communications Commission
C. how the field responds to the issue of ethical conduct and preserves its credibility
D. remaining vigilant regarding a person’s right to privacy
15) Reasons why print media are number one with public relations professionals include
A. decreased opportunities for network radio and TV placements
B. about 50 percent of the public considers them accurate
C. many journalists at newspapers and magazines still use news releases
D. they are publishing 24/7
16) Since the end of the 1990s, magazine readership
A. has declined overall
B. has remained stable, especially in the specialty category
C. has increased, with specialty magazines leading the way
D. has declined, with specialty magazines leading the way
17) Which of the following is good advice for public relations people who want to know how to deal effectively and ethically with people representing the various types of media?
A. Treat them first and foremost professionally and with respect
B. Treat them like all other journalists in any medium
C. Treat their skepticism with skepticism
D. Treat them like a salesperson selling a product to a customer
18) To achieve placement of a written release, which of the following should you avoid?
A. Directing a release to a specific beat reporter
B. Frequently using exclusives
C. Determining how best to contact a reporter or editor by asking them for their preference
D. Calling a reporter or editor yourself, rather than have an assistant make the call
19) The use of video news releases has been criticized for
A. excessive cause-related marketing
B. presenting advertising as news
C. supporting advocacy advertising campaigns
D. deliberate misrepresentation of facts
20) Like corporate public interest advertising, the public service announcement (PSA) is aimed at providing an important message. However, a key distinction is that the PSA
A. can only be used by government organizations
B. can only be used in “emergency” situations
C. is strictly reserved for nonprofit organizations
D. differs greatly in format and style
21) A 30-second radio spot would usually be expected to consist of approximately
A. 25 words
B. 45 words
C. 65 words
D. 125 words
22) Which of the following web-based communications vehicles are appropriate for public relations practitioners to distribute content easily?
A. Podcasting
B. RSS
C. Second Life
D. Wikis
23) When they use the Internet to communicate, practitioners can
A. engage in more focused, targeted, one-on-one communication with consumers
B. design more self-promotions
C. increase time spent searching for data
D. decrease time spent on responding to market changes
24) If public relations professionals expect to benefit from their website, they
A. should strive to make it as easily navigable as possible
B. should strive to make it static
C. should strive to deliver the maximum depth and breadth of information available
D. should strive to limit the use of news clips and publications
25) Which of the following is true in regards to texting?
A. Allows for sending messages of 160 or more characters
B. Common application in business-to-business communication
C. Not a common application for person-to-person messaging
D. Is the most widely used mobile data service
26) Public relations practitioners have found that Twitter can be
A. a vehicle to direct Twitter users to websites
B. a vehicle to direct Twitter users to products
C. a means to do some cybersquatting
D. an editorial calendar check
27) Which of the following pertain to CEO blogs?
A. They have received rave reviews from various publics.
B. They typically turn negative public relations positive almost instantly.
C. They are among the newest phenomena in the blogosphere.
D. They are the vehicle of choice among most public relations practitioners for disseminating news.
28) Among the most essential steps in the public relations management process is
A. the ability to set overall organizational objectives
B. the ability to set overall organizational strategies
C. the ability to define a public relations problem or an opportunity
D. the ability to research overall organizational problems
29) PERT and Gantt are tools that can help public relations practitioners to
A. visualize tasks to be performed in a campaign or project
B. designate who’s responsible for each task in a campaign
C. chart costs of various tasks
D. determine whether all goals and objectives are being met
30) Planning for a public relations program is important, but principally a program is assessed in terms of its
A. publicity value and practice
B. performance and publicity value
C. actions and performance
D. programming and publicity value
