Public Relations Writing: Form & Style

PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING: FORM AND STYLE combines the practical approach of a trade book with the fundamental principles and theories of Public Relations to provide you with the essential techniques and methods needed to write with understanding and purpose. This text guides you through a logical progression of PR writing, starting with an explanation of how this kind of writing is unique and by exploring the legal and ethical obligations. The writing principles section, which covers both style and techniques, is followed by Public Relations writing assignments that you'll likely have to do in your early jobs: emails, memos, letters, reports and proposals, backgrounders and position papers. Writing for mass media and the more complex public relations writing functions, including media kits, media pitches, print and online newsletters, brochures, magazines, including those online, and annual reports are also covered in this comprehensive guide.

Doug Newsom, Ph.D., APR and Fellow Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is a Texas Christian University professor emerita of The Schieffer School of Journalism and the senior co-author of THIS IS PR AND PUBLIC RELATIONS WRITING. She also is the co-author of three other books and the author of another two, as well as the author of four current book chapters. She is former member of the Commission on Public Relations Education, former chair of PRSA's College of Fellows and is a past chair of the Accrediting Committee for the Accrediting Council on Education for Journalism and Mass Communications. She has been president of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication, Southwest Education Council for Journalism and Mass Communication, Texas Public Relations Association, and both the Dallas and Fort Worth chapters of PRSA. Dr. Newsom has been national faculty advisor to PRSSA. She has been head of the PR Division of AEJMC and served as chair of its former division heads. Awards include the Institute for Public Relations' Pathfinder, PRSA Outstanding Educator, Public Relations Foundation of Texas's Educator of the Year Award, Texas Public Relations Association's Golden Spur, the Association for Women in Communications Headliner, and in 2010 she was named to the Hall of Excellence of TCU's Schieffer School of Journalism. She has served Fulbright teaching appointments in India and Singapore; given workshops in South Africa, Hungary, Bulgaria, Poland and Vanuatu; and taught in Latvia and England. She has been chair of the Fulbright discipline committee, served 18 years on a gas research institute's advisory council and was one of the first women elected to the board of a publicly held company, she was the first woman elected to the board of ONEOK where she served 24 years until reaching mandatory retirement age. Currently, her volunteer public relations work is for Rotary International.

Jim Haynes is the director of research, senior consultant and a member of the Board of Directors of QuickSilver Interactive Group, Inc. of Dallas, Texas. He also is an adjunct professor at UNT, where he teaches public relations writing. Accredited in Public Relations (APR), he is a member of Public Relations Society of America's College of Fellows and is a Certified Records Manager. He served on the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) national Board of Directors and the Universal Accreditation Board, responsible for accreditation for Public Relations Society of America PRSA and eight other participating organizations. Former assistant dean in the College of Communication at The University of Texas at Austin he taught public relations there and at the University of North Texas, Texas State University-San Marcos, Southern Methodist University and Texas Christian University. He has spoken at professional conferences and led seminars and workshops throughout the US, Canada, England and Norway. Co-founder of the Public Relations Foundation of Texas, he served as chairman of that organization as well as president of the Texas Public Relations Association (TPRA) and the North Texas (now Dallas) Chapter of PRSA. He has received numerous national, state and local awards from public relations organizations, including lifetime membership in TPRA. Through Jim Haynes Consulting, he provides consulting services to clients that have included major corporations throughout the United States, as well as associations, municipalities, state agencies and non-profit organizations in the US, Canada, Norway and Sweden. He worked with the Norwegian Institute of Journalism for 20 years, coordinating a two-week short course for Norwegian newspaper editors at The University of Texas at Austin.