BrainTok
ENESIT

Public Relations: History of public relations · Origins and Press Agentry

Where persuasive public communication came from, and how the press agents of the 1800s and early corporate publicists shaped what became PR.

Public Relations · 24 questions

Try 3 questions

1. The word "propaganda" entered modern languages from which institution?

  1. A Soviet agitation bureau of the 1920s
  2. A British wartime information ministry of 1914
  3. A Catholic congregation for spreading the faith, founded 1622
Show the answer

Answer: A Catholic congregation for spreading the faith, founded 1622

Pope Gregory XV created the Congregatio de Propaganda Fide in 1622 to propagate the faith; the word only took on its negative tone in the 20th century.

2. Why do PR historians cite Julius Caesar's Commentaries on the Gallic War?

  1. He wrote them to ban criticism of the army
  2. He used them to found Rome's first newspaper
  3. He shaped his own heroic image for audiences in Rome
Show the answer

Answer: He shaped his own heroic image for audiences in Rome

Written in the third person and sent back to Rome, the accounts presented Caesar's campaigns in the most favorable light, a classic act of image building.

3. Which classical discipline do many scholars see as a root of public relations?

  1. Poetics, the theory of drama
  2. Logic, the study of valid proof
  3. Rhetoric, the art of persuasion
Show the answer

Answer: Rhetoric, the art of persuasion

Aristotle's rhetoric analyzed how speakers win audiences through credibility, emotion and argument, the same levers PR still works with.

The rest of the quiz, a few questions at a time

BrainTok asks a few questions from quizzes like these before the apps you choose open, so your screen time turns into learning. For iPhone.

Join the beta

More Communication & Journalism quizzes