A Broken Mirror of Public Relations

The Influencing Machine

Brooke Gladstone

Length: 160 pages

W. W. Norton & Company

Amazon Pricing: $11.88     

A Broken Mirror of Public Relations

By Kate Clark  

Picture from the Julius Caesar biography

In 131 BCE and Julius Caesar Julius Caesar decided his region’s citizens should be informed of the Senate’s activities through the first ever form of press, the Acta Diurna. Author and journalism extraordinaire, Brooke Gladstone, views this as the first time leaders realized that ethical news places public relations aside. This is one out of many examples of how Gladstone impulsively discredits public relations as a necessary function within the media.

Throughout her cartoon book of journalism’s history, flaws and steps toward improvement, Gladstone examines parts of the media industry that develop it as a “influencing machine” on the public’s opinions and knowledge. Gladstone is a credible source because of her over 30 years of experience working in the industry as a reporter and editor for broadcast and radio. However, her experience does not make up for her own bias and distorted outlook on public relations. She effectively tells the history of journalism by using Roman references and historical papers; however does not offer a lucid look at public relations.  Gladstone sets up the argument that if journalists performed their job ethically and appropriately, there would not be a need for public relations. However, this does not account for public relations’ roles outside of media relations, and its purpose of managing ethical decisions to build relationships with the company’s publics.

Picture from On the Media

As a whole, I would not recommend reading this book if you are unknowledgeable of the public relations field. Her imagery does not truly reflect public relations objectives and purpose, so it acts as a broken mirror to someone unfamiliar with that industry.