Declaration of principles

In 1903, Ivy Lee was included in the election campaign of Seth Low , a candidate for the post of mayor of New York. In 1904, Ivy Lee was already actively involved in communications with the press and worked at the press office of the National Committee of the Democratic Party during the presidential election campaign in the United States. Lee meets George Parker, a former Buffalo journalist who also works for the American Democratic Party. In the same year, they unite and create their own independent company “Parker & Lee” ( Eng. “Parker & Lee”), whose activities were aimed at interacting with the press. However, the company was distinguished by the fact that it did not accept the approach of "fooling the public." Lee and his partner were convinced that, in order to gain public favor, they should be informed first. The company emphasized reliable and timely data submission and even assumed that the customer would sometimes have to publicly acknowledge its errors, which was new for that time.

That is why, when the miners' strikes in the USA began in 1906, Lee set himself the task of informing the press as fully and quickly as possible about the course of events. However, he faced some difficulties. At certain events (such as the conference of striking miners), the press was not allowed, and the coverage of other events was not wide enough. Then Ivy Lee began sending out prospectuses to various newspapers containing factual data on the progress of the strikes and on the measures that mine owners took to resolve the crisis. However, the editors were distrustful of such newsletters and accused Lee of trying to manipulate them. This inspired Ivy Lee to write the “Declaration of Principles", which the company subsequently sent out to targeted media.

Openness

Lee emphasizes that his company is not an undercover press office. Its activities are carried out openly and its purpose is to provide information.

Difference from Advertising

In his Declaration of Principles, Ivy Lee first emphasized the distinction between advertising and PR. Lee emphasized that his company is not an advertising agency and the decision is whether to use the information provided.

Reliability

In the "Declaration of Principles," Lee laid one of the main provisions of modern PR - reliability. Lee emphasized that his company was committed to providing only reliable information and expressed its willingness to provide additional information or clarify any fact or statement.

Public Awareness

Ivy Lee writes that the main plan and goal of the company is to provide timely and reliable information on those issues and events that are of interest to the general public, on behalf of businesses or non-profit organizations.

Benefits for both sides

Lee observes that often the information that companies or organizations provide to the public confuses people rather than clarifies issues of interest to them, and often, when composing a message that would present the customer in a better light, the news component is lost. Lee emphasizes that providing clear, reliable, and timely information is important not only to the public, but also to the image of the company itself.

Responsibility

Ivy Lee writes that he sends only the information that he is ready to personally confirm and supplement at the request of the editor. Therefore, Lee is responsible for and familiar with the information it disseminates.

For the first time, the new philosophy of engaging with the press, introduced by Ivy Lee, received support from journalist Sherman Morse. One of the issues of The American Magazine published an article called The Awakening of Wall Street. The article said that large companies were indifferent to public opinion for many years, and this policy of silence led to distrust on the part of society. Therefore, sooner or later, some measures had to be taken. However, their first attempts were in vain, as representatives of large corporations tried in one way or another to influence journalists, to entice them to their side or to force them to write exactly what the companies needed. Morse called this approach "petty bribery." ^[2] Morse explained that Ivy Lee was openly hired as a company representative and provided honest and complete information. He supported the new view of Ivy Lee on the communication of large companies with the press and considered it a step forward in this area.

Decades later, in 1965, biographer and public relations specialist Ray Gibert mentions the “Declaration of Principles” in his article in the journal Public Relations Journal, “The History of Ivy Lee and the Development of Press Relations.” He writes that the “Declaration” provoked a revolution in the field of relations between business and the public. ^[3]

S. Harrison and C. Moloni in their comparative analysis of the practice of two pioneers of public relations and two different approaches to this field of activity - the American (represented by Ivy Lee) and the British (represented by John Elliott) - argue that Lee established a key principle of presentation information and gave rise to the best and honest practice in modern relations with the media. ^[four]

However, there are negative opinions about the “Declaration of Principles”. Many publicists, theorists and public relations practitioners accuse Ivy Lee of disseminating false information as part of the Declaration, which not only contradicts its main provisions, but also questions the pillars of modern PR. A kind of paradox is created and poses the question - was this document the basis of the principles of public relations, or was it created in order to hide these basic principles? For example , Upton Bill Sinclair , an American writer known as a whistle-blower of journalists and journalism, in his work The Brass Check doubted Ivy Lee's sincere intentions and dubbed him Poison Ivy (English “Poison Ivy”).

The same opinion was shared by C. Hallahan, a journalist and historian of Rockefeller's activity, who claimed that Ivy Lee purposely issued newsletters containing deliberately false information in order to mislead journalists and editors and get publications of his tone. ^[five]

• Catlip, Scott M., Allen H., Broome, Glen M. Public Relations. Theory and practice. - M.: Williams Publishing House, 2008 .-- 624 p.
• Ivanchenko G.V. Reality Public Relations. - M .: Sense, 1999.
• Pocheptsov G.G. Public Relations - M .: Knowledge, 2006. - 327 p.
• Morse S. An awakening in Wall Street // The American Magazine: Journal. - 1906 - No. 62.
• Hiebert RE Ivy Lee and the development of press relations // Public Relations Journal: Journal. - 1965 - No. 21.
• Harrison S., Moloney K. Comparing two public relations pioneers: American Ivy Lee and British John Elliot // Public Relations Review: Journal. - 2004 - No. 30.
• Hallahan K. Ivy Lee and the Rockefellers' response to the 1913–1914 Colorado coal strike // Journal of Public Relations Research: Journal. - 2002 - No. 14.

• Declaration of Principles - Ivy Lee (neopr.) . Date of treatment November 19, 2016.
• Corp PR (unspecified) . Date of treatment November 19, 2016.
• Ivy Lee (neopr.) . Date of treatment November 19, 2016.
• Ivy Lee and his Public Relations (neopr.) . Date of treatment November 19, 2016.