TY  - BOOK
AU  - Karen Miller Russell
PY  - 2020
CY  - New York, United States of America
PB  - Peter Lang Verlag
SN  - 2373-6984
SN  - 9781433147357
TI  - Promoting Monopoly
T2  - AT&T and the Politics of Public Relations, 1876-1941
DO  - 10.3726/b16633
UR  - https://www.peterlang.com/document/1118326
N2  - Since the invention of the telephone in 1876, publicity has been central to the growth of the industry. In its earliest years the Bell company enjoyed a patent monopoly, but after Alexander Graham Bell’s patents expired, it had to fight competitors, the public, and the U.S. government to maintain control of the telephone network. It used every means its executives could imagine, and that included constructing one of the earliest and most effective public relations programs of its time. This book analyzes the development of public relations at AT&T, starting with a previously forgotten publicist, William A. Hovey, and then including James D. Ellsworth and Arthur W. Page, who worked with other Bell executives to create a company where public relations permeated almost every aspect of work, leveraging employee programs, stock sales, and technological research for PR. Critics accused it of disseminating propaganda, but the desire to promote and protect the Bell monopoly propelled the creation of a corporate public relations program that also shaped the legal, political, media, and cultural landscape.
LA  - English
ER  -