Ask HN: Is there any good literature on Offensive PR/Communications Theory?

18 points by dqpb 7y ago ↗ HN

HN recently had a couple articles about Facebook PR:

Facebook hired PR firm that wrote negative articles about Apple and Google [1]

Delay, Deny and Deflect: How Facebook’s Leaders Fought Through Crisis [2]

While the articles make note of FB's offensive strategy, HN users also commented on the "Media narrative" attacking FB. I don't know much about public relations or communications theory, and I'm curious to learn more. What literature or resources are the best for getting up to speed on PR/Communications theory, and in particular offensive strategies?

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18455077

[2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18453958

4 comments

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pedro1976 7y ago ↗

Regarding Public Relations, maybe the classic from Edwards Bernays called "Propaganda" [0], should got into your list. [0] https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/493212.Propaganda

pizza 7y ago ↗

Came here to say exactly this - the underlying principles of propaganda never change, and this book will do a good job of laying out its foundations.

baxosin 7y ago ↗

Vladimir Volkoff, La désinformation arme de guerre (Disinformation - the weapon of war)

hluska 7y ago ↗

I'm uncomfortable recommending this, but if you enjoy history, you could do double duty by reading about Nazi Germany, particularly some of Joseph Goebbels contributions.