A Final Bow

It is one of those items that one cannot let pass without comment. I am talking about the closing of the Barnum & Bailey - Ringling Brothers Circus. After 146 years, "The Greatest Show on Earth" is no more. It is sad in the sense that the circus triggers images of Americana when the country and its people were a lot more innocent, more simple and perhaps even more well-intentioned in their day-to-day lives. That picture, of course, may have little to do with reality, but it is one that settles nicely on the heart and mind. The hard truth is that the circus was not generating nearly enough revenue to cover its operating costs. People were looking elsewhere for entertainment.

In terms of communication, the fact P.T. Barnum, a master showman, played a major role in the rise of the circus is not without significance. Many communication scholars view Barnum as being a pioneer in what later came to be called "public relations." Researchers James Grunig and Todd Hunt, for instance, labeled one form of public relations as "press agentry" and credited Barnum with the inspiration for it. The press agentry model of public relations, they said, represents an anything-goes approach to promoting a product or event. Truth in such a model, according to Grunig and Hunt, plays a very tiny role in how public relations is carried out.     

Barnum's famous quote, "A sucker is born every minute" should give one a good idea as to his loyalty to the truth. He was very well known for saying or claiming pretty much anything to get people to buy a ticket to his shows. In keeping with that, I remember one of the very last circuses I attended a number of years ago with my daughter revolved around what they billed as showcasing the world's only unicorn. (No, it was not a unicorn but, rather, a white horse with a horn stuck to its forehead. No one was fooled that I could tell. But at the same time, my daughter sure had a good time. To me, that is what counted the most. Thanks for that, circus folks.