Public Relations

However old the practice of public relations is, its identity—as we know it today—started to become a professional practice in the latter part of the 19th century in the United States. This steady progress was typical of many other kinds of professionalism; then, the 20th century witnessed its institutional development as a refined set of strategic best practices, an academic discipline to prepare future practitioners, and the subject of sophisticated scholarly investigation and discussion. As is true of all professions, each one engages in battles for identity—part of which centers on definitions.

In the opinion of some, public relations is the art of stealthy communication tactics whereby messages penetrate awareness so that marketing teams can manipulate consumer opinions and politicians can propagandize citizens. These outcomes occur, the lore continues, because the art of public relations employs strategic structures and functions in service for various elites to create interest and discussion, even reporting, to address some matter in favorable ways. The power of such messaging and positioning is that it comes across as discussion by “others” and therefore derives power from their credibility rather than being the voice of the sponsoring organizations. Thus, public relations can create “buzz.” It can “spin” the truth to make “up” seem “down” and “cold” seem “hot” to advance the selfish interest of some organization, marketer, issue advocate, or politician. Journalists and other critics viewed practitioners as flacks (press agents), to characterize this art as disingenuously self-interested. To this string of “definitions” can be added deception, propaganda, and engineering of consent—the list goes on and on.

In contrast, the definition of public relations can feature its contribution to the ethical decision making of executives. It can be highlighted as a professional practice and academic discipline dedicated to fostering effective two-way communication to create mutually beneficial relationships between some organization and persons (individually or as an organization) whose opinions can make or break the future success of the sponsor. Some discussants of the nature of public relations advocated that instead of fostering sham relationships, senior practitioners are the consciences of their employers. They know better than other disciplines the moral standards by which their employers are judged. They advocate that first the organization must be good before it can be effective in its communication efforts over the long term. Practitioners recognize that the challenge of ethics is both broad and often seen as “the devil is in the details.” Each word can pose ethical challenges as well as the formulation of the public relations policy of the organization.

Thus, as ethically responsible, public relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organization's ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its mission and vision.

In essence, public relations practitioners are problem solvers. They are counselors who advise managements on how to best harmonize with their operating environments. They are tacticians and technicians, as well as managers, who use communication tools like media releases, employee newsletters, fundraising campaigns, publicity and promotions, investor reports, and issue backgrounders and fact sheets. They help organizations reduce legitimacy gaps by adjusting to the standards of corporate responsibility by which they earn support. They do this within the democratic tradition whereby multiple voices contest private and personal policies and behaviors to achieve a fully functioning society. Public relations is a meaning-making profession.

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