What is PR?

Public Relations is a modern occupation with its history laying mostly in America, Britain and Germany. There have been many attempts to define what Public Relations consists of, however, there is no one universal definition. It has been given a bad reputation of “spin” which uses deceitful and manipulative tactics; however, with the ethics and code of conducts of public relations, there is less of this reputation now. It is a complex subject with its techniques constantly developing and changing, yet many people have attempted to identify what is Public Relations.

Morris and Goldsworthy describe public relations as “the planned persuasion of people to behave in ways that further its sponsor’s objectives. It works primarily through the use of media relations and other forms of third party endorsement.” (Morris and Goldsworthy, 2008).
Although this defines a basis of what public relations consists of, the definition does not go into enough depth and from my experience of public relations there is a lot more to the current practise than this definition states. Although their work is mostly achieved through media relations which is a massive part of Public Relations and there is a reliance on journalists to publish their articles in the press to gain coverage, in this definition there is no clarification on how this is done. This definition also mentions the planned persuasion of people, and planning is very important, however it fails to mention research. Research into the publics and environment is imperative when working in Public Relations as they need to be aware of the mindset of their audience as well as their sponsors overall goals. However, this is only two people’s opinion on what consists of the practise of public relations. Others, such as the CIPR, Public Relation Officers and intellectuals have alternative ideas as to what makes up Public Relations

The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is the professional body of public relations for Britain and their definition states that; “Public relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics.” (CIPR 1987).

This is similar to Morris and Goldsworthy’s definition as it shows the importance of persuasion of the public’s although the CIPR refer directly to reputation which is a huge part of PR and goes further into explaining how you would further the sponsor’s objectives. The CIPR definition also emphasises the importance of mutual understanding and well as building good relationships with the organisations, public and media. This is a key factor of public relations as the success of the business is dependent on relying and helping one another which will overall benefit both parties.

In 1976 Harlow pulled together the 472 different definitions of Public Relations to create his own definition;

“Public Relations is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinions; defines and emphasises the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management keep abreast of and effectively utilise change; serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends and uses research and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.” (Harlow 1976).

Unlike Morris and Goldsworthy’s definition there is an emphasis on the importance of Public Relations as a management function and their use of research so that they can adapt to change. Harlow mentions the use of communication between the public and organisation and the importance of serving the public’s interest, which is essentially what Morris and Goldsworthy claims and is a key aspect of Public Relations. This definition although long winded, does incorporate the key issues, tasks and techniques that a Public Relations officer would take part in daily. However, it does not actually explain the essence nor the strategy of Public Relations.

Overall, the issue of defining Public Relations is very complex as there are so many parts to Public Relations that overlap with other job titles such as advertising, marketing and journalism. It is ironic that a job which deals with communication runs into major communication issues when attempting to be defined. Public Relations may never have one universal definition because it is a profession that is constantly changing and developing. However, there is a clear need to define public relations to stop it being misunderstood as “spin” which holds its bad reputation and this may be achieved in the near future.