Defining Public Relations Paper

Defining Public Relations Paper

Public relations is a term which is 200 years old this year, having first being used by Thomas Jefferson, the US president in 1807. Throughout the course of time the definition of Public Relations, PR for short, has adapted itself for many uses. As such there is no one set definition for PR to date.

Definitions of Public Relations:

‘One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."’ [1] Wikipedia, retrieved November 2007.

‘Public relations helps our complex, pluralistic society to reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions. It serves to bring private and public policies into harmony…. In helping to define and implement policy, the public relations practitioner uses a variety of professional communication skills and plays an integrative role both within the organization and between the organization and the external environment.’ [2] Public Relations Society of America, retrieved November 2007.

‘Public relations is about reputation - the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. 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.’ [3] Chartered Institute of Public Relations, retrieved November 2007.

Contrasting definitions:

As you can see by the three definitions above, each definition of Public Relations varies slightly depending upon the source.

The first definition comes from the popular online encyclopaedia Wikipedia. Wikipedia is an encyclopaedia who’s content is almost entirely made up from the general public submitting information. This might explain why their definition of PR only relates to organisations. Being one of the first definitions of PR, it is incomplete, but PR as a subject matter has grown over the years, incorporating new ideas and strategies. Compared to the following two definitions it is lacking in information and is quite a complex statement to grasp.

The second definition is sourced from the PRSA (Public Relations Society of America) website. The PRSA are the worlds largest organization for public relations professionals, representing business and industry, counselling firms, independent practitioners, military, government, associations, hospitals, schools, professional services firms and non-profit organizations. As you would expect, their definition is infinitely more detailed than that of the first source, as PR is their sole profession. It reflects on both company and policy based PR, which can be applied to any form of PR. Although it is written for those who most likely already have some foundation knowledge of PR, and neglects to define PR in layman’s terms.

The third definition was taken from the Chartered Institute of Public Relations website, whose aim is to promote the use of the companies advertised within it, and provide information on new techniques, strategies, training, news and events that appear within the industry. It provides a free directory of PR firms, which deal in all aspects of public relations. Again, the definition of PR is tailored towards both companies and policies. PR is defined in simple terms, as the people most likely to use this site are looking for advice or companies to devise PR strategies for them. This is the simplest yet most effective definition of PR I have come across to date. It is well written, easy to understand,