What is Public Relations?

Abstract

Since the term Public Relations (PR) was first coined over a hundred years ago, some PR people have wrestled with the problem of defining what it means (although it has to be said that the great majority have just got on with their work!). Outsiders — and journalists — have less of a problem. For them PR is overwhelmingly about things like press releases, press conferences and talking to journalists: in two words, media relations. Indeed many PR people have job titles such as “press officer” or “press secretary.” As we shall see, other activities may well be undertaken by PR people. For example they often create their own, managed media such as company newsletters, brochures and websites, and they set up and run events of different kinds. However such work is not always seen as PR, or done by PR people.

Public Relations is about persuading people to consent to the purpose of an organization or person.It achieves this — primarily but not exclusively — through the use of media relations.