Lessons from history

Abstract

The history of Public Relations (PR) may seem irrelevant to the needs of contemporary practitioners, and we do not intend to provide a great deal of it here. However, much of the knowledge which successful PR people use to good effect is drawn from history, even if they have acquired the information informally and certainly do not think of it as “History” as such. There are few, if any, scientific laws in PR. Instead people learn from their own and others’ experiences of PR work and acquire knowledge of the industry based on what they hear about its ups and downs. Much of what they do today and plan to do tomorrow is based on collective wisdom about what happened yesterday. Some significant themes emerge from PR’s history, and some of them are particularly important to understanding the way PR is developing in the New Europe today. So rather than present a story littered with names and dates, we will simply focus on issues which seem relevant which will help you understand the present and plan for the future.