Public Relations
From Baruchnewmedia
Contents |
Public Relations
According to the Public Relations Society of America, public relations is defined as follows: “Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other.” The society stresses the term organizations versus business or company, because the field of public relations can be used by a wide variety of organization not limited to business. As a sub-section of the definition, the public Relations Society of America breaks down the function of public relations into four parts 1.) Anticipating, analyzing and interpreting public opinion, attitudes and issues that might impact, for good or ill, the operations and plans of the organization. 2.) Counseling management at all levels in the organization with regard to policy decisions, courses of action and communication, taking into account their public ramifications and the organization’s social or citizenship responsibilities. 3.) Researching, conducting and evaluating, on a continuing basis, programs of action and communication to achieve the informed public understanding necessary to the success of an organization’s aims. These may include marketing; financial; fund raising; employee, community or government relations; and other programs. 4.) Planning and implementing the organization’s efforts to influence or change public policy. Setting objectives, planning, budgeting, recruiting and training staff, developing facilities — in short, managing the resources needed to perform all of the above.
Public Relations In New Media
The effect of new media might have made the field of public relations more complicated, but it has also bolstered the industry. During the recession of 2008, almost every job sector was cutting jobs in order to make it through the downturn. Public Relations was one of the few industries that was moving in the opposite direction. The reason for the bolster in the public relations industry was the challenges of new media. Despite the recession, new media was still growing which meant that public relations needed to follow suit. In order for companies to keep pace with the growth of new media they needed to hire individuals who had expertise and tech savvy. An increase in the number of distribution channels directly relates to an increase in the number of individuals in the public relations workforce.
Helpful Links
References
- http://www.prsa.org/
- Carrabis, Joseph, John Cass, Paul Gillin, Richard Nacht, and Greg Peverill-Conti. New Media, New Influencers and Inplications for Public Relations. SCNR, 2008. Print.
- Rose, Mark. "Digital / New Media Drives PR Growth." Web log post. PR Blog News. 18 Mar. 2008. Web. <http://www.prblognews.com/>.
