PUBLIC RELATIONS

Public relations (PR) is a field concerned with maintaining public image for businesses, non-

profit organizations or high-profile people, such as celebrities and politicians. Others define it as
the practice of managing communication between an organization and its publics Public relations
provides an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest
and news items that provide a third-party endorsement and do not direct payment

DEFINITIONS OF PR

“Public Relations is the deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain
mutual understanding between on organization and its public”

Institute of Public Relations, USA

“Public relations is the attempt by information persuasion and adjustment to engineer

public support for an activity, cause, movement or institution.”

- Edward L. Bernays

“Public Relations is a combination of philosophy, sociology, economics, language,

psychology, journalism, communication and other knowledges into a system of human
understanding."
- Herbert M. Baus

“Merely human decency which flows from a good heart.”

- Charles Plackard

“Good performance, publicity appreciated because adequately communicated.”

- Fortune (Magazine)

“Public Relations is Dale Carnegie - winning friends and influencing people – writ
large.”
- Robert Heibroner

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NEED FOR PUBLIC RELATIONS

Investing on Public relations will help the organisation to achieve its objective effectively and
smoothly. Public Relations is not creating good image for a bad team. Since false image cannot
be sustained for a long time. Though the organization product or services are good it need an
effective Public Relations campaign for attracting, motivating the public to the product or service
or towards the purpose of the programme. It is not only encourage the involvement from the
public and also resulting in better image. An effective Public Relations can create and build up
the image of an individual or an organisation or a nation. At the time of adverse publicity or
when the organisation is under crisis an effective Public Relations can remove the
"misunderstanding" and can create mutual understanding between the organisation and the
public.
FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

 Public Relations is establishing the relationship among the two groups (organisation and
public).
 Art or Science of developing reciprocal understanding and goodwill.
 It analyses the public perception & attitude, identifies the organisation policy with
public interest and then executes the programmes for communication with the public.

PUBLIC RELATIONS IN GOVERNMENT

Public relations role in government:

The main function of the PR department is disseminating Information on Various activities of the
government to the people through the media and providing feedback to the government on
important matters
For example, 
Public affairs specialists in the U.S. Department of State alert the public of travel advisories and
of U.S. positions on foreign issues.
A press secretary for a member of Congress informs constituents of the representative's
accomplishments.

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The Government public relations contribute to:
 Implementation of public policy.
 Assisting the news media in coverage of government activities.
 Reporting the citizenry on agency activities.
 Increasing the internal cohesion of the agency.
 Increasing the agency’s sensitive to its public’s.
 Mobilisation of support for the agency itself
 Is to provide information, education/instruction to the citizens.
 motivate the people directly or indirectly, to discharge these functions in a meaningful
and purposeful manner
 non-political, non-controversial, and on which there should be a national consensus

PUBLIC RELATIONS FOR GOVERNMENT (OBJECTIVES AND ORGANIZATIONS)

National Objectives:

The basic function of the government Public Relations department / agencies is to provide
information, education/instruction to the citizens. The effort should also motivate the people
directly or indirectly, to discharge these functions in a meaningful and purposeful manner, it is
necessary that the Public Relations Department / wing should be clear about the broad objectives
which guide their work.The national objective should be non-political, non-controversial, and on
which there should be a national consensus. The objectives should further the interests and the
well being of the public as a whole and promote the many sided development of the country. The
objectives should be long term ones and need not necessarily change with political vagaries.

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PR AT BUSINESS ORGANIZATIONS

An organization's reputation, profitability, and its continued existence can depend on the degree
to which its targeted public supports its goals and policies. Public relations specialists—also
referred to as communications specialists and media specialists, among other titles—serve as
advocates for clients seeking to build and maintain positive relationships with the public. Their
clients include businesses, nonprofit associations, universities, hospitals, and other organizations,
and build and maintain positive relationships with the public.
As managers recognize the link between good public relations and the success of their
organizations, they increasingly rely on public relations specialists for advice on the strategy and
policy of their communications.
Public relations specialists handle organizational functions, such as media, community,
consumer, industry, and governmental relations; political campaigns; interest-group
representation; conflict mediation; and employee and investor relations. Public relations
specialists must understand the attitudes and concerns of community, consumer, employee, and
public interest groups to establish and maintain cooperative relationships between them and
representatives from print and broadcast journalism.

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Public relations specialists draft press releases and contact people in the media who might print
or broadcast their material. Many radio or television special reports, newspaper stories, and
magazine articles start at the desks of public relations specialists. Sometimes, the subject of a
press release is an organization and its policies toward employees or its role in the community.
For example, a press release might describe a public issue, such as health, energy, or the
environment, and what an organization does to advance that issue.
Public relations specialists also arrange and conduct programs to maintain contact between
organization representatives and the public.

For example, public relations specialists set up speaking engagements and prepare speeches for
officials.
These media specialists represent employers at community projects; make film, slide, and other
visual presentations for meetings and school assemblies; and plan conventions.
.
In large organizations, the key public relations executive, who often is a vice president, may
develop overall plans and policies with other executives. In addition, public relations
departments employ public relations specialists to write, research, prepare materials, maintain
contacts, and respond to inquiries.
People who handle publicity for an individual or who direct public relations for a small
organization may deal with all aspects of the job. These public relations specialists contact
people, plan and research, and prepare materials for distribution. They also may handle
advertising or sales promotion work to support marketing efforts

a) Press Relations: One objective of the PR manager is to ensure that the company gets written
about favourably in the press. For this, relations with media correspondents have to be
maintained. They have to be provided with information and handouts.
b) Communications: Customers, suppliers, employees, dealers and others in contact with the
company must know what it is doing or plans to do in the future. Misunderstandings may
otherwise arise which may affect the business in the long run.

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c) Lobbying: Effective PR can influence public policy. An important function of the PR
professional will be to maintain close relations and convince influential people in various walks
of life.
d) Counseling: Doubts have to be removed from the minds of people through meetings and
counseling, which will help keep a direct contact and not let doubts remain which may have an
adverse impact on the company

Objectives
 The main goal of a public relations department is to enhance a company’s reputation
 The role of a public relations department can be seen as a reputation protector
 Public relations provide a service for the company by helping to give the public and the
media a better understanding of how the company works
Activities happening…
 Corporate and Product advertisements in Print and Electronic Media, and the
outdoor advertisements like hoardings, banners etc. come under the purview of PR Deptt
 Spokesperson for the organization
 Long-term relations are developed  through a variety of means like press conferences,
media briefings, media visits, press notes, prompt response to media queries and so on
 Participation in Exhibitions and Fairs
 Audio-Visual Communication.
 PR Department plays a pivotal role in production of programmes aimed at creating
awareness and providing a forum for expression to the employees and other stakeholders

PR IN POLITICS
World public relations serve a vital role in the management and strategy of political campaigns.
The main goal of political public relations is the use of media outlets to communicate specific
political interpretations of issues in the hope of garnering public support for political policies.
PR is used by the political parties to make aware of the people its vision, mission, ideologies,
stand on particular issues, thought process etc.

Modern political campaigns are exercises in communication that are scientific in their research
methods and systematic in their methods of implementation. The specific demands modern

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campaigns place on organizations requires professional expertise on the part of the consultant or
practitioner

Role of advertising

There is an overlap between public relations and advertising in regards to politics1. The
importance of advertising in modern politics2 means it plays a vital role in public relations
practice
Role of image

As previously mentioned the concept of image building is crucial to political advertising.

Political advertising has become central to the practice of public relations in modern political
campaigns. Image building is crucial in the contemporary world of political campaigns because
of publics’ general lack of motivation to search to research information when making voting
decisions. The role of image building in political campaigns bridges the divide between political
advertisement and political public relations: Generally, contemporary image campaigns are
carefully orchestrated combinations of advertising and news accounts furnished through all
available media –radio, television, newspapers, campaign brochures and mailings, and
billboards, among them The overarching strategy of image building also shows the
comprehensive management role in public relations practice in modern political campaigns

Conclusion
Public relations play a very decisive role in shaping the future of any entity whether business or a
celebrity or government

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Reference

 Prasaad, K.S., Raghupathy, R. “A Snapshot of a Successful Public Relations Strategy”.

American Behavioral Scientist. Vol. 49. No. 4 (December 2005): 629-633.
 Froelich, R., Rudiger, B. “Framing political public relations: Measuring the success of
political communication strategies in Germany”. Public Relations Review. Vol. 32. No. 1
(March 2006): 18-25.
 Walters, T.N., Walters, L.M. “Agenda building the 1992 presidential campaign”. Public
Relations Review. Vol. 22. No. 1 (Spring 1996): 9-25.
 Wikipedia
 http://persmin.nic.in/otraining/UNDPProject/undp_modules/PublicRelationsNDLM.pdf

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