Positive Contribution of Public Relations Today - Essay Example

Positive Contribution Of Public Relations Today Your name Your name Course name Course Instructor Since ancient times, public relations have been undergoing gradual change while raising different views and perceptions. In its early history, public relations were seen as of less or no significance with many people having no interest in it. However, in spite of these, public relations have managed to develop and slowly attracting people’s attention. Currently, public relations are an ethical profession which contributes positively to society in contrast to its early history based on manipulative practices (Bernays, 2004, p.90). For instance, effective public relations (PR) are a vital part of any public undertaking in today’s media-saturated culture. Everything is signified by image and public opinion particularly in the highly influential dominion of social media. The final objective, the trust of the people, will be won by the people or group which wins the media race. According to Bernays (2004, p93) public relations (PR) refer to the art and science of making people, government, and organizations look good. PR specialists work behind the scenes- sending press releases, courting journalists, researching public opinion, to position their customers as positive role models, concerned public officials, ethical businessmen, or at the very least not criminals. Apart from advertising, it cannot be easy to tell public relations. While advertisers struggle to sell a product or service, public relations focus on shaping an image. As explained earlier, to shape and maintain the image of a company, organization or a person in the eyes of customer’s various publics is the basic definition of public relations. In PR terms, a public refers to anyone who ever has or ever will form an opinion about the customer. These publics could comprise of customers, potential customers, members of the media, parents of students, members of the local community, foreign citizens, students, online fans group, among others depending on the nature of customer’s work (Bernays, 2004, p.145). Bernays (2004, p.167) asserts that success of public relations needs a deep comprehension of each customer’s many public concerns and interests. The public relations specialist ought to know how to address those concerns effectively using the most influential tool of the PR trade- publicity. Public relations are also described as the use of news or business press to carry positive stories about your company or products- cultivating a good relationship with representatives of local press. The main duty of the PR specialist, in many cases, is to draft press releases that are sent to targeted members of the media. Nonetheless, it would be to undervalue the increasing influence and reach of PR if we limit the scope of the public relations definition to publicity alone. For instance, Undersecretary of State Karen Hughes was planned to speak at the Public Relations Society of America’s annual conference in relation to public diplomacy, a division of government public relations. In this case, the image of the United States is being shaped by the public diplomacy in the eyes ob both traditional allies and enemy states (Wilcox & Cameron, 2011, p.128). Today’s public relations specialist does much more than sitting behind a desk faxing out press releases. He is the public face of the customer more than ever. It is the public relations specialist who organizes community outreach and volunteer programs. Relationships with potential investors are cultivated by the public relations representative. And it is the public relations executive who goes on the cable TV news program to reply the tough queries (Wilcox & Cameron, 2011, p.156). According to its history, PR arrived with the growth of mass media. Muckraking journalists were rousing up public opposition against the powerful monopolies and rich industrialists who ruled the day at the turn of the 20th century. Early public relations firms fought the bad press by putting positive stories regarding their customers in newspapers. Former journalists like Ivy Lee used the first press releases to feed newspapers the facts regarding his misinterpreted customers, including the rail road and tobacco industries, and J.D. Rockefeller’s Standard Oil (Wilcox & Cameron, 2011, p.199). Lee and company became so good at whitewashing even the darkest business sins that PR specialists earned a reputation as spin doctors. Since the last days of Ivy Lee, much time has elapsed and to tag current PR specialists as dishonest would be to paying no attention to how persistent and significant their work has become to individuals and organizations of all size and shapes- activists, small businesses, universities, authors, and non-profit organizations- not merely big businesses and big government. Conventionally, press do things by sending press personnel to inform journalists on the information needed so that to write a positive story about the client. Newspapers, TV stations and radio (especially local ones) are always looking for new ideas, particularly those with a "human interest" angle (Wilcox & Cameron, 2011, p.214). A PR professional crafts press releases resembling a compelling news story, making it loud and clear why his client's product, service or personal history is of much relevance. The objective is to fulfill the journalist's requirement for news while enhancing the image of the client in the public eye (Wilcox & Cameron, 2011, p.267). PR professionals spend a lot of time nurturing relationships with journalists and other members of the mass media. This is achieved after the journalist have research then they write about the client's industry or personal interests. A PR professional goes ahead and contact the journalist to find out more about the types of stories he's looking for and how he likes to receive story pitches. However, journalist are prone to read press release which is fresh, timely, from a very recognize source and targeted specifically to there interest. Another job of public relation is to create media kit or press kit. A journalist might request for a press kit so that to act as a follow up to a press release. Everything that the journalist needs so that to understand who the client is and what the client does contains in the press kit (Haigh & Dardis, 2011). These include: Business card of PR representative Quick facts about an organization, such as its company history Recent press releases Detailed product descriptions; even samples Photographs Executive profiles Those people who work in PR are regarded as experts in media relations. They are often asked to train employees on how to effectively communicate with the media, particularly during the TV interviews or print (Haigh & Dardis, 2011). Here is some of the interview advice given by the media trainers: Be prepared with few simple, key messages. Think like a reporter; prepare answers for questions that are likely to arise. Use the "bridging and blocking" technique to steer answers in the right direction. For example, use the phrases: "Now that's an interesting question (Haigh & Dardis, 2011)." followed by "what's important to remember is...” or "the real issue today is...” Never lie to a reporter or say "no comment." Better to say you're "carefully reviewing" all the facts. For TV interviews, look comfortable and feel conversational, but never mistake an interview for a conversation. According to Men (2011), the department of PR is responsible for organizing and holding press conference when appropriate. There must be more to the conference than just the reading of a press release as not all news merits a press conference. Journalists will only attend a press conference if it promises to announce a truly unique, timely event, complete with exciting visuals, experts and important officials in attendance. Men (2011) stipulates that Press conference allows the PR professionals to reach all potential media outlets at broadcast, once-print and Web. If you end up successfully and attract a crowd of reporters, then you can capitalize on the natural competitiveness of journalist, who will try to rule out each other on a truly exciting story. Some PR professionals are turning to Web press conference so that to save money and increase the odds that busy journalist can be able to attend. They use Web conferencing software to steam a video presentation online in real time. PR professionals also manage crises. "All publicity is good publicity," claims the old PR adage. But one piece of really bad press can tarnish the well-honed image of a business, college or politician for good. According to a 2007 survey by Harris Interactive, 15 percent of consumers would never again purchase a recalled brand (Men, 2011). PR experts create a crisis management plan so that to respond proactively and quickly when a potentially damaging story is breaking. There are many kinds of potential PR crises. For governments, businesses and organizations, they can be broken down into four basic categories: 1. Human error 2. Technical problems 3. Natural disaster 4. Executive wrongdoing/legal problems A good crisis management plan requires honest self-assessment from an organization. It is necessary to bring in an outside PR consultant so that to analyze an organization for potential crises. These people would have an easier time identifying businesses practices that are questionable without being labeled as a whistle-blower (L'Etang, 2007, p.78). They also know how to redirect attention of the media so that to diffuse a potential disaster or at least reduce the damage. It is essential to find an organization having an official spokesman or back-up spokesmen to be the voice and face of the organization in times of crisis. This can be an organization's president, CEO or a PR staff member who specializes in crisis communications (L'Etang, 2007, p.89). This person should be a skilled apologizer. A heartfelt public apology can go a long way to healing a bruised reputation, but a stiff, legalese-filled "statement" might just make things worse. According to L'Etang (2007, p112), public relations can't function without the press. PR professionals end up spending most of their day maintaining existing relationships and cultivating new ones with journalists and other members of the mass media. Therefore, reporters are most likely to pay attention to those from a trusted source. However, for a PR person to win that trust, he issues press releases targeted to the journalist expertise. Press releases should always read like actual stories, not just bullet points extolling the client's virtues. There has to be something truly newsworthy about the release or it will be ignored. Technically, journalists does not need press releases and PR contacts to do their jobs, but it can make the task of filling a daily newspaper or nightly news broadcast much easier to be done. A well-written press release that has a real news hook can translate directly into a story, saving a journalist valuable time tracking down sources hence assembling facts (L'Etang, 2007, p.124). In a perfect PR world, clients should never make mistakes and the press never asks for information that is not on the official statement. But when the media want to access to the information, Publicists and PR departments are the first line of defense. By using e-mail and spam, public relations specialist can send tens or thousand of press releases to a targeted multitude of journalist. Another advance in PR technology is the Web itself. By building a well-designed Web site, a company, organization or individual can share information that polishes its image and furthers its agenda to the public. One of the biggest PR challenges posed by technology is the introduction of social media, sometimes called Web 2.0. Social media includes social networking Web sites such as Facebook and MySpace, Twitter and user-generated content communities like YouTube (L'Etang, 2007, p.171). But the effect of social media is much wider and deeper than a few Web sites. There now exists an entire generation of young people who have grown up online. This Net Generation does not know life without an e-mail account and a cell phone. They're used to searching for all their information online and are distrustful of there opinions or anything that smells of advertising (L'Etang , 2007, p.178). Another danger of the online era is the ability of a negative news story which spins out of control in a matter of hours, rather than days. For instance, Amateur journalists armed with camera phones can break an embarrassing story and have it on the national news by six o'clock. It's becoming harder and harder for a small PR staff to sustain these well-armed masses of opinion-makers. In general, public relations today is an ethical profession which contributes positively to society in contrast to its early history based on manipulative practices. It is facilitating good relations among many different countries and people across the world. Thus, it is our responsibility to help develop public relations and ensure that it is working towards interest of every person across the world. Bibliography Bernays E, (2004), Public Relations, New York, Lightning Source Inc., 87-289. Haigh M and Dardis F, (2011), The Impact of Apology on Organization – Public Relationships and Perceptions of Corporate Social Responsibility, Public Relations Journal, 2011, Vol. 6, No. 1. Henslowe P, (2003), Public relations, A practical guide to the basics, Oxford, Kogan Page Publishers, 34-146. L'Etang J, (2007), Public relations, Concepts, practice and critique, New York, SAGE, 65-234. Men L, (2011), Revisiting the Continuum of Types of Organization-Public Relationships: From a Resource-Based View, Public Relations Journal, 2011, Vol. 6, No. 1. Wilcox D and Cameron G, (2011), Public Relations, Strategies and Tactics 10th Ed, New York, ALLYN AND BACON, 123-349. Read More