What is PR?

In order to discuss about public relations and journalism convergence, firstly, we should define both concepts. In this post I would like to summarize the ideas of what public relations, public relations practitioner are and to name their functions and define the most important terms. The summary is based on book ‘Dynamics of Public Relations and Journalism. A practical guide for media students’ written by Clear and Weideman.

What is PR? Public Relations Institute of Southern Africa defines public relations as the management, through communication, of perceptions and strategic relationships between an organization and its internal and external stakeholders. According to authors, it is clear that effective communication has to take place, because it is the backbone of public relations that familiarize themselves with the many communication forms and techniques available for establishing effective communication with their organizations.

What are the functions of public relations practitioner? Public relations practitioner is appointed by an organization for an important task, namely build the image of the company and to improve communication. Those tasks, according to the authors, can be implemented by carrying out few functions. Firstly, the public relations practitioner has to deal with the mass communication media. Practitioner’s aim is to gain publicity for an organization. It is necessary to have sufficient experience and knowledge of, at first, what the media consider newsworthly, second, preparing material in a way acceptable to the media and, third, dealing with journalists. Furthermore, practitioner has to aware electronics and print media, mainly, to publish or broadcast information that can be constructed as news. Identify newsworthly information and presenting it appropriately to the media is essential. If publicity is to be gained, each news medium has to be approached in its preferred manner. To conclude the functions of public relations practitioner, the main task is to handle the media and act as a link between them and management, because he or she plays a major role giving journalists access to newsworthly information. As a result, practitioner should take care of providing factual information and be credible at all times.