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Public Relations
The Newsletter’s Definition of Public Relations is the management function which evaluates public attitudes,
identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public interest, plans and
executes a programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.
A scholar has put serious efforts in the United States to find a comprehensive definition in 1976. Dr. Rex
F. Harlow, a social scientist, author and practitioner through the sponsorship of the Foundation for Public
Relations Research and Education came up with this definition:
PUBLIC RELATIONS is a distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines
of communication, understanding, acceptance and cooperation between an organization and its publics;
involves the management of problems or issues, helps management to keep informed on an responsive to
public opinion; defines and emphasizes the responsibility of management to serve the public interest, helps
management to keep abreast of and effectively utilize change, serving as an early warning system to help
anticipate trends and uses research and sound and ethical communication techniques as its principal tools.
wORKING DEFINITIONS
The International Public Relations Association came up with its own definition, that is:
Public Relations is management function, of a continuing and planned character, through which public and
private organizations and institutions seek to win and retain the understanding, sympathy and support of
those with whom they are or may be concerned by evaluating public opinion about themselves, in order
to correlate as far as possible, their own policies and procedures to achieve by planned and wide-spread
information more productive cooperation and more efficient fulfillment of their common interest.
Further attempts made through individual approach state that:
Public Relations is an effort by a person or an organization to influence attitude and opinion formation
favourably towards it through methods of relating with target publics.
The Public Relations Society of America declares a definition for its members that:
the public relations profession in serving, the legitimate interests of clients or employees is dedicated
fundamentally to the goals of better mutual understanding and cooperation among the diverse groups,
institutions and elements of our modern society.
The problem of definition continues, but in the meantime – Public Relations defines itself by what it
does. (Warshaw and Kinnear, 1983; Cutlip and Center, 1971; and Black, 2011)