started the media talking about it. Because the media treated the debut
of the new operating system as news, the public started talking about it,
looking forward to it and waiting anxiously to spend their money on it.
What Is Public Relations?
Public relations is the transmission of information to the public
through the media in order to make people aware of a business, orga-
nization, issue or event, in a positive way. Public relations is unpaid
media exposure for a business or organization. Information from public
relations sources appears as news content on television and radio and
in print. It appears in public service messages promoting social issues
such as health, safety and a clean environment.
Public relations messages use many of the same principles as adver-
tising. Advertising is the way a business or organization promotes its
product through paid-for messages. Public relations is the way a busi-
ness or organization promotes itself. The time or space for advertising
must be paid for by the product’s sponsor; the time or space for public
relations information is free of charge to the source.
That does not mean that public relations is free. It is paid for by the
business or organization sponsoring it. The sponsor pays the public
relations professionals’ salaries; pays for mailings to target audiences;
and pays for the production of promotional items, from letters to
T-shirts to store displays. All these things provide publicity for the
sponsor and the sponsor’s products.
People who practice public relations have many titles. They are
called communications managers, information officers, media special-
ists, and news service and public relations directors.
Public Relations Responsibilities
In today’s global community, no one who does business with the
public can escape having a public image or practicing public relations.
Governments, companies, organizations, businesses, schools and
individuals have public images and public relations responsibilities,
whether they want them or not.
Every telephone call a company employee answers, every letter a
company employee sends, every ad a business buys, every face-to-face
or online contact between a business and a consumer becomes a public
relations event. This is because it contributes to the attitudes people
have about the business and the people who are associated with it.
Your school is a business. Whoever answers the telephone at the
school represents the whole school as far as the caller is concerned. The
coach represents the whole school when a reporter asks for an inter-
view. You represent your whole school when you go to sell an ad for the
newspaper or when you attend an event at another school. People hear
and see you, and they get the idea that everyone at your school is like
you. Your interactions with the public create the impressions people
have of you and of your school.
PUBLIC RELATIONS 481
public relations
the actions and communica-
tions carried out by public
relations practitioners; the
department or division of
a business or organization
responsible for establishing
and maintaining relations
between a business or
organization and its publics;
a management function that
helps define an organization’s
philosophy through interac-
tions within the organization
and with publics outside the
organization