- Someone substitutes the word thief for a student’s name
under the football picture in the yearbook. The school
gets negative publicity. - A few students are arrested for vandalizing school prop-
erty, and all students become the subjects of public
suspicion. - Three individuals encode a racist message in their per-
sonal descriptions in the yearbook. It becomes national
news, and the whole community looks bad. - A student newspaper column complains that local police
officers target high school students and ticket them
more often than other age groups. Police records show
this assertion to be untrue, and student journalists get
the reputation of being careless, irresponsible reporters.
Although none of these incidents was the fault of the school, the
business or the public relations department, each created negative
impressions for everyone associated with the group. That’s where pub-
lic relations comes in. Quick action and intense effort are needed to
overcome unfavorable impressions created by such incidents.
The job of public relations professionals is to explain the mission
of their employers to the public and to provide complete and hon-
est information to the media. When an error is made or an accident
happens, public relations officials tell the public what the company is
going to do to fix it.
Public Relations and You
You’re already on your way to being a public relations professional,
because you’re learning to put together messages about your school
and get them out to the people who are interested in the school. When
you plan the content of a yearbook or write an article for your school
newspaper, you are practicing to become a public relations profes-
sional. You’re thinking about the students who are your main audi-
ence, or your public, the people who have the most interest in your
topic. You’re choosing the content they’ll want to see or read. You’re
also working hard to put out a newspaper or book that will represent
your school well when parents and people in your community see it.
You are a public relations professional representing your school.
You’re also learning how to think like a journalist and work with
the media. Today’s public relations professional is an information man-
ager—a communications specialist who knows how to get messages out
to people through the media.
Public relations has become so important that its practice has grown
into a multibillion-dollar business in the United States alone. Nearly
200,000 professionals worked in public relations in 2004, according to
the U.S. Bureau of Labor. Employment for public relations specialists is
expected to grow faster than that of other occupations through 2014.
You could be one of them if you have strong speaking and writing
skills, current computer knowledge and the ability to build positive
working relationships with people.
PUBLIC RELATIONS 483
public
a group of individuals who
share a common interest
or characteristic and are
targeted to receive specific
messages related to their
common interest or
characteristic