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Public Relations
The emphasis on mutual understanding can be seen from the working definitions stress of public
spirit – opinion, goodwill, acceptability, cooperation and others. All these attributes of the public
spirit which assumes a good working and operational environment for any organization. Another
basic concept of public relations is that organizations have a social responsibility to contribute to the
development and welfare of the local communities where they operate. Organization that embraces these
concepts is creating for itself a good public image, which secures its enjoyment of the environment’s
public cooperation.
Public relations beliefs, through its concept of creating goodwill, understanding, acceptability and
others, that good corporate image resulting from public relations activities will assist in ensuring
(1) organization’s survival in the environment – with good profit assurance in businesses (2) peaceful
governance for governments (3) achievement of the people’s welfare by advancing an idea for non-
governmental organization (NGO). Public relations performs the business of implanting the corporate
body in the mental system of its publics where the image created is stored.
PROPAGANDA
A clear distinction must be made between public relations and propaganda.
Goebbels described propaganda as an instrument of politics, a power for social control. The function of
propaganda is not essentially to convert, rather its function is to attract followers and to keep them in
line – the task of propaganda, given suitable avenues, is to blanket every area of human activity so that
the environment of the individual is changed to absorb the movement’s world view. Propaganda does
not necessarily call for an ethical content and the world is used in modern times mainly to describe
those types of persuasion which are based entirely on self-interest and in which it may be necessary to
distort the facts or even to falsify the information in order to achieve the purpose.
Public relations recognizes a long-term responsibility and seeks to persuade and to achieve mutual
understanding by securing the willing acceptance of attitudes and ideas. It can succeed only when the
basic policy is ethical and the means used are factual and truthful.
PUBLIC RELATIONS MEDIA
There are three categories of media commonly used by public relations practitioners:
- MASS PRINT MEDIA: consisting of newspapers, magazines, professional journals and
technical journals. - ELECTRONIC MEDIA: which comprise radio, television and the internet.
- WRITTEN, ORAL OR VISUAL COMMUNICATION MEDIA: this category consists of
spoken words, printed materials such as newsletters, exhibitions, public speeches and others.