Definition of PR

My definition of PR: The practice of nurturing favorable feelings toward an organization by it’s publics through planned communications.

Some of the definitions use more of a socially responsible feel. To me all of the definitions said, as indirectly as possible, the same thing: create favorable opinions among the publics of an organization. But some definitions stressed social responsibility more than others. PR often has a negative connotation and many people believe PR professionals try to smooth over mistakes made by an organization or cover them up entirely. By stressing the fact that PR must be based on the values and goals of an organization in order to be effective these definitions give the impression that PR can benefit the publics it is trying to reach.

TEXTBOOK SUMMARY

Chapter one defines what PR is and gives examples of how it’s practiced. The chapter also outlines what PR isn’t and gives examples of common PR misconceptions. At first I felt that the chapter sounded like it was written by a public relations specialist trying to promote PR as a career choice. But I was happy to see that the author pointed out that a positive press release will not make up for an organizations short comings when they fail to follow their own values listed in their mission statement.