Handbook of Corporate Communication and Public ... - Blogs Unpad

According to a practitioner, ‘The impact of
media content can be misleading. Analysis of
impact often paints a different picture from
perception of a likely impact.’ Another practitioner
noted how ‘further research into the
impact of media content would help every PR
practitioner and would interest and impress
existing and potential PR users far more than
other topics’. Research done by John Hitchins
at the College of St Mark and St John in
Plymouth seeks to address this issue.
The definition of public relations
This is still considered a relevant subject.
Despite many attempts to define what
public relations is, a common concept is hard
to achieve as public relations is practised
differently from sector to sector, country to
country. An academic states how ‘there is
(still) no consensus on the definition of public
relations’, while another academic pointed
out, ‘If we don’t know what public relations
is, how can we achieve excellence in practice
The future of the field depends largely
on its ethical practice, on the integrity of PR
practitioners.’
The need to derive a universal definition of
public relations is near impossible, given the
inherent linguistic and cultural differences in
the world. Several joint projects since the
1990s have striven to break down these barriers
and to enhance co-operation between
academics and practitioners across continents.
This however, remains a gargantuan and longterm
task. The trick perhaps, is to ‘think
global, act local’ and focus research in public
relations on specific aspects of practice, in
accordance to the demands of the environment
and its application. For instance, rather
than argue over whether public relations is
part of the marketing mix or a completely
independent discipline, attention and research
should look into the interplay of
marketing functions, such as advertising and
below-the-line marketing with public relations.
By doing so, research will begin to
reveal the different layers in PR practice and
thereby possibly arrive at generic definitions
for specific occasions.
According to a practitioner, ‘The definition
is key as public relations moves up the boardroom,
the traditional roles in marcomms are
changing and fast. New developments means
that the power of PR is even more far reaching
than before.’ By researching these different
areas of public relations, we can enhance our
understanding of the use of public relations in
different situations, and how it operates under
these different conditions. A practitioner
notes that this will help to ‘define clearly the
scope of the roles and responsibilities
assumed by practitioners . . . identifying areas
which need attention’.
Features of the market for PR service
According to the last report, it was suggested
that research on this topic should be gathered
primarily by the professional associations, as
they acquire the staff resources to carry out
this work.
Currently, surveys of market data and
trends (such as cost structures in wage terms)
have been carried out by the national members
of the International Committee of Public
Relations Consultancy Association (ICCO).
Consequently, PR services in all their diversity
and similarities can be understood, and the
PR profession as a whole, will be in a better
position to brief clients more effectively
when it comes to developing international
© 2004 Sandra Oliver for editorial matter and selection;
individual chapters, the contributors