PR and the Media the role of PR A 1.pptx

PR and the Media
Study Unit 1
The role of public relations in
public and private sector
organisations

Learning Outcomes
By the end of this unit, you will be able to:
 Understand the nature of public relations, be able
to describe why public relations is regarded as both
an art and a science and be able to identify the
different techniques of public relations
 Be able to identify the different functions of the
public relations practitioner
 Be able to discuss the attributes of the public
relations practitioner

Learning Outcomes
 Know the Institute for Public Relations and
Communication Management (PRISA) Code of
Professional Standards and its application in a
variety of contexts.
 Demonstrate an effective understanding of the
theories, concepts, and perspectives of
strategic public relations management in the
public, private, not-for-profit-sectors

1.1 Introduction
 Public relations in South Africa is a sophisticated,
multi-faceted discipline that helps to forge effective
two-way communication between an organisation and
its various publics (Skinner et al, 2016: 2).
 In commerce, industry, politics, the arts, education,
religion and charities, public relations plays an
effective management role in its own right. South
Africa has conducted intensive research and evolved a
body of knowledge on public relations.
 Rapid strides continue to be made in the educational
field to provide both theoretical and practical
knowledge for those

1.1 Introduction
wishing to enter the public relations profession
(Skinner et al, 2016: 2).
 In this regard, the professional body called the
Institute for Public Relations and Communication
Management of Southern Africa (PRISA) is making
a major contribution at tertiary, national, and
international level (Skinner et al, 2016: 2).
 It is now possible for students to study PR &
Communication Management at most of the
higher education institutions in South Africa. MBA
with a public relations specialisation is being
offered in some institutions.

1.1 Introduction
 Research is being conducted at both
Masters and Doctoral levels in a variety of
postgraduate studies with PR
specialisations.

1.2 Definition of Public Relations
 At the First World Assembly of Public Relations
Associations held in Mexico City in December 1978,
the following definition of the nature and purpose
of public relations was unanimously adopted:
 Public relations practice is the art and social science
of analysing trends, predicting their consequences,
counselling organisations’ leaders and
implementing a planned program of action, which
will serve both the organisation and the public
interest (Skinner et al, 2016: 2-3).

 However, in 2012 the Public Relations Institute of
Southern Africa (PRISA) developed a new
definition:
 Public relations is a strategic communication
process that builds mutually beneficial
relationships between organisations and their
publics’ (Skinner et al, 2016: 3).
 NB:
 Refer to pages 2-4 in your prescribed textbook for
a comprehensive explanation of the various
definitions of public relations. Decide which is
best to use.

 The definition adopted by PRISA states that
‘public relations is the management, through
communication, of perceptions and strategic
relationships between an organisation and its
internal and external stakeholders’.
 Thus, whatever individuals and organisations may
think their image is in the marketplace, the
public’s perceptions of them are all-important,
whether based on fact or fiction.
 Public relations has a key role to play in
developing understanding and support for a
particular cause or event. Essentially it helps to
define and explain relationships of

mutual benefit between organisations and their
key stakeholders, among its own employees and
with business customers and clients (Skinner et
al, 2016:
 These relationships must be managed, rather
than be allowed to develop by chance, as so
often happens, so that a fair, balanced and
positive image can be created.

 NB:
 Public relations is often confused with
marketing and advertising. Marketing aims to
promote the products and services of an
organisation and advertising presents these
products and services in a visually attractive
manner (Skinner et al, 2016: 3).
 Public relations, as per the definition, also
looks at the perceptions and the relationships
involved in these actions.
 Organisations cannot exist without the

organisation.
 Public relations embraces everyone and
everything, whereas marketing and
advertising are limited to special selling and
buying tasks such as promoting goods and
services, buying supplies, recruiting staff or
announcing trading results (Skinner et al,
2016: 3).
 Public relations has to do with the total
communication of an organisation; it is
therefore an extensive and comprehensive
function within an organisation. On occasions,

of these activities calls for an integrated approach
to all communication functions in organisations

1.3 Public Relations and its Related
Fields
 Public relations, marketing and advertising, are all
functions within an organisation that aim to promote
the services and products available to stakeholders.
 Traditionally, these were seen as separate business
functions but that has also changed in that
marketing, public relations, advertising and sales are
all part of the business strategy of the organisation.
 It is important to know the strengths of the various
functions and to harness these to the financial
benefit of a responsible organisation.
 Public relations professionals need to ensure that
their expertise in relationship-building and
understanding

Fields
stakeholders form part of their contribution
to the organisation’s strategic planning.
 Public relations is also sometimes
confused with sales promotions. This may
be because sales promotions aim to bring
the producer closer to the customer. Sales
promotions are in fact a more personal
form of marketing communication,
consisting mainly of short-term schemes
to launch products or to revise or increase
sales (Skinner et al, 2016: 4).

Fields
be more different, if only because
successful public relations must be credible,
whereas propaganda is liable to invite
suspicion or, at least, disagreement.
 For example, through information issued
by government departments, propaganda
would be aimed at keeping the
government in power, whereas public
relations would be aimed at getting its
services understood and used properly

Fields
 Public relations is also not spin doctoring. The
need to report on events in such a way that it
favours an organisation often befalls public
relations practitioners and is often seen by
management as the key function of public
relations. This is a very dangerous practice as it
could damage the trust that communities,
customers and clients have in an organisation
when the truth about an issue comes out. The
reputation of both the organisation and the public
relations practitioner will be damaged (Skinner et
al, 2016: 4).

Fields
 Public relations is also confused with publicity.
Publicity results from information being made
known and it may be good or bad for the subject
concerned. A pop star, for example, may gain good
publicity from a concert or recording, but bad
publicity if accused of taking drugs. Behaviour has
a great bearing on whether publicity is good or bad
and public relations is very much about the
behaviour of individuals, organisations, products
and services in a wider context (Skinner et al, 2016:
4).

1.4 The nature of Public Relations
 Basic assumptions
 Public relations is based on the following premises:
1. In societies today, every organisation survives
ultimately by public consent.
2. This is achieved through open and transparent
dialogue between the organisation and its
stakeholders.
 Thus, fundamental to public relations is the
establishment of mutual understanding between
different parties, namely:
1) An organisation on the one hand and special
stakeholders on the other hand, or

2) An organisation on the one hand and the community at
large
on the other hand.
 Ideally, mutual understanding should form the basis of a
sound relationship between the different parties.
 The relationship should be based on open two-way
communication that enables the organisation to explain its
policies and procedures, whilst enabling it to monitor
feedback.
 Even more important is for this relationship, because of its
accessible nature,to enable the organisation to influence:

 public opinion,
 judgement, and
 behaviour.
 The obvious implication is that the
organisation is dependent on the moral
and financial support of its various publics
in order to survive.

 Characteristics of public relations
 Viewed in the above manner, public relations
exhibits the following characteristics:
 It is dynamic. The public relations process is one of
continuous and constant change and adjustment in
order to maintain old relationships and build new
ones.
 It is analytical. It is a process of determining and
analysing a situation and the factors influencing it,
as well as one of evaluating the progress of any
remedial or other action.

 It is planned. Goals are set and priorities are determined
in accordance with the problem or situation analysis
and within the constraints of time and budget.
 It implies action. This means the execution of planned
strategies and the implementation of alternative
strategies in order to cope with the public’s changing
needs and demands. In this sense, public relations, in its
purest and most effective form, should be proactive and
not reactive.
 It requires evaluation. Performance is evaluated in
terms of the achievement of goals.

 It demands adjustment. Public relations should
be executed in a flexible manner in order to
adjust to goals altered as a result of, for
example, under achievement or the changing
needs of the stakeholders (Skinner et al, 2016:
4).

1.5 Functions of the public
 The functions that a Public relations practitioner
have to fulfil is very diverse.
1. Media relations
 This is one of the most important responsibilities
of public relations practitioners, and organisations
should realise that practicing good media relations
is an ongoing task,not a last-minute effort
employed when publicity is required.
 Steps to be taken in drawing up a successful media
strategy include:

a. researching the available media
b. identifying the media contacts
c. briefing these contacts and providing
them with detailed information
d. arranging interviews and visits
e. writing special articles and features
f. encouraging debates on issues of
importance

2. Corporate reputation management
 Building and sustaining a favourable corporate reputation
can be achieved through a variety of corporate branding
activities.
 Corporate reputation is influenced by the corporate
image,which is everything a company does or does not do:
 Its products and services
 Its letterheads,brochures
 Its factories
 Offices and trucks
 The way it treats its employees
 Its recruitment policies

-all add to or detract from its image.
 The management of this image is therefore
another vital public relations responsibility.
3. Publications
 Researching, designing and producing a range of
publications is another important responsibility of
public relations practitioners.
 Writing the content for these publications is the
key focus of a public relations practitioner and
should be done in support of the business strategy.

 The public relations practitioner will be
responsible for ensuring the content in all
communication to internal and external
stakeholders correlates (corresponds) with and
supports the communication objectives set by the
organization.
 The most important internal communication
methods include:
 House journals (or staff newsletter),
 Management letters (or memos),
 Employee handbooks,
 Manuals,etc

4. Branding corporate advertising
 Organisations often use advertising in a public
relations context when:
 they are not satisfied with what is being said in
the editorial sections of the media,
 They feel that their stakeholders do not
understand issues or are simply apathetic, or
 When they’re trying to add their voices to a cause.
 In the final analysis,however,organisations turn to
advertising when they want control over message
content, placement, and timing.

5. Sponsorship
 Vast sums of money are now being spent by a whole host of
companies in the lucrative sponsorship market.
 The bulk of it is spent on the broad sporting arena,although
companies are increasingly investing in arts and culture.
6. Promotional activities
 Range from organizing conferences and teleconferences to
 Planning exhibitions,
 Preparing audio-visual material and direct mail
literature,and
 Organising a whole list of so-called special events.

 Each activity calls for specialised skills
and often involve working with other
professionals in the marketing,advertising
and design fields.

7. Issues and risk management
 Issue management can be defined as a matter that
interests certain people whose opinions can
influence the future of the organization.
 This matter needs to be discussed and concerns
addressed in order to prevent an issue turning into
a crisis.
 Issues management is a complex process which
involves monitoring,leadership,dialogue and
various communication activities.
 A risk is a subjective and emotional issue that
requires an outside perspective when reviewing
organizational activities (Register & Larkin,2008).

 Public relations practitioners, together with
other decision makers,need to negotiate the
risk factors associated with organizational
practices and their impact on the
environment.
8. Lobbying
 An even more specialized part of PR is
lobbying,which can be defined as activities
employed by PR specialists to advocate an
organisations’ position to political decision
makers.

9. Networking/Social Media
 Practitioners need to take the dynamic concept of
networking into account when communicating with
influential people in various power structures.
 It is in community affairs specifically that networking
becomes all-important.
 Networks are groups of people with different backgrounds
who can tackle a problem from their different vantage
points.
 Identifying and developing networks of influential people is
the starting point in community relations.Many networks
are formed to meet a special objective or to solve a
community problem.PR Practitioners are often at the hub
of these

networks.
 One of their key responsibilities is to
point out specific messages to influential
people in a given area.Social media plays
a key role in identifying and developing
such contacts on both a national and
international scale.
 PR Practitioners are involved in a variety
of key actions and planning needed to
complete any function,which may

v. Organising.

1.6 Techniques of the public
 A function is seen as the action used to achieve an
objective, whereas a technique is the skill
required to perform the function.
 Techniques
1. Business knowledge
2. Writing
3. Editing
4. Production
5. Speaking
6. Training
7. Management

1. Business knowledge
 An essential aspect of any organization is
its business practices.
 The PR practitioner needs to ensure that
he/she relates to these practices and
enhance their success.
 All the PR activities need to be in line
with the business strategy and add value
to the profit prospects of the
organization.

2. Writing
The PR practitioner should be skilled at writing:
 Speeches,
 Newsletters,
 Correspondence,
 Reports,
 Booklets,
 texts,
 Radio and television copy,
 Film scripts,

 Trade paper (trade journal) and magazine
articles,
 Corporate advertisements,
 Product information,
 Social media messages and
 Website material.

3. Editing
 In addition to researching and writing special
features,practitioners are involved in editing:
 special publications,
 Employee newsletters,
 Shareholders’ reports and ther
communications
directed at internal/external stakeholders.

4. Production
 Production can be multi-faceted and can be very
challenging.
 It involves
 creating communications using multimedia
knowledge and skills, including,art,photography
and
 Design for brochures,booklets,reports,corporate
advertisements and occasional publications,
 Also recording,editing and preparing audio-visual
productions,for example corporate videos.

5. Speaking
 The PR practitioner either speaks in person or
arranges for others to address meetings.
 The process of gathering information enables
organisations to
 plan programmes in response to their publics
and problem situations,
 monitor their effectiveness during
implementation,and
 To evaluate their overall impact.

6. Training
 This involves working with executives and other
organizational representatives to prepare them for
dealing with the media and for making
presentations and other public appearances.
 Practitioners could also assist with in-service staff
development.
7. Management
 Another very important duty is the management of
the public relations projects,which includes
staff,finance and processes.

1.7 Technical skills and
competencies needed in PR
 Qualifications and Training
 One can attain a BA or Comm. degree module
in Communication and Journalism or
Journalism and Media Studies from
universities such as UNISA, Pretoria
 technical colleges offer diploma/certificate
courses
 private colleges such as CTC also offer
certificate/diploma
courses
 Technikons offer a 3-year diploma and a B Tech
in Public

(Institute of Marketing Management) offer
examinations but not tuition (Wiehahn & Heever,
2013: 26).

 Fields of Study that Complement PR
 Advertising
 communication
 Marketing
 journalism
 Human resource management
 business practice
 Business law
 business economics (Wiehahn & Heever, 2013: 26).

 Personal Qualities
1. Inquisitive and wide reader: this means
keeping in touch with
information and being abreast of affairs.
2. Integrity: dealing with the public requires
honesty.
3. Good organisational skills: a PRP must be
systematic in
carrying out her/his tasks.
4. Willingness to serve: he/she should be loyal
and be willing to

 Acquired and Professional Skills
1. Computer skills: the PRP types he/she must
be able to use
spreadsheet software, be able to design.
2. Speaking skills: ability to speak and persuade
when acting as a spokesperson for the
organisation.
3. Time and stress management: due to
pressure caused by
deadlines, strikes these
require thorough organisation.

4. Liaison skills: good relationships should be established
internally and externally.
5. Sound cultural background: knowledge of cultures is
crucial
particularly in South
Africa where there are diverse religions and cultures.
6. Writing skills: the PRP must be able to read, write and
edit a
story.
7. Multilingualism: it is important to be familiar with the
local languages and common international languages
(Wiehahn & Heever, 2013: 26).

 Knowledge
1. Media operation: the PRP should know what
media is suitable for a particular target a
market, in which media the columns and
programmes relevant to his/her publics are
found.
2. Research processes and statistics: knowledge
of aim of the
research, method, fieldwork, tabulation and
analysis.
3. Media production: layout, typography (font),

4. Knowledge of financial concepts: ability to
draw up budgets,
costing services for clients is essential
(Wiehahn & Heever,
2013: 26).

 Grooming and Appearance
 Tips for grooming and appearance are:
 One must always be neat and clean.
 Jewelry, perfume and make-up must be reasonable.
 Dress in-line with your corporate identity.
 Nails must be well polished and remember to have
breathe
sweeteners at hand.
 If possible keep a change of clothes in case of
emergency.
 Gents can wear unstructured suits and blazers
(Wiehahn &
Heever, 2013: 26).

1.8 Conclusion
 In this unit you were introduced to what is
public relations and the important role that
the Public Relations specialist / officer plays in
the work environment.
 You also need to decide based on this unit
whether public relations as a field is an art or a
science.

Revision Questions
 Answer the compulsory revision questions
below.
1. Define public relations according to PRISA. (6)
2. Define the acronym PRISA. (4)
3. Distinguish between the different levels of the
public relations profession by indicating FIVE
different titles that can be found in the field of
public relations. (5)
4. State FIVE fields where public relations can
play a meaningful role in South Africa. (5 x 2)
(10)

Revision Questions
relations practitioner. (5 x 2) (10)
6. Name FIVE areas related to public relations. (5
x 2) (10)
7. There are many fields in which a qualified
public relations practitioner may choose to
work. Name FIVE fields in which public
relations are practiced. (5 x 2) (10)

PR and the Media the role of PR A 1.pptx

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