How Public Relations Differs from Journalism

Writing is a common activity of both public relations professionals and journalists.

Both also do their jobs in many of the same ways. They interview people, gather
and synthesize large amounts of information, write in a journalistic style, and are
trained to produce good copy on deadline. In fact, many reporters eventually
change careers and become public relations practitioners. This has led many
people, including journalists, to the incorrect conclusion that little difference exists
between public relations and journalism. However, despite the sharing of many
techniques, the two fields are fundamentally different in scope, objectives,
audiences, and channels.
• Scope: Public relations has many components, ranging from counselling to issues
management and special events. Journalistic writing and media relations are only
two of these elements. Effective practice of public relations requires management
skills.
• Objectives: Journalists gather and select information for the primary purpose of
providing the public with news and information. Public relations personnel also
gather facts and information for the purpose of informing the public, but the
objective is to change people's attitudes and behaviors.
• Audiences: Journalists write for a mass audience—readers, listeners, or viewers
of the medium for which they work. A public relations professional, in contrast,
carefully segments audiences into various demographic and psychological
characteristics.
• Channels : Most journalists reach audiences through one channel — the medium
that publishes or broadcasts their work. Public relations professionals use a variety
of channels to reach the audiences.

Although PR and advertising both utilize mass media for dissemination of

messages, the format and context are different. Publicity—information about an
event, an individual or group, or a product appears as a news item or feature story
in the mass media. Material is prepared by public relations personnel and
submitted to the news department for consideration. Editors, known as
gatekeepers, determine whether the material will be used or simply thrown away.
Other differences between public relations activities and advertising include:
ƒ Advertising works almost exclusively through mass media outlets; public
relations relies on a number of communication tools— brochures, slide
presentations, special events, speeches, news releases, feature stories, and so on.
ƒ Advertising is addressed to external audiences—primarily consumers of goods
and services; public relations presents its message to specialized external audiences
(stockholders, vendors, community leaders, environmental groups, and so on) and
internal publics (employees).
ƒ Advertising is readily identified as a specialized communication function; public
relations is broader in scope.
ƒ Advertising is often used as a communication tool in public relations, and public
relations activity often supports advertising campaigns.
Public relations and marketing deal with an organization's relationships and
employ similar communication tools to reach the public. Both have the ultimate
purpose of assuring an organization's success and economic survival. Public
relations and marketing, however, approach this task from somewhat different
perspectives, or worldviews.
Marketing is the management process whose goal is to attract and satisfy
customers (or clients) on a long-term basis in order to achieve an organization's
economic objectives. Public relations is concerned with building relationships and
generating goodwill for the organization; marketing is concerned with customers
and selling products and services. The major purpose of marketing is to make
money for the organization by increasing the slope of the demand curve. The major
purpose of public relations is to save money for the organization by building
relationships with publics that constrain or enhance the ability of the organization
to meet its mission. In this passage, Grunig points out a fundamental difference
between marketing and public relations in terms of how the public is described.
Marketing and advertising professionals tend to speak of "target markets,"
"consumers," and "customers." Public relations professionals tend to talk of
"publics," "audiences," and "stakeholders."These groups may be any publics that
are affected by or can affect an organization.