UNIT - 1

Concept and
Evolution of
Public Relations
U-I 1. DEFINING PUBLIC RELATIONS:
FUNCTIONS AND TYPES OF PUBLICS
1.(A) PUBLIC RELATIONS
 Public Relations
 Public Relations is the way organsations,
companies and individuals communicate with
publics and media.
 Acc. to Edward Bernays, the three main elements of public relations
are:
 informing people
 persuading people
 integrating people

 “Public relations is the management function

which evaluates:
 public attitudes,
 identifies the policies and procedures of an individual
or an organization with the public interest,
 plans and executes a program of action to earn public
understanding and patience.”
DEFINITION
 Public relations can be defined as a
 ‘management function that helps achieve
organisational objectives, define philosophy and
falicitate organisational change.’

-Baskin, Aonolf & lattimore

 It is the deliberate, planned and sustained
effort to establish and maintain mutual
understanding between the organisation and its
various publics (all groups of people and
organisations which have an interest in the
service company).
- The British Institute of Public Relations
 One of the first textbooks in the field, Effective
Public Relations by Scott Cutlip and Allen
Center, stated,
 “Public relations is the management function that
identifies, establishes, and maintains mutually
beneficial relationships between an organization and
the various publics on whom its success or failure
depends.”
 The management function was also emphasized
in Managing Public Relations by James E.
Grunig and Todd Hunt. They said,
 “Publicrelations is the management of
communication between an organization and its
publics.” National and international public relations
organizations, including the PRSA, also have
formulated definitions.
1.(B) ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
1. Deliberate: Public relations activity is intentional. It is designed to
influence, gain understanding, provide information, and obtain feedback
from those affected by the activity.
2. Planned: Public relations activity is organized. Solutions to problems are
discovered and logistics are thought out, with the activity taking place over
a period of time. It is systematic, requiring research and analysis.
3. Performance: Effective public relations is based on actual policies and
performance. No amount of public relations will generate goodwill and
support if the organization has poor policies and is unresponsive to public
concerns.
4. Public interest: Public relations activity should be mutually beneficial to
the organization and the public; it is the alignment of the organization’s
self-interests with the public’s concerns and interests.
5. Two-way communication: Public relations is not just disseminating
information but also the art of listening and engaging in a conversation with
various publics.
6. Management function: Public relations is most effective when it is a
strategic and integral part of decision making by top management. Public
relations involve counselling, problem solving, and the management of
competition and conflict.
1.(C) WHY DO WE NEED A PR?
 To win new customers
 To retain the existing customers
 To create and maintain a postive public image
 To establish and maintain mutual lines of
communication
 Understanding
 Acceptance
 Co-operation between an organisation and its publics

Therefore, PR specialist create and maintain good

relationship among the media and the customers which in
turn increases the sales.
1.(D) FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS
 In general PR functions as:
1. It monitors the attitude of the public in favour of the
company.
2. It sends out information and spreads communication to the
public.
3. It builds goodwill of the organisation.
4. It counsels the top management to adopt positive
programmes.
5. It eliminate questionable practices so that negative publicity
does not arise against the company.
In particular PR functions as:
1. Counselling: PR departments advise the top management
on matters related to policies, relationships,
communications, public issues or product mishap.
2. Research: Determining attitudes and behaviors of publics
in order to plan public relations strategies can be used
to:
(1) generate mutual understanding and
(2) influence or persuade publics.
3. Media relations: Working with journalists and bloggers in
seeking publicity or responding to their interests in the
organization.
4. Publicity: Disseminating planned messages through
selected media, including social media, to further the
organization’s interests.
5. Employee/member relations: Responding to concerns,
informing, and motivating an organization’s employees or
members.
6. Community relations: Planned activity with a community
to maintain an environment that benefits both the
organization and the community.
7. Public affairs: Developing effective involvement in public
policy and helping an organization adapt to public
expectations. The term is also used by government agencies
to describe their public relations activities and by many
corporations as an umbrella term to describe multiple public
relations activities.
8. Government affairs: Relating directly with legislatures,
government officials and regulatory agencies on behalf of the
organization. Lobbying can be part of a government affairs
program. Lobbying: means dealing with legislators and
government officials to promote or defeat unfavourable
legislation and regulation. (Professional lobbyists are
employed in order to influence the key decisions of the
government affecting company’s prospects.)
9. Financial relations: Creating and maintaining investor
confidence and building good relationships with the financial
community. Demonstrating the need for and encouraging the public
to support an organization.
It is also known as investor relations or shareholder
relations.
10. Industry relations: Relating with other firms in the
industry of an organization and with trade associations.
11. Multicultural relations/workplace diversity: Relating
with individuals and groups in various cultural groups.
12. Special events: Stimulating an interest in a person,
product, or organization by means of a well-planned event;
also, activities designed to interact with publics and listen to
them.
13. Marketing communications: Combination of activities
designed to sell a product, service, or idea, including
advertising, collateral materials, publicity, promotion, directs
mail, trade shows, and special events.
1.(E) PR OFFICER QUALIFICATION
 Bachelor’s degree in communications or journalism
 Excellent writing skills
 Verbal communication skills
 Able to work under pressure
 Able to handle unpleasant queries and situations
PRO
 PR Officer communicates with the target
audience directly/indirectly through media with
an aim to create positive image and build strong
relationship.
 Public opinion is the barometer of Public Relations.
(Example: 1988, V. P. Singh Government’s decision to install
a bust of Mahatma Gandhi by removing a canopy at India
Gate to commemorate 120th Anniversary. But, Satish Gujral
(artist and architect) protested against the removal of the
canopy. And one person’s public opinion resulted in a
national issue.)
1. PRO develops, executes, evaluates organizational programmes
and promote the exchange of influence and understanding among
an organization's constituent parts and publics.
Example: Press Release, Newsletter, Conferences, Blogs
etc.
2. Understand the core values and competencies of the
organsiation.
It could be production processes, product formulae, assembly line
expetise, human resource.
3. Need to identify various stakeholders/publics
such as employees, union leaders, both internal and external suppoters,
financial institutions, local and overseas stakeholders, banks, stock
exchanges, agents, wholesellers, dealers, consumers, local and national
governments, local and national administrations, special interest groups,
including various lobbies and professional groups, the media, both regional
and mainstream community etc.
4. Scanning environment and keeping organisation aware of
the latest development
PR officer keep a track of what is happening in the outside world.
5. Decide on the best cost-effective media
Half the battle is won when we are able to choose the right media.
6. Create a distinct corporate identity and manage the
reputation of the organisation
7. PR officers brainstorm and work on the core values of the
organisation and then plan the course of action with the top
management, a cross section of managers and workers.
PR PRACTITIONER ADDRESS
 WHY- Why are we communicating? (OBJECTIVE)
 WHO- Who are we trying to reach? (AUDIENCE)
 WHAT- What is to be said to gain the desired
change? (COMMUNICATION PROPOSITION)
 WHERE- Where do we say it so as to reach the
desired target audience? (MEDIA)
 WHEN- When is the right time to launch a
programme to seek the desired response?
(SCHEDULING AND FREQUENCY OF MESSAGE)
 HOW- What is the best route and strategy to
reach the target audience? (STRATEGY OF AN
ACTION ORIENTED PROGRAMME)
1.(F) PROCESS OF PUBLIC
RELATIONS

 One popular way to describe the process, and to

remember its components, is to use the R.A.C.E.
acronym
 It was first articulated by John Marston in his
book The Nature of Public Relations in 1963.
 Essentially, R.A.C.E. means that public relations
activity consists of four key elements:
1. Research,
2. Action Plan/Objective setting/Programme Planning,
3. Communication Tools/Tactics/ Implementing Plan,
4. Evaluation
1. RESEARCH: WHAT IS THE
PROBLEM OR SITUATION?
Identify the three key elements:
1. Client or Organization
2. Problem or potential problem and opportunities to
do PR
3. Audiences or Publics
Also finalise what type of research methods will
be used: Formal or Informal research methods.
These may include feedback from the public,
media reporting and editorial comment, analysis
of trend data, other forms of research, personal
experience, and government pressures and
regulations.
1. PEST ANALYSIS –
1. It is used to identify the political, economic, social
and technological factors that may have an effect on a project and its
planning process.
2. A PEST analysis is a widely used strategic planning tool which helps
organizations take better business decisions and improve efficiency by
studying various factors which might influence a business. 
3. Such external factors usually are beyond the firm's control and sometimes
present themselves as threats.
4. PEST is usually done before the SWOT analysis.
5. Sometimes it's expanded to include legal and environmental factors and
called a PESTLE analysis.
6. PESTEL is done to analyze the various external factors that can affect an
organization. The data from PESTLE is then used to add data to the
threats and weaknesses section of the SWOT analysis.
 Follow these steps to analyze your business environment, and
the opportunities and threats that it presents.
1. Use PEST to brainstorm the changes happening around you. ...
2. Brainstorm opportunities arising from each of these changes.
3. Brainstorm threats or issues that could be caused by them.
4. Take appropriate action.
2. SWOT ANALYSIS- a study undertaken by an organization/company’s
competitive position by identifying its internal strengths and
weaknesses, as well as its external opportunities and threats.
 A SWOT diagram analyzes a project or business venture by focusing
on each of these factors.
 It typically consists of four boxes, one for each area, but the exact
shape may vary depending on the design.
 How to Do a SWOT Analysis
 Determine the objective. Decide on a key project or strategy to analyze
and place it at the top of the page.
 Create a grid. Draw a large square and then divide it into four smaller
squares.
 Label each box. Write the word "Strengths" inside the top left box,
"Weaknesses" inside the top right box, "Opportunities" within the bottom
left box, and "Threats" inside the bottom right box.
 Add strengths and weaknesses. Add factors that affect the project to the
applicable boxes. Components of a SWOT analysis may be qualitative and
anecdotal as well as quantitative and empirical in nature. Factors are
typically listed in a bullet form.
 Draw conclusions. Analyze the finished SWOT diagram. Be sure to note if
the positive outcomes outweigh the negative. If they do, it may be a good
decision to carry out the objective. If they do not, adjustments may need to
be made, or else the plan should simply be abandoned.
2. ACTION (PROGRAM PLANNING):
WHAT IS GOING TO BE DONE ABOUT IT?
Develop strategy that involves:
1. identifying goals and objectives
2. identifying the Target Audience or Publics
3. Creating a theme for the program/campaign
4. Budget
Public relations personnel, as advisors to top management, make
recommendations on policy and what actions should be taken by the
organization.
Seven Golden Rules of Setting Objectives
Anne Gregory in her book, The Art and Science of PR, Volume 2, 2000 says that
there are 7 imperatives that must be borne in mind while setting objectives:
1. PR objectives
2. Ally to organizational objectives
3. Be precise and specific
4. Do what is achievable
5. Quantify as much as possible
6. Work within the budget
7. Work to a priority list
3. COMMUNICATION (EXECUTION) :
HOW WILL THE PUBLIC BE TOLD?
For communicating the target audience/publics:
1. Develop communication tactics
2. Decide timeline for the program/campaign
 Once a policy or action is agreed on, public relations staff begin
to plan a communications program that will further the
organization’s objectives.
 They will set objectives, define audiences, and decide on what
strategies will be used on a specific timeline. Budget and
staffing are also major considerations.
 How to Create a Communication Plan?
 Develop a mission statement
 Develop a punchline for the programme
 Finalise a thematic logo for the communication programme
 Consider use of mnemonic device to add power to the programme
 Design and develop communication material like handout, brochures
and other literature
4. EVALUATION: EVALUATION IS DONE DURING
AND AFTER THE CAMPAIGN/PROGRAM
 Identify research methods to be used to evaluate the success
of the program/campaign during and after. Determine a way
to measure whether the campaign achieved its objective.
 Role of Evaluation:
1. Demonstrate effectiveness of the Public Relations Programme
2. Ensure cost effectiveness in terms of results
3. Facilitate accountability
4. Measure outcomes against objectives
5. Measure exposure of audience to media and messages
6. Measure the impact of services and action plans
7. Measure the image of the organization in terms of the services
and draw inferences to guide future campaigns
8. Encourage good planning
9. Encourage good management
10. Evaluate an effective communication strategy.
 Methods of Evaluation:
 Formal Research: Qualitative and Quantitative
 Tools:
 Questionnaire
 Interviews
 Website/social media
 Informal research
1.(G) PUBLICS
 Publics may be defined as a group of people sharing a common
interest or common values in a particular situation.
 In PR, publics encompasses any group of people who are tied
together, however, loosely by some common bond of interest or
concern and who have consequences for an organization.
 Longman dictionary of Mass Media and Communication defines,
publics as “people, who have the same relationship to same person or
group, constantly changing and not necessarily organized, the
individual of a public may or may not know and communicate with
each other.”
 Public in Public Relations management, by and large are divided
into two broad categories as internal public and external public.
 Internalpublic refers to the employees and
 External public is referred to customers.
 In the wake of globalization and information revolution, international
public has also emerged.
CATEGORIES OF PUBLICS:

1.Employees
2.Financial Publics
3.Suppliers
4.Distributors
5.Customers
6.Government
7.Opinion leaders
8.Media publics
9.General Community
10.Special Publics
11.International Public
CATEGORIES OF PUBLICS:
1. Employees – Internal Publics
 Employees are the first in any organization. The
functioning of any organization-be it a
commercial or government department-is linked
with the employees working in the organization.
 However, employees are the first among the
public relations publics, for the organization
cannot function without employees in providing
services either to investors or to the customers.
2. Financial publics-
 The growth of any organization depends upon the financial
resources.
 Without initial investment, one cannot start any company.
 Investors who purchase shares or invest money constitute
financial public for an organization.
 Investors rely on growth in share price over time and any
sudden or consistent fall may generate a merger or takeover of
the company.
 The financial market is closely linked to investors and bankers.
 The financial public can be divided into three broad
categories:
a. shareholders
b. investment analysts, financial analysts, stockbrokers,
institutional buyers of large blocks of shares such as insurance
companies, unit trusts, pension funds
c. financial media of both print and electronic
3. Suppliers- the suppliers of materials and services are of
great importance to any manufacturing company.
 Without raw material, no products can be manufactured.
 The maintenance of good relations with suppliers and
services will help in smooth running of the organization.
4. Distributors- One of the Ps in marketing represents
‘Place’ where the product is sold through distributors.
 For manufacturers and service providers, distributors
mean wholesalers, department stores, supermarket
chains, malls and appointed dealers or agents, franchises,
hotels, Internet retailers, exporters and overseas
importers etc.
 Distributor relations is an aspect of public relations and
marketing support which no manufacturer or service
provider can afford to neglect distributors are unlikely
to sell a new product in which they have no
confidence.
5. Customers- “Customer is the master” and the “customer is
always right” are the adages (proverb) that are followed by
all organizations.
 A business will not be successful unless people like its
products.
 The customers are vested with rights under the Consumer
Protection Act 1986. One of the rights is the right to be
informed, about the quality, quantity, purity, standard and
price of goods and services.
 The target of public relations communication is not only the
current customer but also the potential customer of the
future.
 The customers are to be carefully identified for
communication purpose and treated as very important
persons.
 “Customers meet” is an important tool of customers’ public
relations.
6.Government- Local, Central, State Government Departments,
Regulatory bodies, Bureaucrats, Ministries
 In government, bureaucracy is the key role player.

 All organizations need the support of the government, consisting

of several departments and regulatory authorities.
 The government affects business through taxes and monetary
policies
 It provides water, power, sanitation and municipal services.

 Government departments, ministries, secretaries, heads of the

departments who run the public administration constitute the key
government public for most of the organizations both in the
government and in the private sector.
 In government relations, business organizations primarily are
concerned with weighing impending legislation for its impact on
the company.
 Therefore, it is necessary to identify government as a public and
make contacts to improve communications with government
officials and departments.
 At the grassroots level, village panchayat president and its
secretary are the key government public.
7. Opinion Leaders- Community and Caste
Leaders, M.P.s, MLAs
Opinion leader is an important person in a
particular group of people who, as a ‘public
though leader’ will have an impact on thinking.
They are knowledgeable and articulate in
specific issues and subjects, well-informed on
the issue than an average person, avid
consumers of mass media, early adopters of
new ideas and good organizers who can get
other people to take action.
Therefore, we can describe them as
intellectuals in their subject and are well
respected in the society.
8. Media publics- Newspapers, radio, TV, films, Internet
9. General Community- Neighbourhood community
10. Special Publics- Women, Farmers, Tribals, Minorities,
Youth, Community Relations
11. International Publics Relations Association (IPRA)
TYPES OF PUBLICS
 A public is any group whose members have a
common interest or values in a particular
situation.
 Publics differs from one organisation to
another.
 Four types of Publics:
 Functional publics
 Enabling publics
 Diffused publics
 Normative publics
FUNCTIONAL PUBLICS
 They are those publics which enable the
organisation to perform its chosen tasks.
 Example:
 Customers – who pays for the goods and services
 Consumers – who uses goods and services
 Business firms with which it relates
 Employees
 Trade unions
 Supplier
ENABLING PUBLIC
 These are publics which permit the
organisation to function within the
framework of the society to which it belongs.
Such publics include regulatory bodies:
 Malaysian Institute of Public Relations
 Advertising practioners council of Malaysia
 National Broadcasting Commission
 Community leaders
 Politicians
 Share holders
DIFFUSED PUBLICS
Within this group are varied audiences
 Media organisations
 Pressure groups
 Local residents
NORMATIVE PUBLICS
 This term refers to trade associations and
professional bodies.
 It also include political parties.
GUTH AND MARSH (2000) 6 PUBLICS:
 Traditional and non-traditional publics
 Latent, aware and active publics
 Intervening publics
 Primary and secondary publics
 Internal and external publics
 Domestic and international publics
TRADITIONAL AND NON-TRADITIONAL PUBLICS
 Refer to groups with which your organisation has
ongoing, long term relationships.
 They include:
 Employees
 The news media
 Governments
 Investors
 Customers
 Multicultural community groups
 These publics are always there, however they must not
be taken for granted as they can in one minute be allies.
 And in another minute could be foes depending on how
your organization relates to them.
Non-traditional publics are the groups that usually are
not familiar with your organisation.
 That is your organisation had not had an ongoing,
long term relationship with them.
 It emerge either due to changes in you organisation,
the society or those publics themselves.
 They have always been there but not very relevant
to you organisation but due to those changes, it
could become imperative for them to form one of
your publics.
 Some traditional publics of some companies today
were at some point non-traditional publics.
 After several years of relevance and interaction
between an organization and its non-taditional
publics, such publics could become traditional
publics.
LATENT, AWARE AND ACTIVE PUBLICS
A latent public is one which, by evolving developments,
common grounds of relationship is opening up between
it and your organization.
 There is no active relationship between both parties
presently.
 The members of that public are not aware of the
existence of the relationship.
An aware public is that whose members are aware of
the existence of a commonality of values or interest
with your organization, but have not made any
organized effort to respond to such relationship
Active public has realised the relationship between
itself and your organization, and is working to manage
that relationship on its own terms.
INTERVENING PUBLICS
 Any public that helps you to send a message
to another public.
 Naturally the mass media fall into this group.
 Without the media, there is very little any
organization can achieve in its relationship
with other publics.
PRIMARY AND SECONDARY PUBLICS
If a public can directly affect your organisation’s goals so
that you have to take them into consideration virtually on
all PR matters, then that public is definelty a primary public
 Primary publics are of great importance to any
organisation:
 Employees
 Your immediate community
 The media
 The government
 The shareholders
 The financial institutions
 Secondary public is equally important and you must strive
to have a good relationship with them.
 However, the degree to which they affect your
organisation’s pursuit of its goals is minimal.
INTERNAL AND EXTERNAL PUBLICS
Internal publics exist within your organisation
while external publics are outside.
For a higher institituion of learning for instance,
some of its publics would include:
 Students
 Academic staff
 Non-academic staff
 Food vendors
 External publics include:
 itsimmediate community
 providers of social amenities like water and electricity
 other institutions in its state or country of location,
education ministry.
DOMESTIC AND INTERNATIONAL PUBLICS
 Domestic public are those within your country.
 International public exist beyond your country’s
borders.
 More and more organization are realising the
place of international publics in their overall
corporate success.
 International public relations is not just about
the specific group or persons that your
organization relates to in another country, it
entails knowledge of such a country in such areas
as culture, believe and value systems, taste and
preferences, religion, business, ethics, important
holidays, weather.
U-1: 2. EVOLUTION OF PUBLIC
RELATIONS
 Public Relations is as old as human civilization. It
has existed in one form or the other.
 There are countless examples of its varied form,
content and end use.
 An ancient clay tablet, found in Iraq, told the
Sumerian farmers how to grow better crops. That was
over 4000 years ago.
 The Arabian tales relate how the celebrated Sultan
Haroon Al-Rashid used to wander about every night in
disguise to see for himself as to what the people
really felt about his administration.
 In the Ramayana there is a character called Bhadra
who used to report to Rama about popular feelings
and perceptions.
Employing professionals to sing the glory of the king
was an ancient custom in India.
MYTHOLOGICAL PUBLIC RELATIONS
 Two great epics and India‘s pride and treasure –
the Ramayana and the Mahabharata
 Tells about the accounts of communication
techniques adopted by the renowned
characters of these epics to harmonize
relationships between the various rulers and
the ruled.
 SageNarada, the first mythological public relations
personality, figured in both in Ramayana and the
Mahabharata, was disseminating rulers and the
ruled with the motive of establishing Lok Kalyan‘ –
the universal peace and prosperity.
 The great religious teachers:
 Gautama Buddha
 Shankaracharya
 Nanak
 and Kabir were master communicators.

They preached, in an idiom (phrase/saying), which

the common people found easy to understand.
 The rock inscriptions of emperor Ashok were
written in local dialects for easy communication.
He also sent his own children to Sri Lanka to
spread the message of Buddhism.
 Mughal Rule / slavery
 Englishmen: The rulers tried to put forth that they
were working for the people of this country and
that people should cooperate in their continuance
 James Augustus Hickey brought out the first
newspaper in India Bengal Gazette in 29 January,
1780 for catering to the interests of the European
settlers in Calcutta.
Resulted in, Newspapers which became a means of
educating and enlightening the people which
highlighted:
 various socially important issues,
 acting in the process as a catalyst (promoter) for the
growth of public opinion.
 A master communicator: Mahatma Gandhi
 On 9th August 1942, he gave a call to the British rulers to
quit India.
 This resulted in hundreds of thousands of citizens coming
out for their exit once and for all.
 Within five years, i.e., 15th August, 1947, centuries of
slavery ended and India became independent.
 A systematic and organised practice of public
relations in India began with the Indian
Railways.
 The Great Indian Peninsular (GIP) Railways, for
example, carried on a campaign in England in the
20s to attract tourists to India.
 Within the country, its Publicity Bureau
introduced a travelling cinema which held
open air shows at fairs, festivals and other
places.
This Bureau also undertook extensive advertising
in newspapers and journals besides participating
in exhibitions abroad to popularize the Indian
Railways and tourist traffic.
 During the first World War (1914-1918), the
Government of India set up a Central
Publicity Board.
 This was the first organized PR/Information set-
up of the Government of India.
 It was renamed as:
 Central Bureau of Information,
 afterwards renamed as Bureau of Public Information,
It functioned as a link between the Government
and the Press.
One of the items on its agenda was to find out
where the action of the Government was
criticized.
In today‘s jargon, we call it "feedback".
 For the first time, an Indian, namely, J.
Natarajan of The Pioneer, Lucknow, was
appointed as its Deputy Principal Information
Officer.
The Bureau also formulated a policy in 1938
for release of government advertisements. As
of now, the functions of publicity and public
relations and of broadcasting, television,
advertising, films, professionals look after
publications etc.
 After Independence (1947), the Government of
India set up a full-fledged Ministry of Information
and Broadcasting.
 This was a revolutionary measure in the reorganization
of the information and public relations setup of the
Central Government.
 All the State Governments and Union Territories also
have Departments of Information and Public Relations.
 The activities of the Ministry of Information and
Broadcasting can be broadly divided into three sectors:
 the Information Sector,
 the Broadcasting Sector and
 the Films Sector.
The functions of these sectors are complementary to
each other and cannot be strictly compartmentalized.
Each of these sectors operate through specialized media
units and their affiliated organizations.
 In a developing country like India, communication of
Government programmes, achievements and
expectations are, no doubt, important. But equally
important is communication from and to the
economic sector - public sector, NGOs, public
utilities, academic bodies etc. - seeking to inform,
motivate, change the mind set and finally seek
public support for achieving the objectives of these
organizations.
 After Independence, multinational companies
operating in India for several years, felt the need to
communicate with the Indian people more
meaningfully. In order to adjust their corporate
policies to the democratic milieu, these companies
increasingly turned to public relations.
 Among the Indian giants, the Tatas had already set
up a Public Relations Department in Mumbai in 1943.
 The public sector has, however, made a significant contribution
to the birth, nurturing, growth and professionalism in public
relations.
 Public relations in its true sense started:
 PSUs (Public Sector Undertakings) like:
 HMT,
 BHEL,
 Bhilai Steel Plant,
 NTPC,
 Indian Oil,
 VSNL,
 NHPC,
 ONGC
 At the apex level, there is Public Relations Society of India
(PRSI) set up in 1958.
 It is the national association for professional development of Public
Relations practitioners and communication specialists.
 It seeks to promote Public Relations as an integral function of the
management.
 As of now, it operates through 24 Regional Chapters throughout the
country with a membership exceeding 3000.
 BRIEF HISTORY
 People have been using PR (Content marketing) to capture the public’s
attention since the beginning of time.
 Propaganda: Propaganda is the information, especially of a biased or
misleading nature, used to promote a political cause or any other point of view.
It was used by both sides to have domestic support and threaten enemies during
the First World War.
The term was born in the 7th century, when the catholic church set up its
“congregation for propagating Faith”
 1900: In 1900, ‘Publicity Bureau’, is considered as the start of the modern
Public Relations (PR) profession.  (the technique or process of
attracting public attention to people, products, etc., as
by the use of the mass media)
 Historical figures such as Henry Ford and Theodore Roosevelt, Edward
Bernays have been attributed with being the first to utilize the basic
PR concepts: “positioning” and “ready accessibility.” In other words,
these men were able to position themselves as thought leaders who
were easily accessible to the press.
 1906: But it wasn’t until 1906 that a man came along and changed PR
forever: enter Mr. Ivy Ledbetter Lee.
 PR activists entered the private sector in the
1920s.
 Basil Clark is considered as the founder of the
public relations profession in Britain with his
establishment of Editorial Services in 1924.
 The second half of the twentieth century
was the professional development building
era of public relations.
 In the early 2000s, press release services
began offering social media press releases.
 Only the channels have changed with the
invention of the printing press, followed by
the Internet and social media.
 COMPANIES OF PUBLIC
RELATIONS IN INDIA
 It was in the 1990s that the PR industry originated in India. The initial years
were not easy for the PR industry as there were no thought leaders and
experts in the field.
 Then came the growth period i.e. the 2000s when Burson Marsteller bought
Genesis, and MS&L a Publicis company invested in Hanmer and Partners.
 In the year 2002, companies like Blue Lotus Communications emerged
whose focus was on specific areas like healthcare, technology, brands and
finance.
 The end of the decade witnessed the arrival of i9 Communication which
er showed up as the specialist in consumer communication. Apart from blue
chip companies, scores of boutique PR agencies also came up.
 Post this, the world economic regression brought a storm globally, due to
which many international markets crashed. This led to companies
withdrawing the money allocated for marketing purposes. PR consultants
eventually suffered losses which urged them to move to lucrative and
developing markets like India and China. The Indian market was prioritized
due to obvious reasons like large number of English speaking people and a
stable government.
CURRENTLY: PUBLIC RELATIONS
 ‘Public Relations’ refers to the practice of regulating
the kind and the level of information shared between
individual or businesses and consumers.
 Through Public Relations:
a company is able to elevate its brand presence by
informing the public about:
 new launches,
 latest appointments or

 anything related to the organisation

in the form of news which does not require any direct payment.
 While at a emerging stage, Public Relations(PR) did
not gain much acceptance by companies. But as time
passed and competition level rose, they started
embracing PR to survive in the Indian market.
U-1: 3 SCOPE OF PR
 The scope of institutional PR widens with the expanse (range) of
business.
 The nature of organization decides the prospects of PR in an institution.
 Commercial: Commercial organisations with profit motto and result-oriented.
 Non-commercial: Non-commercial institutions on the other hand are willing to
bear with sparse (thinly dispersed) budget even while seeking maximum returns.
 The corporate sector deals with:
 varied publics routinely for business purpose in the form shareholders,
distributors, dealers, consumers, financial institutions, fellow business groups,
competitors, media, state administration, employees, and others are at some stage or
the other, concerned with the activities and operations of the institution.
 Their cooperation of the varied publics ultimately paves the way for
steadfast, successful existence in the market.
 In this the Management philosophy and attitude remains
crucial for drawing the bottom lines for PR functions.
 And Public Relations executives receive guidelines from the
management and also act as counsellors to construct corporate image.
As, the corporate image is cumulative perceptions about the institution.
This image management remains the primary function of the
Company’s PR team. This perception is carefully cultivated through
deliberate actions.
THE IMAGE MANAGEMENT IS
ACHIEVED THROUGH:
1. Identifying the current image among various public.
2. Determining the elements of desired image in
consultancy with management.
3. Achieving consistency with management philosophy.
4. Building and projecting human face of the
institution.
5. Conducting planned activities catering to different
public.
6. Measuring returns and feedbacks in terms of
institution's market performance and people's
perception.
7. Increasing communication activities within and
outside, to build healthy work environment.
 While all PR efforts are directed towards image
management, therefore, the PR department is
entrusted with all kinds of communication activities.
 Steps for Building Public Opinion for Image
Management
1. Identifying the Opinion among various public through
public opinion surveys, researches, feedbacks and one-to-one
interactions.
2. Locating the factors influencing public attitudes,
individuals and group opinions.
3. Analyzing the complexity of the meanings of attitudes, the
reasons and influences.
4. Devising a communication plan for each group of public in
order to shape and reshape the image.
5. Impressing upon the opinion builders and receiving the
criticism to adopt correctional measures.
6. Managing and facilitating the two-way communication
flow.
3.(A) ISSUE MANAGEMENT
 Issue management is a proactive process of
anticipating, identifying, evaluating and
responding to public policy issues that affect
organisation’ relationship with their publics.
 Two points to remember:
1.Early identification of issues with potential
impact on the organisation
2. A strategic response designed to mitigate or
capitalize on their consequences.
 When issue management operates in areas of
public policy, it is part of public affairs.
 W. Howard Chase, 1976 stated that;
 Issue management includes:
 identifying issues,
 analyzing issues,
 setting priorities,
 selecting Programme strategies,
 implementing program of action and communication
and
 evaluating effectiveness.
 Itis a process of closing the “gap between
corporate action and stakeholder expectation”.
PUBLIC AFFAIRS
 Public affairs focuses on relationships that have a bearing on the
development of public policy and issue management of
public concern which if acted upon by significant groups will have an
impact on the business activities.
 “Public Affairs is actually a highly specialized kind of public relations that
involves community relations and government relations. (that is dealing with
officials within the community.)”
 Public Affairs is the professional maintenance:
 of legislative, government and community relations.
 Public Affairs is the planned management:
 public and
 political issues
which may have an impact on the reputation, performance or license to operate any
business or organization.
 It also includes management of external and internal communication.
 Public Affairs focuses on relationships which evolve public policy such as:
 monitoring policy,
 representation to civil servants,
 dealing with government relations as a specialised area is the task of public affairs.
FUNCTIONS OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS:
1. Testimony for government hearing
2. Producing brochures
3. Videos for political affairs committees and
parliamentary committees.
4. Develop a dialogue between company and
community.
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PUBLIC
RELATIONS AND PUBLIC AFFAIRS
PR is concerned with the Public Affairs focuses on
management of overall relationships which evolve
relationships such as public policy such as
media relations, financial monitoring policy,
relations, employees
representation to
relations, institutional
ministers, civil servants,
advertising.
legislative bodies.
Maintaining publics wise
relationships (employees, Dealing with government
shareholders, customers, relations and community
media suppliers, dealers) relations as a specialised
is the job of PR. area is the task of Public
Affairs.
PRSA (PUBLIC RELATIONS
SOCIETY OF AMERICA)
 The PRSA also identifies public affairs as a
specialist of practice with public relations.
 Many PR personnel use the term public
affairs to connote (apply) the functions.
 It functions as:
 One hand: The legislative, government relations
 Second hand: welfare activities as part of social
responsibility
3.(B) LOBBYING
 Lobby has been derived from the Latin word ‘Lobia’ which means
‘covered walk’.
 corporate advocacy with
Lobbying is described as a process of
the intention to influence decisions made by the
government officials, legislators and regulatory bodies.
 Lobbying is a process in which individuals or groups seek to influence
those in power. Lobbying is aimed at directing attention to influence
legislature and regulatory affairs in government at a local, state and
national level.
 The term lobby agent appeared in the early 19th century meaning
someone who visits the lobbies of government administrative
buildings to speak to officials or legislators.
 A lobbyist is someone who act on behalf of a special interest group
tries to influence various forms of government regulations. He/she is
also a specialist whose prime activity is directed towards ministers,
politicians, legislators and the media persons for getting things done.
ATTRIBUTES OF A LOBBYIST:
1. Access to decision makers and law makers with better image of
company.
2. Research on the issue.
3. Knowledge of government structures and hierarchy of officials.
4. The public interest on the issue but not on clients’ interest only
5. Knowledge of government rules and regulations
6. Support of public leaders and opinion leaders
7. Communication skills and presentation techniques
8. Effective targeting of officials and legislators
9. Good timing
10 Favourable media coverage
Functions:
1. Background information
2. Interpretation
3. Company’s issues
4. Advocate
DIFFERENCE BETWEEN PR AND
LOBBYING
Lobbying aims at PR has diverse
reaching out to limited audience (internal
audience such as and external)
legislators and govt.
Officers PR strategy aims at
creating mutual
Strategy of Lobbying is understanding
to get either the between an
existing law amended or organization and its
a new law passed public including the
government.
3.(C) ADVERTISING
 The word advertising originates from the Latin word
‘advertere’(Ad = to/towards + Vertere = to turn) which means ‘to
turn towards’.
 According to American Marketing Association (AMA) advertising is:
 “any paid form of non personal presentation or promotion of ideas,
goods and services by an identified sponsor”.
 Advertising is the paid dissemination of information for the
purpose of selling or helping to sell commodities and services or
of gaining acceptance of ideas that may cause people to think or
act in a desired manner.
 Advertising is paid space and broadcast time in which
organizations and individuals typically contact with the
advertising department of a mass media outlet for a full page ad
or a one-minute commercial.
An organization:
 writes the advertisement,
 decides the type and graphics,
 and controls where and when the advertisement will run.
In other words, advertising is simply renting space in a mass medium.
PR V/S ADVERTISING
1. Advertising works
almost exclusively through
mass media outlets;
2. Advertising is primarily
directed to consumers of
goods and services and
seeks to create awareness
and undertaking of the
public for
product/services.
3. Advertising is readily
identified as a specialized
communication function;
1. Public relations relies on a number of
communication tools—brochures, slide presentations,
newsletters, handouts, house journals, exhibitions,
TV, films, radio, public demonstration, internet, viral
marketing, special events, speeches, news releases,
press conferences, press tours, feature stories, and
online tools etc (digital press release, newsletters,
blogging, microblogging, twitter, Facebook, articles
posted on other websites).
2. Public relations presents its message to specialized
external audiences (stockholders, vendors, community
leaders, environmental groups, and so on) and internal
publics (employees). PR aims to persuade people to
buy or take some desired action-creates desire,
motivates demand for product/service. PR is a top
management function.
3. Public relations is broader in scope, dealing with
the policies and performance of the entire
organization, from the morale of employees to the
amount of money given to local community
organizations.
4. Advertising is often used as a 4. Public relations activity often supports
communication tool in public relations, advertising campaigns.

5. Advertising’s primary function is to 5. Public relations’ function is to create

sell goods and services; an environment in which the organization
can thrive. The latter calls for dealing
with economic, social, and political
6. Target audience is based on factors that can affect the organization.
market demographic distribution,
product/service, social background, 6. PR audiences are segmented as
age and sex. employees, customers, shareholders,
media etc.
7. To increase sales and motivate
people to purchase goods/services, 7. Mutual understanding, goodwill,
marketing effort, announce new building reputation of the organization
products, challenge the among its public.
competition, build brand image.
8. PR stories are unpaid for. It has no rate
card. PR editorial information is not paid
8. Media cost of advertising is high because of public interest. PR is time
as it is paid, based on time and cost.
space.
PUBLIC OPINION
 Public opinion is constant forming and revising
of people’s opinions on public figures,
organizations and issues. Therefore, PR
professionals attempt to influence the opinion
leaders as they can influence the public at
large.
 Opinion leaders are knowledgeable experts who
articulate opinions about specific issues in public
forums.
 Opinion leaders have interest and knowledge of a
subject, become experts and inform others.
 Opinion leaders help frame and define issues that
often have their roots in an individuals self-interests.
PROPAGANDA
 Propaganda is defined as a deliberate manipulation by means of
symbols, words, gestures, images, flags, music- of other people’s
thoughts, behaviour, attitudes and beliefs.
 Communication intended to influence belief and action, whether the
information is true or false is called propaganda.
 In white propaganda, the information source is identified and does not
hide its origin or nature,
 In black propaganda, information source is not divulged (revealed). The
recipient of the propaganda is discouraged from asking about anything
outside the content area.
 Webster’s New World Dictionary:
 “thesystematic, widespread promotion of a certain set of ideas, doctrines
etc., to further one’s own cause.”
 Joseph Goebells, the Propaganda minister of Hitler (1897-1945):
 “an instrument of politics, a power of social control”.
 Geobbells adopted the “you can” theory based on “man believes
anything, if you tell in a proper way’ and followed Adolf Hitler’s
principle, “more lies, more people would believe”.
 Geobbels said that propaganda had no fundamental method, only the
purpose-the conquest of the masses.
 The word propaganda is derived from the Latin word,
“Congregation de propaganda fide”, meaning the “Congregation
for the propaganda of the faith” of the Roman Catholic Church.
 The Vatican established a College of Propagate in Rome in 1662
AD for training missionary priests and also for spreading the faith
of Christianity through foreign missions. Propaganda has been
used from the late 18th century to refer to a scheme or
organization for promoting a particular doctrine.
 Propaganda acquired its modern meaning in the 1830s. From this,
it came to be known as spreading a belief of any organization.
 Propaganda is more or less a systematic effort to manipulate
other people’s beliefs, attitudes, or actions by means of symbols,
words, gestures, banners, monuments, music, clothing, insignia,
hairstyles, designs on coins and postage stamps and so forth.
 Deliberateness and a relatively heavy emphasis on manipulation
distinguish propaganda from casual conversation or the free and
easy exchange of ideas.
 To maximize effect, the propagandist may omit pertinent facts
or distort them, and he or she may try to divert the attention of
the reader from everything but his or own propaganda
 • Propaganda uses lies, half-
truths, innuendo (an
indirect implication),
smears, misinformation and
one-sided arguments to
influence the public’s
attitude toward a cause,
idea or, usually, a political
agenda.
• Propaganda’s underlying
philosophy is, we are
against them. (We have
freedom fighters; they have
terrorists.)
• Propaganda relies on one-
Propoganda
way communications.
PR
• Public relations uses truth if, for
no other reason, but because
their claims can be checked. PR
relies on logic, facts and
sometimes emotions to spread
information between an
organization or individual and its
publics to promote products,
services and build goodwill for
the organizations offering them.
• Public relations’ underlying
philosophy is building trust
between an organization and its
products and services with its
targeted audiences for mutual
benefit.
• Increasingly, public relations
relies on two-way
communications via social media.
 PR
• Propaganda, however, is typically
used in a negative manner.

• Example: Political campaign

ads designed to attack an • Public relations, on the other hand, is
opponent is an example of usually used to present truthful
propaganda. information in a positive light.

• Example: Commercials and advertising,

• It is often used with the intent celebrity interviews or talk shows for
to damage an opposing cause, promotion of a movie would be
organization, or individual. considered public relations.

• When an individual or organization is

facing a scandal or controversy, a
public relations campaign may be put
together in an effort to address the
Propoganda issue and restore the person's or
company's reputation.
PUBLICITY
 It is called a systematic distribution of public information about an
institution, individual, a product, an idea or a service.
 It is controlled and managed by the media depending on the news
values, availability of space and time.
 Scott M. Cutlip and Allen H. Centre:
 “thedissemination of information, making matters public from the point of view
of one who wishes to inform others.”
 If publicity is the front cover of a news magazine which is published free
of cost, advertising is the back cover which carries paid forms of
communication in the shape of an advertisement either to sell a product
or a service. The front cover is free, because it carries pictures and
messages of news values and public interest while the back cover is a
paid one. Newspapers offer free space for new products of consumers’
interest. This is called product publicity. Publicity depends much on
media. Media publicity has news value. Publicity material gives a lot of
information to journalists who sort the wheat from the chaff according
to their needs and feed the media. Publicity is carried in the media free
of cost as against advertising which is a paid form.
 
 PR V/S PUBLICITY
PR and Publicity are often used interchangibly but
they are separate disciplines.
• Publicity is the act of
attracting the media’s
attention and gaining
visibility with the public at
large.
• The primary focus with
Publicity is to garner media
coverage or exposure about
a brand, product, event,
etc.
• Publicity is one of the tool
that PR professionals use to
shape consumer opinions
favorably towards a
Publicit
particular brand.
y presentations, new media tactics,
PR
• Public relations is maintaining
the reputation of an individual,
organization or brand and
strategizing for communications
goal of an organisation.
• PR is often associated with the term
“reputation management.”
• The other tools of a PR are
community outreach, corporate social
responsibility programming and
sponsorships, government relations,
grassroots communications and
engagement efforts, public
and many more.
PR V/S PUBLICITY

• Publicity could be good PR

or bad. When
something goes bad, it
• Damage control is also part of PR . PR
might very well get a controls when something goes bad. It’s
lot of publicity. PR’s job to limit the damage to their
client’s reputation and come up with a
plan to bring it back up to par. This is
• Getting publicity known as crisis PR or crisis
communications.
doesn't mean that your
brand's credibility or • A crisis PR team may work very closely
with a legal team to minimize the pubic
reputation will be opinion damage, while at the same time
enhanced. avoid leaking any critical information
that can damage their case in court.

Publicity
Propaganda Publicity

One way traffic Two way traffic

 
 

Does not necessarily call Ethical content is necessary.

for ethical content. The Recognizes truth as the
objective is to persuade basic principle and also a
even if the facts are long term effort and seeks
distorted or false. to persuade to achieve
public acceptance for a
 
cause, service or product
 
PUBLIC RELATIONS AS A MARKETING TOOL
 Philip Kotler, professor of marketing at North-western
University and author of a leading marketing textbook,
says;
 Publicrelations is the fifth “P” of marketing strategy, which
includes four other Ps—Product, Price, Place, and Promotion
 As he wrote in the Harvard Business Review,
 “Public
relations takes longer to cultivate, but when
energized, it can help pull the company into the market.”
 When public relations is used to support directly an
organization’s marketing objectives, it is called
marketing communications.
 Thomas Harris, author of The Marketer’s Guide to
Public Relations, prefers the term marketing public
relations. This, he says, distinguishes the function from
corporate public relations that define the corporation’s
relationships with its non-customer publics.
 Dennis L. Wilcox, in his text Public Relations Writing and
Media Techniques, lists eight ways in which public relations
activities contribute to fulfilling marketing objectives:
1. Developing new prospects for new markets, such as people who
inquire after seeing or hearing a product release in the news media
2. Providing third-party endorsements—via newspapers, magazines,
radio, and television—through news releases about a company’s
products or services, community involvement, inventions, and new
plans
3. Generating sales leads, usually through articles in the trade press
about new products and services
4. Changing the way for sales calls
5. Stretching the organization’s advertising and promotional activities
through timely and supportive releases about it and its products
6. Providing inexpensive sales literature, because articles about the
company and its products can be reprinted as informative pieces for
prospective customers
7. Establishing the corporation as an authoritative source of
information on a given product
8. Helping to sell minor products that don’t have large advertising
budgets
PUBLIC RELATIONS V/S MARKETING
 Public relations and Marketing:
 Both deal with an organization’s external relationships and
employ similar communication tools to reach the public.
 Both also have the ultimate purpose of ensuring an
organization’s success and economic survival. Public relations
and marketing, however, approach this task from somewhat
different perspectives or worldviews.
 MARKETING
1. Objectives
The purpose of marketing is to sell
goods and services through
attractive packaging, competitive
pricing, retail and online
promotions, and efficient
distribution systems.
2. Audiences
The primary audiences for
marketing are consumers and
customers.
3. Competition vs.
Opposition
Marketing professionals effectively dealing with opposition.
tend to rely exclusively on However, public relations professionals realize that pricing
competitive solutions, doesn’t make any difference if a consumer group is opposed to
When meeting opposition
to a product, marketing
often thinks the solution is
lower pricing or better
packaging.
PR
1. Objectives
The purpose of public relations is to build relationships with a
variety of publics that can enhance the organization’s reputation
and establish trust in its policies, products, and services.
2. Audiences
Public relations deals with a much broader array of audiences, or
publics. They may include investors, community leaders,
environmental groups, vendors, government officials, and even
employees, who can affect the organization’s success and
profitability through boycotts, legislation, and the generation of
unfavourable publicity.
3. Competition vs. Opposition
Public relations professionals often perceive the problem as
the product because they think it is unsafe.
Public relations, however, deal with all departments of the
organization to advance overall business goals and objectives.
An organization, to be successful in the marketplace, must pay
constant attention to its reputation and have policies that
enhance trust and credibility among its multiple publics.
Public relations, in its ideal form, directly deal with upper
management to shape and promote the organization’s core
values.
CORPORATE SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
 CSR lie in philanthropic activities (such as donations, charity, relief
work, etc.) of corporations
 CSR has evolved and now encompasses all related concepts such as
triple bottom line approach (TBL) (economic (financial),
environmental and social imperatives), corporate
citizenship, philanthropy, strategic philanthropy, shared value,
corporate sustainability and business responsibility while at the same
time addressing the expectations of shareholders and stakeholders.
 Definition of CSR is;
 “the responsibility of enterprises for their impacts on society”.
 To completely meet their social responsibility, enterprises “should
have in place a process to integrate social, environmental, ethical
human rights and consumer concerns into their business operations
and core strategy in close collaboration with their stakeholders”
 CSR is defined as;
 “thecontinuing commitment by business to contribute to economic
development while improving the quality of life of the workforce and their
families as well as of the community and society at large.”
 According to the UNIDO ,
 “Corporate social responsibility is a management concept whereby
companies integrate social and environmental concerns in their
business operations and interactions with their stakeholders.
 In this sense it is important to draw a distinction between CSR,
which can be:
 a strategic business management concept,
 and charity, sponsorships or philanthropy.

Even though the latter can also make a valuable contribution to poverty
reduction, will directly enhance the reputation of a company and strengthen
its brand, the concept of CSR clearly goes beyond that.”
 From the above definitions, it is clear that: •
 The CSR approach is holistic and integrated with the core business
strategy for addressing social and environmental impacts of
businesses.
 CSR needs to address the well-being of all stakeholders and not
just the company’s shareholders.
 Philanthropic activities are only a part of CSR, which otherwise
constitutes a much larger set of activities entailing strategic
business benefits.
CSR IN INDIA
 CSR in India has traditionally been seen as a philanthropic activity.
 And in keeping with the Indian tradition, it was an activity that was performed but not
deliberated.
 As a result, there is limited documentation on specific activities related to this concept.
However, what was clearly evident that much of this had a national character
encapsulated within it, whether it was endowing institutions to actively participating in
India’s freedom movement, and embedded in the idea of trusteeship.
 As some observers have pointed out, the practice of CSR in India still remains within the
philanthropic space, but has moved from institutional building (educational, research and
cultural) to community development through various projects. Also, with global influences
and with communities becoming more active and demanding, there appears to be a
discernible trend, that while CSR remains largely restricted to community development, it
is getting more strategic in nature (that is, getting linked with business) than
philanthropic, and a large number of companies are reporting the activities they are
undertaking in this space in their official websites, annual reports, sustainability reports
and even publishing CSR reports.
 The Companies Act, 2013 has introduced the idea of CSR to the forefront and through its
disclose-or-explain mandate, is promoting greater transparency and disclosure. Schedule
VII of the Act, which lists out the CSR activities, suggests communities to be the focal
point. On the other hand, by discussing a company’s relationship to its stakeholders and
integrating CSR into its core operations, the draft rules suggest that CSR needs to go
beyond communities and beyond the concept of philanthropy. It will be interesting to
observe the ways in which this will translate into action at the ground level, and how the
understanding of CSR is set to undergo a change.
KEY ELEMENTS OF PUBLIC RELATIONS

 Organization
 Corporate vision, mission,
products/services/reputation
 Plan of action with public interest
 Publics- internal & external
 Management Principles
 Two-Way Communication process
 Effect or impact of action plan and
communication
 Mutual Understanding
 PR Practice
PR is a top management function and deserves as much attention as given to
the other assets as manpower, money, material, machinery etc.
PR has the responsibility of establishing relationship between an organization
and its various constituent public groups like employees, customers, dealers,
vendors, shareholders, media, community, government, defense etc .
PR is considered to be the eyes and ears of a company, as it monitors the
awareness levels, opinions, attitudes, behaviours and responses of various
publics
As PR is considered to be the catalyst of change, it is entrusted with the duty
of engineering changes in the awareness, opinions, attitudes and behaviours
of the publics
PR is also expected to evaluate and measure the impact of organizational
policies, procedures and actions on various publics
PR also plays an advisory role of counselling the management to modify and
adjust those policies, procedures and actions conflicting with public interest
in the interest of smooth functioning of the organization
PR is the watch dog of corporate interests and public expectations and as
such counsels the management for the formation of new policies, procedures
and actions which are mutually beneficial to organization and publics
Since the PR professional is expected to be communications specialist, the
job entails the focused responsibility to maintain two - way communication
between public and the organization
PR monitors the wind of change, has anticipation of the crisis and works as an
early warning system, for gearing up the management grapple with the
eventualities
ETHICS IN INDIA
 ETHICS IN PR
 Ethics is the branch of study dealing with;
 what is the proper course of action for man.
NS  It is the method by which we categorize our values and
IA pursue them.
 Ethics is concerned with how we should live our lives.
It focuses on questions about what is right or wrong,
IC
fair or unfair, caring or uncaring, good or bad,
ON
responsible or irresponsible, and the like.
 The principle behind professional ethics is that one’s
actions are designed to create the greatest good for
both the client and community as a whole rather than
to enhance the position and power of the practitioner.
-Cutlip et al
IMPORTANCE OF ETHICS IN PR
 PR Ethics includes values:
 honesty,
 openness, 
 loyalty,
 fair-mindedness, 
 respect,
 integrity, and
 forthright communication.
 Ethics are important to help gain:
 public trust,
 retain employees and
 lead to greater innovation in the industry
 earning credibility: Credibility, in turn, begins with
telling the truth.
ETHICAL STANDARDS IN THE
INDUSTRY
 Public relations people must adhere to a high standard of professional
ethics, with truth as the key determinant of their conduct.
-Seitel
 Ethics in public relations really begins with the individual and is
directly related to his or her own value system as well as to the good
of the society. Although it is important to show loyalty to an
employer, practitioners must never allow a client or an employer to
rob them of their self-esteem.
-Wilcox, p.185
 Principles of good practice:
 Integrity
 Competence
 Transparency and avoiding conflicts of interest
 Confidentiality(CIPR (The Chartered Institute of Public Relations) Code of
Conduct, section A of the document available in appendix)
 Practitioners and public relations scholars alike suggest that professional
organizations can play a key and powerful role in advancing ethical practice.
ETHICAL ISSUES IN PR
 There are various accusations on the PR Ethics:
 as clever strategies maker to convince the public
 as manipulators of the public mind,rather than
conveyors of truth.
 withholding information from the public
 directly and indirectly paying for ‘independent’,
‘objective’ views and opinions
 biased approach and loyalty
 distorting the reality
 propaganda
 bailing out and promotion of questionable
industries and organisations
 pseudo-events (publicity events)
IMPLICATIONS OF THE ISSUES TO THE
PRACTICE OF PR IN ORGANISATIONS
 Unethical behaviour of one client can affect
both the PR agency and individuals in their
relationship with current and future clients
and employees
 Trust and loyalty become undermined
 Withholding the information generate more
interest and suspicion – this could be more
harmful than coming out clean
 Once lost, credibility and reputation are hard
to get back
IMPROVEMENT OF ETHICAL ISSUES
 Education about the importance of ethical
behaviour and its influence on long-term
strategy
 Identification of ethical principles of the
organisation and communication of those
within it
 Understanding and predicting crisis and
response to them
 Following the industry’s code of conduct by
becoming members of e.g. CIPR (Chartered
Institute of Public Relations)
PROFESSIONAL IN PR
 The professional status of public relations
necessarily begins with ethics.
 A code of professional ethics separates
professions from other skilled occupations.
 They are the added importance because
professionals with special expertise have
power in decisions that affect every aspect
of society.
 Professional power and impact do not stop at
national or cultural boundaries.
Therefore, Ethics and Professionalism are
global concern with social responsibility.
PROFESSIONAL ETHICS
 Right conduct suggests that actions are
consistent with moral values or norms in a
society or culture.
 In professionals, the application of moral values
in practice is termed as applied ethics.
 A professional institute turns the right conduct
and moral values into formal codes of ethics and
professional conduct.
 The principle behind professional ethics is that
one’s actions are designed the greatest good for
both the client and community as a whole.
THE IMPERATIVE OF TRUST
 Clients relationships with professionals differ
from their relationships with other providers of
skills and services.
Example: During a medical emergency, you will
have some degree of confidence on the doctors
and nurses about their qualification and expertise.
In comparison to the mechanic or repair shop when
your car needs emergency services.
 When we seek the services of a professional, we
put yourself at risk. Our well-being is subject to
their judgement and actions of the professionals.
 We trust the professionals with information and
the professionals holds you and your possessions.
This is termed as fiduciary relationship.
PROFESSIONAL PRIVILEGE
 Professionals holds privileged positions in the
society because of the values and trust.
 Their work is valuable because of the preparation
and practice needed to develop the required
knowledge and skills.
 With monetary basis, the society extends
privileges to its practitioners.
 So, when they perform substandard practice, they
threaten their clients welfare as well as their
profession.
 Therefore, the professional privilege rests on
public trust in professional expertise, right
conduct, codes and ethics, valuable knowledge
and skills.
SOCIAL RESPONSIBILITY
 Professionals must fulfil the expectations and
moral obligations at the level of the society.
OTHER PROFESSIONAL
FOUNDATIONS
 Professional status derive from the training
required of aspiring professionals and the
conduct of the basic research.
PROFESSIONAL EDUCATION
 PR will never reach the status of professions
as long as people have completed a rigorous
course of study in the field.
 The more rigorous the training and
knowledge, the higher the professional status.
 The commission listed 5 core content areas of
study:
 Principles,practices and theory of PR
 PR techniques
 PR research for planning and evaluation
 PR strategy and implementation
 Supervised PR experience
 PRSI
PUBLIC RELATIONS SOCIETY OF INDIA
(PRSI)
PRSI CODE
• Public Relations Society of India (PRSI), the national association of PR
practitioners was established in 1958.
• It was establish to promote: the recognition of public relations as a profession
and to formulate and interpret to the public the objectives and the
potentialities of public relations as a strategic management function.
• The society functioned as an informal body till 1966 when it was registered
under the Indian Societies Act XXVI of 1966, with headquarters in Mumbai.
• The father-figure of professional PR practitioners in India, Kali H. Mody, was
the founder President of PRSI from 1966 to 1969.
• Chapters were launched in Mumbai, Delhi. Chennai and Kolkata till 1969.
• Earlier in 1965, another professional body, the Public Relations Circle” was
been founded and registered in Kolkata. It was the first ever association of
professional PR practitioners in Eastern India and was doing commendable
work.
• However, at the First All India PR Conference in 1968, at New Delhi members
of the Public Relations Circle, Kolkata, unanimously decided to disband the
regional organization to strengthen the national body, thus forming the Kolkata
Chapter of PRSI, in 1969.
• The management of the Public Relations society of India is vested in the
National Council, consisting of representatives elected by all the regional
chapters.
• The members of the society are public relations practitioners from
Multinationals, Govt,. Public and Private sector ,Academics and PR consultants .
MEMBERSHIP
• The membership of the society is open to any person and also to any firm, body
corporate or association of persons.
• Such membership take effect on admission and classification at the discretion of
the National Council.
• Each application for membership is forwarded by the Regional Chapter to the
National Council for consideration with their recommendations regarding
acceptance and classification, and forward the same to the Secretary-General for
consideration of the National Council.
 
 

There are following classes of members :

1.Members;
2.Life Members;
3.Associate Members;
4.Honorary Members; and
5.Student Members
• The society is recognized as the national PR organization by the International
Public Relations Association, and is one of the founder members of the Global
Alliance of Public Relations and Communications Management.
• The Regional Chapters of the society regularly organize seminars, lectures and
discussions on various facets of public relations.
• In order to promote professional training, the chapters run, with the
collaboration of universities and colleges, professional programme on public
relations for students of management, PR, advertising, mass communication and
journalism. PRSI today have 30 chapters and 3000 strong membership.
NATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS DAY
 April 21, is a red-letter day in the history of Indian public relations.
It is because the National public Relations Day is celebrated on this
day all over the country since 1986.
 The First All India Public Relations Conference was organised in Delhi
on April 21, 1968. The theme of the conference was ‘Professional
Approach’. This was a very significant public relations meet in our
country, when a professional approach was given to public relations
( a change from publicity, press a gentry, information) besides
adopting a Code of Ethics for PR profession. In fact that was the
beginning of professional public relations in India.
 Since then, PSRI had 26 All India PR conferences including the 9th PR
World Congress in Bombay in 1982 and the first Asia Pacific PR Meet
in Kolkata during January, 1998 and International Public Relations
Conference at Bangalore in 2002.
 The objective behind designating April 21 as National Public
Relations Day is to focus attention on public relations function and
public relations professionals in India who have an increasingly
important role in the development of the country.
 Specific theme for the day is identified to organise events to
highlight the issues selected in the theme.
 On 21st April PRSI adopted International
Code of Ethics.
 Presently IPRA- India has following members:
 Dr Ajit Pathak – National Chir
 Prema SAGAR – Council Member
 Anand AKERKAR
 Zelma LAZARUS
 Amit CHAUDHERY
 Dilip CHERIAN
 Pradeep KEWALRAMANI
 T.C. Ajit MENON
 Sudip MOZUMDER
 Roger PEREIRA
 Alok SAXENA
 K.R. SINGH
 Ashwani SINGLA
 Rajunaidu SWAMINATHAN
 Suvendu BANERJEE
 Satyan BHATT
 Suresh GAUR
 Ravindra KUMAR
 IPRA CODE
INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS
ASSOCIATION
 INTERNATIONAL PUBLIC RELATIONS ASSOCIATION (IPRA)
 The International Public Relations
Association was established in London on 1st
Y OF INDIA May 1955 with the adoption of constitution
and the appointment of the first IPRA
Council.
ASSOCIATION

 At that time, it has 15 members in 5

countries.
 The idea of organising public relations
professionals into a transnational society:
 Raising standards of public relations practice in
the various countries
 Improving quality and efficiency of practitioners.
IPRA CURRENTLY
 Today, IPRA headquarters is in Geneva,
Switzerland.
 It constitutes the international forum of public
relations practitioners worldwide.
 Currently, it has 700 members in 80 countries.
 It is recognized by UN and the members serves as
consultants to the UN Economic and Social Council.
 In 1965, it adopted the Code of Athens, based on
the UN Declaration of Human Rights.
 In 1980, 25th Anniversary of IPRA, the French Post
Office Authority issued the first and only stamp
dedicated to public relations.
 IPRA promotes:
 Professional recognition
 High standards
 Ethics among practitioners working in international aspects of
public relations
 IPRA supports development and recognition in parts of the
world where PR is developing and helps establish new
national associations.
 IPRA engaged in promoting exchange of information and co-
operation in every sector of the profession and building
opportunities for professional development.
 India has been actively associated with IPRA.
 IPRA works:
 Meets twice a year
 Recognizes outstanding contributions to better world
understanding
 Publishes quarterly: International Public Relations Review
 Issues: ‘Gold Papers’ on major issues of interest to the global
relations community.
THE “IPRA CODE OF CONDUCT”
Adopted in 2011 the IPRA Code of Conduct for the public relations
practitioners worldwide are:

1. Observance
2. Integrity
3. Dialogue (moral, cultural)
4. Transparency
5. Conflict
6. Confidentiality
7. Accuracy
8. Falsehood
9. Deception
10. Disclosure (use any organisation to serve an undisclosed interest)
11. Profit
12. Remuneration (Do not accept any form of payment in connection
with those services from anyone other than the principal)
13. Inducement (Neither directly nor indirectly offer nor
give any financial or other inducement to public
representatives or the media)
14. Influence
15. Competitors (Not intentionally injure the professional
reputation of another practitioner)
16. Poaching (Do not use deceptive means)
17. Employment (Take care to follow the rules and
confidentiality requirements of other organisations)
18. Colleagues (Code with respect to fellow IPRA
members and public relations practitioners worldwide.)
IPRA members shall, in upholding this Code, agree to
abide by and help enforce the disciplinary procedures of
the International Public Relations Association in regard to
any breach of this Code.
CASE STUDIES - CSR
 https://www.researchgate.net/publication/
313837646_A_case_study_on_Corporate_Soci
al_Responsibility_in_NESTLE_TATA_ITC
 http://www.icmrindia.org/casestudies/catal
ogue/Business%20Ethics/BECG093.htm
FOUR MODELS OF PUBLIC
RELATIONS
 Grunig and Hunt (1984) developed four models of public relations
that describe the field’s various management and organizational
practices. These models serve as guidelines to create programs,
strategies, and tactics.
 In the press agent/publicity model, communications professionals use
persuasion to shape the thoughts and opinions of key audiences. In this
model, accuracy is not important and organizations do not seek audience
feedback or conduct audience analysis research. It is a one-way form of
communication. One example is propagandist techniques created by news
media outlets in North Korea.
 The public information model moves away from the manipulative tactics
used in the press agent model and presents more accurate information.
However, the communication pattern is still one-way. Practitioners do not
conduct audience analysis research to guide their strategies and tactics.
Some press releases and newsletters are created based on this model, when
audiences are not necessarily targeted or researched beforehand.
 The two-way asymmetrical model presents a more “scientifically persuasive”
way of communicating with key audiences. Here, content creators conduct
research to better understand the audience’s attitudes and behaviors, which in
turn informs the message strategy and creation. Still, persuasive
communication is used in this model to benefit the organization more so than
audiences; therefore, it is considered asymmetrical or imbalanced. The model
is particularly popular in advertising and consumer marketing, fields that are
specifically interested in increasing an organization’s profits.
 Finally, the two-way symmetrical model argues that the public relations
practitioner should serve as a liaison between the organization and key publics,
rather than as a persuader. Here, practitioners are negotiators and use
communication to ensure that all involved parties benefit, not just the
organization that employs them. The term “symmetrical” is used because the
model attempts to create a mutually beneficial situation. The two-way
symmetrical model is deemed the most ethical model, one that professionals
should aspire to use in their everyday tactics and strategies (Simpson, 2014).
Some experts think of public relations more broadly. For instance, they may
argue that political lobbying is a form of public relations because lobbyists
engage in communication activities and client advocacy in order to shape the
attitudes of Congress (Berg, 2009). However, this book focuses on a public
relations approach based particularly on writing for the media. Furthermore, the
goal is to disseminate communication based on the two-way symmetrical model
presented by Grunig and Hunt (1984).