Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization to the public in order to influence their perception. Public relations and publicity differ in that PR is controlled internally, whereas publicity is not controlled and contributed by external parties. Public relations may include an organization or individual gaining exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that do not require direct payment. The exposure is mostly media-based, and this differentiates it from advertising as a form of marketing communications. Public relations aims to create or obtain coverage for clients for free, also known as earned media, rather than paying for marketing or advertising also known as paid media. But in the early 21st century, advertising is also a part of broader PR activities.
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to public affairs:
Metrology is the scientific study of measurement. It establishes a common understanding of units, crucial in linking human activities. Modern metrology has its roots in the French Revolution's political motivation to standardise units in France when a length standard taken from a natural source was proposed. This led to the creation of the decimal-based metric system in 1795, establishing a set of standards for other types of measurements. Several other countries adopted the metric system between 1795 and 1875; to ensure conformity between the countries, the Bureau International des Poids et Mesures (BIPM) was established by the Metre Convention. This has evolved into the International System of Units (SI) as a result of a resolution at the 11th General Conference on Weights and Measures (CGPM) in 1960.
Benchmarking is the practice of comparing business processes and performance metrics to industry bests and best practices from other companies. Dimensions typically measured are quality, time and cost.
The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) is a nonprofit trade association for public relations professionals. It was founded in 1947 by combining the American Council on Public Relations and the National Association of Public Relations Councils. That year, it had its first annual conference and award ceremony.
Media evaluation is a discipline of the external and logical social sciences and centres on the analysis of media content, rating the exposure using a number of pre-designated criteria commonly including tonal value and presence of key messages. It is said to be one of the fastest-growing areas of mass communications research.
The Association of National Advertisers (ANA) represents the marketing community in the United States. Its headquarters is in New York City and it has another office in Washington, D.C. ANA's membership includes over 600 companies with 25,000 brands that collectively spend over 400 billion dollars in marketing communications and advertising.
The Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) is a professional body in the United Kingdom for public relations practitioners. Founded as the Institute for Public Relations in 1948, CIPR was awarded Chartered status by the Privy Council of the United Kingdom in 2005 and added "Chartered" to its name. As of late 2012, CIPR had 10,095 members. The association provides training and education, publishes a code of conduct and hosts awards and events. It is governed by a board of directors led by a president who is elected each year.
The International Association of Business Communicators (IABC) is a global network of communications professionals.
Most textbooks date the establishment of the "Publicity Bureau" in 1900 as the start of the modern public relations (PR) profession. Of course, there were many early forms of public influence and communications management in history. Basil Clarke is considered the founder of the PR profession in Britain with his establishment of Editorial Services in 1924. Academic Noel Turnball points out that systematic PR was employed in Britain first by religious evangelicals and Victorian reformers, especially opponents of slavery. In each case the early promoters focused on their particular movement and were not for hire more generally.
Metrica was a global media analysis, media evaluation and PR planning consultancy that became part of the Gorkana group which is now owned by Cision. Headquartered in London, Metrica was founded in 1993. The company worked in the fields of reputation management, public relations measurement and content analysis. Metrica is part of The Gorkana Group, which incorporated Durrants, Gorkana and Metrica.
A student-run advertising agency acts like a real advertising agency, but is operated by students. The agency can be included in the academic curriculum, allowing students to work in the agency for academic credit. Or, the agency can simply be housed within the academic unit, allowing students to work in the agency for volunteer experience. In other cases, the agency can operate as a student club within the broader organizational structure of the university. The student-run agency provides advertising and similar communications services to various organizations such as college departments, small businesses, and community-based non-profit organizations. Some agencies compete with professionals and charge for services. Other agencies do all their work without charge. Other agencies have a philanthropic focus whereby communications work is conducted for free for nonprofits, while for-profit entities are asked to make a charitable donation to the agency to support its learner-centered focus. Most student-run agencies tend to take an integrated marketing communications focus, combining advertising with public relations and other services.
The Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA) is a peak body for public relations and communication professionals in Australia. It promotes high ethical standards in the public relations and communication industry through accredited membership, resources, training, and recognition.
Public affairs generally refers to the engagement efforts between organizations, often times in the context of building business or governmental relationships. The industry has developed over recent years and is normally considered a branch or sub-discipline of public relations (PR). Having such a broad range of coverage regarding its definition, public affairs is, by nature, a hybrid of disciplines that relies heavily on strategic communication. While often equated with lobbying, this is usually only a small part of what a public affairs practitioner might do. Other typical functions include research, strategy planning and providing advice. Dr. Juan-Carlos Molleda writes, “Many types of organizations virtually and physically interact and communicate with publics and/or audiences outside of their own country of origin to build a dynamic set of relationships. Trade, direct foreign investment, political coalitions, worthy global causes, information flow, and social networking, among other phenomena, are increasing the complexity of those relationships dramatically”.
Gemma Puglisi is an author, media expert, pundit and assistant professor of communication at American University in Washington, D.C.
The Accreditation in Public Relations (APR), the Accreditation in Public Relations and Military Communications (APR+M), and the Certificate in Principles of Public Relations are voluntary certifications in the United States and Canada for persons working in the field of public relations (PR) and, in the case of the APR+M, military public affairs.
Public Relations Consultants Association of India (PRCAI) is a trade organization that represents India's public relations consultancy sector. It is the summit body for official communications and public relations practices in India. It was formed in October 2001 to grow, represent, and support India's public relations consultancy sector in international practices. It also provides a forum for government, public bodies, industry associations, trade, and others to confer with public relations consultants as a body. It is an internationally recognized organization that offers official membership to all PR practitioners who abide by the basic criteria devised by the association.
James E. Lukaszewski (loo-ka-CHEV-skee) is an author, speaker, crisis management consultant and president of The Lukaszewski Group Division, Risdall Marketing Group. He is a recipient of the Patrick Jackson Award for Distinguished Service to the Public Relations Society of America and PR News’ Lifetime Achievement Award.
The Barcelona Principles refers to the Barcelona Declaration of Research Principles, a set of seven voluntary guidelines established by the public relations (PR) industry to measure the efficiency of PR campaigns. They were the first overreaching framework for effective public relations and communications measurement. The Principles serve as a guide for practitioners to incorporate the ever-expanding media landscape into a transparent, reliable, and consistent framework.
Takashi Inoue is a public relations practitioner, scholar, and theorist. His theories include the "three forces of hyper-globalization", the "Self-Correction Model of Public Relations", and the "Japan model". He was the first to teach public relations courses at a major university in post-war Japan and is the Chairman and CEO of Inoue Public Relations, which he founded in 1970. He is a Visiting Professor at the Graduate School of Management, Kyoto University and at Kobe Institute of Computing. He was quoted in foreign press reports on the East Japan Earthquake and the 2018 arrest in Japan of Nissan chairman Carlos Ghosn. He has written about modern Japan's lack of PR skills and has described the resulting "Deficiency of Japanese diplomacy", and in 2010 he wrote that corporate Japan's scandals have created "A culture of apologies: Communicating crises in Japan"
