Mission of a PR professional
All professions have a larger social mission, which ought to be the raison d’etre for their existence. The medical profession safeguards the health of the society, the policeman maintains law and order while a journalist is supposed to provide effective scrutiny and create an informed society. What is the mission of a public relations professional? I often wonder why there is no attempt to articulate the mission of a PR professional.
I have asked this question to dozens of PR professionals in interviews and in informal chats in India. They do not seem to have come across any literature that effectively articulates the larger mission of a PR professional. Such an articulation would greatly help the cause of the Public Relations industry and help build a higher sense of self esteem and pride in one’s work.
MADAN BAHAL
February 16th, 2009 at 10:28 pm
Mr Bahal, all your comments have a unique mix of fact and judgment: if Adfactors PR, the outfit you are head of, represents this mix as a rigour and as a process, it must be one of the finest professional outfits in the world. Congratulations and keep up the daily medicine for the less informed!
February 16th, 2009 at 10:42 pm
Given that we work behind the scenes, it is difficult to give a one word answer or to finish in one sentence. According to me, we are brand custodians that work backstage. Perception management, image builders are some words that explain the role of a PR professional but they sound cliched.
February 18th, 2009 at 1:28 am
Hi Madan,
Welcome to the world of blogging. As usual, you always seem to ask the right and pertinent questions and then go about searching for the answers to them with a vengeance – a style so characteristic of you!
I came across an article that addresses, albeit partly, the issue you have raised in your blog. Appended below are some excerpts…
“Public Relations is the practice of social responsibility.” These were the resounding words of one of public relations most respected lifelong practitioners, Edward L. Bernays
The basic responsibility of a public relations professional is to see that, “public relations creates constant awareness by management of the institution’s responsibility to all its publics.” The 10 “general publics” to which organizations have ethical responsibilities include: clients, news media, government agencies, educational institutions, consumers of your client’s products and services, stockholders and analysts, community, competitors, critics, and public relations practitioners.
As modern organizations and their management are more and more in the public eye, image becomes an ever-increasing concern. Image creation (building and rebuilding) is a part of the charge of the public relations practitioner. In that sense, practitioners occupy specific roles or capacities in an organization. Public relations professionals should maintain constant vigilance (an awareness role) of potential difficulties that could confront their employers and clients.
The responsibility of image building and rebuilding logically falls to the public relations professional. Directly connected to the awareness of company functioning is the practitioner’s advisory responsibility. First, the public relations professional must act to offer precise advise to the organization concerning a corrective plan of action for crises, many of which are deemed discernible at early stages. And, because of the public relations practitioner’s extensive knowledge of developing crises and their management, the practitioner should be expected to devise plans to deal effectively with such concerns – a corrective role.
Again, there is perhaps no single individual in an organization more aware of both the daily “happenings” within that organization and the public’s responses to those happenings than the company’s public relations counsel or component. At least this should be the case. For, not only should the practitioner know the nature of “their” organization, be conscious of its daily functions, maintain an awareness of general, specific, and potential publics’ reactions to the company, but should also be able to detail corrective responses when the company goals are not being met or publics’ images are not what the organization desires. It seems a most natural function for public relations professionals to devise and work closely with efforts to rebuild product, company and individual images for their organizations (clients).
February 18th, 2009 at 9:03 pm
I cannot but notice the subtle contempt for journalists with whom PR professionals work in close association. My understanding, however, is that the raison d’etre of a PR professional cannot be defined in isolation from that of a journalist, because as communicators, both perform complementary roles to each other that benefit society.
This complementarity is succinctly illustrated by perhaps the most famous shloka from the Bhagavadgeeta, wherein Lord Krishna divides his role on earth into two distinct parts, namely,
Paritranaya sadhunam – The upliftment of the good and virtuous
Vinashaya cha dushkritam – The destruction of evil
(Chapter 4, Shloka
The journalist must look after the latter whereas the PR professional must take care of the former, by using identical tools.
What one is supposed to do and what one is actually doing is a separate debate, which can only be resolved by consensus.
Shubha Khandekar
February 18th, 2009 at 11:00 pm
What is the mission of a public relations professional? hmm, as a social mission what i can think is we are like that tubelight or the candle in the dark room where a guy is smiling but the girl cannot see it, we are that light for the company, we are the mirror in whose aks the jounalist enhance their vision .we make things happen by makeing the people aware of the services that a company/individuals have to offer and are friends for them when they are in trouble guiding them , protecting their business in short and long term. We make the society understand and aware of the business at large.
June 17th, 2009 at 8:31 am
helo sir as you define Pr that is realy very important and usefull for studends like me , But will you plz define what is the indian regional language media’s importance and role in INNOVATION COMMUNICATION. plz waiting for your reply…
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Mahesh S. Savale (2′nd year student)
Masters in Mass communications and Journalism,
Mumbai university