What Is Public RelationsWhat Is Public RelationsPurposeThe purpose of this assignment is to integrate what has been learned in the class and form an understanding of public relations practice. This will be done by first examining the question, “What is public relations?.” The next step will be to explain a specific area of specialty that I would like to pursue for a future career. After the foundation has been laid there are explanations on women and diversity, role expectations, and ethics and professionalism.
What is Public RelationsThere is no clear answer to the question, “What is Public Relations”? The answer that is received heavily depends on to whom the question is being asked. Opinions vary between scholars and everyday citizens, as well as there are differences of opinion between the media and website portrayals. By assessing the definition of public relations held by “everyday” persons, media portrayals and website analysis, and comparing these perceptions to those of a scholarly nature I have come up with a definition of public relations. To gather an idea of what “everyday” people think of PR and it’s profession, I interviewed Adrian Owens (my boyfriend) and Natalie Dunmore (my mother). Although these two interviews provided an idea of PR from two different generations, or age groups, the main concepts were the same. For an example of a media portrayal I chose to discuss the 2003 movie “Head of State”, starring Chris Rock. In this movie, Rock’s character (Mays Gilliam ) is an African American alderman selected to run on the Democratic ticket for the American Presidency. As a professional website portrayal I used the home site for the International Association of Business Communicators (www.iabc.com). To gather a more scholarly definition, I consulted the Public Relations textbook, Effective Public Relations, by S.M. Cutlip et.al. I also used information from Cuclis Communication, a successful public relations firm located in San Francisco, California.
I. InterviewsDifferent people hold various ideas of what Public Relations is, and what the profession envelops. This is not surprising, because many scholars also have conflicting ideas of the PR arena and what it entails. According to Adrian Owens, a 22-year-old SAPD officer, “Public Relations is how an individual, association or corporation interacts with the community according to social standards.” He came to this conclusion because this is what he was taught during college. On the other hand Natalie Dunmore, a 40-year-old Air force veteran, understood a different concept of PR from her college education. “How the community perceives a particular business or administration is Public Relations.” Both definitions encompass a sense of interaction between a business or entity of some sort, and its publics; however when asked what comes to mind, both individuals had varying answers.
While Natalie perceived Public Relations activities as volunteer work, or charity contributions, Adrian saw PR solely as communication. After further discussion he said, “Public relations is really just communication; because you have to be able to communicate efficiently in order to have any type of relations with anybody.” Although the responses were not the same, after further analysis, there seems to be similarities between the two. Even if a company shows good PR by participating in non-profit events and contributing monetarily these actions would go massely overlooked by the public if not communicated effectively. For example, many entities hold a ceremony, or separate publicity events to announce a charitable donation in order to inform the public of their contributions.
Both interviewees did agree that Marketing and Public Relations are not the same thing; both stating that while the goal of marketing is to sell a product, Public Relations is about what you give back to the community. Also both of them state that a business could not be successful in today’s modern world without good public relations
Media PortrayalIn the movie “Head of State”, Mays Gilliam has just been selected to run on the Democratic ticket for the American Presidency. The American President is not only the Commander and Chief of national relations, but also serves as a public relations practitioner due to the various speeches he makes to the general public. During the course of this film, Mays Gilliam gives several speeches to various types of audiences in order to gain support for his election; these public presentations are the basis of my critique. Mays Gilliam is about to be red-lined out of his job; but after the untimely death of the Democratic frontrunner, Gilliam is plucked from obscurity, and thrust into the limelight as his party’s nominee
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My point is this: there is no way a US President from the South, or a President from the West, can realistically run in this election. Even an inexperienced, inebriated, inexperienced candidate in this election (see http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/jun/02/hillary-mays-gilliam-as-president-candidate-hillary-trump), can be effective in changing public opinion. It’s an issue of life and death for the U.S. and world, not a matter of election day politics.
I’m glad that the American political world has finally put into question the idea of a candidate for the presidency.
And we, as a whole, have made some progress to remove the possibility of a presidential term, which is a far cry from the reality that the American public view as “progressive” a term like “progress” should the American people take a look and vote for the Democratic side. Unfortunately, it’s the Democrats in power that I mean to call out.
I guess what the problem is about is that “progress” means different things to different people. Some have different views:
They like political correctness and the idea of women being discriminated for “proud”. Why aren’t they voting for what they believe in? They like having the Democratic Party in place, rather than building a party with women.
People are actually worried about gender equality in American politics, especially in the tech-dependent areas. It really bothers me so much that my parents don’t understand how sexism works. The tech community really is a diverse group, many people from all walks of life, and we need to make it more accessible for everyone to feel comfortable in our place of work.
The idea of electing a Republican is a complete joke that is going to make people even more pissed off that a woman is taking charge of US government.
It’s so sad to see American women lose their political voice in this election.
MAYS Gilliam is a popular choice because of his excellent writing. And I’m proud of the campaign he has and the campaign he is running. But this is not a new one.