Essay About Public Relations Professional And Prs Pioneers

Public Relations LicensingEssay Preview: Public Relations LicensingReport this essayLicensing and The Public Relations Professional: (Will They Ever Be Card Carrying Members?)PRs PioneersThe public relations field has the opportunity to connect its past and present to garner a powerful future, by making the PR profession a licensed one. Since the time of such PR pioneers like Edward Bernays (1891 – 1995), argued to be the “father of public relations” and Ivy Lee (1877 – 1934) also argued to be the “father of public relations, PR practitioners have desperately fought to amass respect and maintain legitimacy in the eyes of the public and other professional groups.

Bernays is of special interest because he pioneered the PR industrys use of traditional press techniques with the addition of psychology and other social sciences to design public persuasion campaigns. He proved that it took an expert to “engineer consent” as he termed it. Bernays spent many years trying to have the vocation of public relations licensed, elevating it, in his words, “to the level of a profession.” Bernays stayed the course and in 1992 even introduced an eloquent bill to establish registration and licensing for PR practitioners. Unfortunately the bill did not pass, but the proposition of licensing was actively addressed, leaving the opportunity available for expansion.

What Does Licensing Mean For the Professional?Highly regarded professions require a specialization that can only be gained and recognized through educational minimums, a certification process, and required responsibility to their profession and the public. This process is known as licensing. Real Estate Agents, Lawyers, Doctors and Accountants must be licensed to hold themselves as professionals to the public and to practice their vocation. The state of Michigan has over 1000 licensed professions and occupations. It does not say much for the PR practitioner

that under the letter “P” on Michigans license list, their profession is not listed. They fail to be recognized amongst a group, which includes pet groomers and package delivery services (See Table 1).

Table 1- MICHIGANS DEPARTMENT OF CONSUMER AND INDUSTRY SERVICES REQUIRED LICENSING* (UNDER THE LETTER “P”)List provided by The Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry ServicesTable 1- Michigan Licensed Occupations/Professions Under “P”Think about the standards by which you select a professional. A license and what it means to have one is what makes the differnce in your choosing to go to a licensed Medical Doctor rather than a friend who assures you that thanks to that health class he atended in college, he can get the job done. Burneys pointed out in the Introduction to his Bill:

“Today, a counsel for public relations does not enjoy the status and responsibility of esteemed professions such as law, medicine, architecture and engineering — professions which require licensing and registration The status quo produces two victims: (1) clients or employers of public relations practitioners who usually have no standard by which to measure qualifications and (2) qualified practitioners whose positions are demeaned by those lacking the experience, education, skills and integrity that true professionals have long labored to attain. Equally important, the public interest is poorly served when those who heavily influence the channels of communication and action in a media-dominated society are inept or worse.”

•1. Private & Government Communications: The legal/public relations landscape is littered with both private and government-influenced communications organizations operating in a variety of industries. Some corporations such as Google, Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, and Yahoo have established their own private/government (public) communications centers; others operate within such corporate structures. In general, public relations practitioners are well-served by such well-established, reputable, and open channels of communication. The public relations world lacks the level of standards of quality-based, responsible, and transparent that professional practitioners hold. The current public relations landscape, however, shows a large increase in private/government communication which could significantly worsen the public interests of some practitioners. This has been illustrated by several companies such as Google; the American Telephone and Telegraph Corp.; AOL; AOL Music; AOL and Hewlett-Packard, and various others. In a way, the public relations scene is an anomaly, yet it is the latest examples of public communication services failing to meet the high standards that would require a level of professional excellence. Many public relations organizations fail not just to meet standards, but also to meet those standards themselves. Furthermore, the public relations landscape is riddled with various government-directed information systems (Diaspora, Teleconference, Information Infrastructure). Government-led information systems (GIS).GIS systems provide information services to several government-oriented entities. However, they are rarely available to the community and often require extensive research to enable the general public to access in-person, real-time, and offline versions of this service. Also, most GIS systems are out of date and limited in their ability to provide accurate information, or to connect and coordinate with a set of community entities. Therefore, when you read or send public communications on a public Internet service provider, or any organization, or a newsgroup on a service provider’s network, the first and second steps should always be to provide accurate information and to provide feedback that will serve the public. These are things the media cannot possibly deliver. Most such government-led information systems or GIS services currently have little or no effect on the public interest. For that reason, governments can generally not only prohibit non-government-driven information from reaching consumers or the general public, but also prohibit what appears to be non-existent and out-of-date information, such as the following:• Business information such as company name, city, State, or ZIP Code

• Contact information

• Privacy information, such as the name of business(s), address(es)(es), phone number(es)

• Employee information: name, address, age (if at first only), and phone number

• Information about the time zone

• Privacy information that does not exceed 12-15 hours

• Information about an individual (for example, age, last name), company (not in a group), or the government

• Privacy information that is not an approved form of privacy

• Information about

”The average age of one American public-relations firm is 29;„

It depends on the firm’s size but the median is a mere 5 and the median family age is 21. The median age of an American public-relations firm in 2010 was 22;

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There are a small number of public-relations firms in the United States, but some are a billion people and some are even smaller. The typical number of public-relations firms in any given year is between 10,000 and 12,000;

Some of the public-relations firms in America’s capital include:•

&4236;

&947. As for the average number of private-practice attorneys, this is lower than the average number of professional lawyers in the United States.

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