Public Relations (PR) addresses all stakeholders (e.g., customers, employees, partners, investors, and regulators) with stories that shape perception and drive measurable outcomes, typically organically. # The History of Public Relations [Ivy Lee](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivy_Lee "Ivy Lee"), the man who turned around the [Rockefeller](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rockefeller_family "Rockefeller family") name and image, and his friend, [Edward Louis Bernays](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Bernays "Edward Bernays"), established the first definition of public relations in the early 20th century as: > "a management function, which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interests of an organization... followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance." ([Breakenridge, Deirdre](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deirdre_Breakenridge "Deirdre Breakenridge") (26 March 2008). [_PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences_](https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780321510075). FT Press. [ISBN](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISBN_(identifier) "ISBN (identifier)") [9780132703970](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Special:BookSources/9780132703970 "Special:BookSources/9780132703970"). a management function, which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interests of an organization... followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.) In August 1978, the World Assembly of Public Relations Associations defined the field as > "the art and social science of analyzing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling organizational leaders and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the public interest." (Jensen Zhao. Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd. Ed. Retrieved from findarticles.com) # The Public in Public Relations Quentin Langley argues the use of the word "publics" in the plural is "central to the understanding" of public relations, writing "all organisations have a series of publics, or stakeholders, on whom their success depends". He follows Roger Hayward (1991) in dividing the publics into "customers (past, present, and future), staff (past, present, and future), investors (past, present, and future), politicians and regulators, neighbours, and business partners (suppliers, distributors, etc.)". Langley also contests the marketing perspective of seeing public relations as part of marketing, which he claims is too focused on just one of Hayward's six publics: customers.  The Publics in Public Relations are: - _**Traditional Publics**_: Groups with which the individual has an ongoing and long-term relationship. These may include Employees, Media, Governments, Investors, and Customers[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Non-Traditional Publics**_: Groups that are typically unfamiliar with the organization and the individual has not had a relationship with but may become traditional publics due to changes in the organization, in society or if a group changing event occurs.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Latent Publics**_: A group whose values have come into contact with the values of the organization but whose members have not yet realized it; the members of that public are not yet aware of the relationship.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Aware Publics**_: A group of members who are aware of the existence of a commonality of values or interests with the organization but have not organized or attempted to respond to that commonality. - _**Intervening Publics**_: Any public that helps an individual send a message to another public, could be the media or someone with stature.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Primary Publics:**_ If a public can directly affect an organization's pursuit of its values-driven goals. This publics would include media, employees, government, shareholder, financial institutions, and the immediate community.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Secondary Publics**_: Have high interest in the company such as the primary publics but will not be directly affected by decisions of the organization.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Internal Publics**_: People within an organization[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**External Publics**_: People outside of an organization[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**Domestic Publics**_: Those within the country[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) - _**International Publics**_: Those outsides of the country and when communicating with these publics individuals must be wary of that areas culture, beliefs, values, ethic, and other valuable cultural difference as to not offend anyone.[[34]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-:0-34) Early literature authored by [James Grunig](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_E._Grunig "James E. Grunig") (1978) suggested that publics develop in stages determined by their levels of problem recognition, constraint recognition and involvement in addressing the issue. The theory posited that publics develop in the following stages: - _**Non-Publics**:_ Share no issue with an organization. - _**Latent Publics**:_ Face an issue but do not recognize it. - _**Apathetic Publics**:_ Face an issue but do not care to address it. - _**Aware Publics**:_ Face an issue but are unorganized to mobilize against it. - _**Active Publics**:_ Face an issue and are organized to respond to it.**[[35]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Public_relations#cite_note-35)** # Messaging Messaging is the process of creating a consistent story around: a product, person, company, or service. Messaging aims to prevent readers from receiving contradictory or confusing information that could instill doubt in their purchasing choices, or other decisions that affect the company. Brands aim to have the same problem statement, industry viewpoint, or brand perception shared across sources and media. # PR's Reason for Existing According to Scott Cutlip, the social justification for public relations is the right for an organization to have a fair hearing of their point of view in the public forum, but to obtain such a hearing for their ideas requires a skilled advocate (Cutlip, Scott (1994), The Unseen Power: Public Relations: A History, Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, ISBN 978-0-8058-1464-4). Fact-checking and presenting accurate information is necessary to maintain credibility with employers and clients. # Dark Arts of PR Dark public relations (DPR), 'black hat PR' and in some earlier writing "Black PR", is a process of destroying the target's reputation and/or [corporate identity](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corporate_identity "Corporate identity")