Week 2 Reflections and Textbook Chapter 1

Lecture Response

I was never sure about the definition of public relations till today's lecture when I was being introduced to the nature and dynamics of this specialization. In my point of view, one may define this term as promoting a set of objectives and image of a person or organization to establish an impression of the said subject.

During lecture, I get to understand the daily operations of a public relations officer. The job scope of a public relations officer may not be as simple as one thought it to be. Not only do they have to be good in their communications skills, but should also excel in writing. This is probably because a public relations officer serves as a representation for the particular organization and thus, the work produced by him or her has to be of excellent quality - something that would tap onto the public's interests. For instance, public relations that are related to consumer goods would need to come out with a good press release to catch the interests and attention of the journalists who would in turn feature the respective products on magazines that the public subscribes to. Hence, one may also infer that a journalist's write up of your products is largely determined by your quality of press releases.

Earlier on, we were asked about the difference between advertising and public relations.
I felt that advertising is a subset of public relations. This means that a public relations officer inculcates advertising in his or her work. This would make a lot of sense as mentioned that public relations officers act as a voice for the respective organizations that they are working with.

Having said that, it is important to note that while image enhancement is a crucial objective for public relations officer, one should mind the ethics that are involved to ensure that no forms of dishonesty or fraud are committed.

Reflections on Textbook Chapter One - Understanding Twenty-First Century Public Relations

People often have the misconception about the job scopes of a public relations practitioner. In this chapter, I was able to understand the dynamics public relations. In fact, there are several responsibilities that a public relations practitioner ought to do and these are some of the few points that people may not know before advancing into the public relations industry.

What does a public relations practitioner ought to do? I strongly feel that regardless of your organizations' objectives, maintaining a certain level of ethical practice is vital to survive in the public relations industry. This is because clients would only trust and respect a public relations practitioner if he or she handles the job in the utmost professional manner. Thus, even if it means not being able to achieve your clients' objectives due to ethical issues, your clients would know that you are doing your job as a professional public relations practitioner who would not go beyond a certain level that exceeds the code of ethics. Even if you are one who would do so in order to obtain your clients' objectives, your clients may have a different impression about you. As supported in the textbook, Chia and Synnott (2009) states that "consultants cannot assume that the client is satisfied with their work, no matter how it is carried out" (p. 19).

In addition, I would also like to highlight how important it is for a public relations practitioner educate the client on certain information such as the code of ethics or research findings to enable the client to understand his or her objectives in embarking on a particular action. In doing so, there would be no gap between the clients expectations and the delivery of the public relations practitioner.

Therefore, it is important that a public relations practitioner takes responsibility in protecting the interests of the client and this includes the educating of clients on proper ethical management and strategies that would not tamper both the public relations practitioner and the clients' reputation in the industry.

References

Chia, J. and Synnott, G. (2009), An Introduction to Public Relations: From Theory To Practice, Oxford University Press, Australia, New Zealand