Editing Public relations (section)

==Definitions==
[[Ivy Lee]], the man who turned around the [[Rockefeller family|Rockefeller]] name and image, and his friend, [[Edward Bernays|Edward Louis 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."<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780321510075|url-access=registration|quote=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.|title=PR 2.0: New Media, New Tools, New Audiences|last=Breakenridge|first=Deirdre|author-link=Deirdre Breakenridge|date=26 March 2008|publisher=FT Press|isbn=9780132703970}}</ref> However, when Lee was later asked about his role in a hearing with the United Transit Commission, he said "I have never been able to find a satisfactory phrase to describe what I do."<ref name="twoway"/> In 1948, historian [[Eric F. Goldman|Eric Goldman]] noted that the definition of public relations in ''[[Webster's Dictionary]]'' would be "disputed by both practitioners and critics in the field."<ref name="twoway">{{cite book
 | last =Goldman
 | first =Eric
 | title =Two-Way Street
 | publisher =Bellman Publishing Company
 | year =1948}}</ref>

According to Bernays, the public relations counsel is the agent working with both modern media of communications and group formations of society in order to provide ideas to the public's consciousness. Furthermore, he is also concerned with ideologies and courses of actions as well as material goods and services and public utilities and industrial associations and large trade groups for which it secures popular support.<ref>Edward Bernays, "The New Propagandists", in Propaganda, (New York: H. Liveright, 1928), 38.</ref>

In August 1978, the World Assembly of Public Relations Associations defined the field as <blockquote>"the art and [[social science]] of analyzing [[fad|trends]], predicting their consequences, counselling organizational leaders and implementing planned programs of action, which will serve both the organization and the [[public interest]]."<ref>Jensen Zhao. Encyclopedia of Business, 2nd. Ed. Retrieved from  {{usurped|1=[https://archive.today/20120713012953/http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_gx5209/is_1999/ai_n19125848/ findarticles.com]}}</ref></blockquote>

The [[Public Relations Society of America]],<ref>{{Cite web |title=What Is Public Relations {{!}} Learn About PR {{!}} PRSSA |url=https://www.prsa.org/prssa/about-prssa/learn-about-pr |access-date=29 July 2022 |website=prsa.org|language=en}}</ref> a professional trade association, defined public relations in 1982 as: <blockquote>"Public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/PublicRelationsDefined/Old%20Definition|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120304145356/http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/PublicRelationsDefined/Old%20Definition|url-status=dead|archive-date=2012-03-04|title=PRSA's Old Definition of Public Relations|first=Keith|last=Trivitt}}</ref></blockquote>

In 2011 and 2012, the PRSA solicited crowd-supplied definitions for the term and allowed the public to vote on one of three finalists. The winning definition stated that: 
<blockquote>"Public relations is a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/business/media/public-relations-a-topic-that-is-tricky-to-define.html|author=Stuart Elliot|title=Public Relations Defined, After an Energetic Public Discussion|date=1 March 2012|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=18 February 2017|archive-date=17 April 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170417154657/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/02/business/media/public-relations-a-topic-that-is-tricky-to-define.html|url-status=live}}</ref></blockquote>

The UK-based [[Chartered Institute of Public Relations]] focuses its definition on reputation:

<blockquote>"Public Relations is about reputation – the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public Relations is the discipline which looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behaviour. It is the planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics."<ref>{{cite web |title=About PR |url=https://www.cipr.co.uk/CIPR/About_Us/About_PR.aspx |website=Chartered Institute of Public Relations |access-date=25 June 2024}}</ref></blockquote>

Public relations can also be defined as the practice of managing [[communication]] between an organization and its publics.<ref>Grunig, James E. and Hunt, Todd. Managing Public Relations. (Orlando, FL: Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1984), 6e. Public relations is what you do with what you know and what others think about what you say.</ref>

=== 'Publics' ===
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".<ref name=Langley>"[https://sk.sagepub.com/books/key-concepts-in-public-relations/n124.xml Public Relations]" in {{Cite book |last1=Franklin |first1=Bob |title=Key Concepts in Public Relations |last2=Hogan |first2=Mike |last3=Langley |first3=Quentin |last4=Mosdell |first4=Nick |last5=Pill |first5=Elliott |date=18 January 2023 |publisher=Sage Publishing |isbn=9781446269084}}</ref> He follows Roger Hayward (1991)<ref>Hayward, R, (1991), ''All About Public Relations: how to build business success on good communications''. London: McGraw Hill.</ref> 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.<ref name=Langley/>