Public Relations: From Manipulation to an Ethical Profession

Defining Public Relations

The purpose of this paper is to evaluate the following statement: Contemporary public relations has successfully distanced itself from an era of deceit and manipulation to become a credible and ethical profession. To do so, the paper analyzes the development of the PR profession across all of its key aspects in order to assess the truth of that claim.

The first thing to establish is what PR actually is. Public relations deals with establishing, maintaining, and managing the relationships between any type of organization and the publics it comes into contact with. A large body of literature exists on this subject, and numerous scholars have attempted to define the activity in all of its complexity.

Perhaps one of the most suitable definitions is the one provided by Wilcox, Philip, and Warren, according to which public relations is:

A distinctive management function which helps establish and maintain mutual lines of communication, understanding, acceptance, and cooperation between an organisation and its publics; involves the management of problems or issues; helps management to keep informed on and responsive to public opinion; defines and emphasises the responsibility of management to serve the public interest; helps management to keep abreast of and effectively utilise change, serving as an early warning system to help anticipate trends; and uses research and sound ethical communication techniques as its principal tools. (Public Relations Institute of Australia, 2001)

PR is therefore a management function that acts as the active link between an organization and all of the publics that influence it or are influenced by it. It supports change and carries a strong ethical dimension. These are the main aspects that all facets of the profession share.

The fact that PR can be applied in almost every business area has led to a division and specialization of roles, ranging from corporate communications and public affairs management to media liaison, publicity management, promotions, and community relations management. The deep complexity of the profession can cause confusion among those who do not have much information about it — and this brings us to a very important aspect: the way in which people perceive PR.

Public Perception and Misconceptions

In a world in which image is almost more important than substance, the way a profession is perceived by the general public can have a strong impact on its very efficiency. Because PR operates across such a wide variety of areas, people tend to associate it with something either superficial ("a PR professional is just a party organizer") or dishonest ("public relations is full of con artists trying to convince us that their organization is superb").

The general public tends to overlook the real purpose of the PR profession — establishing and managing an open relationship between an organization and its publics in a manner that is mutually beneficial — while focusing instead on its more superficial dimension ("public relations is just media hype designed to get the organization's name in the news").

It is clear that PR practitioners face a significant problem of perception. Just like all professions, PR emerged in order to respond to the needs of organizations. Companies of all kinds needed to become more efficient, and that efficiency became closely connected to the needs of customers, potential customers, and employees alike.

In the early days, the job of PR practitioners was to conceive and release internal publications such as staff magazines. Importantly, they were called technicians rather than professionals, meaning their work was regarded not as a genuine profession but as a kind of appendix to other functions. Some people still think in those terms, which makes it difficult for them to respect or trust the PR field.

Because PR focuses primarily on communication and the management of information, some people also confuse PR practitioners with journalists. While it is true that practitioners in both areas gather facts and information, and that PR officers seek to cultivate contacts with journalists, their tasks are fundamentally different. The journalist aims to provide the general public with relevant information; the PR professional aims to influence public behavior through strategic communication. This influence is expressed in behaviors that support the organization's goals and objectives.

The public is aware that PR activities are designed to influence their thinking and lead them toward certain actions, and this awareness can breed suspicion. While the journalist is generally perceived as an honest figure, the PR officer is often suspected of dishonesty. What people may not realize is that a PR campaign must be coherent with an organization's actual actions in order to be effective. All the polished messaging produced by PR must be supported by factual evidence. Misleading the public would be an extremely poor decision not only from an ethical standpoint but from a marketing one as well. So what has actually been done to change the general impression that the PR professional is little more than a cunning communicator trying to sell something rather than genuinely inform?

Professionalization: Research, Education, and Ethics

People working in the PR field recognized that their profession's poor reputation was a significant long-term risk. The problem was not merely that the public misunderstood what PR was and how it functioned; there were also many individuals in the field who were underqualified.

The solution had to begin from within. To prevent underskilled individuals from passing themselves off as PR practitioners and damaging everyone's reputation, certain standards of professionalism were established. Since no one is born a PR professional and many of the required skills must be learned, universities specializing in PR education were created.

Because PR is not only a highly complex profession but also an interdisciplinary field that draws knowledge from journalism, sociology, anthropology, marketing, and social marketing, a great deal of research was undertaken to improve it. This research helped the profession evolve and contributed to the development of better-prepared practitioners.

The growth of rigorous academic research, along with the establishment of high-quality university programs, had another important consequence: it changed the perception of the profession itself. Whereas PR practitioners were once regarded as mere technicians, they are today recognized as professionals with a solid cultural background and considerable talent in creating and managing interpersonal relationships.

Research improved professional standards, but was that alone sufficient to change public opinion and establish PR as a genuinely honest discipline? A code of ethics became necessary, and in fact PR associations around the world developed sets of universally applicable behavioral guidelines. These are grounded in a universal moral code and are designed to ensure that PR practitioners respect people's rights and conduct themselves responsibly toward their target audiences.

Conclusion

All in all, it can be stated that contemporary public relations has successfully distanced itself from an era of deceit and manipulation to become a credible and ethical profession. The development of society compelled the evolution of the profession, which moved from a purely technical dimension to a strongly scientific and research-driven one, supported by robust ethical frameworks.

The journey from P.T. Barnum's publicity stunts to the sophisticated, research-grounded, and ethically regulated practice of today reflects not only how much the profession has changed, but how much society's expectations of communication and accountability have grown. Contemporary PR, at its best, is defined by transparency, mutual benefit, and a genuine commitment to ethical standards.

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