Department of Mass Communication

Faculty of Management, Administration, and Social Sciences

Kogi State University, Kabba

Course Code: MCM 102

Course Title: Principles of Public Relations
Course Unit: 2

By:
Mrs Opeyemi Ologun,
Bsc. Mass Communication (Unilorin); MA English (University of Ibadan); MISC (ABU, Zaria)

Lesson Note
2023/2024 session
Course Outline

Week 1 Concept Of Public Relations

Week 2 History Of Public Relations

Week 3 Public Relation Practice In Nigeria

Week 4 Ethics of Public Relations

Week 5 Misconceptions of Public Relations

Week 6 Public Relations and Propaganda

Week 7 Publics Of Public Relation

Week 8 Strategies of Public Relations

Week 9 Public Relations Media

Week 10 Crises Management

Week 11 Theories And Models of Public Relations

Week 12 Qualities of A Good Public Relations Practitioner

Week 13 Revision and Evaluation

Concepts of Public Relations

Public relations is a discipline that has attracted so many definitions; but the numerous
definitions have a lot in common. A major point of reference is that public relations involve
creating mutual understanding between organisations and their publics. As an activity, it is
complex and indeed, has many components. Public relations can be seen as an aspect of
communication that involves promoting a desirable image for a person, group of people,
government, nation and organisation seeking public attention. Public relations activities and
policies are used to create public interest in a person, idea, product, institution or business
establishment. By its nature, public relations is devoted to serving particular interests by
presenting them to the publics in the most favourable light.

The British Institute of Public Relations (BIPR) define public relations practice as the
deliberate, planned and sustained effort to establish mutual understanding between an
organisation and its publics. Such publics include both the internal and external
beneficiaries and sponsors of the organisation.

Public Relations is a profession that helps an organisation and its public to adapt mutually to
each other. Public Relations Society of America (PRSA)

PR is a management function that involves counselling at the highest level and being
involved in strategic planning for the organisation.

PR is Reputation Management. This definition concerns itself with organisational

reputation- the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you.

The goal of the public relations consultant is to create, through the organisation of news
and advertising, an advantageous image for his client, be it a business corporation, cultural
institution, private or political individual. Public relations is the way organisations,
companies and individuals communicate with the publics and media (IPR.og.UK, 2017, as
cited in Asemah & Nwammuo, 2018; Asemah, Kente, Nkwam-Uwaoma & Amah, 2021).

Public relations is the strategic management of relationships between an organisation and

its diverse publics, through the use of communication, to achieve mutual understanding,
realise organisational goals and serve the public interest (Flynn, Gregory & Valin, 2008,
cited in Asemah, Akase & Nkwam-Uwaoma, 2018).

Osho (1999) subscribes to one of the earliest definitions of public relations which sees
public relations as the management function which evaluates publics' attitudes, identifies the
policies and procedures of an organisation with the public interest and executes
programmes of actions and communication, to earn public understanding and acceptance.
Offonry (1985) sees public relations as a continuing and constructive inter-change between
those who are affected by or interested in that business. In other words, public relations is
the management function which attempts to create goodwill for an organisation and its
products, 177 services or ideas with group of people which can affect its present or future
welfare. Daramola (1997) says that public relations is conducted to improve mutual
understanding between an organisation and all those with whom it comes in contact with,
both within and outside the organisation.

Public relations is everything directed towards improving communication between people

and organisations or all actions to broaden the sphere of influence of an organisation by
appropriate publicity, advertising and other forms of communication. Public relations is,
therefore, about devising and implementing strategic campaigns, reacting to crisis and
ensuring that an organisation is always, correctly and positively presented. Public relations
seeks to present a positive image and not false one. A good public relations image built in
good years can see an organisation through during its dark or crisis period.

Black (1989) says that public relations involve the establishment of a two-way
communication to resolve conflicts of interest, seeking common grounds or areas of mutual
interests and establishment of understanding, based on truth, knowledge and full
information. This means that public relations is based on truth, not half truth or telling of
lies and involves a two- way communication process, involving effective feedback and
monitoring mechanisms.

Public relations is also seen as the management function, which evaluates public attitudes,
identifies the policies and procedures of an individual or an organisation, with the public
interest and plans and executes a programme of action to earn public understanding and
acceptance. Public relations is also described as the process of creating mutual
understanding between an organisation and its publics. It entails an organisation creating a
favourable public opinion for itself, which will, therefore, make the publics, both internal and
external, accept its programmes and policies.

Contributing to the numerous definitions of public relations, Nwosu (1992) says that ''public
relations includes winning friends, keeping and influencing them. Through effective public
relations, an organisation will be able to win public acceptance.''
In August 1978, public relations practitioners met in Mexico and defined public relations as
the art and social science of analysing trends, predicting their consequences, counselling
organisations' leaders and implementing planned programmes of actions, which will serve
both the organisation and publics' interest.

Public relations is a profession that uses communication to create and sustain favourable
image and reputation among its strategic stakeholders called the publics (Asemah, 2012). In
other words, it establishes cordial and fruitful relationship between an organisation and its
publics, including directors, customers, suppliers, bankers, creditors, shareholders,
community leaders, media, top management officials and agencies.

Going by the above definitions, one will discover that public relations is a continuous
exercise that enables an organisation to win the goodwill of the publics.

Public relations is rather preventive and not defensive. So, it is an exercise that is
deliberately planned and sustained to create a favourable image. In public relations,
conscious effort is needed and not fire brigade action. Thus, public relations is a
management function that focuses on two way communication and relationship that will
benefit the organisation and its publics. It is the business of creating and maintaining public
understanding and support through effective communication.

More so, public relations mean good performance, publicity appreciation; it stands for
performance and recognition; it stands for doing good and getting credit and most
importantly, actions taken to promote a favourable relationship with the publics. Public
relations do not only mean winning the attitudes of the publics through effective
communication; an organisation must embark on projects that will benefit the external and
internal publics. An organisation has to take care of its employees; it has to be sympathetic
to the people, as well as, being efficient in its promotion of services, especially such basic
necessities of life like good roads, pipe born water, electricity, medical and health services.

This would definitely help in influencing the public opinion towards a favourable direction
of people to better appreciate the organisational policies and activities. The services
provided must be beneficial to the publics.

Public relations entails also that any project carried out by an organisation should be
publicised. The essence of this is to positively affect the image of the people because
ignorance can lead to unfavourable image. The most important objective of public
relations is that the general good must be served and this can best be done by making
available to the publics at all times, the facts and interpretations of events behind the
scenes in the language they can easily understand.

Lack of proper information can lead to the downfall of an organisation, while essential
information of plans and projects can result to public acceptance and goodwill. Public
relations is concerned with telling the truth, explaining the organisation to the internal and
external publics, in an impartial and an objective manner.

Public relations activities are centred on the following principles:

i. PR practitioner employ social science, psychology and public opinion

communication in order to understand what the publics is saying and also, to reach
them effectively.
ii. PR deals with reality and non-fictions through planned programmes and
campaigns.
iii. PR practitioners depend on scientific and public opinion research; research enhances
the two-way communication.
iv. PR practitioners should be guided and measured only by his ethnical performance.
v. Public interest is a criterion by which the professional selects who will be presented
to the publics.
vi. PR practitioners are to prevent crisis in an organisation and also, explain problems
to the publics before they occur; public relations is much more than crisis
management but, prevention of the crisis.
vii. The PR practitioner must recognise and work with other people involved in PRin
general. viii. PR practitioners act as bridges between an organisation and its public.
viii. PR practitioner reaches many publics through mass media; therefore, a good
relationship should be maintained with the media and all other people working in
the media must be seen as a partner in progress and not enemies.
ix. PR is a service-oriented profession; public interest is, therefore, very important.

What Public Relations is all about

i. Public relations is any step an organisation takes to improve communication
between itself and the publics. The publics are supposed to understand what
an organisation does; they should know the activities, policies, etc. this is
because a breakdown in communication can lead to bad image.
ii. Public relations is about presenting or giving advice on the image of an
organisation. It is all about counselling organisation's leaders after a careful
analysis of trends.
iii. Public relations has to do with every activity that is aimed at improving the
mutual understanding between an organisation and its publics. An
organisation can decide to build schools or hospitals for the community
where it operates. There is the need for an organisation to take care of the
community where it operates, as this will bring about mutual understanding
between the community and the organisation. An organisation has to be
sensitive to the needs and aspirations of the community where it operates.
Also, the organisation has to be sensitive to the staff, otherwise, there will be
no mutual understanding. For example, if at the end of the year an
organisation has made profit of about ten billion naira, only to come and tell
the workers and nothing is given to the workers as bonus or Christmas gift,
that will definitely dent the image of the organisation. At least, the
management of the organisation should give the workers bags of rice and
groundnut oil just to make them happy. It is on this basis that they will work
assiduously for the organisation. iv. It is also the step an organisation takes
to eliminate rumours or other misunderstanding between itself and its
publics. This is because when such rumours are not eliminated, there is likely
to be negative impression towards the organisation (Oyeneye, n.d).

Misconception of Public Relations

Below are some of the misconceptions of public relations:

i. Public relations is not about telling lies; it is based on truth and honesty. A public
relations practitioner is not supposed to be deceptive; you let the people know the
truth.

ii. Public relations is different from propaganda; propaganda is all about selling
oneself and a point of view to the people, regardless of the truth and public
interest. In propaganda, you are imposing an idea and opinion on the people. We
use monologue in propaganda, but in public relations, we use dialogue. The
organisation needs to know the 182 feelings of the publics and the publics also need
to know about the organisation. So, in public relations, communication is two sides.
iii. Public relations is not about bribery; not giving kola. It is a two-way
communication, which leads to mutual understanding between an organisation and
its publics.

iv. Public relations is not all about organising parties and social events.

iv. Public relations is not all about organising beautiful girls who can smile at
times to go and seduce men.
v. It is not all about giving publicity that is directly aimed at achieving
vi. Public relations is not just press relations. Press relations is an aspect of
public relations (Oyeneye, n. d).

History of Public Relations

Public relations is an organised form of communication and it is as old as man. In

the primitive days, public relations was used to inform, integrate and unite the
people. It is very safe to say that what we now refer to as public relations has
actually being with us from time immemorial. That is, from the beginning of man's
existence. Although, the concept “public relations'' was coined in the twentieth
century, its practice had being since the dawn of the recorded history of man.

The earliest form of public relations and still the most widely practised today is
publicity. The principal instrument of publicity is news release which provides the
mass media with the raw materials and background for a news story. The growth of
modern public relations is generally attributed to the development of the mass
media which accelerated the spread of ideas and increased the importance of public
opinion by giving more people, access to current events.

Public relations as a field can be traced to the early 20th century when American
business men found it necessary to respond to attacks by social reformers (It
originated in the US in the 20th century with pioneers such as Edward L. Barney
and Ivy Led Better Lee). A mile stone in the industry was the opening of publicity
office in 1904 by Ivy Lee. The publicity office was opened in New York.
Subsequently, other firms in the field of public relations were opened and by the end
of World War One, the
concept of public relations had gained a wide acceptance. By 1960, public relations
techniques have been widely used in politics and political campaigns, making public
relations agency to become a fact in American life. Public relations was a term that
was used as a way of shielding the profession from the ill repute increasingly
associated with the word propaganda.

However, the end to the civil war in America and the transition from an agricultural
to an industrial society are closely related to the march towards modern public
relations. The industrial revolution and its attendant pains redefined the
relationships among the governments, businesses and the people. This is often
referred to as the progressive era which ran from the 1890s to the United States
entrance into the First World War in 1917. The progressive era witnessed the birth
of the mass media and modern public relations as national outgrowth of the
sweeping social change of that era. Through the use of the news media of that
time, organisations were able to communicate with groups essential to their
successes.

Public Relations in Nigeria

Public relations has being in existence in Nigeria for a very long time. This is based
on the fact that from our interaction with people in our neighbourhood, homes and
churches we exhibit some elements of public relations. Public relations at a formal
level in Nigeria started with the activities of the Government. During the Second
World War (1943), the colonial government thought it wise to establish an
information unit (office) saddled with the responsibilities of informing Nigerians
the on goings in the war which most Nigerians were involved. The colonial
government established the first information office (known as war information
office) in Lagos with the principal aim of disseminating war information to
Nigerians. The information office was also used as a means of creating avenue for
proper representation and interpretation of news and views. To achieve this goal,
the government decided to employ many Nigerians as publicity officers and most of
them were former journalists.

In 1947, the information office became a full-fledged public relations office and in
1948, the government further recruited other Nigerians as assistant publicity
officers; notable among them were Cyprian Ekwensi, late Anthony Enahoro, late Dr.
Sam Epelle. The aim of the government was to use publicity as a vehicle for
reaching the people.

In 1949, the United African Company of Nigeria (UACN) established an

information unit known as Public Information Department and Unit and its
responsibility was to promote mutual understanding between itself and the publics.
Through this unit, people were told about the organisation's activities. The
department was saddled with the responsibility of disseminating news to business
men and women who were mainly producing and buying certain products so as to
maintain mutual understanding with them. This implies that the United African
Company of Nigeria (UACN) was the first private company to set up a public
relations department in Nigeria. It had the goal of informing business men and its
customers about its activities as well as projecting UACN as a major Nigerian
industrial, technical and commercial company. Charlse Newton was the first
information officer. The ground floor of the old Niger House in Lagos housed the
department and it subsequently spread to Enugu and Kaduna branches. In 1967, the
public relations department was moved to the no. 19 custom street of UACN.

The Nigerian Railway Corporation (NRC) established a pubic relations department

shortly after its establishment in 1955. It had a full

–fledged publicity officer and Dr Sam Epelle became the corporation's first Public
Relations Officer.

The Electricity Company of Nigeria which was later known as National Electric
Power Authority of Nigeria (NEPA) and presently known as Power Holding
Company of Nigeria (PHCN) was one of the first government parastatals to
establish a public relations bureau. Because of its newness and erratic power supply
(which unfortunately has not changed till date), it established a public relations
department in 1959.

The Shell BP Development Company of Nigeria that initially started the practice
of public relations in the early 1940s on a skeletal basis, decided to establish a full-
fledged public relations department with the objective of ensuring free flow of
information among the company, local communities, the mass media and commercial
organisations.
In the early 1960s, we had some public relations consultancies in Nigeria. Some of
the consultancies and their chief executives were, Bloom Public Relations
Practitioners chaired by Lanre Oginni, Good Contact Public Relations Services
headed by Kunle Oyalowo and Progran Promotion; headed by Toye Ogunmorin.

In 1963, an attempt was made to develop and practise public relations as a

profession and that led to the establishment of Public Relations Association of
Nigeria (PRAN). It was under the leadership of late Dr Sam Epelle. This implies
that the Association was established through the efforts of Dr Sam Epelle.

In 1972, Public Relations Association of Nigeria (PRAN) was changed to Nigerian

Institute of Public Relations (NIPR). The promulgation of the Institute's Decrees
16 of 1990 under the leadership of Mr. Mike Okereke has placed public relations on
a higher status. This has taken public relations to an enviable position in Nigeria.
Factors that Aided the Development of Public Relations

Several factors have been attributed to the development of public relations; some of
the factors are:

1. Communication Gap: The need to bridge the communication gap between

organisations and their numerous publics was one of the initial factors that brought
about the development of public relations practice.

2. Population Growth/the Growth of Institutions: There was a great increase in the

population of people which also brought about the expansion in the businesses of
organisations. The management of business organisations saw the need to relate
with these increased population so as to bring about mutual understanding. The
Industrial Revolution brought about the growth of big companies. As businesses,
government and labour grew, the need for effective communication also increased.

3. Recognition of Corporate Social Responsibilities by Organisations: The felt need

by corporate organisations to provide social services for the locality where they
operate boosted public relations practice. Organisations began to see the need to
provide or execute projects in their areas of operations. The importance of public
relations is, therefore, evident with the recognition by institutions and organisations
of their social responsibilities to render public services to the people and
communities.

4. Development of Communication Media: Communication media have also aided

the development of public relations positively. With the advent of media like radio,
television, newspapers, magazines and internet, we can now disseminate public
relations messages to domestic and international audiences. The growth of modern
public relations is generally attributed to the development of the mass media which
accelerated the spread of ideas and increased the importance of public opinion by
giving more people access to current events. Public relations is an aspect of
communication that involves promoting a desirable image for a person or groups
seeking public attention. The revolutionary changes in communication in the 20th
century contributed to the growth of public relations. Commercial radio had
debuted in 1920 and commercial television in 1947. Developments in satellite and
computer technology in the second half of the 20th century further revolutionised
communication. The 1990s saw the dramatic expansion of the Internet. All of these
led to the shifting of communication power from media companies to individuals.
5. Increased Government Control of Business: In the past, government was not that
interested in controlling businesses. But in recent times, the government deems it
necessary to invest money and material resources in organisations, including those
personnel of public relations who are charged with the responsibilities of
information, communication and public affairs.

6. Establishment of Students' Public Societies: The activities of students in the

higher institutions have also contributed to public relations development. In higher
institutions, you see students being members of one fraternity or the other. Some
of these bodies even appoint PRO because of the relevance of public relations.

7. The Need to Win the Goodwill of the Publics: This has also contributed to the
growth of public relations. The need to recognise consumer or client services and
seek their goodwill and support compels businesses, organisations to employ public
relations people.

8. New Standards of Ethics: Ethics is seen as rules and regulations that govern the
behaviours of people in a particular profession. Ethics is a system or code of morals
of a particular profession, group or religion. Ethics seeks to establish and rationally
define a universally valid theory of what is right and what is wrong, good and bad
which can be used as a set of moral principles guiding human actions. The members
of a particular group normally set ethical standards for themselves and this often
helps to build the profession. Public relations profession is not left out. The code of
ethics of public relations has contributed a great deal to the development of public
relations not only in Nigeria, but, the world over.

9. Higher Position Offered to the Profession: Today, tertiary institutions offer public
relations courses at various levels. We have public relations at Diploma, B. Sc, M. Sc
and PhD levels; all these were not so in the past. The introduction of such courses
has also contributed to the development of public relations.

10. The Development of Public Relations Professional Bodies. The establishment of

the Public Relations Association of Nigeria (PRAN) in 1963 which was later
transformed to the Nigerian Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) in 1972 is surely a
booster to the development of public relations in Nigeria.

11. Increased Education in Public Relations: People are increasingly gaining

knowledge about public relations, people now know the relevance of public relations
and this has also helped the development of public relations.

12. Expansion of Democracy: With the expansion of democracy, as evident in such

developments as women's right to vote, civil rights movements, access of minorities
to the political process, etc. there was the need for effective communication. Due to
the increasing importance of persuasion and consensus, public relations became an
integral part of the democratic process.

14. The Growth of Advocacy: The last two centuries have witnessed a surge in
social advocacy. Movements for women's rights, civil rights, multi- nationalism
rights for persons with disabilities, children's rights and gay rights have led to an
increase in the use of public relations.

15. The Search for Consensus: The first and second world wars left several
mistrusts among nations of the world. With the collapse of communism and the
realisation by nations of the need for mutual interdependence and the emergence of
the global economy, public relations has become a handy means of increasing
growth and consensus.

Challenges of Public Relations

The challenges of public relations as note by Neliaku (2008) are, but not limited to:

1. Misconception of the Profession: Most people think that public relations is

advertising, propaganda, publicity, sales promotion and marketing. But public
relations is none of these.
2. Unprofessionalism: Public relations field attracts many inexperienced
practitioners who tend to create false image of the activity and frustrates the honest
efforts of great majority of competent public relations people. The profession is
clustered with many strange bed fellows; that is, quacks. Those who have failed in
other fields have often found haven in public relations in Nigeria. This has had much
adverse effects on the public perception of qualified practitioners in the profession.

3. Unethical Behaviours of some Practitioners: This makes critics to regard public

relations people as manipulators. That is, people with deceptive persuasions.

4. Another challenge is the frequent disagreement by the management and public

relations practitioners of the functions and objectives of public relations.

5. Failure of most Private Companies to place their Public Relations Men on the
Management Board: Most decisions are often taken without the knowledge of their
public relations staff who are forced to be blamed when such policies fail.

6. Lack of Awareness and Patronage by Government: The government which is the

largest single patron of public relations still depends on oversees public relations
consultants. This has robbed the local professionals of much profit and growth.
There is no oversees public relations genius that knows the behavioural pattern of
Nigerians more than local public relations consultants. Public relations as a practice
in Nigeria has not adequately attracted serious attention and patronage from
government. Government has not seen public relations as a powerful instrument for
moulding positive public opinion and generating goodwill. The profession has done
much better in the private sector than in the public sector. For instance, public
relations has remained only a unit and not a full- fledged department even in the
Federal Ministry of Information and Communications. Bad as it is, just any
information officer, qualified by grade level, can be posted to head and serve in the
unit. Beside the Federal Ministry of Information, other Ministries and arms of the
Federal Government treat public relations with much disdain. Government has
continued to pay great prices, having countless and needless problems with
communicating its programmes and activities to the citizens because it has not fully
utilised the benefits of public relations.

7. Lack of Clear Public Understanding and Perception: The general public does not
have clear understanding of the practice and value of public relations. In most,
cases public relations is erroneously perceived to be propaganda, giving bribes,
extending protocol services, sourcing bed-mates for principal officers, 'killing
negative' stories in the media, etc. By all intents and purposes, any profession that
engages in these services can never earn an enduring respect of either the clients or
the publics.

8. Lack of Appropriate Mechanism for Effective Monitoring and Control: An

African proverb says that ''whatever is not inspected is not done.'' More specifically,
NIPR, as the umbrella organisation of public relations practitioners in Nigeria must
see to it that there is effective control and supervision of activities of PR
practitioners in the country. Standards must be maintained and sanity must reign in
the industry at all times. Unfortunately, the institute which is supposed to lead the
drive does not have adequate mechanism to do so. Such mechanisms include
appropriate technical personnel and equipment to monitor developments and trends
and conduct periodic survey which will provide relevant data to strengthen the
institute's operations.

9. Lack of Adequate Professional Skills in the Industry: Notwithstanding how long

public relations has been practised in Nigeria, the fact remains that it is still an
emerging profession. In other parts of the world, the profession has been highly
diversified, with expertise and specialisation recorded in new areas. In Nigeria, we
are still grappling with analogue system of practice, while the rest of the world
have gone digital. In some sensitive areas, you can hardly find professionals that
have requisite skills to cope with the responsibilities of the moments.

10. Lack of Internal Cohesion by Practitioners: Like every human organisation,

''politics and politicks'' would always be played. However, it becomes highly
dangerous when the basis of a professional practice is sacrificed on the altar of
politics. What currently obtains is that leaders in the industry are building
individual empires and each empire struggles to retain and garrison its territory.

11. Lack of Adequate Funding and Sponsorship Support: Provision of adequate

funding to strengthen the practice of public relations constitutes a major challenge
to the profession. Beautiful and well-coordinated initiatives need to be properly
funded.

12. Lack of Proper Comportment and Carriage by Practitioners: Public relations

practitioners are transformers, but to be effective and taken seriously, we must
appear decent, we must possess the right attitude and we must carry ourselves as
kings.

Public Relations and Propaganda

Coolidge, cited in Oyeneye (1997) describes propaganda as half-truth, lies,

ambiguities, evasions, calculated silence, red hearing, unresponsiveness, slogans,
catchy words, showmanship, bathos, hokum and buncombe. Thus, propaganda is a
means of gaining support for an opinion, creed or belief. The foregoing shows that
public relations is not in any way propaganda. Below are some of the differences
between propaganda and public relations:

i. Propaganda uses lies, half-truths, innuendo, smears, misinformation, one-sided

arguments and inflammatory rhetoric to influence the public's attitude toward a
cause, ideal or usually a political agenda, while public relations uses truth if, for no
other reason, their claims can be checked. PR relies on logic, facts and sometimes
emotions to spread information between an organisation or individual and its
publics; information to promote products, services and build good will for the
organisations offering them (Graner, 2013).

119966

ii. Propaganda's underlying philosophy is us against them; “they” are often

denigrated as undesirables or simply “the enemy.” (we have freedom fighters; they
have terrorists.), while public relations' underlying philosophy is building trust
between an organisation and its products and services with its targeted audiences
for mutual benefit (Graner, 2013).

iii. Propaganda relies on one-way (monologue) communications, it seeks to eliminate

dissent and those who disagree may suddenly disappear, while public relations relies
on two-way communications (dialogue) and encourages different points of view so
that organisations can better service their clients and customers (Graner, 2013).

iv. Public relations is aimed at creating and maintaining mutual understanding

between an organisation and its publics, but propaganda is aimed at winning a
movement that will support a cause, opinion or an idea.

v. public relations involves continuing systematic planning and implementation with

planned evaluation process, while propaganda does not have any plan or process
neither does it have any mutual evaluation process or system.

vi. Public relations activities of an organisation can be placed at the disposal of the
publics for evaluation but, propaganda does not lend itself to public scrutiny.

vii. Propaganda depends on self-praise and puffery, while public relations depends
on public appraisal for its operations.
Publics of Public Relations

According to Babaleye & Aganbi (2018), Publics of PR are the groups of people or
individuals that are linked either directly or indirectly with an organisation. They
are the people associated with a corporate organisation either as customers, staff,
supporters, board members or trustees, directors of the organisation, promoters or
founding fathers of the organisation, investors or financiers, the media, and all
stakeholders of the organisation.

For any corporate organisation, the standard publics include: the proprietors of the
organisation, Board of Directors or Trustees, Governments, Employees, Customers
or Clients, Immediate Communities where the organisations or its branches are
located, Media, Financial organisations, insurance companies, shareholders and
stakeholders in general.

Government
Federal, State,
& Local
The
Media
Employees

Corporate
Organisation Immediate
Community

Board of
Directors/Spons Clients &
ors of the Customers
organisation Competitors &
International
Partners in
business
Qualities of a Good Public Relations Practitioner
Below are some of the qualities of a good public relations practitioner:
1. He must have a good command of English.
2. He must be very creative in his imagination.
3. He must possess humility.
4. Secret of friendships is very important as a public relations man.
5. He must be objective.
6. He must possess a smiling quality.
7. He must understand human nature (human psychology).
8. He must always show courtesy (respect).
9. He must have a good organisation skill.
10. He must possess excellent writing and speaking skills. This is a very
201
crucial quality; if not the most important. He must be a good writer and public speaker.
11. He must be curious and know the norms and values of his environment (publics) so as
to know how to deal with issues even before they blow up.
12. Integrity: Say what you mean and stand by it. What you say creates a trustworthy image
or personality for you. Be truthful always.
13. Cultivate the ability of patience, diplomacy and adaptability and your conduct should
inspire confidence and respect especially, by dressing morally well.
14. He must be aware of political, social and economic trends.