Why Study Public Relations?

Nigel Atkin

Your need to be aware that the vested interests and consequences of intentional communication targeted at you, your family, and your wider community has never been greater. Nor has your need to communicate effectively.

Notaries Public and other community leaders are not immune from widespread propaganda and disinformation conveyed through traditional and social media.

Trusting truly fake news, even big lies, can have dire outcomes. When fraudsters with manipulative intent string along decent folk, individuals and institutions are threatened.

Since the end of World War II, just as rocket science has evolved from Germany’s early V2 ballistic missiles to public space tourism, public relations has evolved from its earliest modern techniques to “manage the herd” to today’s deep study of the brain, to harnessing AI algorithms and propagandistic distraction.

The history, theory, and current practice of public relations is becoming a necessary addition to any profession.

Research is Key in All Communication Planning

Communication skills add value to individuals consuming and disseminating messages; when individuals become better communicators, they become better in all areas of decisionmaking.

Sound research—the hallmark of all initiatives—and the critical thinking inherent to processes are 90 per cent of effective communication. Here are just some of the questions we ask. • What are the communication objectives? • What is the public environment in which you are operating? • What are the anticipated reactions of your audiences? • What are your key messages? • What is your strategy? • What are the most effective communication tools to use? Public relations has always been “an unseen power” from its early modern days in the 1920s when mass production, mass media, and mass marketing relied on newspapers to convey information to influence attitudes, beliefs, and behaviours.

In the ‘20s, individuals were molded en mass from citizens to consumers.

“Bad news gets the suckers into the tent.”

Few people realized that relentless and determined shift in public consciousness. It was Marshall McLuhan in the 1960s who was asked why there was no good news in newspapers: “The bad news gets the suckers into the tent. The good news is the advertising.”

Few also put together the fact that wartime propaganda was effective and used by all sides during both World Wars as it is today. As peace settled

“...bad news gets the suckers into the tent. The good news is the advertising.”