What is public relations? Part 2

There are full service public relations firms and those that provide only special services. Public relations firms bill for their services in a number of ways. First, they may be charge an hour rate. Second, charging clients a monthly fee. Third are fixed-fee arrangements, and they may be charge for collateral materials.  Public relations operations come in all sizes. Regardless of size, however, the typical public relations firm or department will have these types of positions such as executive, account executives, creative specialists, and media specialists. Larger public relations operations may also have these positions as need demands such as research, government relations and financial services.

Trust in public relations is essential if the industry is to perform its role for its clients and publics. If people are lied to by public relations, the cultural implications could not be more profound. Customers must make themselves aware of the sources of information and the process by which it is produces. The calls from PR professionals for ethics, accountability, and honesty were the result of a recent series of public embarrassments for the public relations industry. The federal government was making extensive use of video news releases (VNRs) to support a variety of its foreign policy and domestic initiatives. VNRs can be used in their entirety or in part, and the companies that produce them consider even 5-second excerpt aired on a local news show a success. Recognizing video news releases is an increasingly important media literacy skill.