Pakistan Times! » Public Relations http://www.pak-times.com An Independent Commentator on National & International Affairs Mon, 01 Dec 2008 19:18:28 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc en Traits Guide for PR Practitioner http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/16/personal-traits-of-pr-officer/ http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/16/personal-traits-of-pr-officer/#comments Sat, 16 Jun 2007 21:05:54 +0000 Rubab Saleem http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/16/personal-traits-of-pr-officer/
    “Public Relation Practitioner should demonstrate a systematic approach leading to measurable results.”

Kirsten Berth and Goran Sjjobrg, From quality in Public Relations, Issued by IPRA, ICO

The Public relations practitioner serves an intermediately person to bridge up the gap between the organization that she or he represents and organization’s publics. PR person’s incumbency is to disseminate the information among prospective publics, which enable the publics understanding the policies of particular organization.

List of personal traits
Edward L. Berneys has arranged a list of personal traits needed by a PR practitioner:

  • Character and integrity
  • A sense of judgment and logic
  • The ability to think creatively and imaginatively
  • Truthfulness and discretion
  • Objectivity
  • A deep interest in solution of problems
  • A broad cultural background
  • Intellectual curiosity
  • Effective powers of analysis and synthesis
  • Intuition
  • Training in social sciences and in mechanics of public relation

    • Innate or learnt characters:
    Practice of the public relation acquires few innate and in-built characteristics including:

  • Tendency to maintain a continuous liaison with publics
  • Excellent verbal and communication skills
  • Convincing and attractive personality
  • Tendency for research, research and research
  • Analytical powers
  • Aptitude for writing

    • Learnt skills:
    Few skills are to be learnt for the effective public relation practice e.g.

  • Deep roots in mainstream electronic or print media

    • In this regard strong communication skills i.e. how to communicate through mass media and specialized media via advertising and publicity, and to maintain a two-way flow of reliable information.

  • Planning that ranges from counseling the problems, developing policies, procedures and actions and involving communicating to other departments in effective manner to earn a reputation for organization
  • Social relations are very important to develop and maintain further; as to understand the human relations.
  • Operating globally is about knowing the multi-cultures of the globe and designing the message for particular audience accordingly.
      • The British Institute of PR (IPR) offers a definition of Public Relations:
      “Public Relation is about reputation—- the result of what you do, what you say and what others say about you. Public Relations practice is the discipline which looks after reputation with the aim of earning understanding and support, and influencing opinion and behavior.”

    This definition shows PR practice as “reputation management & image building” Hence first trait for a PR practitioner required is Character and integrity. PR person has only credibility to offer, he or she as good as his or her deserved reputation.
    Public relation practitioners must be creative, well-adjusted, flexible and capable of mastering diverse skills, as well as having integrity and the courage of their conviction.

    PR as problem finder, solver and prevented:
    Critical role of PR person identified as problem sensor and as problem solver. Most of the traits enlisted above relate to individual’s effectiveness of tackling problems and functioning comfortably in an environment of constant changes and uncertainties.
    Through research problems are measured, weighed and highlighted for better solutions. A good PR practitioner anticipates the problems and plans to prevent those, or at least try to solve before these gain weight.

    Education for PR practitioner:
    Particular educational back ground is essential for the PR practitioners to go a long in pre-entry education for the field of public relations. Educational background with a master degree in Mass Communication with major in Public Relation is one of the prerequisites for the potential individual to enter into PR field.

    “Public Relations Education—–Recommendations and standards” (September 1990) has originated a wheel of educational back ground for the PR person covering various social, legal, managerial and linguistic spheres. All elements are termed essential for the success of a PR practitioner or new to the PR field.

    ]]>     http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/16/personal-traits-of-pr-officer/feed/     What is a Press Release? http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/07/hello-world/ http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/07/hello-world/#comments Thu, 07 Jun 2007 11:08:12 +0000 Rubab Saleem http://www.pak-times.com/2007/06/07/hello-world/ Press releases are the most common form of PR writing. Sometimes called news releases or media releases, press releases are a media relations tool used to pitch a newsworthy story about a business, website, or person to journalists and other members of the media. Press releases aren’t designed to be published as-is. Instead, the purpose of a press release is to inspire a journalist to research the story further or conduct an interview to write a unique news story.

    What a Press Release Looks Like?

    Press releases generally fall in the 300-600 word range, and rarely exceed one print page if being distributed through fax or mail. The growing popularity of online press release distribution allows for greater flexibility in press release length, as well as the addenda that can be attached to press releases for distribution (such as photos, company logos, or other supporting documents).

    While sometimes confused with more general articles, press releases should be written in a more journalistic style called the reverse pyramid, where the most newsworthy information is presented first. Press releases are kicked off with a headline, which is a catchy title designed to explain the general news angle while grabbing journalists’ attention. Press releases are dated, and also contain the hometown of the issuing person, company, or organization.

    The Press Release Process

    1. Do something newsworthy enough to be of interest to journalists and / or bloggers.

    2. Come up with a catchy and concise headline.

    3. Write a brief summary of the news, if using online press release distribution methods.

    4. Write the body of the press release.

    5. Write a boilerplate to close the press release (a background paragraph about the issuing person or organization).

    6. Distribute the press release online or offline to journalists, newswires, or press release distribution sites.

    7. Respond to any media calls or emails requesting further information.

    8. Track the resulting coverage of a press release using a media clipping service, or online search engine tools, such as alerts.

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