旅游管理专业英语（第二版）-Public relations.doc

Public relations Public relations (PR) is the aspect of mass- marketing that deals with the control or manipulation of public opinion, through processes that control the presentation of the image and message presented by a client. Public relations agents or officials make use of media to convey messages to the public on behalf of a private client, with the intention of influencing public opinion and action. Organizations that seek to profit from the mass market, may view the public relations as a valuable aspect of an overall business and marketing strategy. PR agents deliver info to the media directing their messages toward wider audiences, or to limited demographic segments within the public, called target audiences —usually defined based on market research. Research may deal with product appeal, target demographic modeling, as well as strategies for coordinated message presentation. Similar opinions tend to be shared by a group of people rather than an entire society, however, by targeting different audiences with different messages to achieve an overall goal, PR practitioners can effect widespread opinion and behavior change. PR is essentially the privatized decendant of propaganda, which now normally refers to mass-scale message control by state and national governments. History The precursors to public relations can be found in the publicists who specialized in promoting circuses, theatrical performances, and other public spectacles. Many PR practitioners have also been recruited from the ranks of journalism and have used their understanding of the news media to ensure that their clients receive favorable media coverage. The First World War also helped stimulate the development of public relations as a profession. Many of the first PR professionals, including Ivy Lee, Edward Bernays, and Carl Byoir, got their start with the Committee for Public Information (also known as the Creel Committee), which organized publicity on behalf