Public relations has been a profession for 100 years. Is there any other profession whose “definition” is still discussed although it is more than 100 years old? The chain of oddities considering its definition turn into a burden that we cannot carry when it comes to putting this profession into practice.
I spent a good 25 years of my 41-year professional life on public relations, and the remaining years on other areas which were closely related to it. I had an active public relations role in every aspect of the industry, in private companies, in my own company, in associations, in academic environments, and in all kinds of local and foreign platforms. Therefore, I can say that the picture I have in my hands does not show a very pleasant future for public relations.
For instance, the 2015 report prepared by ICCO, the most broad-based international professional organisation of the industry, states that the total consultancy income of the agencies in the world is USD 13.5 billion (ICCO / Holmes report). It emphasises that the number of employees in the industry (including agencies) has reached 85 thousand. Half of that income goes to the top twenty agencies. The remaining amount is the income of thousands of agencies which rely on public relations “to make a living”! For example, the annual income of the 250th agency is USD 3 million!
I don’t know how logical it is to make such a comparison, but just to give you a rough idea, I’d like to state that the income of the advertising industry was USD 3 billion only in Turkey in 2015 (The Association of Advertising Agencies).
If we look at the ICCO report once again, we will see that the annual income per capita is USD 158 thousand in the agencies. That amount was USD 149 thousand when we started our studies in 2001. This is where we ended up in 15 years!
As you can see, it is not very sensible to do a job related to public relations in order to “earn money”! The reputation of this profession is problematic not only in Turkey but also all around the world. The profession is not as attractive as advertising, journalism or visual arts in the academic world. It does not make any progress. I think it will be useful to examine this situation especially for the young generations.
I wrote my first book where I shared my professional experience in 1985. It was called Basic Principles of Public Relations. When I was writing the book, which was produced after five years of work, I found more than 200 definitions of public relations in Turkish and foreign resources. The interesting thing was that every one of them was “right” in its own way! I wrote my own definition, too.
This communication discipline, whose definition we cannot agree on, does not seem very promising for the people who have devoted themselves to this profession. We have to face this fact. This is where the problem begins: Public relations has always postponed facing its own facts, which is the main reason for its loneliness or desperation today!
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My ideas on this issue are below in their simplest form:
We see two main “methods” supporting the public relations profession for one hundred years. One of them was invented by Ivy L. Lee, a journalist who went down in history as the founder of this profession. He opened a press agency with his partner George Parker in 1905. The agency started operating as a “communication bridge” between the press and companies. Back in those days, when capitalism was growing steadily, the press would publish superficial information obtained with its own effort. Neither newspapers nor companies were pleased with this situation. Ivy L. Lee’s enterprise was a new inspiration to the business world. However, his main customer was John D. Rockefeller! Anything Rockefeller did was considered suspicious by everyone. He was a businessman who had “shady” dealings in every step he took. Ivy L. Lee was unable to make the public believe that Rockefeller could also do “good things”. Therefore, he published a “declaration” in 1906. In summary, it said “I swear that all the information given by this company is true“. After this declaration, things were back on the rails for a while. Public relations was a two-way communication system between the companies and the media. (Ivy L. Lee’s job was considered to be press representation at that time since it was going to be called public relations by the end of 1920s.)
This method has been the “short and profitable” way of the profession so far. This is the method which made us come to a dead end where people say “I know … from the … newspaper. We can publish this news item, and it will cost … .” in the unregistered PR jargon. It is also the method which caused “drawing up invoices for published news as their equivalents in advertising” in time.
http://www.trueactivist.com/shell-dumps-thousands-of-barrels-of-oil-into-gulf-of-mexico/
If we go back to Ivy L. Lee, we will see that he, who had a brilliant career until 1930s, had so many problems since it was claimed that he leaked some information to Hitler and worked secretly for him. Those claims could not be proved, but he had to leave his profession with unpleasant memories.
The second method of public relations was created by Edward Bernays in 1920s. Bernays, who was the nephew of Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, and who played a key role in bringing him to the USA, integrated his uncle’s knowledge and discipline into the profession of communication as “strategy”. His book, Crystallizing Public Opinion, which was published in 1929 became very popular. Bernays designed a scenario that he called strategy according to the sensitivities and expectations of the public, and made a story out of that scenario using a newsworthy name such as event, competition or prize. That was the main difference between Bernays and Lee in terms of business practices. The essence of his techniques, which were defined as “persuasion engineering” corresponded to “propaganda”. To be on the safe side, he involved legal entities such as associations and foundations which were defined as “third parties” in that process. If he couldn’t find any useful legal entities, he would set up an expedient one. (http://www.prmuseum.org provides some good examples of Bernays’ projects. In addition, The Century of the Self, a BBC documentary by Adam Curtis, shows this development in detail.) Considering that the word propaganda was “repellent”, he named his profession public relations!
What really developed since Bernays called the profession “public relations” was the concept of “brands”. “Meeting needs”, which was high on the agenda of capitalism until then, was replaced with “marketing desires” in 1940s. Desires reached out to “brands” and thus, “the golden age” of advertisements began! However, things turned into Mad Men in 1960s as Bernays himself admitted later. Bernays tried to integrate the concept of “ethics” into public relations, which was not seen in advertising. However, the results did not amount to much once money started turning in the wheels of advertising industry.
In fact, we can also see the loneliness or desperation of public relations in Edward Bernays’ efforts. Bernays still worked on the answer to the question “Who can become public relations practitioners?” even before he passed away at 105 in 2005!
Nothing special is required to become a public relations practitioner in Turkey or anywhere else in the world (as opposed to becoming a butcher or a hairdresser). In other words, everyone can become a public relations practitioner without asking anyone. They can open a company. They can hire employees. They can publish a press release. They can find customers. They can draw up invoices. They can pay tax. They do not have to register with a union or take an exam! If a corporate public relations department recruits someone, it does not have to be someone who has a degree in public relations!
We can say that the question to which Bernays had tried to find an answer for about 90 years is responsible for today’s chaotic environment: Who can become a public relations practitioner?
In fact, we can specify three events foreshadowing the loneliness of public relations. One of them, which may be the most important one, happened in 1980s. Investor relations involved people who worked under the umbrella of public relations and who were especially the members of the British Public Relations Association in the UK. Investor relations industries in the UK and the USA left saying “We do something else”. The second event happened in 1990s. In-house communication practitioners also left the public relations industry saying “We do something else, too”. They started their own professional organisation.
Then, the public relations industry was not able to take the most important opportunity to prevent its loneliness. The three leading international organisations of the profession signed a common declaration in Helsinki in 1997: “Quality and Standards / Measurement and Assessment in Public Relations”.
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The industry could not really use that opportunity which would totally change the perception and identity of the profession and which would bring them together with professional reputation. Because the public relations industry was caught off guard against the new rules of the global competition such as the new “customer” definition, stakeholders, human resources, innovation and total quality management. It was losing its grasp and a small minority was aware of it. The others were the majority with their habits specifically originating from “the first method“, and they were not able to transform the profession.
The industry-specific unity invitation, which was prepared in Turkey in line with the declaration of Helsinki in 1997, was only answered by 5 public relations companies out of 54 agencies. This group, which is called IDA today, was initiated by Bersay, Capitol, MPR, ORSA and Zarakol that made Turkey an official member of ICCO in 1999. These companies estimated that measurement and assessment were the main issues of the industry, and that customers could only be provided with qualified consultancy through reports based on research. They came together and established a research and assessment company called PRNET. This enterprise in Turkey was given as an example by PRWEEK, the international voice of the industry, when the companies which were able to prepare computer and internet based reports within 24 hours could be counted on the fingers of one hand in the world in that period (1999).
However, all these things were not able to cure public relations. As the profession could not solve its internal problems, the concept of “corporate communication” entered our lives. We don’t really know what the difference between this concept and public relations is. Because we do not discuss it! Academics, who should help and lead the industry, do not see, hear or speak! There are scarcely any articles on this subject.
Things have got really confusing as people started discussing whose job social media, reputation management, corporate social responsibility and sustainability were? Social media and the other digital platforms, which operate as a separate industry today, are avoiding public relations like the plague. We see that the public relations industry has only media relations to turn to as 2020s are drawing near. This situation brings up the matter of “the first method“, the main reason for professional erosion, as a problem once again. In conclusion, something which could cause the public relations industry to solve its problems in different aspects of the profession of communication, and to have hope for the future happened in 2016. Professional principles of communication and media relations management were accepted.
Informatics Reporters Association (BMD), Economics Journalists Association (EGD), Communication Consultancy Companies Association (IDA), Corporate Communicators Association (KID), Advertisers Association (RVD), Media and Communication Assembly of TOBB (Turkish Union of Chambers and Commodity Exchanges), Turkish Journalists Association (TGC) and Turkish Public Relations Association (TUHID) signed these common principles. This is a very significant attempt which will stop the loneliness or desperation of public relations. I wish the faculties of communication could do studies which could provide a scientific basis for this attempt.
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