Need For Public Relations

The need for public relations is clearly explained n the points below –

Communication :

The means for communication have reached , technically ,almost a stage of perfection .It is today financially possible for practically everybody –at least in the advanced nations- to receive information. The level of education of a wide circle of the population is rising rapidly and this ensures a steady increase in the capacity for receiving information which is guaranteed by the ‘constitution.’ Adequate information is, therefore, theoretically possible although it is by no means guaranteed in each individual case.

New Information Order:

Whether we are correctly informed is far more difficult to answer. Many books, many discussions in academies in radio and television in India and abroad, and countless lectures, not excluding those in ‘Information Society’ and ‘New Information Order’, as far as we are aware, a correct reply is yet to be received. The only answer, according to the philosopher Karl Jaspers given in 1963, is

“we in the Free World have the chance to share the responsibility and find

ways of receiving the best possible information.”

Information Load:

Also called message load or quantity, The sceptic will, of course, draw our attention to the flood of information to which we are all exposed today. The proper reply to this is that this flood is largely without direction and that it is incomplete or inaccurate. Information must be prepared. Essential information must be separated from trivial matter, and the interest of the receiver must be aroused in the right direction. In the organization that ignorance, the inability to appreciate or organization , superficial knowledge is extremely likely to result in dislikes, dissatisfaction and outright rejection with all their disastrous concequences. What we require is a fair means of information which eliminates existing or awakened suspicions, which builds up understanding, and creates confidence. This is what we call Public Relations.

4. Mutuality and Understanding: Going by the definition of public

relations, the mutuality is based on interaction between consideration for

public opinion, and the need of the communicator or organization to inform

or establish contact. Understanding is created by providing insight into, and

reporting on all essential matters. Confidence is cultivated by bringing the

aim of the organization into harmony with the public interest, thus winning

and maintaining goodwill among the general public.

From all these facts, it is clear what the purpose of this ‘Activity in,

for, and with. The public’ is : To act and not to react; to create an

atmosphere of confidence by an active information policy, the passive part

of which consists in answering queries ; to inform the public and exert

influence towards the inside as a form of corporate and social counter control to establish direct or indirect connections with the public, to fulfill a kind of interpreters’s function towards the public and to control communicative reaction.