Many people have the misconception that Public Relations is just about party planning, attending events and travelling the world with celebrities. However, in reality PR couldn’t be more different and involves a wide variety of roles and responsibilities.
A recent article in crikey, written by Noel Turnbull, discusses this misconception about PR, held by many young PR students. He reveals that Dr Jane Johnston, associate professor, journalism and PR, at Bond University, has named this misconception the ‘The Samantha Syndrome’.
‘The Samantha Syndrome’ refers to the way PR professionals are depicted in movies and its name comes from the character, Samantha Jones in the TV series Sex and The City.
Dr Johnston has found that PR people are mostly shown in movies as single, white, middle class, attractive young women. PR women are also usually shown attending parties, drinking cocktails, travelling to exotic locations and hanging out with celebrities all in a day’s work.
However the truth about PR is men and women from all backgrounds are PR professionals. While at times PR professionals can organise or attend events it is not their sole responsibility.
Public Relations is about creating effective communication between a person and the people they want to influence and between an organisation and its target audience. The role of a PR professional is to find the stories within a business and provide these stories to the media at the right time in the best way possible.
Here are some other roles PR professionals conduct:
- Building a company’s profile and reputation with a strategic PR strategy
- Media relations
- Social media management
- Internal communication
- Crisis communication
- Content creation
- Stakeholder relations
- Media training
- Speech writing
This misconception must be addressed to portray a true representation of PR professionals and the variety of work they conduct.
Do you think the Samantha Syndrome exists? How we do resolve these misconceptions?
Read the full article here.
Sydney Public Relations Agency, CP Communications provides specialist media, traditional and online PR strategies that get amazing results. Contact us today. For more great tips visit our website www.cpcommunications.com.au.
