Title: Public relations
Keywords: public relations
Description: Public relations (PR) is the managing of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image
Body: Public relations (PR) is the managing of internal and external communication of an organization to create and maintain a positive image. Public relations may involve popularizing successes, downplaying failures, announcing changes, and many other activities; but ethical P.R. practitioners can also convince companies to work more closely with its various publics and form win-win relationships. Different from Publicist.

The term public relations was used by the US president Thomas Jefferson during his address to Congress in 1807 (in this use, however, the intended meaning seems to be closer to "policy" than the implication of communications central to the contemporary definition).

One of the earliest definitions of PR was created by Edward Bernays. According to him, "Public Relations is a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures and interest of an organization followed by executing a program of action to earn public understanding and acceptance."(see history of public relations).

Today "Public Relations is a set of management, supervisory, and technical functions that foster an organizations ability to strategically listen to, appreciate, and respond to those persons whose mutually beneficial relationships with the organization are necessary if it is to achieve its missions and values." (Robert L. Heath, Encyclopedia of Public Relations). Essentially it is a management function that focuses on two-way communication and fostering of mutually beneficial relationships between an organization and its publics.

There is a school of public relations that holds that it is about relationship management. Phillips, explored this concept in his paper "Towards relationship management: Public relations at the core of organizational development" paper in 2006 which lists a range of academics and practitioners who support this view.