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What is public relations?
According to
Public Relations News, “public relations is the management
function which evaluates public attitudes, identifies the policies
and procedures of an individual or an organization with the public
interest, and plans and executes a program of action to earn public
understanding and acceptance.”
PR
practitioners are the facilitators of communication between an
organization and the outside world. It’s the job of the PR
professional to be the voice of the company, to create good will,
and to develop relationships with important publics such as
consumers and journalists. At the same time, the practitioner is
responsible for educating upper management to know what outsiders
are thinking about a company’s reputation, brand, products and
services. The PR professional must constantly be watching for new
trends, monitor the news media; know what the competition is doing,
and how to identify opportunities and obstacles for the
organization.
Chico State
public relations students are trained to:
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Conduct
effective primary and secondary research
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Make ethical
decisions
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Write for
print, broadcast and online media
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Develop
strategic communication plans and methods of evaluation
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Identify
emerging technologies and their influence on communication
Career opportunities in public
relations
Public
relations is utilized by all organizations whether nonprofit or a
Fortune 500 multinational. In 2006, Money Magazine ranked
public relations as the 20th best job in America and
anticipates a 22 percent growth rate in the next 10 years. Students
graduating from the PR option find employment in a wide variety of
fields, including:
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Nonprofit
communications
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Public
affairs or governmental PR
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Consumer PR
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Media
relations
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Entertainment and sports PR
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Crisis
communication
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Legal PR
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Health care
PR
Explore the PR option
To learn more
about the public relations option, explore the following links:
·
Course requirements in PR
·
Course descriptions
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Tehama Group Communications Inc.
·
International Association of Business Communicators |
