Public Relations
Public relations professionals who have provided ethics counsel to senior management are at least as fervent about serving the public interest — sometimes even more so — as they are about their duty to their organizations.
Deserted, dreamily lit streets heavy with the lingering dust from the day, straight off the pages of a Raymond Chandler novel; a bicyclist on the way to an early morning market carrying crates of live poultry piled in a way even a Costco stocker would admire; small quiet streets devoid of autos as far as the eye can see; those are the memories of China 20-years past for Tom Mattia, the new chairman of Edelman China.
“Mr. Gutenberg, what do you think you will print after the Bible?” That’s the analogy Tom Mattia, the new chair for Edelman China, uses when comparing the future of digital and social media to past communication trends.
Tom Mattia, who retired from Coca-Cola as Senior Vice President of global Public Affairs and Communications, has served as the senior communications officer of two Fortune 100 companies, directly counseled four CEOs and managed reputational issues for four major global brands — Coca-Cola, Ford, IBM, and EDS.
Publicizing its overall size for 42 years and the extent of its 12 special practice areas has been a factor in the growth of Edelman Public Relations. The PR firm led all others in 11 of the 12 PR specialties tracked since 1990 by O’Dwyer rankings of PR firms, often by tens of millions of dollars.
It has become like a game that no one can win – who can define the un-definable. What is the new definition of public relations? – who can define the un-definable. What is the new definition of public relations?
For Southern Methodist University (SMU) digital journalism professor Jake Batsell the definition of a PR professional in the 21st century is similar to a journalist’s roll of “connecting people to knowledge.”
PRSA’s effort to redefine public relations, has yet to find solid ground. In the New York Times article by Stuart Elliot, the article’s lead contains the term that many journalists use to define PR – “spin doctors“.
If you are from Texas you either love or hate Mark Cuban, there is no in-between. He knows how to stir up controversy on and off the basketball court. Recently the controversy has been centered on the topic of public relations, and the PR profession.
For the second year in a row, the Schwartz MSL Research Group worked with Business Wire to determine how many PR professionals are optimizing their news release headlines for SEO. There was slight improvement compared to last year, but there is still a long, long way to go.
More than a dozen PR groups worldwide, including the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), are in a three-month quest to define “public relations”; it seems New York Times columnist David Carr might have beaten them to the punch.
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