.............................................................................49 VIII. Appendix ...................................................................................54 I. Introduction Public relation is how an organization is accepted by the public and how the public’s perspectives are adapted by the organization. In short, it is how an organization and their public mutually adapt each other for the purpose of satisfaction to all the parties involved in the relationship. It is more formally defined as “a communication concept which is systematically planned and optimized may not offer a guarantee for success, however, it minimizes the risk of failure” (Feitsch, 2009, p.3). Public relation is often affirmed as old as civilization and is an intrinsic part of all human relations and interactions. There is however a difference between the idea of public relations and the concept of public relations as a profession. It goes without argument that there has been a tremendous change in the concept of public relations since it has surfaced as a separate discipline and a lucrative career path in the second half of the 19th century. It has gained huge significance along with its growth in size and opportunities. In spite of this, there are public relation agents who behave as if the field is still in its nascent stage and is far away from maturity. There are some public relation operators who perform like ostentatious press agents and publicize their clients, while there are others who act as false flatterers who try to hoodwink the public with distorted, false or unreliable information. The bitter fact is that many of such practitioners are gaining both goodwill and lots of money by doing what they do. However, this phenomenon is existing in all professional fields where individual practitioners refrain from following the standard and accepted procedures of their profession, and still others who implement obsolete practices and violate current ethical principles. For instance, most businesses project themselves as honest and just to the public, while in reality most businesses are corrupt and profiteering. Similarly there are public relation practitioners who are manipulative and exploitive. However, no profession should be judged by the misdemeanors of a few practitioners (Turney, 2003). It is important that in the field of public relations, proper strategies and planning be implemented. Since it is the public relations agents who are the representatives of an organization’s vision, mission and reputation to the public, hence it is their responsibility to do proper research in their field and do strategic thinking in order to create and defend the image of the organization (Feitsch, 2009, p.3). Today, majority of the countries comprehend the importance of having a positive national image in other countries, and every country is making an effort to manage it in a convenient way. Countries are now turning to public relations to revive their goodwill in the global platform. The reputation of a country depends upon its economic growth and stability, and its position in the global arena. Many countries, in order to recover from damaged images are increasingly becoming dependent on “high-level comms counsel” (Sudhaman & Magee, 2009). A country’s global position is determined by its foreign investments, volume of trade, tourism and immigration, as well as its political and diplomatic power. In 2009, Argentina used the
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