studying PR

Michelle,
Hey how’s school down at FIU going? Have you decided what you want to study yet? I’ve decided to start studying public relations. It’s pretty interesting because it is basically really an open career path. I could end up working with the media to keep the public informed, help to create and promote a company or product image, or work within a company creating an internal working relationship within the company and its employees or a lot of other options in between. It’s also really cool because for the most part to be successful as a pr representative with the media you have to build good rapport with a lot of different media outlets which is good because then you have a personal working relationship with people who have a lot of influence over the media.
Basically from what I understand public relations is providing news but with a motive. So it’s really objective journalism that isn’t advertising.
The guy from the Barnum and Bailey Circus, PT Barnum is known for his PR in promoting his circus. He defined public relations by saying something along the lines that putting posters up and parading the elephant down the road before a circus is advertizing, having it walk through the governor’s lawn and the governor laugh about it is PR and reporting it is news. Something along those lines at least.
Edward Bernays, who is one of the founders of public relations as a field said that “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.”
Yeah it’s pretty crazy; I’m really excited to study it! I think I’ll be able to do a lot of fun stuff with it when I’m done and even while I study.
Well anyways good luck with school and I hope to talk to you again soon! Tell the family hi from me too!!
~Ariel Wade