If PR professionals do their jobs well, they will serve the interests Essay

If PR professionals do their jobs well, they will serve the interests of the people who have paid them. There is a direct confl - Essay Example To aid in coming up with a clear comprehension of the communicative function of the two, a significant number of study theories and concepts have been produced by different research workers. Although the research works have not been fully able to address the subject, they have provided a wide basis as regards theoretical and conceptual notions on the subject. Thus, the most significant quest here is on the idea of the complex and conflicting communicative function of a journalist and public relations professional as regards their day-to-day interaction with their targeted user groups (Bivins 2009, p.103). Since the two professionals are closely related and have great complexity in terms of what exactly differentiates them, it is essential to have a thorough understanding of their respective fields of work. Journalism entails the process of collecting, jotting, editing of news from the public and related areas all around a specified geographic terrain. These news articles are then pre sented in newspapers, radio stations, magazines and television for broadcasting to other members of a whole nation, globally or depending on the defined geographic area to be covered. That is, a journalist’s daily operations involve interaction with the public in gathering and presentation of information. On the other hand, a public health professional’s communicative function is almost the Ð µsame as that of a journalist (Narasimha, 2010, p. 230). Public health professionals involve themselves in putting into practice the act of performing and maintaining a strong (healthy) relationship between the organizations they work for and the members of public and respective stakeholders. That is, their communicative function essentially revolves around a close interaction and sharing of information with the public (Narasimha, 2010, p. 20). The idea in public relations is for an organization to gain exposure to their targeted audience. In the process of gaining exposure, topi cs based on public interest are usually put into practice and items are brought forward with no interest for direct payment. The most significant aim for public relation professionals is to persuade the public, business partners, investors and other stakeholders to keep into practice or mind a specific viewpoint as regards products, leadership and its political aspirations (Bivins 2009, p. 102) It is thus clear that public relation professionals and journalists almost have the same communicative functionality which possesses a conflicting bird’s eye view of the subject. A number of research theories, organization case studies and concepts have addressed this subject. The aim of all these is to clarify or make it clear what each profession puts into close consideration on the notion of communication and interaction with the public (Van Ruler & Vercic 2004). Public relation profession and journalism engross a key set of concepts, readings and theories that make it easy for a pr ofessional, individual or an organization to build reputation among public members and respective stakeholders. Usually businesses or organizations have to be adept in practicing public relations and to put off the idea of considering public relation as only a means of reacting to a scandal (Watson & Noble 2007). As mentioned earlier, journalism puts into close consideration several practices that are closely related or almost the same as public relations. In this