Establishment of Level of Profesionalism of Public Relations Practitioners to Be Conductedwithin Pr Firms Allocated in Nairobi

This project involves the establishment of level of professionalism of Public Relations practitioners to be conducted within PR firms/agencies allocated in Nairobi. It is important to professionalize PR since every organization cannot work minus Public Relations activities and therefore there is a need to establish the practitioners level of professionalism

CHAPTER 1

1.0 INTRODUCTION

LEVEL OF PROFESSIONALISM OF PR PRACTITIONERS IN NAIROBI

The level of professionalism of Public Relations practitioners is a crosscutting issue of global concern. Professionalization of PR assumes that PR is an emerging profession. While the field of Public Relations has steadily progressed, champions of PR profession have done little to nurture a common understanding and utility of a profession called Public Relations.

Public Relations is the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics. PR provides an organization or individual exposure to their audiences using topics of public interest and news items that don’t require direct payment.

The aim is often to persuade the public , investors, partners, employees and other stakeholders to maintain a certain point of view about the company, its leadership products or of political decisions. Common activities include:

❖ Speaking at conferences

❖ Winning industry awards

❖ Employee relations, corporate and

❖ Crisis communication

❖ Networking communication

❖ Lobbying

❖ Management counseling

Ivy Lee in early 1900s along with Edward Louis Berney defined PR as a management function which tabulates public attitudes, defines the policies, procedures, and interests of an organization followed by executing a programme of action to earn public understanding and acceptance.

The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) claimed in 1988 “Public Relations help an

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