Public Relations

Author: Fu Xiaorong/Country:
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2004-11-01
Features: The term "Propaganda" was first used by Pope Gregory XIII (1572–1585). At that time, to promote and spread orthodox religion, he established a "Propaganda Committee" to conduct religious seminars in various countries to promote doctrines. The creation of the term "propaganda" initially carried the meaning of spreading an idea to be accepted by people. Later, the term was misused, especially by the Nazis during World War II. After that, the term often carried a derogatory connotation, becoming synonymous with lies and one-sided views, and thus was disliked. In Western capitalist countries, people engaged in public relations do not use it. However, in socialist countries, propaganda still means the dissemination and popularization of a doctrine or ideological concept. It is a part of political and economic activities, and all dissemination activities carried out in political movements, ideological work, and product promotion are. It can be seen that propaganda has different meanings in different countries. In short, propaganda is a one-way psychological manipulation, behavioral influence, and public opinion control method. Public relations and propaganda have some common or similar, overlapping points in specific work methods and content. Fundamentally, they are both information dissemination activities. In terms of activity forms and tools used, they both require the use of news media to conduct news reports, publish some propaganda-related brochures, magazines, or pamphlets, and influence the target audience through speeches. However, public relations and propaganda have fundamental differences, mainly manifested in: First, the content of public relations and propaganda is different. The content of public relations is much broader than propaganda, such as monitoring the environment, providing forecasts, assisting in decision-making, evaluating the image of organizations, carrying out various public relations activities, and conducting propaganda on political, economic, scientific and technological, and cultural content. Second, the technical means used are different. Propaganda mainly focuses on writing skills, editing skills, etc. While public relations also values communication art, it pays more attention to the use of technical means such as investigation, forecasting, feedback, and quantitative analysis. The technical means of public relations are more scientific than propaganda. P18