PUBLIC RELATIONS AT THE CROSSROADS.

Today, public relations (PR) is a crazy-patchwork of ideas and activities. Everybody is talking about PR, but nobody seems to know too much about the meaning of the term. Even workers in the field do not agree on where PR begins and ends, whether it should or should not be a separate activity in a business, or how, when and where it should be applied in an organization. This individual confidence comes in the midst of an astronomical expansion of public relations activities. In every business of any size a new or a considerably enlarged PR department is blossoming. Public relations books and articles, lectures, brochures and pamphlets are rolling from presses in a steadily enlarging stream. Numerous organizations to serve public relations workers have come into being and are thriving. These organizations are setting up groups, producing literature, championing professionalism, ethics and sound practices, and attempting to weld public relations workers into a field with some semblance of order.