ABSTRACT
What is PR? Why do organizations need it? Most people can’t answer these questions, but they have an uneasy feeling that PR is something that celebrities need when they’re promoting a movie or when they’re trying to make the public forget about DUI arrests and unattractive mug shots. In fact, public relations professionals are essential intermediaries between organizations (or clients) and the public. Their most important function is to communicate information back and forth between the two. PR professionals face ethical decisions daily, if not hourly, in this two-way process. Making ethical decisions requires knowledge of the tools available to the PR person, publicist, public information offi cer, communications executive, or crisis consultant, to list only a few of the titles by which the professional may be known.
