ABSTRACT
W orking in the public sector is a challenging area of PR. As well as all thenormal legal, ethical and technical considerations, public sector PR involvesa greater range of stakeholders than in the private sector. These stakeholders are more likely to have overlapping characteristics. A local council is often the largest employer in its community, so residents may be employees, council tax payers and recipients of a vast range of services from education for their children to refuse collection. With public services such as the fire brigade, ambulance and police, the highly emotive level of their work is also complicated by questions of funding and national governmental policy over which they may have limited control.
