ABSTRACT
Public relations in public administration has sometimes been underutilized by practitioners because it has, at times, been criticized by politicians as propaganda. This chapter examines why elected officials have occasionally claimed agency PR to be controversial and then explains how public managers can preempt any such potential controversy. The key is to focus the uses of public relations that explicitly serve the agency’s mission. Some mission-related purposes fulfill the public obligations of government management in a democracy and others focus on the pragmatic benefits of PR to implement the programmatic mission of the agency. A typology of these democratic and management efficiency purposes is presented and explained. As long as government managers can demonstrate that their agency’s PR is based on accomplishing their democratic obligations and programmatic purposes, they can enhance the performance of their organizations while avoiding any non-meritorious criticisms from politicians.
