ABSTRACT
The second set of concerns about PR revolves around the effects of its operation on three important public institutions: markets, politics and the media.
Chapter 2 presents PR as representing a paradox: so popular, yet so disparaged. That disparagement expresses itself in the low reputation of PR as evidenced in derogatory references by politicians and journalists, a negative, popular linguistic usage by the public, and some poll data.1 The low reputation is a consequence of specific concerns about its operation. Chapters 5 and 6 look at a systemic concern: that PR has principally served - and still is serving - business and governmental interests and often degrades into communicative manipulation and propaganda. Another set of concerns is more specific to individuals. Those concerns reside among the general public in their roles as citizens and consumers, and in their roles as members of organisations and groups. Individuals can be seen as either PR consumers (receiving PR messages) or PR producers (sending them), and many people have both roles. For example, individuals read about food and wine and are active in Friends of the Earth campaigning against genetically modified plants. Concerns about PR in relation to markets and marketing are discussed in this chapter and in relation to politics and the media in Chapters 8 and 9.
