ABSTRACT
This chapter introduces you to the profession of public relations: What it is. What it isn’t. It outlines the practical benefits that public relations offers organizations and society at large It also introduces the ethical base of the art and science of public relations.
Understanding public relations is something like the story from ancient India about the blind men and the elephant. The parable tells of six blind men, each feeling a different part of an elephant. One touched the side and thought it was a wall. Another touched the tusk and thought it was a spear. The man touching the trunk thought he had a snake. And so on: The knee a tree trunk, the tail a rope, the ear a fan.