Chapters 1, 2 and 3.

I think the two key points from this week's readings are that there is much more to Public Relations (PR) than what society deems it to be and that theories play a big part in defining and shaping PR.

Upon briefly understanding and grasping what PR was all about, I realised that PR Practitioners shoulder heavy responsibilities and are required to execute roles that not everyone has the gift or talent for. 

Theories, which in my opinion, seemed irrelevant to PR. I simply could not understand why such a 'social' career required theories to be inculcated and applied. However, when Grunig's theories were explained and intertwined with the gist of PR, they became clearly relevant. 

The readings made me think more about PR theories and/or practice in that having misconceptions about PR and not clarifying doubts could lead to disinterest. Honestly, I always thought that PR simply wasn't my cup of tea because I didn't understand or know much about it - I put it off. That led me to question, since PR has such a wide range of roles and job opportunities and is of utter importance to a company, why do people (like myself) refuse to delve deeper before putting PR off? 

PR has proven itself to be connected to communications as it is 'the development of strategies using communications to build relationships with publics'. It definitely does not sound easy. And not everyone will be up to the job really. As a form of communications, should PR be given less value then journalism or marketing? Is it given less value in today's society?

In conclusion, I'd like to say that I agree with two sentences from the readings: 

"Advertising is visibility, public relations is credibility." 

and

"PR = Art + Science + Business" 

because it is.

PR should be given a chance to prove its worth and effectiveness. These are.. just my 2 cents worth :)