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Although public relations professional may not have a public image as negative as that of advertisers, a cynical view of the profession nonetheless exists beyond the field of journalism. Given the history of corporate public relations, many concerned citizens believe that when a company or individual makes a mistake or misleads the public, too often a PR counsel is hired to alter the image rather than to admit the misdeed and correct the problem. Whether or not this is actually true is not relevant, what is important, as PR professionals know, is the perception.

Like advertising and other forms of commercial speech, publicity campaigns that result in free media exposure raise a number of questions regarding democracy and the expression of ideas. Large PR agencies and product companies, like well financed politicians, have money to invest to figure our how to obtain favorable publicity. The question is not how to prevent that but how to ensure that other voices less well-financed and less commercial receive an adequate hearing. It is possible that technology change this. With access to less traditional media outlets like cable, and the World Wide Web there may be a forum for voicing opinion and ideas open to all...or at least open to more.

Agencies

Most public relations agencies have Web sites, and there are unique aspects to some of them. For example, the layout is often unique with an emphasis on graphics and attractive layout. Although self-promotional, some offer a good deal of information: press releases, product information, marketing research, public relations campaign information and so on; some even get into legal and ethical issues.

Organizations

There are a number of representative agencies for public relations. Those listed below are just a few of the many available. As with many Web sites, these are self-promotional, but also contain information related to archives, journals, foundations awards and grants and, internships and careers.

Magazines and Online Services

There are several magazines/online services that are important to the advertising and public relations industry. Besides articles and the newest strategies, they offer the latest information on a range of information from production costs to recent costs for ad time and space, technology updates , regulations and so forth.

Links and services

Events and Chat areas

Several browsers and online services offer special events or opportunities to enter into a "live" conversation with a CEO or ad executive.

Most services and browsers also offer bulletin boards where you can post comments or pose questions on a specific topic or show, and chat areas where you can enter into live conversations with other people from around the world. You may want to enter a chat area to discuss advertising news, questions about the industry, or perhaps a specific commercial or ad campaign.

  • Online Services: America Online, Compuserve, Prodigy, the Microsoft Network, and CNET's new Snap Online often offer authors, musicians and newsmakers for an evening live chat.

  • Browsers and search engines: Netscape, Yahoo, Excite, Infoseek, Lycos offer a number of events and chat areas that may discuss the influence and effects of public relations or in the creation of political or media campaigns.

  • Other chat areas that often deal with issues related to the world of public relations especially where it concerns politics: CNN Chat | MSNBC Chat

  • There are two excellent Web resources for locating newsgroups and mailing lists. But don't forget your netiquette if you decide to join in!
    • DejaNews is a search engine for newsgroups. As with a Web search engine, entering keywords will return links to newsgroup articles that contain your keyword.
    • Liszt, the mailing list directory, is a guide to a wide variety of mailing lists (complete with instructions on how to join them).



    Try it out!

    Since this list is nowhere near exhaustive, do some searching and create your own bookmarks of sites including:

    • Public Relations agencies

    • Web sites of states, cities or towns

    • Interest Groups (any group with a position or cause)

    • Other related sites (marketing resources, research, reference materials etc.)