PR AND THE MEDIA – AGENTS OR COMPANY TAILORS

Text topic: Modern Media and PR

Text author: Velizar Sredanović

Problems in conceptualization and definition of public relations and development of the PR profession from the 1930s have continued to this date, through the practical and theoretical efforts to prevent identifying of this profession-discipline with the news agencies and propaganda or with some other professions and disciplines like journalism, sociology, research, economics, marketing, politicology. Different approaches to defining the PR profession and the PR activities are inevitable as there is no single definition that would encompass all aspects of activities, tasks, trends, objectives and areas contained in this profession. A particularly interesting approach to PR is observed in the industry of journalism and in the state, not only at the global level and in developed societies but also in the transition countries. What is the role of PR and the media as powerful agents of media manipulations, the role of lobbyists and other tailors of the PR and the media, the role of a society, changing trends of PR companies and lobbyists who act from behind the scene (like those of the Bilderberg group), having in mind that PR experts believe that the best PR leaves no obvious trace?