When I told my friends that I had finally figured out that I would be majoring in PR, most thought that I would later be working for a company in order to "spin" or lie to make the company look better. I had never seen "Wag the Dog" before until class last Wednesday, but movies such as that and "Thank You For Smoking" lead me to believe that's where the public gets their skewed view of the PR field.
According to our book and during our class discussion, PR can be a synonym for "spin" which gives PR a negative connotation as "spin doctors" who stress certain points and events to improve their image. The book defines public relations as "the management of relationships between an organization and its publics" and PRSA, CIPR, and wikipedia have similar definitions. PRSA and CIPR's, the British PR organization, goals are to put down the negative ideals of PR and to make sure that members follow the Code of Ethics to prevent the public to view PR as "spin doctors."
My view of PR so far after reading the book, the article given in class, and the internet sites definitions have brought me to define PR as a mediator between who they are representing and the media and/or public. When in the PR position of the company it is their job to do damage control, making sure that the public knows the information; yet at the same time not to only put out certain points causing suspicion of "spin." Many people who don't understand what PR really is will confuse it with the "spin doctors" instead of understanding how organizations such as PRSA and CIPR are trying to organize the members to stick to the Code of Ethics and still represent the client/company in the best light as possible.