From Books to Broadcast – Why PR?

I decided to study for my Master’s degree in Public Relations on a total whim – which, by the way, is not something I recommend doing! – but it is easily one of the best whimsical decisions I’ve ever made.

I didn’t exactly toss a coin to choose Public Relations over other subjects but, for all the effort I put into the decision, I may as well have done! It’s not that I didn’t care, in fact throughout my undergraduate study the use of PR for communication seemed to crop up over and over. So much so that by the time I’d gained my Bachelor’s degree, I was looking for any excuse to study the discipline that seemed to have its finger in all the best pies.

Why PR? For me, the answer to that question is this – PR treats people like people. My go-to definition of PR was one that describes it as a process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between an organisation and its publics – a definition I intend to remember to remind myself of the importance of ‘people’ to PR practice.

In the few weeks that I’ve been here, I’ve seen that the industry understands that a ‘one size fits all’ approach doesn’t really cut it in communications and that’s something I can really get behind. To quote one of my brilliant university lecturers;

“The key to successful PR is knowing the difference between what the sender wants and what the receiver wants, and then achieving a tailored outcome that satisfies them both.” It’s been great seeing a lot of what I learnt in theory at university, happening in practice at ON Broadcast. Everyone knows there’s a big difference between the two, but it’s super gratifying to know that my reasons for choosing PR are as relevant as they’ve ever been!

Amy Stone – @amylouisestone