Suresh Gaur on Public Relations

Public Affairs is a term used to describe an organisation’s relationship with its stakeholders.   These are individuals or groups with an interest in the organisation's affairs, such as Politicians (MPs / MLAs), Civil Servants, Customers, Local Communities, Clients, Shareholders, Trade Associations, Think Tanks, Business Groups, Charities, Unions and the Media. Public affairs work combines Government Relations, Media Communications, Issue Management, Corporate   Social Responsibility, Information Dissemination and Strategic Communications Advice. Public affairs practitioners engage stakeholders in order to explain organisational policies and views on public policy issues, assisting policy makers and legislators in amending or laying down better policy and legislation. They provide statistical and factual information and lobby on issues which could impact upon the organisation's ability to operate successfully. Public Affairs practitioners aim to influence public policy

Lobbying is a communication function, and closely resembles with public relations. Lobbying is said to date back to 1215 when King John of England allowed people to petition him on any violation of rights. Lobbying is one of the oldest professions and has always been part of every political and legislative system.   Therefore, lobbying has also been defined as “the deliberate attempt to influence political decisions through various forms of advocacy directed at policymakers on behalf of another person, organization, or group. Although, lobbying has been defined in many ways but, in essence, it is the right of any citizen or interest group to petition the govt.(s) on proposed legislation, to provide   well documented information designed to influence the legislative, and to allow the voice of interested or   affected publics   e.g. NGO’s, citizen groups, worker unions etc. to be heard in the political arena either for passage or defeat of legislation. Lobbyists break down complic

Abraham Lincoln once said – “Public sentiment is everything, with public sentiment nothing can fail, without it nothing can succeed”.  Public opinions are very interesting phenomena and can operate at different levels. Ask anyone for his or her views on something of interest in the news, most will offer an opinion. Public opinion is the consensus of individual opinions of the majority among the masses, based on their attitudes and widely held beliefs moulded by public interest, which emerges over time from all the expressed views that cluster around an issue in a debate. When public opinion is unfavorable, public relation applies various tactics / tools to shift the balance of opinion of various target publics / interest groups in favour of the client. Hence, public opinion is the source spring of public relations. Public relation provides information about its client who could be an individual or an organisation, through planned and sustained strategic communication, to inte