I am now a month into studying an MA in Public Relations at De Montfort University and my views on PR have changed significantly. I come from a culture that rubber-stamps family as number one priority and I have one hell of a big family. This meaning that there is a constant flow of relatives visiting my household, where everyone wants to know everyone’s business. Just before I started the course we had a big family get together and when asked "What are you up to these days?" I responded by telling them that I am doing an MA in Public Relations to which I got either one of two reactions. The first being the more often from those who do no have a clue what PR is, usually coming in the form of a bewildered look, a pat on the back, followed by the words "very good", with the family member just happy by the fact that I am doing a masters. Then the second reaction that really put the boot in was "Why on earth are you doing that for?" When I told one of my cousins who is an office manager what course I was about to undertake, his response was "When any PR people walk into my office I chuck them out straight up, they're d*******s full of b******t" leaving me thinking thanks for that vote of confidence! But when I quizzed these family members why they thought what they did, they became stuck for words and it became apparent they too did not have a clear understanding of what PR was. At the time I had a strong sense that going into PR would turn me into somewhat of a conniving individual to put it lightly, considering everyone’s negative portrayal of the industry.
However, once I embarked on the course my perceptions on Public Relations changed dramatically. PR is an industry growing rapidly, which is essential for organisations in managing their reputations. The work carried out by Public Relations practitioners is vital to an organisation’s success in engaging with the public. The industry can support really good causes, people may argue that this is done for a tidy sum of money, but at the end of the day money makes the world go round! One of the biggest things I have learnt from the course is the importance of social media and its necessity in the PR world to channel communications. All in all I believe that Public Relations is a prosperous industry where my future career positively lies!
