Week 2

Ok, wow! First time i have used a blog site so apologies if it turns out to be quite pathetic.
The readings from this week were thrilling as expected but it actually helped me get a grasp on what public relations is because, as became evident after i went to Melanies first lecture, turns out my definition (if you could call it that, more or less just an guess at what it is, an assumption i guess!) is rusty.
I think the key points to remember from this week's readings were that public relations is a developing profession that has only become so in this modern age. However background to the development of PR as it's own career path can be found through Australian history. I was suprised to read in 'Public Relations; Theory and Practice' by Jane Johnston and Clara Zawawi, that Public relations practitioners take on a number of roles that go oustide the basic fundraising, promotion, events management and marketing. The text and our first lecture place emphasis on the fact that public relations isn't advertising, a vital point to be taken in account to come to terms with what puvlic relations involves. I found the early methods of public relations such as those used by Phineas T. Barnum (USA, 1835) in promotion of his circus through accrediting one of his circus members as having had nursed George Washington 100 years earlier; to be humorous methods of gaining publicity.
The readings made me think more about public relations theory/practice in that it questioned what i already thought public relations involved, broadening my understanding so that maybe I have developed a closer personal experience with the theory of public relations.
Fun stuff, public relations.
Well thats it, have fun guys!
Alyssa