United States
I. Evolution in English
In English, the term "Public Relations" first originated in 1842, when Hough Smith used the term in his book "Theory and Principles of Public Sentiment." In 1882, Dorman B. Eaton formally used this term in his work "Public Relations and the Duties of the Legal Profession." The later American communication scholar L. L. Golden believed that the meaning of "Public Relations" should be "Relations With the Publics," meaning relationships with the public. Traditional public relations theory has been predominantly a cultural interpretation led by American English.
In English, terms used alongside "Public Relations" include "PR," "Corporate Communication," "Corporate Relationships," "Public Affairs," and "Public Information," among others.
Modern public relations emphasizes strategic communication and media engagement
The Public Relations Society of America's terminology research group believes that "PR" carries a derogatory connotation, similar to calling surgeons "sawbones." However, it is undeniable that "PR" is still widely used globally. In many cases, some organizations and companies obviously prefer to use "Corporate Communication" and "Public Information" instead of "Public Relations," with "Public Information" being more commonly used in social service agencies, universities, and government departments. People use these substitute terms to avoid all the negative meanings associated with public relations terminology.
However, currently, among the 69 national public relations associations and societies outside the United States, 64 have adopted the name "Public Relations." This fact indicates that the term "Public Relations" has become universally used worldwide and will not be phased out.
In 1984, a new term emerged in the field of public relations studies: "Public Relationships." American PR scholar Mary A. Ferguson, in one of her academic conference papers, began using "Public Relationships" to replace "Public Relations." She called for "the focus of public relations research to shift from communication-centered to relationship-centered, and to return relationships to public relations."
In terms of etymology, the difference between Relationships and Relations is similar to the difference between "Friend" and "Friendship"—they both stem from the same root and represent an inherent causal relationship. Compared to "Public Relations," the term "Public Relationships" places greater emphasis on the mutuality, emotionality, and subjective agency of relationships, while also emphasizing a harmonious nature and state of relationships.
The emergence of the new term "Public Relationships" represents a great revolution in the history of public relations as a discipline. It marks a paradigm shift in public relations theory, with relationship management becoming the mainstream theoretical paradigm in public relations theory.
Germany
II. Evolution in German
The German translation of "Public Relations" is "Öffentlichkeitsarbeit," which has two layers of meaning: The first meaning refers to "Public Work," meaning that public relations is "serving the public on public issues within public institutions"; the second meaning refers to "Public Sphere," meaning that public relations is not just about relationships between publics, but also includes relationships between one public sphere and another, and between one public institution and another.
The German concept emphasizes public sphere and democratic participation
In Europe, the "public sphere" as one of the core concepts of public relations highlights its rationality and legitimacy even more, because the quality and quantity of the public sphere relates to "Öffentlichkeit Meinung," meaning "Public Opinion." Like journalism and public opinion, public relations has a duty to serve democratic politics. Public relations helps create an atmosphere of free and active discourse, helps increase people's attention to public life, helps facilitate in-depth discussion of public topics, and helps improve and develop the level and scale of the public sphere.
Currently, the German term Öffentlichkeit and the English term Public Relations are used simultaneously in Germany, with different connotations: Öffentlichkeit places more emphasis on "publicness," while Public Relations places more emphasis on "public-orientedness."
South Korea
III. Evolution in Korean
The Korean term for public relations is "홍보활동." They also frequently use "Hong Bo" to represent "Public Relations," with both having the same meaning, and the meaning of "PR" in Korean and English is the same.
In South Korea, business professionals more often view the function of public relations as publicizing public information, or as part of advertising and marketing. In some fields, public relations is merely understood as a form of publicity. Therefore, Korean PR organizations habitually adopt defensive measures to influence the media, such as attempting to prevent the public from learning information that clients do not want them to know.
Korean PR emphasizes personal influence and interpersonal relationships
South Korea uses the personal influence model to guide most public relations practice activities. PR professionals influence important figures in companies to help the company gain profits.
The communication models of Korean PR are mainly press agentry and public information dissemination, leaning toward one-way communication. PR business mainly concentrates on media relations and is now developing in more professional directions such as government services and crisis management.
Japan
IV. Evolution in Japanese
The Japanese translation of PR is "広報," meaning to broadly inform, which contrasts with advertising's broad announcement, and is seen as the opposite of advertising and marketing. The responsibility of PR departments in Japanese companies is to establish close relationships between the company and the public, using various communication methods to help the public understand the company's goals in order to gain their support. PR activities are guided by the philosophy of serving and rewarding the public while enabling the company's policies to be implemented.
Japanese PR focuses on media relations and corporate reputation management
In most Japanese companies, three departments are related to PR activities: the PR department, advertising department, and public affairs department. Initially, the public affairs department implemented PR and performed advertising functions, emphasizing PR concepts; subsequently, during the period of rapid economic development, the PR department separated from the public affairs department, mainly implementing PR and performing advertising functions; later, as the role of PR rapidly strengthened, some companies established PR offices directly under the chairman and president's office. In this case, the PR office is smaller in scale than regular PR departments, but serves as the company's full-time spokesperson.
The main responsibilities of PR directors include:
Gaining public understanding of the company's management philosophy and policies;
Maintaining relationships with mass media;
Sharing information within the company;
Handling emergencies.
Facts show that regardless of company size, gaining understanding from society and shareholders through the media is the most important function of the PR department.
In summary, PR activities in Japan are similar to those in the United States, and Koho is the Japanese synonym for PR. Japanese companies face pressure to release information to the public through the media, because failing to do so would affect the company's reputation. Japanese companies place more emphasis than American companies on maintaining long-term cooperation with the media and must enhance the company's image in the eyes of the media.
China
V. Evolution in Chinese
The Chinese translation of "Public Relations" is "公共关系" or "公众关系," abbreviated as "公关" (gongguan). The term gongguan was first introduced to mainland China from Hong Kong and Taiwan.
Chinese PR emphasizes "guanxi" — the art of relationships and face
Facts show that "gongguan," like PR, carries many negative connotations. Especially when people use the term "gongguan xiaojie" (PR lady), it is often conflated with beautiful women, hostesses, and high-class escorts, making PR seem vulgar and intimidating. In the eyes of some outsiders, PR is women's exclusive domain, PR is just a pretty face plus a charming smile, PR is just socializing over drinks, PR is just another name and variant for pulling strings, and so on.
However, when people use "public relations" or "PR activities," it carries more positive connotations, often implying "consulting and planning," "creative strategies," "branding," "image," and other meanings. Some also believe that PR is an important pathway for intellectuals to "go into business" and make money through commerce. From Hong Kong's return to Beijing's Olympic bid, from APEC (Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation) meetings to American presidential elections, from the 9/11 attacks to the Iraq War, from SARS to bird flu, from the Indian Ocean tsunami to the Wenchuan earthquake, public relations battlefields are everywhere.
From this, it can be seen that cultural differences in translation and cultural misreadings in interpretation of the term public relations are widespread, leading to the meaning of public relations being very ambiguous and variable. Today, any car salesman or bar hostess can call themselves "public relations personnel."
Around the world, public relations has debates over "good PR versus bad PR" and "black PR versus white PR." For example, the terms "black PR" and "white PR" emerged in 1990, initially becoming popular mainly among practitioners, then spreading among scholars. "Black PR" is mainly associated with manipulation techniques, which are most commonly used in political public relations, especially in Western presidential election campaigns. In contrast, "white PR" is understood as genuine public relations that conforms to ethics and morality, representing Western ethical public relations, primarily stemming from the Excellence in Public Relations research project conducted by Grunig and others.
Many scholars believe that "black PR" does not exist, and that so-called "black PR" is not entirely public relations—it is more like propaganda, because any misuse or abuse of public relations leads to unethical public relations practice. This is not a problem with public relations itself, but a problem that requires universal attention, for which all practitioners bear responsibility.
So, what is public relations in the true sense? Let us now look at the evolution and development of public relations definitions.