Public relations has no single agreed definition. The Public Relations Society of America calls it a strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics. The Chartered Institute of Public Relations in the United Kingdom puts reputation first, describing it as the result of what an organization does, what it says and what others say about it. This page compares the leading definitions and gives a working one.
Last updated October 29, 2026.
How do the major definitions of public relations compare?
Three sources dominate the debate, and each one emphasizes a different part of the work. The table compares them on what each says, what it stresses and what it leaves out.
| Source | Definition | What it emphasizes | What it leaves out |
|---|
| Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) | A strategic communication process that builds mutually beneficial relationships between organizations and their publics | Process and mutual benefit | Reputation as an outcome, and the legal and ethical limits on what can be said |
| Chartered Institute of Public Relations (CIPR) | The discipline that looks after reputation, the result of what an organization does, says and what others say about it | Reputation as both input and output | The mechanics of earned media and audience research |
| Merriam-Webster | The business of inducing the public to have understanding for and goodwill toward a person, firm or institution | Persuasion, stated bluntly | Two-way listening and organizational behavior |
Read together, the three describe the discipline. Read individually, each one leaves something out. The PRSA wording appears on its page About Public Relations, and the CIPR wording appears on its About PR page.
What is the working definition of public relations?
Public relations is the discipline of building and protecting an organization's reputation through earned communication, executed across journalism, persuasion and the management of legal and ethical risk. It includes media relations, crisis communications, executive communications, internal communications, investor relations and the wider work of shaping how audiences understand the organization.
The working definition combines the two professional definitions. It keeps the CIPR's focus on reputation as the result of behavior and communication, and it keeps the PRSA's focus on a planned, two-way process. It adds a note about risk, because every public statement has legal and ethical limits. For the full reference on what PR is, what it is not and the case studies that show it in practice, see EPR's pillar page, What Is Public Relations?
How did the PRSA definition change?
The PRSA definition changed in 2012 after a public process. According to PRSA, its earlier definition, adopted in 1982, said that public relations helps an organization and its publics adapt mutually to each other. PRSA ran a public vote in February 2012 among three candidate definitions, and the winning wording received 671 of 1,447 votes, or 46.4%, as PRSA announced in March 2012.
PRSA explained its word choices in the same announcement. It preferred "process" to "management function" because the second phrase can suggest control and one-way communication. It preferred "publics" to "stakeholders" because the first reflects the public nature of the work, while "stakeholders" can suggest publicly traded companies. Those choices show what the profession was trying to correct: the older image of PR as a top-down tool for controlling messages.
The PRSA page also notes that the earliest definitions of the field emphasized press agentry and publicity, and that more modern definitions include engagement and relationship building. That change in wording tracks the change in practice, which EPR covers in its history of the field, The History of Public Relations.
What does the CIPR definition emphasize?
The CIPR definition emphasizes reputation, and it ties reputation to three sources: what an organization does, what it says and what others say about it. The CIPR adds that PR is the discipline that looks after reputation, with the aim of earning understanding and support and influencing opinion and behavior.
The CIPR's longer text describes the field as a planned and sustained effort to establish and maintain goodwill and mutual understanding between an organization and its publics. It defines publics as the audiences that matter to the organization and calls understanding a two-way process. The first sentence is the one most often quoted, and it carries a practical message: reputation cannot be managed by communication alone, because behavior is one of its three sources.
Some scholars question whether reputation is unique to PR, since marketing, human resources and operations also shape it. That debate is why many practitioners use the CIPR wording alongside a relationship-focused one such as the PRSA's.
What does a dictionary definition leave out?
A dictionary definition leaves out most of what professionals consider central, because it describes the older idea of PR as persuasion. The Merriam-Webster entry describes the business of inducing the public to have understanding and goodwill toward a person, firm or institution. That wording is accurate about the aim and silent about method, ethics and two-way listening.
The gap matters in practice. A client or executive who understands PR only as inducing goodwill may expect favorable coverage on demand. A practitioner who understands it as a relationship process knows that coverage depends on whether the organization has something worth reporting and a record that supports its claims. EPR's page on ethics in public relations covers the limits that separate honest persuasion from spin.
How do the definitions compare on five dimensions?
The definitions differ most on five dimensions: what PR is, what it aims at, who it serves, how it treats ethics and how it can be measured. The table shows how each source handles them.
| Dimension | PRSA | CIPR | Dictionary |
|---|
| What PR is | A strategic communication process | A discipline that looks after reputation | A business of inducing understanding and goodwill |
| Main aim | Mutually beneficial relationships | Understanding, support and influence on opinion and behavior | Understanding and goodwill |
| Main audience | Publics | Publics, defined as audiences important to the organization | The public |
| Ethics | Addressed in the separate PRSA Code of Ethics | Addressed in the CIPR's professional code | Not addressed |
| Measurement | Implied by the idea of benefit, so a relationship measure | Reputation and behavior, so an outcome measure | Not addressed |
The table explains why a team's choice of definition affects how it measures its work. A relationship-focused team may track trust and engagement. A reputation-focused team may track perception and behavior. EPR's guide to how PR is measured and how to report PR ROI covers both approaches.
Why has public relations never settled on one definition?
Public relations resists a single definition because one program can touch journalism, persuasion, reputation management, legal risk, audience research and organizational trust in the same week. A program that manages executive reputation, crisis exposure, employee communications, press relations, regulatory affairs and investor expectations does not reduce to one sentence.
The framing that has anchored this site since its founding treats PR as a mix of journalism, psychology and law. A PR program is a journalistic enterprise, because it asks what is true, what is newsworthy and what the story is. It is a psychological enterprise, because it asks what audiences believe, fear and want. It is a legal enterprise, because it asks what can be said, what cannot and what exposure the company can absorb. Take away any of the three and the work stops working.
Why do the definitions reflect their era?
Each definition carries the assumptions of the moment and the country that produced it. The PRSA wording of 2012 stresses process and relationships over persuasion, which reflects a profession trying to leave behind the old image of publicity and spin. The CIPR wording puts reputation first, which suits a British industry that emphasizes the link between conduct and public standing. The dictionary entry keeps the older language of inducing public opinion that professional bodies have moved away from.
A reader should treat each definition as a lens. The PRSA lens shows the process, the CIPR lens shows the outcome, and the dictionary lens shows how outsiders often see the field. A practitioner who can speak in all three is better prepared to explain the work to a chief executive, a journalist or a new hire.
What did early definitions of public relations emphasize?
Early definitions emphasized publicity and press agentry, and later ones moved toward engagement and relationship building. PRSA's own history of the field says the formal practice dates to the early 20th century and that definitions have changed alongside the roles and technology of the profession.
That shift explains why older books, courses and job descriptions can still describe PR as the art of getting attention, while current professional bodies describe a two-way process. A reader who meets both views should not assume one is a mistake. The older wording describes one real part of the work, which is earning coverage, and the newer wording describes the wider purpose that coverage serves.
What are the core functions that a definition covers?
Whatever the wording, a definition of PR covers a set of functions, and the list of functions is more stable than the definition. EPR's page on the functions of public relations sets them out, and its page on the types of public relations lists twelve programs that carry them.
- Media relations: building relationships with journalists, editors and creators, as covered in EPR's page on media relations.
- Crisis communications: protecting trust when an event threatens it, as covered in the crisis PR pillar.
- Reputation management: shaping how audiences see the organization over time, as covered in EPR's page on reputation management.
- Internal and employee communications: keeping staff informed and aligned.
- Public affairs and investor relations: managing relationships with governments, regulators and investors.
- Executive communications: building the public profile of named leaders.
How does PR differ from marketing and strategic communications?
Public relations differs from marketing and advertising in how it earns attention and from strategic communications in scope. PR earns coverage and trust from third parties, advertising buys placements the brand controls, and marketing coordinates both with product, price and distribution. Strategic communications coordinates all of an organization's messaging around its goals.
EPR compares the first three in its page on PR versus marketing versus advertising, and covers the fourth in its page on PR versus marketing versus strategic communications. A third page, PR versus marketing in the AI era, covers how AI search changed the relationship between the first two.
Why does the definition matter in practice?
The definition matters because it shapes expectations, budgets, hiring and measurement. A company that defines PR as publicity will hire for media contacts and measure by clippings. A company that defines it as relationship management will hire for research and listening and measure by trust and behavior. Neither choice is wrong, but a mismatch between the definition and the measures produces frustration.
| Decision | If PR means publicity | If PR means relationship and reputation management |
|---|
| Hiring | Media contacts and writing speed | Research, listening, planning and writing |
| Measurement | Stories published and reach | Trust, sentiment, behavior and business outcomes |
| Budget | Campaign by campaign | Ongoing program with baselines |
| Success | Coverage achieved | Relationships built and reputation protected |
A short written definition agreed by leadership at the start of an engagement prevents most disputes later. EPR's guide to writing a PR plan shows where that definition belongs, in the goals and audience sections.
What questions should a good definition answer?
A good definition answers five practical questions, and a definition that leaves one out will cause problems later. The questions work as a checklist when a team writes or reviews its own wording.
- Who are the audiences, and are they defined as groups that matter to the organization?
- What is the aim: understanding, support, behavior change or protection of reputation?
- Is the effort one-way or two-way, and does the wording include listening?
- What are the limits, including honesty, disclosure and legal risk?
- How will progress be judged, so that the definition connects to measures?
The PRSA wording answers the first three well and leaves limits to its code. The CIPR wording answers the aim and the audiences and leaves measurement open. A team that wants one definition to do all five jobs usually needs to write its own, using the professional wording as a base.
How do you write a definition of PR for your own organization?
Write a definition for your organization by filling in a short template that names the audiences, the aim and the limits. The template keeps the definition practical, and it can be tested against real decisions.
- Name the audiences. List the groups whose understanding the organization needs, such as customers, employees, regulators and reporters.
- State the aim. Choose the outcome: understanding, support, a change in behavior or protection of reputation.
- Describe the method. Say whether the work is earned coverage, relationship building, listening or all three.
- Add the limits. State the ethical and legal boundaries, such as accuracy, disclosure and respect for confidentiality.
- Test it. Apply the definition to three recent decisions and see whether it gave clear guidance.
An illustrative result for a hypothetical hospital network: "Public relations is the planned, honest and two-way effort to earn the understanding and trust of patients, staff and the community, through accurate information and open dialogue." The wording is hypothetical. A real definition should reflect the organization's own audiences and risks.
AI tools define public relations by summarizing sources they can retrieve, so their answers reflect the wording of professional bodies and widely cited pages. Muck Rack's May 2026 edition of its What Is AI Reading? study, which tracks citations in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, found that earned media accounted for 84% of all AI citations, and that encyclopedic and reference sources are among the third-party material that tools cite.
For a PR team, the practical task is to check which definition an AI tool gives when buyers ask what PR is or what a PR firm does, and to make sure the organization's own pages describe its work accurately. A firm that describes itself as relationship-focused but is summarized as a publicity shop has a gap to close. EPR's guide to generative engine optimization explains how to run that check.
