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Professionalism in Public Relations

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Submitted By amberliwen
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“The use of professionalism normally is linked in our field with the expression of a need to improve occupational standing.” (Piezka & L’Etang, 2006, 270). Discuss this in the light of professionalism in the public relations industry
Professionalism in public relations is a multifaceted construct that discusses the ethical standards and skills required for PR practitioners and some of the criteria that are central to the profession are a body of knowledge, ethical practice, certification, importance to society and review by peers (Grunig & Hunt, 1984). The core professional value that serves as the ethos for the whole profession is the foremost among these criteria (Grunig, 2000), however, some practitioners discount it for its lack of pragmatics due to failing to master communication techniques that are known by the average citizen, people today who call themselves public relations practitioners still do not measure up to professional standards and lack of training (J. Grunig & L. Grunig, 1992; Grunig & Hunt, 1984; Dozier, Grunig, & Grunig, 1995).
Several issues are identified from this definition for the core professional value that serves as the ethos for professionalism in PR. The issues shall be the discussion of the use of professionalism in the PR industry.
As PR is a specialised professional occupation encompassed with its own set of values and beliefs, debates on the role of the professionalism development and education are inevitable among the public. To have a breakthrough in the profession, the profession should not be confined to restrictions of values and beliefs, instead should be pedagogically unencumbered especially in the academic unit.
Though this body of knowledge from the education offers insight into the profession, however, graduates are still facing the rejections from consultancies giving them reasons that they do not see

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