The Public Relations Handbook

The Public Relations Handbook is a comprehensive and detailed introduction to the theories and practices of the public relations industry. It traces the history and development of public relations, explores ethical issues which affect the industry, examines its relationship with politics, lobbying organizations and journalism, assesses its professionalism and regulation and advises on training and entry into the profession.

The Public Relations Handbook combines theoretical and organizational frameworks for studying public relations with examples of how the industry works in practice. It draws on a range of promotional strategies and campaigns from businesses, public and non-profit organizations including the AA, Airbus, BT, Northamptonshire County Council, Cuprinol and Action for Children.

The Fourth Edition includes:

• case studies, examples and illustrations from a range of campaigns from small and multinational corporations, local government and charities;
• a companion website with new international case studies updated quarterly;
• specialist chapters on financial public relations, internal communications and marketing public relations;
• strategic overviews of corporate identity, globalisation and evaluation;
• a thorough examination of ethics and professionalism;
• more than fifty illustrations from recent PR campaigns;
• a completely revised chapter on corporate social responsibility
• a new chapter on risk, issues and crisis management.

Alison Theaker has over 25 years experience in public relations and management as a practitioner and academic. She was the first Head of Education and Training at the then Institute of Public Relations, as well as Principal Lecturer and Course Leader in Public Relations at Leeds Business School and Scholar in Residence in the School of Marketing Communication at Emerson College, Boston, US. She was an elected Fellow of the Chartered Institute of Public Relations and co-authored Effective Media Relations. She has delivered research papers at conferences in the UK, US and Australia on team-working in public relations, improving students’ writing skills and the future of PR as a profession. She is now a PR coach for small businesses, runing her own consultancy, The Spark, in Devon, www.thesparkuk.com.