Question

(1) In your opinion, what is a "public"? How does that term differ from the terms stakeholder and audience?

(2) How do you define public opinion?

(3) In the field of public relations, why is it imperative to know who your publics are?

(4) How much influence do you think Public Relations practitioners have on public opinion? Why do you think that? Please provide an example.

Answer 1

1. Stakeholder is a subset of public, who in turn is a subset of audience.

• Audience is basically the set of people who receive the message sent by an entity. The way in which an audience receives the message can be active or passive.
• Public is a more homogenous subset of audience and denotes a similar set of people who will be the recipient of the message. Their reaction to the message will also be quite similar.
• Stakeholders are the subset of public, the sect who is especially interested that the message achieves its objective.

2. Public opinion denotes the specific desire, thinking and outlook of the public as a whole. In democracy, public opinion is what matters the most. In success of any product or service, public opinion plays a critical role.

3. Public Relations (PR) depicts the way in which, the organizations try to connect and communicate with its consumers. Public opinion in this case is the opinion of the consumers. Based on the consumers’ opinion about the product or service offering of the company, its performance and profits get decided.

4. Public Relations anticipates the way in which a message about the product or service will be received by the public and hence they manipulate and present the message in a way that the public get influenced and reacts positively for the company. PR helps in branding the company and crafting its image in the market. It has immense control on the minds of the consumers and can influence the public opinion to a great extent.