Whats the difference between public relations and public involvement?
“Public relations” for us, is a shorthand expression for all those communications activities that are designed to “sell” the public something or provide a positive spin on problems or potentially difficult situations. Public relations is a perfectly legitimate type of public communications, however, in our experience, it simply does not work in situations in which organizations are facing difficult decisions about how to solve tough problems. “Public involvement,” on the other hand, invites the public to share in the problem-solving process and come to their own conclusions. It works by building a basis for shared recognition of a problem to be solved, thus motivating members of the public to grapple with solutions which they otherwise might not wish to consider, because every solution to the problem will likely hurt at least some of them in some way. UA’s experience clearly shows that such solutions cannot be “sold”; they can, however, be accepted or agreed to, if a strategic public i
