Palestine already has its first public relations consultancy and according to the Middle East Public Relations Association, the public relations industry is growing strongly throughout the Middle East. Why is studying public relations important?
Mass media do not report "facts" --- they report interpretations. Many of these interpretations represent people's attempts to manage the way audiences receive messages and assign meaning to them. In some cases, this management aims at a propaganda purpose. In other cases, the management has a similar but more specific purpose -- to position an organisation and its activities favourably in the minds of target audiences. This effort aims to build a relationship between the organisation and these "publics" through a variety of means, especially through the media. In the US, a significant proportion of media coverage is generated from public relations sources. Students of mass media and journalism need to understand how public relations works, so they can appreciate how organisations work to position themselves and play a part in this work if required, and so they can understand and if need be take a stand in relation to media manipulation.