Public Relations Practitioner Roles--Their Meanings for Educators.

In early 1983, a questionnaire was sent to members of the Public Relations Division of the Association for Education in Journalism and Mass Communication to determine whether they perceived the role of public relations practitioners to be one of four types: expert prescriber, communication technician, communication facilitator, or problem solving process facilitator. Responses indicated that, overall, the communication-technician role, with a focus on writing and producing messages, stood out as quite distinct from other roles. However, the dominant role-orientation factor, called "decision-making," combined elements from the roles of problem solving process facilitation, communication process facilitation, and expert prescriber. Some communication-technician-oriented educators appeared to stress the physical production of messages, while others focused on writing, planning and media relations broadly defined. Overall, educators showed a strong felt need to train generalists for public relations careers.(HOD)