The Power of Clear Writing: Why It’s Essential for Public Relations

Written by James Mahoney, Author of Public Relations Writing

When he wrote his book Death Sentence: The Decay of Public Language, the Australian author Don Watson made the point that:

Clear, precise, active language is good for democracy and for society. Active language incites activity. It helps to establish trust between the governors and the governed and the managers and the managed. Honesty and good intentions and deceit and incompetence are more easily recognised.

Watson’s book doesn’t deal with public relations at all, yet that quote encapsulates what good public relations writing should be: clear, concise, inspiring, informative, active and ethical language. Beginning practitioners must write that way if they are to work successfully in contemporary public relations. Potential employers expect nothing less than highly competent professional writing from new and not-so-new employees and often complain that public relations graduates do not know how to write.

So Public Relations Writing is about developing those skills. It explores ‘doing’ public relations by using the different writing approaches needed for specific public relations tools. This approach is based on evidence that students learn best from experiential, or active, learning.

Public relations as an ethical and professional element of strategic organisational management. This book encourages students to regard themselves as beginning practitioners who need to understand the social, economic, political and multicultural contexts in which they work, and to do this in an ethical way. The book deals with writing from a professional practice perspective but refers, where appropriate, to relevant communication theories. It includes advice to help plan, write and implement communication pathways and public relations tools.

Public Relations Writing is grounded in the view that all public relations activity flows from a strategic plan that supports an organisation’s business goals, so the chapter structure loosely follows the traditional outline of a public relations strategy. This approach recognises that effective writing is just as much about planning and evaluation as it is about e-newsletters, speechmaking, podcasting, media releases, report writing, displays, and planned, targeted tweeting. Rapid and continuing advances in the use of electronic technologies and gadgets for communication mean that for beginning practitioners, using today’s ‘new media’ is second nature, but, like older practitioners have had to do, will also mean that maybe in in twelve months or less they’ll need to learn about new technologies and techniques. The rapid emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) into public relations research and practice, and continuing developments in AI software applications and uses is an example of this.

There is a seriously fundamental point here: technology and gadgets are fascinating and powerful tools, but they are just that, and successful professional public relations practice relies on far more than tweeting, blogging, AI use, and Facebook posting. Professional practice needs people who can effectively use all this technology, but they need to do it within the context of a strategic plan while adhering to the fundamental principle—the central theme of the book—that clear, concise and accurate writing is essential for all public relations tools. They need to be able to think strategically about issues and communication problems faced by their clients and employers, and to deliver appropriate and effective approaches to solving them. That principle applies whether messages are sent via the net, SMS, a corporate video, social media applications, a personal telephone call, a meeting. or a stock-standard hard-copy media release. Learning to use the technology is not the purpose of this book; learning to write for that technology is.

Public Relations Writing – 4th Edition

Public Relations Writing is an undergraduate communication and public relations textbook. It positions writing for public relations in the context of strategic planning, and is based on traditional communication writing principles, including for news and digital media. The book illustrates how writing for all public relations tools reflects the concepts that inform professional planning and practice.

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