MODELS OF PR - GRUNIG'S

Models of Public Relations - Grunig’s Public Relations Roles

Models of PR
- Four-model of PR practice presented by Professors James Grunig and Todd Hunt in “Managing Public Relations”
- Used widely to explain how PR has evolved over the years
- The ideal one is the two-way symmetric model

1 Press Agentry
2 Public Information
3 Two- way Asymmetric
4 Two – way Symmetric

1 Press Agentry
- Propaganda is the purpose
- One- way communication but often incomplete, distorted or partially true
- Source ------> Receiver
- Moves one way from organization to its publics
- Oldest form of PR & is synonymous with promotions & publicity
- Communication is viewed as telling
- PR people operating under this model are always looking for opportunities to get their
organization's name favorably mentioned in the media
- Not much research conduct about the publics

2 Public Information
- Dissemination of information
- Source ------> Receiver
- The intent is to inform & the comm. is still one way
- Government, educational institutions and nonprofit associations are primary fields of
practice today
- PR practitioners under this model do very little research do little research about their
publics

3 Two- way Asymmetric
- Scientific persuasion is the purpose
- Employs social science research methods to increase the persuasiveness of messages
- PR practitioners use surveys, interviews, & focus group to measure public relationships
- Two- way comm., with imbalanced effect
- Although feedback is built into the process, the organization much more interested in
having the publics adjust to the organization than the reverse
- Competitive business is the primary places of practice today

4 Two- way Symmetric
- Gaining mutual understanding is the purpose
- Two- way balanced effect
- How the public perceives the organization & to determine what consequences the
organization has for public
- Organizations & their publics adjust to each other
- It focuses on the use of social science research methods to achieve mutual understanding &
two- way comm. Rather than one- way persuasion