looking for free online courses in public relations

I'm looking for free online courses in public relations (sometimes called "public affairs"), preferably with certificate.

TIA

 

I found a few listed here.

Here: The PR School

Not free, but you can get a certificate for $880, and it seems to cover a lot of ground.

 

"Public affairs" and "public relations" are not the same field.

 

That's what folks in "so-called" public affairs say. But here's the definition from wiki:

Public affairs may refer to:

Public administration
Public affairs (military)
Public affairs (broadcasting)
PublicAffairs, a USA publishing company
Public Affairs (political party), a Czech political party
Public Affairs Quarterly, an academic journal of social and political philosophy published by the University of Illinois Press
Public relations (PR), the practice of managing the flow of information between an organization and its publics.

Public affairs - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

and here's the definition for Public affairs (military)

Public Affairs is a term for the formal offices of the branches of the United States Department of Defense whose purpose is to deal with the media and community issues. The term is also used for numerous media relations offices that are created by the U.S. military for more specific limited purposes.

Public affairs (military) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Or in other words p.r.

 

I don't disagree with you, just thinking out loud here. We obviously have Public Affairs in the Coast Guard which is more about handling issues as they arise instead of promoting. When I think about Public Relations, I think of promotion of a company/product/entity. I would say the job is essentially the same, just depends on if you are on the "attack" or on the "defensive." Of course I have no experience with either.

I am interested to see truckie's explanation.

 

Warguns,

No need to be a "so-called" jerk. I find it funny that in one earlier thread you stated "a citation from LinkIn isn't worth much in my opinion" yet you will cite Wikipedia in this thread?

Public affairs is a specific sub-field of public relations. PA employs many PR techniques and practices, but also requires a specific body of knowledge on the policy process and navigating the political arena.

Not to discredit your military definitions, but I have friends who were Logistics Technicians in the Air Force (they pumped gas), Machinist Mates in the Navy (they scraped rust and painted ships), and Medical Technicians in the Army (processed urinalysis samples).

"Richard Armstrong, former president of the Public Affairs Council, addressed the distinctions between public relations (PR) and public affairs (PA) in terms of their relative emphases, interests, and directions. He submits that the terminology is very important. The principal distinctions he has made are as follows:
(1) Whereas PR deals with government as one of many publics, PA professionals are experts on government, and
(2) Whereas PR has many communication responsibilities, PA deals with issues management and serves as a corporate conscience."

Haden Ventures: What is the difference between public relations and public affairs? Why has there been confusion regarding these two concepts?

"public relations might involve getting people to buy one brand of cereal instead of another. But in public affairs, you are trying to influence public policy"


"PR is about coming up with creative, original ways to grab your target public’s attention amid the clamour of thousands of media outlets. Public affairs is about getting the attention of policy makers, so you need to behave accordingly and put forward your arguments in convincing and concise ways"

You say PR, and I say PA : Behind the Spin

It may be semantics, but it is what it is. You definitely cannot consider public affairs the same thing as public administration, just like you could not say that accounting and finance are the same thing. Or in other words, PA is not the same thing as PR. Have a nice evening.

 

I think this tangent is silly, but for the record I was a Navy journalist for five years, and one facet of my job was PR. My supervisor was referred to as the Public Affairs Officer.

I hope someone finds the links I provided helpful.

 

PR vs. PA

I don't appreciate being call a jerk but I suppose manners aren't taught at third-rate universities.

As I stated, folks in public affairs pretend that they don't do public relations. They do; their client is the government.

Wikipedia is a more reliable source than the self-serving source that you quote.

 

Then maybe you should quit making comments like this. Maybe you need a hug? Have a nice evening.

 

I think both of you would be well-served to read degreeinfo's terms of service.

 

Understood - even with my "third-rate" education.