{ "model": { "rank": 3869, "code": "thing-q133080", "model_id": "vr.tr.public-relations", "name": "public relations", "purpose": "Let an agent explain public relations, relay functions, history, professional ethics and criticisms from communication studies and professional body sources with positions attributed, describe the named areas and flag critical aliases, and distinguish PR from advertising, marketing, journalism, propaganda and lobbying as a regulated activity.", "family": "Thing Registry", "category": "Activities and processes", "status": "research-draft", "kind": "thing", "plane": "ACT", "domain": "ACT.ACT", "industry": "", "version": "", "url": "/models/thing/q133080/", "tier": 2, "score": 81, "payload": { "layer": "wikidata", "aliases": [ "hospital-patient relations", "corporate philanthropy", "public affairs", "customer relations", "official denial", "media manipulation", "PR Platform", "media relations", "press-politics", "press relations", "community-institutional relations", "Comunicação Empresarial e Relações Públicas", "litigation public relations", "Pro-Beijing Media", "video manipulation", "Operation Berkshire" ], "aliasCount": 16, "merged": 17, "knownIn": 81, "facets": null, "markers": [], "lexicalClass": "", "senseRank": null, "alsoRegisteredAs": null, "source": { "dataset": "wikidata", "item": "Q133080", "url": "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q133080", "license": "CC0 1.0" } }, "research": { "vercy": "1.0-draft", "publication": { "status": "research-draft", "adjudicationStatus": "unreviewed", "publishableCanonical": false, "generatedAt": "2026-09-13T23:53:45Z", "providers": [ "Claude" ], "breadth": "written by Claude from model knowledge without web access - no source was read, every claim is a lead to verify", "pass": 2, "wave": 4, "engine": "claude" }, "metaModel": { "id": "THING-Q133080", "registryId": "vr.tr.public-relations", "name": "public relations", "version": "0.2.0-wave.4", "entryKind": "thing", "family": "Thing Registry", "domain": [ "ACT.ACT" ], "status": "research-draft" }, "canonicalUrl": "https://ver.cy/models/thing/q133080/", "model": { "registry_id": "vr.tr.public-relations", "name": "public relations", "purpose": "Let an agent explain public relations, relay functions, history, professional ethics and criticisms from communication studies and professional body sources with positions attributed, describe the named areas and flag critical aliases, and distinguish PR from advertising, marketing, journalism, propaganda and lobbying as a regulated activity.", "definition": "The practice of managing communication between an organisation and its publics to build reputation and relationships, through media relations, public affairs and lobbying, crisis communication, internal communication, community and customer relations, including specialised areas such as hospital-patient relations, and corporate philanthropy used for reputation; pioneers included Ivy Lee and Edward Bernays in the early 20th century. The registry aliases official denial and media manipulation name practices that critics associate with public relations, such as spin, astroturfing and propaganda, which professional codes such as the PRSA and CIPR codes of ethics prohibit when deceptive; debates are attributed.", "what_it_is_for": "Managing organisational communication and reputation.", "affordances": [ "explain functions and history", "relay professional ethics", "describe named areas", "present criticisms with attribution" ], "distinguishing_features": [ "Earned media focus", "Reputation management", "Stakeholder relationships", "Ethical tensions" ], "appearance": "Press releases, media briefings, campaigns, statements and events.", "visual_identification": [ "Organisational reputation communication", "Hospital-patient relations, corporate philanthropy, public affairs, customer relations, official denial, media manipulation", "Advertising buys media space; marketing sells products; journalism reports independently; propaganda manipulates for political ends; lobbying is regulated advocacy" ], "physical_properties": [ { "quantity": "Ivy Lee Declaration of Principles", "typical_range": "1906", "unit": "year", "note": "" }, { "quantity": "Bernays Propaganda", "typical_range": "1928", "unit": "year", "note": "book" }, { "quantity": "Barcelona Principles", "typical_range": "2010", "unit": "year", "note": "PR measurement" } ], "families_and_kinds": [ "media relations", "public affairs and lobbying", "crisis communication", "internal and community relations", "corporate social responsibility communication" ], "related_models": [ { "relation": "is a kind of", "target": "business communication", "why": "in registry terms" }, { "relation": "was shaped by", "target": "Edward Bernays", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "advertising", "why": "" }, { "relation": "is contrasted with", "target": "propaganda", "why": "" } ], "identifiers": [], "standards_and_regulation": [ "PRSA and CIPR codes of ethics", "Lobbying registers such as the EU Transparency Register", "Advertising and consumer protection laws" ], "failure_modes_and_hazards": [ "Deceptive spin and astroturfing", "Partisan framing of PR criticism", "Undisclosed lobbying" ], "in_scope": [], "out_of_scope": [], "characteristics": [] }, "sources": [], "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "understand", "name": "Understand", "description": "What public relations is.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "definition", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-finding", "name": "Definition", "description": "Definition.", "questions": [ { "text": "What is public relations, and how does it differ from advertising, marketing, journalism, propaganda and lobbying?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Is the question about careers, practice, ethics or evaluating a statement s credibility?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "areas", "name": "Areas", "description": "Named areas.", "findings": [ { "id": "areas-finding", "name": "Areas", "description": "Areas.", "questions": [ { "text": "What are hospital-patient relations, corporate philanthropy, public affairs and customer relations, and how are official denial and media manipulation criticised?", "kind": "definition" }, { "text": "Which entry fits the specific area?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "practice", "name": "Practice", "description": "Practice.", "rationale": "Sources.", "layers": [ { "id": "media", "name": "Media relations", "description": "Media relations.", "findings": [ { "id": "media-finding", "name": "Media relations", "description": "Media relations.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do PR practitioners work with journalists?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which references are standard?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] }, { "id": "crisis", "name": "Crisis", "description": "Crisis communication.", "findings": [ { "id": "crisis-finding", "name": "Crisis", "description": "Crisis.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do crisis communication models recommend, such as the Tylenol case often cited?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which sources are cited?", "kind": "provenance" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "ethics", "name": "Ethics", "description": "Ethics and regulation.", "rationale": "Regulation.", "layers": [ { "id": "codes", "name": "Codes", "description": "Professional codes.", "findings": [ { "id": "codes-finding", "name": "Codes", "description": "Codes.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do PRSA and CIPR codes require about honesty and disclosure?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Public Relations Society of America?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] }, { "id": "lobbying", "name": "Lobbying", "description": "Lobbying rules.", "findings": [ { "id": "lobbying-finding", "name": "Lobbying", "description": "Lobbying.", "questions": [ { "text": "How do lobbying registers and disclosure rules apply to public affairs?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits lobbying?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "context", "name": "Context", "description": "Criticism.", "rationale": "Attribution.", "layers": [ { "id": "spin", "name": "Spin", "description": "Spin and astroturfing.", "findings": [ { "id": "spin-finding", "name": "Spin", "description": "Spin.", "questions": [ { "text": "What do critics and practitioners say about spin, astroturfing and PR s influence on news, with positions attributed?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Is the presentation neutral and attributed?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "bernays", "name": "Bernays", "description": "History.", "findings": [ { "id": "bernays-finding", "name": "Bernays", "description": "Bernays.", "questions": [ { "text": "How did Bernays link PR to propaganda, and how is his legacy debated?", "kind": "provenance" }, { "text": "Which entry fits Edward Bernays?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "openQuestions": [ "The registry aliases official denial and media manipulation should be moved to entries on spin and propaganda", "Should public affairs be a separate entry?", "How should professional codes be linked?" ], "statistics": { "bundles": 4, "layers": 8, "findings": 8, "questions": 16 } }, "draft": { "generator": "vr.draft.v3", "status": "draft-generated", "researched": false, "archetype": "abstract concept", "method": "Written from the archetype playbook - what this kind of thing needs beyond identity and provenance - and from the structure that recurred across 6,333 models already researched by two engines. Applied to this entry by rule. No source was read for this thing and no claim here is researched. This entry carries no facets of its own, so they were inferred from its domain - a guess about a whole domain applied to one thing.", "facetsInferred": true, "nextPass": "A researcher replaces this draft with a sourced specification. Treat every sentence below as a proposal to argue with.", "purpose": "Give an agent a durable, checkable way to recognise a public relations, record what state it is in, and decide what may be done with it.", "whatItIs": "Let an agent explain public relations, relay functions, history, professional ethics and criticisms from communication studies and professional body sources with positions attributed, describe the named areas and flag critical aliases, and distinguish PR from advertising, marketing, journalism, propaganda and lobbying as a regulated activity.", "characteristics": { "substance": "activity", "origin": "conceptual", "agency": "inert" }, "whatYouCanDoWithIt": [ "observed and measured" ], "distinguishingFeatures": [ "Names folded into this entry, which a task may need to split apart again: hospital-patient relations, corporate philanthropy, public affairs, customer relations, official denial, media manipulation, PR Platform, media relations, press-politics, press relations, community-institutional relations, Comunicação Empresarial e Relações Públicas.", "17 finer distinctions are held as aliases rather than separate entries, because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it.", "Described in 81 Wikipedia languages, which is a measure of how widely the thing is known, not of how important it is." ], "openQuestionsForResearch": [ "Which of the bundles below does a real task actually need, and which are ceremony?", "What does this thing have that the facets do not capture at all?", "Which neighbouring kind is most often confused with a public relations, and on what evidence are they told apart?" ], "whatItIsMadeOf": "something that happens over time", "physicalCharacter": [ "Does nothing on its own; everything it does, something else did to it.", "These come from the domain this entry sits in rather than from the entry itself, so treat them as a first guess about the whole domain applied to one thing." ], "whatCanBeDoneWithIt": [ "observe it, measure it, record its state" ], "howItIsRecognised": [ "Nothing to see. What is recognised is an instance of it, and which instances count is exactly what is argued about." ], "relatedModels": [ { "relation": "covers", "note": "Finer kinds folded into this entry because telling them apart needs a task that asks for it. Each is a model waiting to be split out when one does.", "targets": [ "hospital-patient relations", "corporate philanthropy", "public affairs", "customer relations", "official denial", "media manipulation", "PR Platform", "media relations", "press-politics", "press relations", "community-institutional relations", "Comunicação Empresarial e Relações Públicas" ] } ], "standing": "Described in 81 Wikipedia languages, which measures how widely it is written about rather than how important or how common it is. 17 finer distinctions are held inside this entry as names rather than as separate models.", "structure": { "bundles": [ { "id": "identity-and-classification", "name": "Identity, naming and classification", "description": "How an agent tells one public relations from another, and a public relations from things that resemble it.", "rationale": "Recognition comes before every other claim. Without stable identity nothing else in the model can be trusted to be about the same thing twice.", "layers": [ { "id": "naming-and-identifiers", "name": "Names and identifiers", "description": "The names this thing goes by and the identifiers that survive translation and time.", "findings": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases", "name": "Preferred name, aliases and local names", "description": "Which name to use, which names mean the same thing, and which merely sound similar.", "questions": [ { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the name of a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the name of a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "preferred-name-and-aliases-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the name of a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers", "name": "Stable identifiers and external keys", "description": "Identifiers that keep pointing at this kind of thing across systems and languages.", "questions": [ { "id": "stable-identifiers-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an identifier for a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an identifier for a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stable-identifiers-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an identifier for a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "classification-and-granularity", "name": "Classification and granularity", "description": "Where a public relations sits among kinds, and how finely a task needs to cut it.", "findings": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents", "name": "Kind, parents and neighbouring kinds", "description": "The classes this thing belongs to and the ones it is next to.", "questions": [ { "id": "kind-and-parents-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the kind of a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the kind of a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "kind-and-parents-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the kind of a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features", "name": "Distinguishing features", "description": "What separates a public relations from the things most often confused with it.", "questions": [ { "id": "distinguishing-features-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes what distinguishes a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about what distinguishes a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "distinguishing-features-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once what distinguishes a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "state-and-lifecycle", "name": "State and lifecycle", "description": "The states a public relations passes through and the events that move it between them.", "rationale": "Most decisions about a thing depend on what state it is in now, which is a claim with a time on it, not a property.", "layers": [ { "id": "lifecycle-stages", "name": "Lifecycle stages", "description": "From coming into existence to ceasing to be one of these.", "findings": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions", "name": "Stages and transitions", "description": "The stages worth naming and what moves a public relations between them.", "questions": [ { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the lifecycle of a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the lifecycle of a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "stages-and-transitions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the lifecycle of a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "observations-and-status", "name": "Observations and current status", "description": "What is observed about a public relations, how often and by whom.", "findings": [ { "id": "observation-record", "name": "Observation record", "description": "How an observation of a public relations is recorded so that it can be superseded rather than overwritten.", "questions": [ { "id": "observation-record-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes an observation of a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about an observation of a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "observation-record-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once an observation of a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "process-and-outcome", "name": "Process, inputs and outcome", "description": "How a public relations proceeds, what it needs and what it leaves behind.", "rationale": "An activity is known by its steps and its results, and both have to be recordable while it is still running.", "layers": [ { "id": "steps-and-sequence", "name": "Steps and sequence", "description": "The steps of a public relations, their order and what may run in parallel.", "findings": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions", "name": "Steps, preconditions and completion", "description": "What has to be true before each step of a public relations and what marks it done.", "questions": [ { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a step of a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a step of a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "steps-and-preconditions-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a step of a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-results", "name": "Inputs, resources and results", "description": "What a public relations consumes and what it produces.", "findings": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs", "name": "Inputs, outputs and side effects", "description": "The resources a public relations takes and the results it leaves, wanted or not.", "questions": [ { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the inputs and results of a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the inputs and results of a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "inputs-and-outputs-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the inputs and results of a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "definitions-in-contest", "name": "Definitions and who holds them", "description": "What public relations is taken to mean, and by whom.", "rationale": "When a field disagrees about a concept, the disagreement is the content. A model that picks one definition silently destroys the information.", "layers": [ { "id": "competing-definitions", "name": "Competing definitions", "description": "The main readings and the traditions behind them.", "findings": [ { "id": "definition-map", "name": "Definitions and their holders", "description": "Each definition with the school or body that holds it.", "questions": [ { "id": "definition-map-q01", "text": "Which definitions of public relations are in use, and which tradition or body holds each?", "kind": "definition" }, { "id": "definition-map-q02", "text": "What turns on the difference between them in practice?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] }, { "id": "operationalisation", "name": "Operationalisation", "description": "How it is measured or applied when it has to be.", "findings": [ { "id": "operational-record", "name": "Measures and proxies", "description": "Instruments and indicators used to stand in for it.", "questions": [ { "id": "operational-record-q01", "text": "How is public relations operationalised or measured in practice, and by what instrument?", "kind": "measurement" }, { "id": "operational-record-q02", "text": "What does that operationalisation leave out, and when does that matter?", "kind": "boundary" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "instances-and-use", "name": "Instances, use and consequence", "description": "What counts as an instance of public relations and what follows from calling something that.", "rationale": "Applying a concept is an act with consequences, so a model must say what the label licenses and what it does not.", "layers": [ { "id": "instances", "name": "What counts as an instance", "description": "Clear cases, borderline cases and non-cases.", "findings": [ { "id": "instance-tests", "name": "Tests for an instance", "description": "What would settle whether something falls under it.", "questions": [ { "id": "instance-tests-q01", "text": "What would settle whether something is an instance of public relations?", "kind": "boundary" }, { "id": "instance-tests-q02", "text": "Which borderline cases are argued about, and on what grounds?", "kind": "definition" } ] } ] }, { "id": "consequence", "name": "Consequence of application", "description": "Rights, duties or decisions that follow from the label.", "findings": [ { "id": "consequence-record", "name": "What the label licenses", "description": "What an agent may do once something is classified this way.", "questions": [ { "id": "consequence-record-q01", "text": "What follows practically once something is treated as public relations?", "kind": "action" }, { "id": "consequence-record-q02", "text": "What must an agent not infer from the label alone?", "kind": "action" } ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "provenance-and-evidence", "name": "Provenance, evidence and time", "description": "Where every claim about a public relations came from and when it held.", "rationale": "A claim without a source and a time cannot be superseded, only overwritten, and an agent that overwrites loses the ability to explain itself.", "layers": [ { "id": "source-and-authority", "name": "Source and authority", "description": "Who said it, on what evidence, and how strongly.", "findings": [ { "id": "claim-provenance", "name": "Claim provenance and confidence", "description": "The authority behind each claim about a public relations and how confident it is.", "questions": [ { "id": "claim-provenance-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes a claim about a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about a claim about a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "claim-provenance-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once a claim about a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] }, { "id": "time-and-versions", "name": "Time, versions and supersession", "description": "When a claim was true, when it was learnt, and what replaced it.", "findings": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession", "name": "Validity period and supersession", "description": "How an old claim about a public relations is retired without being erased.", "questions": [ { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q01", "text": "What identifies and describes the validity of a claim about a public relations, and in what units or vocabulary?", "kind": "definition", "answer_data": [ "identifiers", "types and classes", "values with units", "explicit unknowns" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q02", "text": "Who or what asserted this about the validity of a claim about a public relations, by which method, and when was it true?", "kind": "provenance", "answer_data": [ "authority", "method", "evidence", "event time", "knowledge time" ] }, { "id": "validity-and-supersession-q03", "text": "What may an agent decide or do once the validity of a claim about a public relations is known, and what must it refuse?", "kind": "action", "answer_data": [ "permitted actions", "preconditions", "refusals", "escalation" ] } ] } ] } ] } ] }, "statistics": { "bundles": 6, "layers": 12, "findings": 14, "questions": 38 } } } }