A public is a group of people with certain common characteristics. A public can be large - college students, Hispanics, blue-collar workers, or even all taxpayers. It can be small - the town council, the executive council for a university, newspaper editors, or even a three-person tax appeal board. Different organizations have different publics, often called stakeholders because they have a particular interest in that organization. The publics for the auto industry are different from those for the school board. Not-for-profit organizations have publics different from profit-seeking companies. Different levels of government organizations deal with different publics.
Part III describes five general types of publics that most public relations professionals face on a regular basis. Chapter 9 discusses the media, one of the most basic publics that practitioners deal with. Chapter 10 focuses on the organization's relationship with its employees, and Chapter 11 delves into the complex relationships between an organization and its community. Chapter 12 covers the importance of consumers to modern organizations. Finally, chapter 13 discusses the impact of financial markets on public relations practice.