The public interest: a new way of thinking for public relations?

Despite some sporadic attention since the 1950s, the concept of the public interest has failed to attract the consideration of public relations scholars in the same way it has other disciplines. This article examines this seeming anomaly while also presenting an overview of how scholars from politics, media, law, anthropology and planning have engaged with and often embraced the public interest, including through key public interest theories or intersections with the work of other theorists, such as Habermas. The article also explains why the public interest historically polarised scholars and suggests how this may account for its marginalisation within public relations. It draws on themes developed in a new book – Public Relations and the Public Interest – in challenging public relations to more fully engage in this space. The article concludes that public relations may benefit from a deeper understanding of the complexity of the public interest and the ways in which it is viewed and adopted in other fields in order to more robustly connect with democratic processes and social change agendas