Many of us would think those working in a public relations firm is the same with those working in advertising. This notion is understandable since these two industries are closely related to each other. They are both primarily concerned about the promotion of a company's sales of products or services. The biggest difference may lie in the fact that advertising aims at selling more, while the point of public relations is to make the public think favorably about the company and its offerings. Aside from the means of advertising, public relation can also use news releases, press conferences, speaking engagements, and community service programs to reach its goal. All this is done so that the public would view the organization in a way that it wants to be perceived. Another difference is that public relation is more of a two-way communication. It not only communicates to the public, collecting the views from the public is also one important part in the PR's agenda. By doing so, the organization would have a clear idea to find out the gap between the ideal image and the reality. And then efforts can be made to lessen this gap. Many small business owners opt to handle the public relations issues themselves, while others choose to hire a public relations specialist. The in-house public relations department and the external PR agencies both have their own advantages. For example, a PR department within a company has a deeper understanding about the structure, target audience, and the products/ services of the organization and it can also devote all its attention to the organization it is in. While on the other hand, a specialized agency could handle all these issues more professionally, And since a specialized agency deals with PR issues for different organizations, it would easily create some new opportunities and programs for the organization. Some specialists give a thought-provoking perspective on this issue: public relations should be taken care of in the public interest. From this perspective, organizations attempt to generate good will and position themselves as responsible citizens through a variety of programs conducted in the public interest. Consumer education as well as various other public interest programs belongs to this category. In the opening paragraph, the author introduces his topic by ______ .