The death of public relations as we know it

(Last of two parts)

MANILA, Philippines — Public relations is not dying.

But the version of public relations that many organizations continue to practice is.

That statement may sound provocative, especially to those of us who have devoted our careers to advancing the profession. Yet it is becoming increasingly difficult to deny. The environment in which public relations operates has changed more dramatically in the last decade than at any other point in its modern history. Artificial intelligence is reshaping communication. Algorithms increasingly determine what people see and believe. Reputation crises unfold in minutes rather than days. Trust has become more fragile, while legitimacy has become more difficult to earn.

These changes are not simply disrupting practice. They are challenging the very definition of public relations.

Earlier this year, the Public Relations and Communications Association (PRCA) initiated a global conversation on redefining public relations. It acknowledged what many practitioners had already sensed: that the traditional language of media relations, publicity and communication management no longer fully captures what organizations expect from the profession. The discussion was timely. Every profession eventually reaches a point where its definition no longer reflects its reality.

The Reputation Management Association of the Philippines (RMAP) reached a similar conclusion, but from a different direction.

Rather than beginning with theory, the RMAP 2026 Outlook Report began with evidence.

Drawing on insights from 187 communication professionals across corporate, agency, government and development sectors, complemented by 32 executive interviews, sector-focused discussions, a year-long media analysis and global benchmarking, the report identified ten structural forces reshaping reputation management. While those forces ranged from artificial intelligence and algorithmic platforms to crisis compression and employee advocacy, they all pointed toward one overarching conclusion: public relations can no longer be understood merely as the management of communication.

For decades, the profession has largely defined itself by its activities. We manage media relations. We write speeches. We produce campaigns. We organize events. We develop messaging. We manage crises. These remain essential competencies, but they describe what practitioners do, not the strategic value they create.

Communication has never been the end goal.

It has always been the means.

The real objective has always been to build trust strong enough to earn legitimacy.

That distinction matters because organizations rarely collapse from poor communication alone. They falter when stakeholders lose confidence in their intentions, competence or integrity. Investors become cautious. Regulators become skeptical. Employees disengage. Customers walk away. Communities withdraw their support. These are not failures of messaging. They are failures of legitimacy.

This is where the conversation moves beyond simply redefining public relations.

The PRCA discussion asks an important question: How should we define public relations today?

The RMAP 2026 Outlook Report asks an even more fundamental one: What is public relations ultimately expected to accomplish for organizations?

The answer is no longer communication.

It is legitimacy.

Reputation is no longer the by-product of effective communication. It has become an enterprise capability that determines whether organizations are trusted, supported, defended or rejected by the stakeholders who matter most. That is why the report argues that reputation has evolved from a communications outcome into organizational infrastructure. Like governance, risk management or financial stewardship, it has become fundamental to institutional performance.

This evolution also explains why RMAP has argued that the future definition of public relations cannot stop with trust alone.

Trust remains indispensable. But trust is not the destination. Trust is the pathway through which organizations earn legitimacy and accumulate what RMAP describes as reputation capital. Reputation capital represents the accumulated stock of stakeholder confidence built through consistent behavior, demonstrated competence, institutional integrity and organizational resilience. It is this capital that enables organizations to withstand crises, attract investment, secure regulatory confidence, retain talent and preserve their license to operate.

Viewed from this perspective, the profession itself begins to look very different.

The chief executive officer is no longer merely the organization’s spokesperson. The CEO becomes the steward of institutional trust.

The board is no longer concerned only with financial oversight. It becomes the guardian of reputational governance.

The chief communication officer (CCO) is no longer simply responsible for communication programs. The CCO becomes a reputation architect, designing systems that align organizational behavior, stakeholder intelligence, governance, leadership communication and enterprise strategy into a coherent framework for building legitimacy.

It also explains why many of the metrics that once defined success are becoming increasingly inadequate. Media impressions, advertising value equivalents, share of voice and engagement rates may tell us whether communication reached an audience. They reveal very little about whether an organization strengthened stakeholder confidence, reduced reputational risk, increased resilience or created enterprise value. Increasingly, boards are asking different questions. How resilient is our reputation? Where are our vulnerabilities? How much trust have we accumulated? Are we building or depleting our reputation capital?

Those are governance questions. They are also the questions that will define the future of public relations.

So yes, the title of this column is intentionally provocative.

The death of public relations as we have known it is not the death of the profession. It is the death of a definition that has become too narrow for the responsibilities practitioners now carry.

The future of public relations will not be determined by how well we communicate.

It will be determined by how well we help organizations earn legitimacy, govern reputation and build reputation capital in an age where trust has become one of the world’s most valuable strategic assets.

That is not the end of public relations.

It may well be its finest hour.

*Dr. Ron F. Jabal, APR, is the CEO of PAGEONE Group (www.pageonegroup.ph) and the founder and president of the Reputation Management Association of the Philippines (www.rmap.org.ph). Please correspond to [email protected] or [email protected]