Is there a distinction between Propaganda and PR?

Many people argue that PR is a direct offspring of propaganda whilst other cannot see any distinction between PR and propaganda.

My argument is that the history of PR may have links with propaganda because Edward Bernays, whom many people refer to as the father of PR, is believed to have adopted the positive use of propaganda ( which was its ability to control the masses in times of war) for social use, yet the two are quite distinct models of communication. Unlike propaganda (manipulation), PR ideally should aim at building a mutually beneficial relationship between an organisation and its stakeholders or 'publics'.

This distinction is clearly identified by Grunig and Hunt (1984) in their theory on the four models of communication. They argue that where as "press agentry" (propaganda) is a one way communication which does not allow feedback thus being manipulative, PR ideally should be a two way symmetrical communication which allows for dialogue between an organisation and its 'publics'. However propaganda seems to still exist in politics and government communications where people are manipulated by not given the chance to speak back.

For instance I think the private Jessica script (a film made by Pentagon for Hollywood), which we watched in class was purely a propaganda material made by the US army to win public support for the Iraqi war. Although they insist the war is not about propaganda but about truth I saw in the film the deliberate attempt by the army to cover up the truth.

The story was about private Jessica a US military person serving who served on the front line in Iraqi. Jessica's convoy was bombed which led to the death of nine 0f her colleagues and she being seriously injured. The US military special forces branch staged a rescue mission for her by alleging she was not being properly cared for in an Iraqi hospital.- "saving private Jessica". The operation was successful and the team was praised by Donald Rumsfeld the Secretary of Defence at that time.

However, I realised there were two contradictory stories on the same situation. According to the Iraqi doctors interviewed in the film, they gave Jessica the best treatment like any other patient would receive whilst the US military opposed this assertion. In the documentary that followed the film, the Defence Ministry declined to give the full video of the story but gave out the five minutes edited version when asked for it whiles the American doctor said he had forgotten the whole story.

In conclusion it is fairly evident that the military tried to withhold vital information and controlled the message to paint a good picture about their mission in Iraqi. To me this was propaganda at its very best.