Exploring Public Relations was originally conceived in 2005 as a collaboration between Ralph Tench and Liz Yeomans at Leeds Beckett University. Through four editions the book has innovated and led the way in the field of public relations and strategic communication textbooks.

Since the last edition Liz has retired. Stephen Waddington has joined Ralph Tench to create a new editorial partnership for the fifth edition bringing insight from practice. That began with a modification to the title to Exploring PR and Management Communication in a bid to reflect the growing contribution of public relations to management.

The fifth edition of Exploring PR and Management Communication has been written by 35 authors over the past three years. It was originally due for publication in September but in the past six months the whole world has experienced transformational change due to COVID-19.

The COVID-pandemic will affect aspects of society and the economy. It is most definitely going to affect the communications industry. We’ve made a start at reflecting this by adding new material in the past few months as the book went to print.

Textbooks are typically student-centred for subjects as varied as biology, law, media and psychology; this hasn’t been the case for public relations

Exploring PR and Management Communication brings together theory and practice. It has a strong pedagogical design combining theory and practice, case studies, and practitioner diaries.

The warm response to the first four editions of the book has been both rewarding and motivating. These have been read and used for teaching literally all over the world and with gratifying endorsements of the original pedagogic strategy of making clear links between theory and practice.

However, there are many questions about public relations and its practice which remain under explored. These we aim to highlight in this book, inspiring readers to investigate further, possibly through detailed research for undergraduate and postgraduate projects, dissertations and theses.

We hope this revised fifth edition continues to bridge the divide between theory and practice and, above all, is a thought-provoking and enjoyable read for students, practitioners and tutors alike. We look forward to reading your work.