Pity the public relations industry. It has long battled its image as a cadre of hired guns who distort the truth, exaggerate and sometimes even lie.

To be fair, this is merely the perception of the day, sensationalised in part by a series of global corporate blunders that have put the PR industry under the spotlight as spin doctors trying to make their clients avoid looking irresponsible and uncaring. The truth is that the industry that invented damage control and a million ways to look better has matured into a highly specialised service.

"In meeting the needs of different sectors of the market, public relations has emerged into different fields such as corporate PR, consumer PR, hotel PR, entertainment PR, et cetera," said Linda Tsui, president, Hong Kong Public Relations' Professionals Association. "So now public relations is an essential supplement to businesses' marketing efforts."

Diversification of the industry has also confused some businesses about exactly what PR entails. But this is beginning to change, says Rick Allen, group managing director of EBA Group, which comprises Euan Barty Associates Ltd and Firebrand Communications Ltd.

"Slowly but steadily, we are seeing a growth in the awareness of communications, so we are seeing people growing to understand more and starting to put dollars back into PR," he said.

Foreign firms are the greatest users of PR services in Hong Kong, with many of them having in-house PR departments or retaining an agency. Chinese firms are catching on, however, as more realise -- often through lessons learned from their competitors -- the importance of marketing themselves more aggressively.

Ms Tsui said there are pros and cons to setting up in-house PR departments instead of hiring outside consultants. In-house PR professional would obviously know the business better than a PR firm, but may lack the resources a PR firm would be able to offer. Employees may also not be as objective as an outside firm may.

"It is a growing trend that big companies use their own PR departments for most needs, and then contract out big projects to a PR firm," she said.

PR agencies can also steer companies away from possible areas of sensitivity, such as the case of Panasonic mobile phones being banned for sale in China for one year because they displayed the letters ROC for Taiwan, implying the island is an independent nation.

However, the number of Hong Kong businesses that hire PR firms is still a fraction of the average percentage of companies that do so in the United States, and most public relations work in Hong Kong revolves around product and service promotions, and advertising.

According to the Hong Kong Census and Statistics Department, there are 4,074 advertising and public relations and related agencies in Hong Kong employing 18,184 people. The annual revenue for the sector is -- both PR services and advertising -- reached US$2.1 billion in 2000.

Out of that number, as of March 2001,264 are purely public relations firms, 80 per cent of which employ less than 10 staff. Medium-sized companies, employing between 10 and 19 people contribute about 10 per cent, while companies with 20 or more staff make up the final 10 per cent.

The number of people employed by companies' in-house PR departments is 392, according to statistics compiled by the Vocational Training Council. Interestingly, most in-house PR-people are female, with 303 being women and only 89 men. In PR firms, by contrast, 216 of employees are men, while 486 are women.

Many Hong Kong PR professionals started out as journalists, such as the founders of EBA, who saw a big need in the market for a specialised PR firm, in EBA's case technology. Many are lured by better pay, but Ms Tsui says the fact that when reporters get married and raise families, the unsociable hours that the media demands makes switching to the PR industry a logical step to make.

Others are trained through PR or communications courses. Hong Kong Baptist University -- where Ms Tsui teaches -- the Hong Kong University, and Shue Yan College all offer PR programmes, but only the Hong Kong Baptist University runs undergraduate degree programmes.

Ms Tsui said demand for PR courses is rising as more managers seek to equip themselves with marketing and crisis management skills, which has created a need for more accredited courses.

With the opening up of the China market and skyrocketing demand for PR expertise, Hong Kong's public relations industry's long-term goal should be the setting up of some sort of accreditation system to upgrade the quality of services offered in Hong Kong, Ms Tsui said.

Singapore and the Mainland already have in place an accreditation system which requires professional in the industry to pass examinations for senior, middle or lower level PR professionals.

But it is vitally important that a system be set up to benchmark the competence of the industry's practitioners.

"Because PR practitioners often deal with sensitive information, it is vitally important that they know how to handle this data without stepping into an area that will make them liable to prosecution or be accused of insider trading," she said.

Ms Tsui said her association is working towards developing a code of practice for Hong Kong, but in the meantime, it encourages it members to follow the China International Public Relations Association's guidelines.