The role of public relations in building the mental image of the House of Representatives among the Iraqi public)

Iraq witnessed, after the events of 2003, great political transformations at all levels especially the building of the Iraqi state where the regime turned to be, according to Iraqi constitution (first title, Article 1), republic (Parliamentary). This regime requires building a good reputation about the House of Representatives. This study tries to identify the role of public relations of House of Representative in building the mental image to the Iraqi public, where the means used by it are identified, the purposes it aims to reach and the scientific methods. It also recognizes the mental image of the Iraqi public about the House of Representatives as a mean reflecting the reality of Iraqi society that is characterized by its diversity of national, religious and cultural.
The research depended on functional structure theory; the problem was the lack of clarity of the role of public relations in building the mental image of the House of Representatives to the Iraqi public in question and measuring the relation of its effect on forming the positive mental image of the parliament and the extent of its conformity with the correct scientific foundations of the concept of public relations. The research aimed to identify the objectives pursued by the House public relations department and the extent of its conformity with the scientific foundations, recognizing the applied tasks and methods that are performed by workers of House Public Relations; in order to form a positive image about it and evaluating communication and media efforts that are used by public relations of the House of Representatives to reach the targeted audience. The study targets two types of samples that are; the caller (workers of public relations in the House of representative) and a sample from the external audience. The researcher chose a sample of 500 respondents in Baghdad and Irbil. The study data was collected using a questionnaire form and the survey form was presented to number of arbitrators of media professors before applying it. Recommendations of the arbitrators were considered in terms of modifying some phrases and deletion of addition of other. The study was based on an in-depth interviews for all data and information necessary for the research. The conclusions illustrated the lack of interest within the media circle of the House of Representatives to recruit cadres specialized in media and public relations to practice the activity of public relations in the parliament. The work of the media circle focuses on journalism substantially in terms of supplying media with information about the parliament and following up information published about it in the media. The public is not satisfied with the performance of the parliament members and the parliament had a negative impression.