What exactly does a celebrity publicist do?

Pulling the media's strings to make sure the all-powerful public likes their clients (or at the very least, is aware of them), 

So what do publicists do exactly? In short, they accentuate the positive and downplay the negative. Ever come across a fluff piece in a magazine touting how much so-and-so gave to charity? How about a five-minute "news" segment on some star's swanky house? That's what a publicist does. Similarly, whenever a celebrity suffers an unfortunate bout of bad judgment, gets caught lip-syncing, or has a very public breakup, it's the publicist to the rescue, putting a positive spin on the event. That old adage about there being no such thing as bad press isn't exactly true.