Understanding how health journalists judge public relations sources: A rules theory approach

The research presented here offers public relations practitioners and scholars insight about how health journalists (N = 598) view practitioners and evaluate the appropriateness of public relations materials by public relations source (e.g., nonprofit, government). Also assessed are differences in journalist perceptions according to medium (e.g., newspapers, magazines) and market (e.g., national, metropolitan). Rules theory guides the analysis, allowing practitioners to discern journalists’ general and specific rules for accepting publicity materials. Findings show that health journalists are least accepting of material from businesses and federal government agencies. Newspaper and freelance health journalists are more reluctant to use public relations materials than are other journalists.     

Influence of responsiveness,accessibility, and professionalism on journalists’ perceptions of Southwest Airlines public relations

This longitudinal study presents the results of three biennial surveys of key national journalists who routinely report on Southwest Airlines, a company widely recognized for its extraordinary public relations efforts. Synthesizing data garnered through relationship, utility, and perception scales as well as robust open-ended responses, the results support and advance media relations best practices. Ultimately, data confirm that practitioner responsiveness and accessibility to reporters are the keys to ensuring that journalists maintain positive perceptions of Southwest Airlines’ public relations. The results provide an instructive case study and recommendations to corporate public relations practitioners for cultivating favorable media relationships through a commitment to dialogic communication principles.     

Dropping the ball on media inquiries: The role of deadlines in media catching

Deadlines have always played a significant role in the practice of public relations, especially the media relations specialization. Public relations textbooks and practitioner handbooks encourage budding practitioners to learn how and when journalists, broadcasters, and Internet authors work so that they may pitch story ideas to them appropriately. Even though media catching, an emerging trend in media relations, reverses the traditional direction of story pitching, deadlines are still critical for this new media relations approach. Through a content analysis of 2802 Help-A-Reporter-Out media requests, this study examines how deadlines vary among media outlets engaging in this new media relations story. Statistically significant differences provide insights for public relations practitioners as to how they can best utilize the service to compete for media placements.     

Organizational contingencies,organizational blogs and public relations practitioner stance toward publics

Public relations practitioners in this study who perceived social media (e.g., blogs) to be a normal part of their organization's day-to-day communication were less likely to choose an accommodating stance toward a key public than practitioners in “low-tech” conditions. Forty-three practitioners with a mean of 14.5 years professional experience participated in a 2 × 2 (contingencies for dialogue × technological orientation of organization) experiment. The data reveal a disconnect between the potential relational benefits of social media and the stance public relations practitioners in this study chose when social media were introduced as a regular part of their working environment.     

The portrayal of public relations in the era of Ivy Lee through the lens of the New York Times

Public relations has and, it appears, always has had an image problem. From public relations’ protohistory, through the rise of the publicist and press agent, the history of the relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners remained rocky. Using the New York Times as a lens, this study seeks to examine, through a qualitative framing analysis (N = 106), how public relations was perceived and discussed by one of its most important audiences, the journalist, during the early years of the twentieth century. The study found that while the tasks and media used in the practice of public relations as framed by the Times may be accurate, the cultural context of the early 20th century called the very “doing” of public relations into question.     

An examination of the role of online social media in journalists’ source mix

Using telephone surveys of business/financial journalists in the United States (n = 200), this research investigates the agenda-building role of social media content in journalists’ work. Understanding that more non-public relations content from user-generated and social network sites, like YouTube and Twitter, are fast becoming resources for journalists to get story ideas, break scandals, and find sources, we began this scholarly work to determine the frequency of such uses of social media. Overall, findings indicate very little use of social media by these business journalists. Results and implications for public relations practitioners are discussed in detail.     

Are ‘journalists’ own problems’ aggravating their hostility toward public relations?—A study of Korean journalists

Journalists’ own job problems have been found to be detrimental to media recognition of public relations: journalists vent frustration from their worsening job conditions at public relations practitioners. This outlook of occupational psyche casts a shadow over the bright prospect for media recognition of the profession. Journalists’ problems operate outside media relations, thus beyond direct attempts of public relations practitioners at media recognition via enhancing professionalism in their practices. There have been, however, only a few qualitative studies on this significant issue, all pointing to journalists’ occupational psyche running against media recognition. The purpose of this study is to determine quantitatively whether journalists’ own job satisfaction and their envy of public relations practitioners lead to their negative attitude. A survey of 128 Korean off-line journalists was conducted, and its results suggested that occupational psyche has little influence on media attitude—contrary to the findings of previous qualitative studies. For future study, this paper issues a call for cross-country, comparative research on the subject of journalists’ occupational psyche.     

Adoption of social media for public relations by nonprofit organizations

This survey of nonprofit public relations practitioners (N = 409) applied the Unified Theory of Acceptance and Use of Technology (UTAUT). Findings indicate that women consider social media to be beneficial, whereas men exhibit more confidence in actively utilizing social media. Organizations with specified public relations departments were more likely to adopt social media. Positive correlations between UTAUT factors and credibility indicated a greater likelihood to adopt social media.     

An exploratory study of transformed media relations dimensions after the implementation of an anti-graft law in Korea

The Improper Solicitation and Graft Act, which went into effect on September 28, 2016, strictly prohibits gift giving to journalists, thereby making a traditional media relations practice in Korea illegal. A survey of 342 public relations practitioners revealed that providing monetary gifts, performing formal responsibility, building informal relationships, receiving paid media coverage, and giving and accepting informal support were found to be significant subdimensions of media relations. After implementation of the anti-graft law, public relations practitioners expressed a belief that the practice of providing monetary gifts would shrink the most and that performing formal responsibility would experience the most growth. The formal responsibility factor was significantly positively related to support for the new law and public relations ethics, while giving and accepting informal support was negatively linked to public relations ethics. Paid media coverage showed a positive relationship with public relations practitioners’ perceptions about difficulties of increasing outputs of media relations. Finally, this empirical study shows how new external regulations arising from implementation of the anti-graft law can affect the personal influence model of media relations in Korea.     

Korean practitioners and journalists: Relational influences in news selection

This study investigates how source–media relationships influence perceptions toward news selection from the public relations practitioners’ viewpoint in Korea. The results show that Korean public relations practitioners who perform formal media relations believed that journalists would select news stories based on journalists’ media routine principles, such as using government sources. In contrast, Korean public relations practitioners who perform informal or monetary media relations believed that journalists would select news stories based on journalists’ extra-media factors, such as personal relationships with public relations practitioners.     

Public relations in Ghana: Work-related cultural values and public relations models

This study explores cultural influences on public relations practices in Ghana. This survey research brief reports data collected from Ghanaian public relations practitioners (n = 64) and describes work-related cultural values as well as the practices of public relations models in Ghana. The result reveals that Ghanaian public professionals tend to utilize international public relations and two-way communication models. The study extends knowledge of international public relations in African cultures.     

Toward professional standards for media transparency in the United States: Comparison of perceptions of non-transparency in national vs. regional media

This article reports the results of the national survey of 287 Public Relations Society of America members regarding current media transparency practices in the United States. The purpose of the study was to understand the forms of media non-transparency that exist in the United States, levels of non-transparency at the national and local/regional media, and perceptions of non-transparent practices by the public relations practitioners in the country. The project builds on previous research on global media transparency (Tsetsura & Kruckeberg, 2011) and uses Tsetsura’s (2005) framework to study media transparency. The survey results showed that direct media bribery is not a pressing issue in the United States; however, indirect media pressures that involve new forms of content creation, including native advertising and content marketing, are worrisome. Specifically, forms of indirect media bribery are common at the local and regional media levels in the USA. Research findings demonstrate that U.S. practitioners experience particular non-transparent challenges when working with the media and recognize financial pressures that U.S. media outlets face today.The results provide a basis for creating standards in U.S. practice to ensure that new forms of content creation, including native advertising and content marketing, are not acceptable at any level when sources of content are not disclosed. The study concludes with the discussion about the importance of understanding how new forms of sponsored content relate to media transparency in the USA and why U.S. practitioners should understand how media non-transparency relates to the issues of native advertising and brand journalism.     

A media framing analysis of a U.S. presidential advisor: Alternative flacks

Political public relations became headline news when Kellyanne Conway, Advisor to U.S. President Trump, described provable falsehoods as alternative facts. Other memorable/misstatements became part of the cultural zeitgeist even as journalists continued to interview her. Public relations professionals are inextricably connected to the journalists who shape public opinion. The author therefore conducted a qualitative framing analysis to understand how journalists framed her occupational role and job performance. Articles from The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal revealed that journalists assigned Advocacy and Gendered framing for her occupational role. Analysis also indicated that journalists alternately depicted her performance as adequate, unreliable, and manipulative. The author considers implications of findings for public relations professionals.     

Exploring the development of an organizational approach to media relationships

Using semi-structured, qualitative interviews with practitioners, this study explored an organizational approach to media relations. Interviewees provided insight as to how organizations and their media relations practitioners integrated principles of excellent public relations and principles of relationship management with principles of traditional practitioner–journalist relationships. Results indicated that the practice of media relations can be viewed as a theory-based organizational commitment at the meso-level, and not merely as an atheoretical practitioner skill at the micro-level.     

Journalism–PR relations revisited: The good news,the bad news,and insights into tomorrow's news

Extensive research over the past 100 years has shown that the interrelationship between journalism and PR is tensioned and paradoxical, with negative perceptions of PR among journalists and trivialization and demonization of PR as ‘spin’ contrasted by claims of ‘symbiosis’ and evidence that 40–75% of media content is significantly influenced by PR. However, studies have been predominantly quantitative and most predate the recent ‘crisis in journalism’ and rapid growth of new media formats. This article reports in-depth interviews with senior editors, journalists and PR practitioners in three countries that provide new insights into journalism–PR relations today and identify trajectories for future research, education and practice.     

PR gets personal: A framing analysis of coverage before and after a source's criticism of the media

Public relations practitioners emphasize the importance of positive source–reporter relationships, but what happens when sources are critical of the reporters who cover them? Using framing analysis, this study examined newspaper coverage both before and after a source's personal attack on the media and found few differences in how the reporters covered the source of the attack. Results from this study suggest a single, public outburst from a source may not be enough to create backlash among members of the media.     

Power to the people—health PR people that is!

Inspired by the seminal typology of power first suggested by French and Raven, this study identified five types of power (Expert, Information Reward, Information Coercive, Advertising Coercive, and Influence Powers) that health public relations practitioners believed they have in media relations. This study also examined the effect of four variables, such as personal closeness with reporters, openness towards the media, perceived media job performance, and perceived expertise in the health field, on these five types of perceived power. The results suggested that public relations practitioners who highly evaluate themselves as an expert in health and as a competent media communicator, and who are personally close with reporters have greater Expert Power in media relations. Also, when practitioners are personally close to reporters, they are more likely to use Information Reward Power.     

Journalists’ assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences: Exploring the situation in Spain

The aim of this article is to offer journalists’ assessment of their relationships with public relations professionals in the Autonomous Community of Catalonia (Spain). We analyzed quantitative interviews (questionnaires) and in-depth interviews conducted with 68 Catalan journalists regarding their relationship with public relations practitioners and investigated their assessments of public relations subsidies and contact preferences. An explanatory view is offered.     

Public relations master's education deliverables: How practitioners and educators view strategic practice curriculum

A national sample of practitioners (PRSA members) and academics provided their perceptions of what graduate students of public relations should study (N = 463). Despite expectations of difference between practitioners and educators, they agreed that a master's program graduate should have knowledge of business and understand how globalization shapes public relations. Still, a master's of public relations program graduate should also write well, speak well, and have had some “capstone” experience.