Understanding the relationship between public relations practitioners and journalistsis of paramount importance to practicing effective media relations. Using a similar study conducted by Kopenhaver, Martinson, & Ryan (1984) as a basis, this study explores that relationship using depth interviews (n=8) and a mail survey (n=221, 33% response rate) to gauge perceptions of the relationship for both journalists and public relations practitioners in the state of Florida. It concludes that there has been little change in the relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists over the past 17 years, and offers suggestions as to why that is the case. The study also found that managing expectations is a very important concept for public relations practitioners, both when dealing with clients and also when communicating with journalists and that effective relationships between the two professions can be achieved if there are reasonable expectations put into place. It further addresses current potential problems with the practice of media relations, including the “hitchhiker” concept (sending out blanket releases via email or other methods with the hope that it will be picked up by a media outlet), a lack of targeted media pitching and the future of the press release in public relations. It includes both implications for academics for future study, and also for practitioners of media relations to hopefully better their practice.

Maximizing Media Relations Through a Better Understanding of the Public Relations-Journalist Relationship: A Quantitative Analysis of Changes Over the Past 23 years

Media relations is one of the most common functions of the modern public relations. This study examines the impact of emerging media technologies on that function, and seeks to understand how public relations practitioners and journalists are using Twitter in both their personal work and in the relationship with the other profession

Examining Modern Media Relations: An Exploratory Study of the Effect of Twitter on the Public Relations - Journalist Relationship.

Journalists and journalism educators worldwide are indebted to Pierre Salinger, the former ABC-TV reporter and press secretary under President John F. Kennedy. Salinger unintentionally issued a wake-up call when, based on apparently fictitious information on a home page on the World Wide Web, he alleged in November 1996 that a U.S. Navy missile downed TWA Flight 800 in July, killing the 230 people aboard (Associated Press, Nov. 8, 1996). Salinger's accusations sounded the alarm that traveling on the so-called Information Superhighway is fraught with danger (Coates, 1996). They also reinforced the importance of teaching students how to critically evaluate the credibility and to ensure the accuracy of information. The U.S. government was quick to rebut Salinger's accusations, which he said were based on an assessment by French intelligence (Anderson,1996: Dine,1996). Salinger said he had received a tip via an electronic mail message and checked it out on a Web page (Coates,1996). Ironically, it was Salinger's credentials as a journalist that made the story credible to the main- stream press (Achenbach, 1996; Turner, 1996). The rumor had been circulating for months among discussion groups on the Internet, whose members had better tools to evaluate it and had largely rejected it. One source interviewed for a story in Newsweek (Turner, 1996) put it this way: "Well, Pierre, if you'd get a little Net-savvy, you'd figure it out. Learn to surf, Dude." Initially, the press appeared to consider Salinger the target of a cruel hoax and thus appeared to feel some sympathy for him. Journalists also recognized the ability of Salinger and the Internet to mislead and increase public confusion (Dickey and Hosenball, Nov. 25, 1996). But the press' treatment of Salinger changed in March 1997 when he went on the attack again, this time contending that a blip detected on radar was proof of his friendly fire theory (Goodman,1997; Rashbaum,1997). The FBI said the blip was an unarmed Navy reconnaissance plane (Associated Press, March, 21, 1997). For example, the San Francisco Examiner's editorial called the allegations "Salinger's Sad Obsession" (March 16, 1997). The Rocky Mountain News (March 5,1997)proclaimed"Salinger's recklessness" and lamented that although this explanation of the crash doesn't begin to make sense, it can do untold damage." But the opinion section article that offered perhaps the most insight into how this episode affected journalism and how it illustrated the advantages and disadvantages of the Internet as a information source appeared in the Arizona Republic on Nov. 18, 1996, with the headline "A Tangled Web." The article noted "for all its potential for being an extraordinary, enriching opportunity for unlimited access and delivery of information, the Web as a source of news is a place rife with pitfalls." Pointing out Salinger was snagged by some "phony information, some official-looking trash," the article emphasized "most anybody, anywhere and at any time can create an item on the Internet and make it look credible." Importantly, the article said "online information doesn't follow standards" and "can be disseminated with a high degree of anonymity." Noting the information had attached itself in a circuitous way to a famous newsman's reputation, the commentary concluded by pointing out the Internet's "dangerous potential of gaining unearned respect and credibility from millions of people." Tackling the Web If a veteran reporter like Salinger can be easily snared by misinformation on the Web, what about a student reporter? Should journalism schools teach students the skills needed to assess the credibility of information on the Web? What about the accuracy of that information? Should colleges and universities graduate students who can critically assess information and verify its accuracy? As the Salinger episode indicates, the credibility of the profession, which a recent Pew Research Center survey indicates has fallen sharply in the past 10 years (Nelson, 1997), is also at stake. …

Teaching Students How to Evaluate and Use Online Resources

Political leaders have mixed views on the performance of their communities' newspaper. While they are ambivalent on how critical coverage should be, they are relatively happy with it.

Small Town CEOs' Views on Newspaper Coverage

Predictive Ability of Emotional Intelligence Scores on Employee Self-Reported Perception of Comprehensive Organizational Credibility Inventory by Leif A. Ford B.S., Northwest Christian University, 1994 M.B.A., Northwest Christian University, 2008 Dissertation Submitted in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy Organizational Psychology

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Predictive Ability of Emotional Intelligence Scores on Employee Self-Reported Perception of Comprehensive Organizational Credibility Inventory

Reporters appear to fall into three types according to the way they evaluate their sources' credibility. And the major differences between the three types appear to lie in the weight they give intuition, or gut feeling, and to their ability to get corroboration of information supplied by their sources. The three types are: 1. Insists upon corroboration and specifically rejects intuition as a reason for believing or not believing a source; 2. Insists upon corroboration but is neutral on intuition; 3. Insists upon corroboration but rates intuition just as high as a part of the total process of deciding whether a source is believable. The study also yielded four dimensions on which reporters appear to base their evaluation of credibility as a part of the overall process: reliability, appearance, motivation and status-position. Of the four, it hardly is surprising that reporters appear likely to believe sources who have been reliable in the past and that they tend to consider motivation (Why is the source telling me this?) in trying to decide whom to believe. But it might be somewhat surprising that reporters appear to put more emphasis than might have been thought—or that some might have been willing to admit—upon appearance and status-position. This is not to say that appearance and/or status-position by themselves are used for believing or disbelieving a source. In fact, the data indicate such criteria are rejected by the reporters according to the three types. But some reporters do appear more willing than others to apply

Emil Dansker

Papers

How Reporters Evaluate the Credibility of Their Sources.