Lecture 8: Relations: Public Relations in a digital age

Question 1

The production of news content involves two levels

Answer 1

1. Journalists who on an individual basis consult sources and write news stories
2. Other parties within the news organization (e.g. copy editors) who based upon their news routines, edit stories before they make it into print

Question 2

News routines

Answer 2

Many people go into the writing process, so while the journalist might have the sources and write the stories, there’s a factor checker who varifies names, organizations and places, copy editors who check that quotes are correctly attributed to sources, layout and design specialists, who might also change things to match a word limit etc., editor who decides what gets printed

Might reflect a certain ideology or political orientation that is shared by journalists or editors of that organization

Question 3

The agenda-setting hypothesis

Answer 3

The frequency with which the media report on a public or political issue determines that issue’s salience in the minds of the general public

News media communicate a wealth of information when they report on organizations, politics, the economy or issues of social and human concern, and i doing so, they signal to the viewers which issues to care about

Framing can also affect how people think about a topic through certain associations or affective judgements

Question 4

Agenda building

Answer 4

Corporate communication practioners attempt to form the media agenda through discussions and debates among multiple groups, including journalists and communication practitioners, but also policymakers and interest groups

Question 5

Framing theory

Answer 5

How messages are created in such a way that they connect with the underlying psychological processes of how people digest information and make judgements

Framing in communication helps shape the perspectives through which people see the world
Includes inclusion and exclusion of information as well as emphasis

Question 6

Corporate framing

Answer 6

Frame which features in press release, corporate reports on the company’s website, speeches of spokespersons and CEO’s

Question 7

News framing

Answer 7

The way in which news is selectively portrayed by the media in an effort to explain news or ideas about organizations in familiar terms for a broader audience

Question 8

Communication tools / techniques to obtain news coverage (press release, press conference, interviews, online newsrooms and media monitoring, media research)

Answer 8

Press release: aim is to transfers news to journalists so it can be made public

Press conference: giving the media information by inviting journalists to press conferences

Interviews: journalists like to interview spokespeople or the CEO, so it’s important they have media training and specific guidelines to interview format

Online newsrooms: include standard reports, speeches and press releases, as well as dynamic content like videos, news feeds, widgets, podcasts and searchable archieves of content
Media monitoring and research: monitoring media relation efforts through gate keeping research and output analysis

Question 9

Press release

Answer 9

aim is to transfers news to journalists so it can be made public

More likely to be used and placed in news medium when they refer to newsworthy/current events, when the release is written in a factual (opposed to judgmental) manner with a clear heading and a lead paragraph into the topic, and if they follow the format that their preferred media uses, e.g. the pyramid style from printed media

Question 10

Press conference

Answer 10

Inviting journalists to a press conference

Usually around fixed periods in the calendar when organizations release financial results or share corporate information at the annual general meeting with the shareholders

More interactive as the journalists can ask questions

Question 11

Interviews

Answer 11

journalists like to interview spokespeople or the CEO, so it’s important they have media training and specific guidelines to interview format

Might ask for a transcript and final article so that facts, opinions and attributions can be checked

Question 12

Online newsrooms

Answer 12

include standard reports, speeches and press releases, as well as dynamic content like videos, news feeds, widgets, podcasts and searchable archieves of content

Question 13

Media monitoring and research

Answer 13

monitoring media relation efforts through gate keeping research and output analysis

Gate-keeping research: analyses the characreristics of a press release or video news release that allow them to pass through the gate and appear in a news medium - e.g. financial press releases tend to get more coverage

Output analysis: measure the amount of exposure or attention that the organization receives as a result of media relations - e.g. measure total number of articles or examining the tone of stories

Syndicated media monitoring services: media research agencies have developed media monitoring packages, which focus on total circulation, audiences reached, tone of the news stories, how key messages are picked up and communicated

Question 14

Press agentry / publicity model (four PR models)

Answer 14

Press agents of the mid 19th century were the first full time specialists to practice public relations

E.g. P. T. Barnum skillfully promoted his circus performers
One-way asymmetrical model

Question 15

Public information model (four PR models)

Answer 15

Developed in the beginning of the 20th century as a reaction to attacks on large corporations and government agencies by muckraking journalists

Needed more than the propaganda of press agents to counter attacks on them in the media, so they hired journalists to write press “handouts” explaining their actions

Generally truthful and accurate information, though mostly positively focused

One-way asymmetrical model

Question 16

Two-way asymmetrical model (four PR models)

Answer 16

Basing the public relations releases on social sciences and psychology, so they had to research the audiences

Public relations became a two-way approach where practitioners sought information from and gave information to publics

Asymmetrical communication is imbalanced as it leaves the organization as is and tries to change the public

Question 17

Two-way symmetrical model (four PR models)

Answer 17

Uses research and other forms of two way communication, but it uses the research to facilitate understanding and communication rather than to identify messages most likely to motivate or persuade public –> understanding is the principal objective

Compared to asymmetrical communication, symmetrical communication is balanced as it adjusts the relationship between the organization and the public