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Media Catching and the Journalist–Public Relations Practitioner Relationship: How Social Media are Changing the Practice of Media Relations
Abstract
With the changing media environment and the evolving online atmosphere, traditional media relations strategies (e.g., news release and media kit preparation and distribution) are shifting to practices that are more relevant to a social media environment. The purpose of this article is to define the changing interplay between journalists and public relations practitioners and to analyze the phenomenon of “media catching,” a reversal of the traditional media relations' communication patterns. Given its rapid increase in the past 2 years, journalists are eager to turn the tables and target large numbers of public relations practitioners for specific content for story ideas. The researchers employed content analysis, and the units of analysis were 3,106 reporter requests sent through the Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO) list and media-related Twitter updates from HARO founder, Peter Shankman, during a 6-month span. Analysis revealed that traditional news outlets more often used the Twitter venue, yet new media outlets preferred the LISTSERV technology. The importance and value of this study for public relations practitioners and scholars are in the study's attempt to profile the trend of media catching, and to discuss the importance of fielding media requests from a variety of news outlets because of the importance of intermedia agenda setting.
... Public relations practitioners use social media tools, including Instagram for instant posting and access, and preservation of this information is crucial for their success in the digital age (Hajtnik et al., 2015). Due to the popularity of social media communications, scholars have introduced the concept of media catching, where journalists target public relations practitioners for specific content for story ideas, is a reversal of traditional media relations communication patterns in the digital age (Waters et al., 2010). Top social CEOs use dialogic principles, such as providing information of interest and creating dialogic loops, to enhance public engagement outcomes like reactions, likes, shares, and comments on Facebook (Men et al., 2018). ...
This study examines the tools and strategies of public relations (PR) in Oman with reference to the digital age. It adopts a qualitative approach, conducting in-depth interviews with eight PR practitioners from different organizations in Oman. The study explores how PR practitioners use social media, especially Instagram, to build and maintain the image of their organizations and how they perceive the challenges and opportunities of digital PR. We found that social media is the dominant tool for PR in Oman, as it allows for direct and interactive communication with the public and enhances the visibility and credibility of organizations. However, there are also some limitations and risks of social media, such as the lack of control over the content, the possibility of negative feedback, and the digital competencies of public relations practitioners. We also discuss the implications of the findings for the theory and practice of PR in the Sultanate of Oman. The study suggests providing training and arranging workshops for public relations practitioners to enhance their digital competencies, specifically artificial intelligence (AI). Keywords: Digital Media, Public Relations, Organizational Image Management, Sultanate of Oman
... Galloway (2005), puts forward that conventional techniques of public relations are being undermined by the mobile nature of new media and that this requires public relations practitioners to rethink how they relate to the public. Waters et al. (2010), argue that with the emergence of the new media, public relations, media relations inclusive, have ceased to be classified as a routine of producing static programming; rather, practitioners must seek out new communication channels and possibilities for engaging all stakeholders if only organizations and practitioners would like to be relevant and contemporary in the scheme of new media evolution. ...
Social Media and Public Relations have been intertwined for a number of years. Social Media is a significant part of any PR strategy, it has a much faster response time and a wider audience engagement than PR techniques of old. Social Media affords individuals an opportunity to show a different side of themselves and allows a brand to show more of its personality. With this shift, PR- enabling phenomena such as selfies, Instagram and Snapchat filters, Facebook Live and Periscope, have become completely ingrained into our day-to-day lives. The rising trend of visual content in Social Media means that PR will not only have to adapt to a new type of content but also a new format for successfully delivering brand messages. The study examined the Use of Visual Content and Augmented Reality for Public Relations Campaigns on Social Media in Anambra State. The study anchored on Grunig and Hunt's Public Relations Model and Technological Determinism Theory. The population comprises Public Relations professionals in Anambra State. Survey Research Method was used to solicit information. The purposive sampling method was used to gather data for the study. The study revealed that social media has already adapted visual content with the successes of Facebook Live and Instagram stories. The study revealed that by utilising visual content on social media, brands can engage in a more direct way with the audience. The study recommends that organizations, businesses and parastatals should adapt visual content and augmented reality format for successfully delivering brand messages and that there is a need for PR professionals to have new skill sets, to be able to effectively film and edit visual content.
... In the 1990s, blastfaxing was a popular method of media relations; today, email is used instead. Journalists use email for pitching story ideas, but some doesn"t want to receive photos, fact sheets, and other information as attachments with the e-mail because of internet viruses (Waters et al., 2010). ...
... Public relations practitioners and advertisers seek to practice ethically but are often informed by personal experiences and individual orientations (Schauster & Neill, 2017). As the paradigm of news creation and distribution has shifted, so have the expectations of journalists and those of public relations practitioners (Macnamara, 2012;Schönhagen & Meißner, 2016;Waters et al., 2010). Public relations also acknowledges this shift (Sallot & Johnson, 2006;Sallot et al., 1998;Weder et al., 2023). ...
Rural journalists are news professionals, but also citizens engaged in their communities.The function and purpose of local journalism and public relations have become interdependent as media and communication has become more digital. These relationships create some tensions and it is in this environment that rural journalists make daily choices to cover a story or run prepared content provided by an outside source. Through the lens of boundary work, this study explores how (n=33) self-identifying rural journalists navigated this gray area and walked the line between creating authentic journalistic content and publishing public relations content. We found that in principle they identified stark boundaries between public relations and rural journalism based on journalistic norms, but in practice these journalists were often put in a position to engage in public relations work to support their communities.
... - (Briones et al, 2011 ;Waters et al., 2010), selon laquelle les praticiens des relations publiques sont contactés par les journalistes parce que ces derniers suivent les organisations en ligne, contrairement à la méthode traditionnelle selon laquelle l'organisation contacte les médias. En outre, la saisonnalité des événements olympiques entraîne un manque de couverture médiatique pendant la hors-saison, de sorte que les participants choisissent par les professionnels du secteur non lucratif (Campbell et al., 2014 ;Geller et al., 2010 ; tion et les MS sont utilisés, à la fois pour maintenir une présence dans l'arène sportive et pour répondre aux besoins d'information des constituants, orientant la conversation loin du récit succinct de communication à sens unique (Abeza & O'Reilly, 2014) ...
À l’ère de l’interconnexion, l’activité et la présence des organisations ne sont pas
des composantes autonomes, indépendantes du tissu socio-économique dans lequel les organismes évoluent. Les organisations ne peuvent pas exister sans reconnaître la réalité de leur environnement et la nécessité de l’interaction avec cet environnement.
Aujourd’hui, comme le Web 2.0 s’est imposé comme un égal, parfois surpassant même les médias traditionnels, car il facilite la communication entre les individus, les organisations, et les organisations avec les individus. Dans cette optique, la pratique des relations publiques doit s’adapter et prendre une nouvelle forme pour accommoder les nouvelles technologies et en tirer parti au profit des organisations.
Les organisations à but non lucratif occupent une place particulière dans ce contexte, car elles sont constamment entravées par un manque de ressources humaines et financières. Un exemple d’organisations à but non lucratif est celui des Comités Nationaux Olympiques, ces organisations à but non lucratif ont des liens avec leur climat national et culturel, mais aussi avec des organismes régionaux et internationaux, ce qui, du point de vue de la recherche, représente le spécimen parfait à examiner. Les liens avec des organisations internationales telles que le Comité International Olympique, les fédérations sportives internationales ainsi que les organismes régionaux mais similaires imposent un cadre de manœuvre uniforme qui compense les particularités du climat culturel local, ce qui contribue grandement à la généralisation des conclusions résultant de l’examen des Comités Nationaux Olympiques.
C’est pour cette raison que nous entreprenons le projet de proposer un modèle de relations publiques digital qui s’adresse principalement au Comité Olympique Algérien mais qui est également applicable à d’autres organisations sportives algériennes similaires à but non lucratif. Ce faisant, notre étude est profondément enracinée dans la littérature la plus notable des relations publiques. C’est-à-dire, le cadre de construction de relations dialogiques proposé par Taylor & Kent (1998), qui s’appuie eux-mêmes sur les textes des pionniers des relation publique telle que la communication symétrique bidirectionnelle de Grunig (1984) et la philosophie de la communication interpersonnelle de Buber (1948).
Deux contributions principales découlent de cette thèse, la première étant une proposition de modèle de relations publiques applicable à l’industrie du sport algérienne, notamment au Comité Olympique Algérien ; la seconde contribution étant Twittools, un module qui permet aux organisations d’analyser les données abondantes disponibles sur les médias sociaux afin d’informer la prise de décision au sein des organisations.
Building Public Relations in primary Islamic education requires a reputation that builds interest in Public Relations with prospective students, parental trust, and community support, whereas the era of the industrial revolution 4.0 demands technology Public Relations improve broader. This study aims to explain SDIT ALFIDAA's efforts to build a reputation through public relations through social media in the era of the industrial revolution 4.0. This research uses a qualitative with a case study method at an integrated Islamic elementary school (SDIT) in ALFIDAA Bekasi, West Java. Data collection used interviews, observation, and documentation. The data analysis uses content analysis. The research results show that Public Relations as digital information through social media, namely Instagram and Facebook, build a school's reputation and a unified communication strategy. Public Relations builds the school's reputation by managing and addressing issues, responding quickly and transparently through social media, providing assistance, and contacting those involved. Overcome the school's reputation's negative impact by actively building community trust with social media. The research contribution effectively uses Public Relations to maintain and enhance the school's reputation. The research implications show that the more significant the role of Public Relations, the better it is for the community, increasing the school’s reputation.
This study examines the contemporary nature of the relationship between sport journalists and media relations personnel, particularly within the context of collegiate athletics. Despite years of sharing a “symbiotic relationship” wherein both sides benefited from the success of the other, sports media professionals have cited a strained rapport, as sports information directors (SIDs) and media relations personnel have taken internal positions aimed at producing content comparable to what sports media have traditionally developed. Through in-depth interviews with 16 beat writers, the current project identified three salient themes related to beat writers’ perceived relationships with SIDs and media relations professionals representing athletic programs they cover: (1) frustration over the control of information, (2) misperceptions about the media’s value to the organization, and (3) growing uncertainty about the future of the relationship between beat writers and media relations professionals. These findings contribute theory and practice within the context of the Strategic Sport Communication Model (SSCM).
Earning public understanding and acceptance through reports in the press is one of the oldest means–ends schemes in public relations (PR). Firms, governments, NGOs, and interest groups alike use the media to convey their message to their publics. Hence, media influence is a two‐step process. Whether PR efforts lead to news items in the media depends on the relations of the company with the media and on the newsworthiness of the publicity efforts (→ Media Relations; News Factors; News Values). Once the media have published the news, PR media influence can be understood through theories about → media effects (→ Exposure to Communication Content; Information Processing).
Rural journalists are news professionals, but also citizens engaged in their communities. The function and purpose of local journalism and public relations have become interdependent as media and communication has become more digital. These relationships create some tensions and it is in this environment that rural journalists make daily choices to cover a story or run prepared content provided by an outside source. Through the lens of boundary work, this study explores how (n=33) self-identifying rural journalists navigated this gray area and walked the line between creating authentic journalistic content and publishing public relations content. We found that in principle they identified stark boundaries between public relations and rural journalism based on journalistic norms, but in practice these journalists were often put in a position to engage in public relations work to support their communities.
The concepts of corporate reputation and corporate identity represent a relatively new and supplemental lens through which top management can address the strategic issues facing their firm. To help guide the thinking of senior executives in managing their organization’s reputation and image, the authors present a pragmatic operational model. The model shows that in addition to an understanding of corporate reputation and image, managers needs to understand their firm’s corporate identity and corporate communications, and the interrelationships amongst these components. The authors argue that in today’s sensitive business milieu, a firm’s ultimate survival may well depend on developing and maintaining a recognizable image and favorable reputation.
Against the backdrop of the rapid growth of fire Internet, this research study investigates the intersection between corporate World Wide Web pages and the publics they serve. Content analysis revealed that, while the typical corporate Web page is used to service news media, customers and the financial community, it is not being used to its fullest potential to communicate simultaneously with other audiences. Through a cluster analysis procedure, the researchers found about one-third of corporate Web sites are assertively used to communicate with a multiplicity of audiences in a variety of information formats.
Concludes that public relations people view editors' newspaper positions fairly accurately but that the reverse is not true. (FL)
The effects of agenda-setting and priming are well established in regard to the news media. Considerably less attention has been paid to these phenomena in entertainment media, in spite of the fact that entertainment media enjoy larger audiences than do news media and often address political topics. This article argues that the psychological mechanism hypothesized to lead to agenda-setting and priming effectsthat is, changes in construct accessibilityapplies as equally to entertainment media as it does to news media. Moreover, we contend that the frequency, consistency, and duration of entertainment media treatments of political issues encourage chronic accessibility of those issues. We test these hypotheses looking at television crime dramas as a source of political information. Using data from two controlled laboratory experiments and the 1995 National Election Study Pilot Study, we demonstrate that viewing crime dramas significantly increases concerns about crime and that these concerns significantly affect viewers' opinions of the president. The NES Pilot Study data suggest that these effects are restricted to frequent viewers of crime dramas, supporting a chronic accessibility model of agenda-setting and priming. These findings extend our growing understanding of how non-news sources of political information contribute to the construction of political attitudes.
This study explores how the increasingly popular blog format, as adopted by journalists affiliated with mainstream media outlets, affects long-standing journalistic norms and practice. It focuses on non-partisanship, transparency and the gatekeeping role, using a content analysis of 20 weblogs dealing with politics or civic affairs. Although expressions of opinion are common, most journalists are seeking to remain gatekeepers even in this highly interactive and participatory format. Political j-bloggers use links extensively - but mostly to other mainstream media sites. At least in their early use, journalists are ‘normalizing’ the blog as a component, and in some ways an enhancement, of traditional journalistic norms and practices.
The gatekeeping process in local television news was examined by applying content analysis techniques to observational research in a network‐affiliate station's newsroom. Stories about government, accidents, and crime aired more often than other topics, although planned event stories aired less often than non‐event stories. Timeliness and significance were most closely associated with airing of stories. These analyses, however, accounted for only a small proportion of variance, suggesting that other elements were likely to be relevant. Process elements included group decision‐making, organizational constraints, and a broad interest‐importance framework. A new formulation of the gatekeeping metaphor was presented.