Discuss the Relationship Between Public Relations and News Sources. How Does the Relationship Impact on the News Product?
Discuss the relationship between Public Relations and news sources. How does the relationship impact on the news product?
In today’s society, Public relations can be described as ‘a profession of creating an understanding between an institute and its public,’ by practitioners who wish to conserve its small amount of positive credibility. On the other hand public relations can be seen as a way of using propaganda to undermine the values and beliefs of the public. These two descriptions show the difference between persuasion and propaganda. Propaganda is to “disseminate or promote particular ideas” (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006, p.02); whereas persuasion is the “communicative process to influence others with a persuasive message” (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006, p.31) but not necessarily force the recipient to adopt the point of view.
This essay aims to analyse the relationship between the industry of Public Relations and different types of sources that are seeking to gain media coverage, in order to support the argument that the PR industry is now a dominating source of information subsidy for journalists. It then asks the question ‘is the impact on the news product accurate and neutral?’ I will define and explain the elements that build Public Relations, journalism and news sources, discuss the evidence of a symbiotic relationship, and the determine the elements that suggest the recent growth of the Public Relations industry has domination over news sources and an impact on the news product. In this situation a news source refers to someone who is likely to be referred to by the media for the validity of their position in relation to the news.
In contrast to today’s point of view, Edward Bernays, the original founder of the term public relations, described it as “manipulating the unconscious, as a way to make money” (The century of the self, 2002), and although this is a way to ‘disseminate and promote’ he used the name ‘public relation council’ as a way to
In today’s society, Public relations can be described as ‘a profession of creating an understanding between an institute and its public,’ by practitioners who wish to conserve its small amount of positive credibility. On the other hand public relations can be seen as a way of using propaganda to undermine the values and beliefs of the public. These two descriptions show the difference between persuasion and propaganda. Propaganda is to “disseminate or promote particular ideas” (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006, p.02); whereas persuasion is the “communicative process to influence others with a persuasive message” (Jowett & O’Donnell, 2006, p.31) but not necessarily force the recipient to adopt the point of view.
This essay aims to analyse the relationship between the industry of Public Relations and different types of sources that are seeking to gain media coverage, in order to support the argument that the PR industry is now a dominating source of information subsidy for journalists. It then asks the question ‘is the impact on the news product accurate and neutral?’ I will define and explain the elements that build Public Relations, journalism and news sources, discuss the evidence of a symbiotic relationship, and the determine the elements that suggest the recent growth of the Public Relations industry has domination over news sources and an impact on the news product. In this situation a news source refers to someone who is likely to be referred to by the media for the validity of their position in relation to the news.
In contrast to today’s point of view, Edward Bernays, the original founder of the term public relations, described it as “manipulating the unconscious, as a way to make money” (The century of the self, 2002), and although this is a way to ‘disseminate and promote’ he used the name ‘public relation council’ as a way to
Bibliography: Bernays, E. (2002) BBC Documentary; The Century of the self Cottle, S. (2003) News, Public Relations and Power Davis, A. (2003) News, Public Relations and Power, Chapter two Hetzler, E.T. (2008) Studies in Theatre, www.britannica.com/bps/, accessed 31/03/10 Jowett, G. S. & O’Donnell (2006) Propaganda and Persuasion McGregor, J. & Comrie, M. (2002) What’s News? Reclaiming journalism in NZ, chapter 10 Parsons, P. (2004) Ethics in Public Relations Peart & Macnamara, (1996) PR Handbook Theaker, A. (2001) The Public Relations Handbook 2nd Edition