MASS COMMUNICATION & SOCIETY, 2003, 6(4), 397411

The Portrayal of Public Relations in the News Media

Samsup Jo
School of Mass Communications Texas Tech University

This study explored the meanings and connotations of public relations in news stories carried by major newspapers and network television. The findings suggest that the term public relations was primarily used to suggest image building, reputation management, and persuasion efforts. News story interpretations of public relations terms were likely to refer to publicity, image, campaigns of persuasion, and marketing efforts to promote an organizations claims. The results reveal that negative connotations of public relations prevail in journalists stories discussing the practice of public relations. The results imply that public relations practitioners trying to pitch their clients stories need to understand how journalists will likely perceive the stories news value. Two-way communication should begin with media relations via an understanding of journalists viewpoints.

For a long time, the relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists has been an uneasy alliance. The term public relations has been met with skepticism and sometimes cynicism by journalists. Even though some scholars provide well-organized definitions of public relations, media professionals appear to be hesitant to credit a reputable definition of the practice (Bishop, 1988). A variety of definitions have been offered by scholars and the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA); a widely accepted definition of pubic relations is still in discussion. Even though many scholars have adopted Grunig and Hunts (1984) definition of public relations as the management function, most media professionals have not. In journalism practice, journalists view public relations as an image-making or tactic-oriented profession. These individuals often equate public relations with

Requests for reprints should be sent to Samsup Jo, School of Mass Communications, Box 43082, Texas Tech University, Lubbock, TX 79409-3082. E-mail: samsup.jo@ttu.edu

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publicity activitieswriting news releases, pitching news stories, and making attempts to influence public opinion in favor of organizations. In short, they do not see public relations as a management function that nurtures mutually rewarding relationships. Because the general public sees the world through the lenses of the mass media, journalists word choices have an important impact on ordinary peoples understanding of any subject. As Severin and Tankard (1997) suggested, mass media play a critical role in forming the meaning of any terminology. Thus, the medias use of certain terms results in the construction of broad public meanings (Taylor & Condit, 1988). For this reason, it is important to understand how the media define public relations and use the term in the context of news stories. When most corporate executives or ordinary people talk about public relations, they have formed their conceptual images and definitions of public relations based on perceptions derived from mass media. The importance of this study lies in how media deal with the term public relations. By analyzing news stories containing the term public relations, we can infer the connotative meanings of the term in the news media. One of the advantages of content analysis is its potential to identify portrayals of certain issues or objects over a period of time (Wimmer & Dominick, 2002). Portrayals of public relations can give us a better understanding of how the termand thus the practiceis perceived in the news media. Also, the study can provide a starting point to educate the news media as to the correct meaning of the term public relations. Thus, the study can provide public relations practitioners with grounds for better relationship building with the media. The purpose of this study was to explore the meanings and connotations of public relations in the context of news stories carried by major national newspapers and network television. In this study, news stories containing the term public relations were content analyzed using a framework of public relations purposes and perceived connotations. Grunig and Hunt defined public relations as management of communication between an organization and its publics (1984, p. 94)that is, they defined public relations as a management function beyond communication techniques such as publicity and news releases. Noting the existence of negative connotations of public relations, they suggested that although public relations is probably the oldest concept used to describe the communication activities of organizations, many organizations now use terms such as business communication and public affairs to describe these activities (1984, p. 4). Hutton (1999) argued that public relations has failed to reach a broad definition of itself from its fundamental purpose to its underlying dimensions. In particular, he argued that public relations needs to reach some sort of general consensus about its definition if it wishes to advance as a scholarly and professional endeavor. He asserted that one of the most common criticisms arises from the fact that academic

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definitions inadequately express public relations true functions in contemporary business and politics: For example, the concept of persuasion is very much a part of everyday practice, yet few academic definitions include persuasion as a basic tenet (p. 201). Largely, the general public perceives that public relations has played a decisive role in shaping public opinion and the ethos of advocacy (Lee, 2001). Hutton (1999) identified the heavy use of public relations terms in politics as well as in the business sphere. Hutton asserted the need for additional dimensions of public relations for individuals: Virtually all of the definitions speak to the issue of organizations, ignoring the practice of public relations for individuals or groups of people who are not formally organized (p. 202). One problem faced by public relations practitioners seeking better public relations is that the reputation of the practice seems to be getting worse rather than better (Henderson, 1998; Ihator, 1999; Spicer, 1993). In sum, antagonism and animosity toward public relations have been embedded in journalistic culture. Content analyses of public relations terms provide more evidence of negative connotations of the public relations profession (Aronoff, 1975; Henderson, 1998; Olasky, 1987; Rhinebeck, 1999; Spicer 1993; Ward, 1998; Weaver & Wilhoit, 1986). Several studies demonstrated that journalists view public relations practitioners as adversaries and rate public relations as one of the least honorable occupations (Ryan & Martinson, 1988; Spicer, 1993). Journalists tend to believe that public relations practitioners are more inclined to mislead the public than is actually reported to be the case. Public relations practitioners argue that media professionals are biased against them and their clients and that they are often unfamiliar with the topics they write about (Ward, 1998). Overall, previous studies confirm the existence of antagonism among journalists toward public relations.

HUTTONS PUBLIC RELATIONS DIMENSION AND FRAMEWORK Hutton (1999) argued that the public relations has failed to evolve broadly accepted definitions of public relations in terms of its purpose, its dominant metaphor, its scope, or its underlying dimensions. He asserted that the academic definitions are too normative to describe the contemporary public relations practices of businesses and of individuals, such as politicians. Hutton (1999) proposed that the three I (interest, initiative, and image) dimensions are most likely to encompass a variety of orientations or definitions of public relations. The interest dimension is similar to the balance of intended effects proposed by Grunig and Hunt (1984). The critical question is To what degree is the public relations function focused on client interests versus the public interest? The sec-

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ond dimension, initiative, asks To what extent is the public relations function reactive versus pro-active? The third dimension, image, suggests the following question: To what extent is the organization focused on perception versus reality (or image versus substance)? (Hutton, 1999, pp. 201204). Based on these three dimensions of public relations, Hutton (1999) developed six frameworks for analyzing public relations theory and practice. Huttons dimensions of interest, initiative, and image capture the range of public relations functions more fully than Grunig and Hunts (1984) two dimensionsthe way of communication and the intended effect. Thus, the six frameworks are more descriptive of contemporary public relations than Grunig and Hunts conceptualization.

Persuasion Persuasion refers to the prevalent practice of public relations. Hutton (1999) explained that persuasion is oriented toward persuading audiences to think or act in ways that benefit the clientorganization. Promotion, propaganda, and the engineering of consent fall in this category.

Advocacy Even if advocacy is similar to persuasion in its intentions, it is different from persuasion in that advocacy arises out of controversy or active opposition. Thus, advocacy public relations efforts are triggered by a crisis or other catalyst.

Public Information Public information as defined by Hutton (1999) is similar to Grunig and Hunts (1984) public information model. Public relations serves primarily as an information subsidy in an organization and as an information clearing house.

Cause Related The cause-related framework is similar to advocacy in that it may be reactive and triggered by a public event. Cause-related public relations, however, serves a broader public interest rather than any special-interest group or individual. For example, Hutton (1999) stated that public relations carried out by the Red Cross and the American Cancer Society falls into this category.

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ImageReputation Management Like the publicity (press) agentry model of Grunig and Hunt (1984), imagereputation management looks primarily to publicity, spin control, and the creation and manipulation of symbols as its primary tactics.

Relationship Management Relationship management values the relationship between an organization and its publics. This framework emphasizes mutual trust, compromise, cooperation, and, whenever possible, winwin situations (Broom, Casey, & Ritchey, 1997; Bruning & Ledingham, 2000; Grunig & Huang, 2000; Hon & Grunig, 1999; Ledingham & Bruning, 1998). One of the excellent aspects of Huttons (1999) framework is the distinction between public relations roles and the functions of public relations, which are not end goals in themselves but means by which a given objective is achieved. Thus, he argued that some tactics do not necessarily involve communication activity between an organization and its publics. For example, publicity does not define public relations but is simply one possible function or tactic of public relations. He proposed that communication is not necessarily a sufficient foundation for public relations. In classifying the term public relations in mass media more extensively, Hutton provided a relevant framework for analyzing the connotation of public relations in news content.

HYPOTHESES Analysis of news stories containing the term public relations can shed light not only on how public relations is portrayed in the news media but also on how it is understood in a society. Given the earlier studies, the meanings of public relations can be analyzed depending on the public relations definition. The connotative meanings of public relations may be related to the news type and organizational type. Thus, the following hypotheses can be proposed: H1: The overall connotation of public relations is more likely to be negative than positive in news stories. H2: With regard to the function of public relations, image making is more likely to appear in the news stories than is management function. H3: The negative use of public relations is more likely to be associated with a business organization than a government agency.

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The first hypothesis reveals the overall connotation of public relations in news content. The second hypothesis illustrates the function of public relations in news stories. The third hypothesis explores the relations between organizational type and the connotation of public relations in news content.

METHODS Data Collection and Analysis Instances of the term public relations were drawn from five media sources, including two prestigious newspapers, the New York Times and the Wall Street Journal, and the evening news on the three main television networksABC, CBS, and NBC. It is reasonable to assume that the two newspapers represent national news and business news, respectively. The three television networks chosen represent national television networks in the United States. To reflect contemporary use of public relations, the time period examined spanned from October 1998 to October 2001. News stories containing the term public relations were drawn from the LexisNexis database. These news stories basically contain a public relations term, the term public relations, or a related term such as public relations war. The LexisNexis database yielded 567 stories containing the term public relations. For the purpose of the relevant objectives of the study, this study excluded public relations terms related to position and company name, such as public relations agency, public relations firm, and public relations director/manager. After the screening process, a total of 303 public relations terms were selected for analysis. The newspapers yielded 207 stories with the term public relations and the network television news yielded 96 stories found in the transcripts of network news stories. The content analysis unit was a news story containing the term public relations. To examine research questions, chi-square was used for statistical analysis. Coding Category First, the term public relations was analyzed by the purpose of public relations, based on Huttons (1999) framework. Based on Huttons classification, the purpose of public relations was interpreted as persuasion, advocacy, public information, cause-related public relations, imagereputation public relations, and relationship management. Second, news story types were analyzed by news format (straight, feature, opinion column, editorial). Third, the connotation of the term was analyzed in the news context. In this regard, the coding category refers to whether the term public relations was used positively, negatively, or neutrally. A positive meaning displays the positive role of public relations, suggesting the accu-

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rate meaning of public relations and a beneficial outcome to an organization. A negative meaning involves a dilemma of image, or failure of reputation management toward the organization. In this case, public relations was portrayed in a derogatory manner. A neutral meaning denoted a general adjectival use of public relations as in the phrases public relations strategy and public relations campaign.

Intercoder Reliability To test for intercoder reliability, two coders coded the same 303 stories. The Scotts pi intercoder reliability was conducted for the primary public relations purpose, primary news type, and the perceived meaning of public relations. Scotts pi was .85, .94, and .82, respectively. The overall Scotts pi coefficient was .84.

RESULTS This study examined the meanings of public relations in the context of news media. Table 1 shows the primary purpose of public relations as placed in the news context. Among Huttons (1999) six frameworks, imagereputation management (51.8%) was the most frequently used for the primary public relations purpose, followed by the purposes of persuasion (25.1%), public information (13.2%), advocacy (4.3%), cause-related public relations (3.0%), and relationship management (2.6%). In fact, imagereputation management, persuasion, and public information covered more than 90% of the total news stories. The journalists most frequently perceived public relations as imagereputation management (51.8%) followed by persuasion (25.1%) when the term public relations was displayed in the news media. Thus, it is possible to reason that most journalists perceive public relations primarily as imagereputation and persuasion efforts. Table 2 shows the news type covered in the news stories associated with the use of the term public relations. Straight news stories (65.3%) were the most frequent,
TABLE 1 Primary Public Relations Purposes in News Stories Purpose of Public Relations Persuasion Advocacy Public information Cause related Imagereputation management Relationship management Total Frequency 76 13 40 9 157 8 303 % 25.1 4.3 13.2 3.0 51.8 2.6 100.0

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TABLE 2 News Story Type Containing the Term Public Relations News Type Straight Feature Opinion Editorial Total Frequency 198 61 25 19 303 % 65.3 20.1 8.3 6.3 100.0

followed by feature stories (20.1%), opinion (8.3%), and editorial (6.3%). Table 2 demonstrates that the majority of news stories containing the term public relations appeared as either straight news or feature types. Table 3 demonstrates how public relations terms were used in the news stories. As noted in this studys coding category section, a positive use involves the accurate meaning and constructive function of public relations. In contrast, a negative use refers to image problems and the failure of image making. In other words, public relations was perceived only in relation to the image-building function. A neutral use involves the general naming of public relations related to its routine functions. Even though the neutral meaning (46.9%) was most frequent in the analysis, negative connotation (40.9%) was much larger than positive connotation (12.2%). The high frequency of neutral use may be attributed to the journalistic practice that emphasizes fairness and objectivity in gathering information and reporting issues. Moreover, communication through media generally tends to be a publicity function, which is rarely practiced by two-way communication. Journalists doubt the credibility of news sources in that public relations material is often disguised as news, or too frequently insists on promoting products and services that do not deserve news space (Aronoff, 1975). It is important to note that negative terms were used much more often with the term public relations than positive terms. Table 3 summarizes the classification of the meanings of the term public relations in the news stories. The connotation of public relations was more likely to be negative when the news stories dealt with business organizations and federal or state government, 2(8) = 23.73, p < .01 (see Table 4). In addition, if the news stories involved a celebrity or politician, the connotation of public relations exhibited a more negative tone. In contrast, the term public relations was more likely to be used positively when dealing with nonprofit organizations, with 38.9% of total news stories on nonprofit organizations. Only 7.6% of business organizations were described positively in relation to use of public relations terms. When the relation between organization type and public relations purpose was analyzed, the imagereputation function managed by business organizations was the most dominant coverage in the news media, 2(20)= 31.8, p < .05. These results

TABLE 3 Meaning of the Term Public Relations Total Frequency Meaning Positive Public Relations in Newsa n % 12.2

Neutral

Negative

Total

37 PR support (4), PR success (3), PR victory (3), PR advice (3), PR help (2), PR tutelage (2), Good PR (2), PR benefit (7), PR value (3), PR support (1), PR boost (1), PR fronts (1), PR comeback (1), PR boon (2), PR bonanza (2) 142 PR campaign (39), PR strategy (17), PR move (2), PR efforts (18), PR blitz (10), PR exercise (8), PR pitch (4), PR news release (3), PR offensive (2), PR move (2), PR assistant (1), PR expert (4), PR makeover (3), PR drive (4), PR operation (1), PR standpoint (1), PR guru (1), PR service (1), PR venues (1), PR people (1), PR department (1), PR promotion (3), PR apparatus (2), PR and marketing (5), PR and advertising (6), PR opportunity (2), PR maven (1) 124 PR disaster (27), PR problem (10), PR liability (2), PR debacle (4), PR damage (5), PR nightmare (7), PR battle (6), PR war (4), PR stunt (3), PR difficulty (4), PR fiasco (2), PR coup (5), PR blunders (2), PR mess (2), PR mistake (2), PR risk (2), PR headache (4), PR ploys (2), PR wizardry (1), PR black hole (2), PR grunt (1), PR flair (1), PR flop (1), PR ordeal (1), PR back eye (2), PR crisis (3), PR spinmeister (3), PR maneuver (1), PR buzz (2), PR gaffe (1), Bad PR (1), PR fallout (1), PR shadows (1), PR hell (1), PR hirelings (1) PR fumes (2), panache for PR (1), PR concern (3), PR embellishment (1) 303

46.9

40.9

100

Note. PR = public relations. aNumbers in parentheses indicate the frequency of appearance.

TABLE 4 Organization Type and Connotation of the Term Public Relations Nuance Positive Organization Business Federal or state government Nonprofit Citizen group Politician or celebrity Total n 12 7 7 1a 10 37 % 7.6 14.9 8.9 7.7 14.8 12.0 n 81 23 6 5a 27 142 Neutral % 51.3 48.9 33.3 38.5 41.1 46.9 Negative n 65 17 5a 7 30 124 % 41.1 36.2 27.8 53.8 44.1 40.9 n 158 47 18 13 67 303 Total % 100 100 100 100 100 100

Note. 2(8) = 23.73, p < .01. aThe cells less than 5 are not included for overall calculation of the chi-square test.

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indicated that imagereputation was covered as the most dominant function of public relations (see Table 5). As shown in Table 6, a chi-square test showed that the most negative connotation was statistically significant when public relations was used to convey the purpose of imagereputation. In addition, the neutral meaning of public relations was closely related when the term public relations was used for the purpose of persuasion. There was no statistical difference between media types in the use of public relations terms.

DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION This study examined the use of the term public relations in newspapers and network television news stories. Ordinary peoples perception of public relations is the product of socialization, education, and incidental learning from both mass communication and personal experience. Lippmann (1922), for example, used the term stereotypes to describe our stock of mental images. Social psychologists use the more neutral term schemas. Schemas denote knowledge structures based on experiences that organize peoples perceptions of the world. The analytical approach to schemas is based on the notion that people are cognitive misers, that is, people have well-defined cognitive limits (Fiske & Taylor, 1991). Thus, analyzing how the term public relations was used in news stories may help us to understand the meaning of public relations in media. By using Huttons (1999) public relations framework, this study analyzed the connotative meanings of public relations that influence the general publics understanding of public relations. The findings suggested that news stories primarily use the term public relations to suggest image building, reputation management, and persuasion efforts. The use of public relations terms was likely to refer to publicity, image, campaigns of persuasion, and marketing efforts to promote an organizations products or services. Contrary to the recent emphasis on public relations as relationship management, the overall news portrayal of public relations suggested a discrepancy between the normative definition of public relations and media usage in news stories. In particular, the results of this study reveal that negative connotations of public relations were overwhelmingly prevalent in news stories discussing public relations. For example, the phrases public relations disaster, public relations problem, and public relations debacle were frequently used when journalists wrote news stories about organizations. In most news stories, public relations was described as an image-building function and reputation management. The results demonstrated that the overwhelming majority of news story references to public relations are negative or unfavorable in tone. Only 37 of 303 references were classified as positive, with 142 neutral and 124 negative. There are multi-

TABLE 5 Organization Type and Primary Public Relations Purpose Primary Public Relations Purpose Public Information n 23 6 4a 7 40 % 14.7 12.8 22.2 10.3 13.2 n 6 3a 4a 9 Cause Related % 3.8 6.4 31.0 3.0 37 157 55.2 51.8 3a 8 4.5 2.7 Image or Reputation n 80 24 12 % 50.2 51.0 66.7 Relationship Management n 5a % 3.3 n 158 47 18 13 67 303

Persuasion Organization Business Federal or state government Nonprofit Citizen group Politician or celebrity Total n 42 11 2a 7 14 76 % 26.6 23.4 11.1 53.5 21.0 25.1

Advocacy n 2a 3a 2a 6 13 % 1.3 6.4 15.5 9.0 4.3

Total % 100 100 100 100 100 100

Note. 2(20) = 31.81, p < .05. aThe cells less than 5 are not included for overall calculation of the chi-square test.

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TABLE 6 Purposes of Public Relations and Connotations of Public Relations Terms Nuance Positive Primary Purpose Persuasion Advocacy Public information Cause related Image or reputation management Relationship management Total n 4a 9 2a 1a 21 37 % 5.3 69.2 5 11.2 13.4 12.2 Neutral n 15 2a 15 4a 102 4a 142 % 19.7 15.4 37.5 44.4 64.9 50 46.9 Negative n 57 2a 23 4a 34 4a 124 % 75.0 15.4 57.5 44.4 21.7 50 40.9 n 76 13 40 9 157 8 303 Total % 100 100 100 100 100 100 100

Note. 2(10) = 113.43, p < .001. aThe cells less than 5 are not included for overall calculation of the chi-square test.

ple definitions and meanings of public relations. Grunig and Hunt (1984) defined public relations as management of communication between an organization and its publics (pp. 1415). Given the results of the analysis of the term public relations, it appears that media professionals do not buy the normative definition when writing news stories. The adjectives added to public relations terms in news stories are most likely to be restricted to imagereputation management and persuasion efforts. Cancel, Cameron, Sallot, and Mitrook (1997) proposed contingency theory as an alternative to the normative theory of public relations. Cancel et al. argued that public relations practices encompass a wide range of functions from the extremes of pure advocacy to pure accommodation. Thus, they proposed that this continuum perspective better reflects public relations practices and strategies in a real world. The contingency theory emphasizes the primary function of public relationsthe accommodation of the interests of organizations employing public relations activitiesrather than the secondary consideration of the publics interests. In this vein, the use of public relations in news stories is generally perceived as an advocacy function. Although some public relations scholars and practitioners are now embracing two-way communication models that allow mutual understanding and accommodation, public relations has historically been practiced as publicity, persuasion, and media relations, which are primarily one-way directional communication. Given the widespread influence of mass media, negative connotations of public relations make it difficult to reframe the status of public relations in society. In recent years, public relations scholars have defined public relations as relationship management (Bruning, 2002; Bruning & Ledingham, 2000; Grunig & Huang, 2000; Ledingham & Bruning, 2000). Relationship management implies

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that public relations should be sought in the organizationpublic relationship and should result in beneficial outcomes to both publics and organizations. Clearly, media outlets are critical constituencies of public relations for an organization. Greater understanding of the news medias perceptions of public relations as perceived in news media may help public relations practitioners address the problem of distorted definitions of public relations in news stories. In general, public relations scholars define public relations as relationship management between an organization and its publics. Surprisingly, the results of this study show that personal public relations is perceived largely as the positioning and promotion of individuals to form a public identity. The study demonstrated that the news media frequently use public relations terms when describing politicians or celebrities in the news. As Morton (1999) pointed out, public relations for individuals is steadily emerging as a significant area of practice, yet little research and theoretical development is currently being undertaken in this area. The study of public relations references reveals that individuals practice positioning, image building, and positive forms of public identity creation. Given the frequent coverage of personal public relations, public relations research needs to include personal public relations in the future. One of this studys important findings is the close relation between the negative connotations of public relations and the organization type covered in the news stories. The majority of negative connotations centered on public relations failures, problems, and disasters. The results indicated that the definition of public relations was still understood as image making and reputation management. Often the term is used in a derogatory manner, such as public relations headache or public relations ordeal. In particular, business organizations facing a public relations problem were portrayed in a negative manner when the organizations had failed in imagereputation management. The analysis of public relations purposes based on news stories clearly indicated that the interpretation of public relations was narrowly defined as opposed to the normative definition advocated by scholars. Among the six dimensions of public relations purposes, almost half of the references to public relations referred to imagereputation management (51.8%), followed by persuasion effort (25.1%) and public information (13.2%). Even when the term public relations is understood as advocacy (4.3%), cause related (3.0%), and relationship management (2.6%), the overall references to public relations suggested one-directional communication to audiences. Although recent relationship management emphasizes mutual understanding and dialogic accommodation efforts by two sides, most current usage of public relations in the news predominantly referred to marketing, publicity, and campaign efforts for the purpose of image making. One common criticism of public relations definitions is that many academic definitions are too normative or idealistic rather than descriptive of public relations functions in contemporary business and politics. This studys analysis of the term public

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relations in news stories uncovers the actual understanding of public relations in mass media. A normative definition of public relations explains how public relations should be practiced (Grunig, 2000). Some scholars have defended an asymmetrical approach to public relations by arguing that the symmetrical model meant that organizations would have to abandon their self-interest, which they considered to be unrealistic as well as ill advised. In response to these criticisms, Grunig argued consistently that the symmetrical model actually serves the self-interest of the organization better than an asymmetrical model because organizations get more of what they want when they give up some of what they want (Grunig, 1992, p. 539). The analysis of connotative meanings of public relations terms indicated that news stories do not yet display favorable attitudes toward the term public relations. The dominance of image making as a public relations function exhibits a disparity between the academic definition and the lay persons understanding of public relations. Henderson (1998) suggested that education of journalists, editors, and columnists would remedy the misuse of the term public relations. However, the results seem to indicate that showing the effectiveness or the value of two-way communication by public relations practitioners would be a more convincing alternative to correct the restricted understanding of public relations among journalists. Unless public relations practitioners show the excellence of two-way public relations, news media are likely to continue their inaccurate uses of the term public relations. The results imply that public relations practitioners trying to pitch their clients stories need to understand the news value of these stories from the perspective of the news media. Two-way communication should begin with media relations via understanding news medias viewpoints. The generation of news coverage in the news media has been the central work of public relations for a long time. In line with the newly emerging framework of relationship management, media relations should be redefined to build an accurate definition of public relations for both news media and public relations practitioners.

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