Journalist and Pr Relationship
1.
The question for the essay is
“Journalism and Public Relations: Symbiosis or Parasitosis?”
Journalists and Public Relations (PR) practitioners interact with each other everyday as part of the process of news production. Journalists communicate towards public relations practitioners with requests for information or material to help produce the stories they are writing. While public relations practitioners advise stories and deliver journalists with information they have created themselves in hope to be published in the newspaper.
The relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners is, and has always been, complicated. The relationship between these two is one of mutually dependency if not symbiotic, but also ambivalent if not hostile. This ambiguous relationship has arisen due to the misconception of the outlook and the values of each profession. Shin and Cameron (2004) deem both parties bring conflict to the relationship through the nature of their roles and goals, and the values, attitudes and views they hold of each other (Callard, 2011). Journalist perception on public relations practitioners has a negative connotation to it, often troubled by the often about the levels of ‘information subsidy’ (Gandy, 1982) in the context of the way in which public relations material is able to shape the news by providing information that enables them to conform to there own agenda. Whereas public relations are concerned with the misunderstood perspective journalists have upon the role that public relations play. (Charron, 1989)
‘Journalists are said to strive for objectivity, fairness, accuracy, and balance, and do not withhold information, hide or advocate for particular agendas, or act unethically (Belz, Talbot, & Starck, 1989). Public relations is regarded as more subjective, serving the interests of the client first and foremost’ (White & Hobsbawm, 2007)
Although the tensions between the to industries may be strained, this
The question for the essay is
“Journalism and Public Relations: Symbiosis or Parasitosis?”
Journalists and Public Relations (PR) practitioners interact with each other everyday as part of the process of news production. Journalists communicate towards public relations practitioners with requests for information or material to help produce the stories they are writing. While public relations practitioners advise stories and deliver journalists with information they have created themselves in hope to be published in the newspaper.
The relationship between journalists and public relations practitioners is, and has always been, complicated. The relationship between these two is one of mutually dependency if not symbiotic, but also ambivalent if not hostile. This ambiguous relationship has arisen due to the misconception of the outlook and the values of each profession. Shin and Cameron (2004) deem both parties bring conflict to the relationship through the nature of their roles and goals, and the values, attitudes and views they hold of each other (Callard, 2011). Journalist perception on public relations practitioners has a negative connotation to it, often troubled by the often about the levels of ‘information subsidy’ (Gandy, 1982) in the context of the way in which public relations material is able to shape the news by providing information that enables them to conform to there own agenda. Whereas public relations are concerned with the misunderstood perspective journalists have upon the role that public relations play. (Charron, 1989)
‘Journalists are said to strive for objectivity, fairness, accuracy, and balance, and do not withhold information, hide or advocate for particular agendas, or act unethically (Belz, Talbot, & Starck, 1989). Public relations is regarded as more subjective, serving the interests of the client first and foremost’ (White & Hobsbawm, 2007)
Although the tensions between the to industries may be strained, this