Influence of Public Relation on Journalism - Literature review Example

Influence of Public Relation on Journalism ID and of the of the Module: Word Count: Table of Contents Introduction 3 Comparison between Journalism and Public Relations 3 Models of Public Relation 4 Influence of Public Relation (PR) on Journalism 4 Nick Davies view on Public Relation and Journalism 5 Medialens’ Critique on Nick Davies Explanation 6 Alternative Explanation by Medialens 6 Conclusion 7 Reference List 8 Introduction The relationship between journalists and the practitioners of public relations has been widely researched over 80 years as well as extensively discussed in media and public forums. Public relations (PR) and journalism are considered as the two sides of similar coin. One side contain news it desire to get and the another side requires the news or information to cover (Curtis, 2011). In the past investigation of journalists’ approaches towards the public relations, it has been observed that journalists hardly ever acknowledge contributions of public relations practitioners. On the contrary, most of the journalists stated that they are never influenced by public relations and do not utilise information from the PR sources. ‘Flat Earth News’ author Nick Davies stated that the journalists have turned out to be the submissive processors of information that are provided by other people because of the reduced levels of journalistic staffs. Due to this, journalists get less time to research specific stories and to verify facts (Davies, 2008). The paper will focus on the impact of public relations on the journalism by taking into consideration the models of public relations as well as the comparison between the two. It will also highlight the view of Nick Davies on the public relation and journalism. Medialens opposed the viewpoint of Davis and provided their alternative explanation of the influence of PR on journalism (Medialens, 2008). Comparison between Journalism and Public Relations A journalist is accountable for collecting and selecting facts with the main purpose of enlightening the community with news. However, this news or information is not intended to influence the opinion of public in a definite direction. Due to this, the journalists write generally for the mass audience as well as publish their work by means of a single medium. On the contrary, the responsibility of PR practitioner is not only to enlighten the public about the news, but also to change the behaviour and attitudes of public to benefit a specific cause or organisation. Since the practitioners of public relation contains more specific message to communicate, their viewers are carefully segmented and selected for most favourable public relation (Clear and Weideman, 2002). Though the PR practitioners contain smaller group of audience or viewers, then also they have more means of communication than journalists, such as newspapers, social media, television, radio and magazines. Public relations include bringing good reputation for the company, whereas, journalism includes truths and facts. PR includes the personal message concerning the interest of company, whereas, journalism includes impersonal message and is concerned about the interest of general public (Lloyd and Toogood, 2014). Models of Public Relation Apart from presenting a functional perceptive or understanding of public relations in real practice, the system theory/hypothesis has aided the development of the PR models. There are four models of public relations which have evolved from the use of functionalist system hypothesis. Systems theory regards PR as a means through which a company can better control uncertainties (Duhe, 2007). The four models of PR are: press publicity, public information, two-way symmetric and two-way asymmetric model. The public information as well as press publicity models is linked to the closed systems. These two models are also known as one-way interaction or communication model. This type of interaction is carried out by means of the delivery of facts with little significance given to assessment or evaluation. This approach is defined as closed public relations because it offers no chance for the stakeholders to contribute or participate in the discussion with public. These approaches are used by the governments when publicising information about the new policies (Harrison, 2000). The two-way symmetric and two-way asymmetric model comes under the open system because they involve interaction and response from the public to gain common understanding. These two models are defined as the open PR. The two-way symmetric approach or model involves effectual interaction between the company and its stakeholders to achieve cooperation and understanding (Reddi, 2009). Influence of Public Relation (PR) on Journalism The connection between PR professionals and journalists is always considered as complicated. The public relations agents always seek to influence or manipulate journalists. In many areas, journalists would be pushed to perform their works without the agents of public relations. Journalists depend on public relation agents just as the politicians rely on lobbyists. For a public relations agent to become effective, they need to be acquainted with their selling skill i.e. how to sell the user with information or news that will not humiliate the journalist who utilises it. The actual problem in the journalism area is the reducing number of engaged or employed journalists. Most of the people who desired a career in the field of journalism are travelling across the border. PR is the selection of 65% of the students in the school of mass communications and journalism, though the schools of journalism that educates it be likely to refer to as ‘tactical/strategic communications’ that combines public relations and advertising (Culbertson and Chen, 2013). Journalism is growing weaker economically and the combined revenues of digital and print advertising dropped 55% from 2003-2013. On the other hand, the PR firms’ investment are increasingly dwarfing the journalistic entities or units even in the production capabilities and reporting areas (Cottle, 2003). Nick Davies view on Public Relation and Journalism Nick Davies, in his book “Flat Earth News” focused on the fact that there were normally more PRs in comparison to the journalists in the Great Britain. Even four years ago also there are more PRs and fewer journalists (Davies, 2008). In today’s world, public relations are becoming a great business. According to ‘The Holmes Report’, the revenues of global public relations accounts for $10 billion per year. The ratio of public relations to journalists also enthused in the similar direction in the US as in Britain (The Guardian, 2012). In US, the ratio of public relation experts to journalists increased from approx 1.2:1 in the year 1980 to almost 4:1 in the year 2010. The top firms of public relations view themselves in same level as the management consultancies and investment banks. The journalists are generally deluged with the press releases which frequently amount to ‘oven-prepared copy’ (The Guardian, 2012). Nick Davies stated that churnalism has occupied the position of what they should be doing i.e. enlightening the truth. Churnalism is generally a type of journalism which includes wire stories, press releases and other types of materials to generate articles in news media and newspaper to meet rising pressure of cost and time without undertaking any further checking or research. The decline or fall of journalism is associated with rise in the public relations. He also described that most of the people deem that the British journalism is contaminated or corrupted. Their work as a journalist or reporter is to inform the public about the fact, but repeatedly they fail in doing this. In the “Flat Earth News”, Davies pointed out the fact of three popular newsrooms (Davies, 2008). In ‘The Sunday Times’ he observed the decline of insight team as well as of fact-telling journalism. In ‘The Observer’ he traced the clever manipulation of the reporters by Downing Street and intelligence agencies. In ‘The Daily Mail’ he discovered that this newspaper distort and twist the news, which provide different meaning of the news or information to the public. According to Davies, where once the journalists were dynamic gatherers of reports and news, now they have become inactive processors of previously-owned material produced by wire agencies and PR industry. Most of the information flow in the stories without being correctly checked. This unyielding impact of the commercialisation has led to the shift of journalism to simple churnalism (Davies, 2008). Medialens’ Critique on Nick Davies Explanation Medialens include the arguments and critiques of several authors, political commentators and activists against the arguments made by Nick Davies in “Flat Earth News” book. Michael Savage, who is one of the radio host, nutritionist, political commentator and author, argued that the book of Davies is generally a no-holds-expelled assault on British media (Medialens, 2008). There were various criticisms against Nick Davies book that it goes too far from reality and is contaminated by the personal animosity. It has been alleged that most of the arguments of Davies were timely and powerful but also were unduly pessimistic. He took the assistance of insiders as well as outsiders to write his book. It means that the book was written by taking off-the-record support of the group of insiders who help to provide information for making the news (Medialens, 2008). Apart from this, he also used academic/outside sources for few factual materials but he didn’t take the assistance of outsiders for any analytical material. This is because; Nick Davies felt that the analysis of insider was what only valuable to him. He has been criticised on the grounds that he does not only overlook outsiders but also the insiders (Medialens, 2008). Alternative Explanation by Medialens To be apparent, it has been noticed that there is also merit in the book, “Flat Earth News” and is worth reading. It is because, Nick Davies in his book exposed mechanics of propaganda, distortion and falsehood by identifying names as well as telling the tales behind stories. He focuses mainly on run-up to Iraq war, which is supported by ‘The Observer’. Most of the arguments of Davies are considered as powerful (The Guardian, 2008). The British papers, due to their imperfections, have left to praise the Davies arguments. Their grip on honesty and fact is sometimes insubstantial, which makes Nick Davies’ disclosure of gloomy practices both important and welcoming. Some of the authors supported Davies book by stating that his analysis is reasonable, meticulously researched, fair and fascinating (The Guardian, 2008). Conclusion The impact of public relations within the companies has grown in current years. It is being viewed in terms of proactive means in order to build as well as establish relationships. The paper has focused on four models of public relations and shows the comparison between the journalism and public relations. Further, it focuses on the fact that how PR experts are dominating the service of journalists. In today’s world, public relations are becoming a great business. Nick Davies has been criticised for some of his statements in the book written by him. However, it has been explored that his analysis is reasonable and fair and his arguments are also powerful. The respect which is earned by PR experts provides evidence that they are active/dynamic at the board level within the organisations. So, they must persist to show their worth at this level inside the organisations. Due to recession, the external surroundings have undergone major transformation in the previous years. PR is placed to benefit from this because it will also assist the organisation to maintain connection with the general public during turbulent times. Reference List Clear, A. and Weideman, L., 2002. Dynamics of public relations and journalism: A practical guide for media studies. Claremont: Juta & Co, Ltd. Cottle, S., 2003. News, Public Relations and Power. New York: SAGE Publication. Culbertson, H.M. and Chen, N., 2013. International Public Relations: A Comparative Analysis. New York: Routledge. Curtis, A., 2011. Journalism and Public Relations Compared. [online] Available at: < http://www2.uncp.edu/home/acurtis/Courses/ResourcesForCourses/PublicRelations/Journalist_vs_PR_Professional.html> [Accessed 5 May 2015]. Davies, N., 2008. Nick Davies: ‘Churnalism has taken the place of what we should be doing: Telling the truth’. [online] Available at: < http://www.pressgazette.co.uk/node/40117> [Accessed 5 May 2015]. Duhe, S.C., 2007. New media and public relations. New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc. Harrison, S., 2000. Public Relations: An Introduction. Connecticut: Cengage Learning. Lloyd, J. and Toogood, L., 2014. Journalism and Public Relations: News media and PR in the digital age. New York: I.B. Tauris & Co. Ltd. Medialens., 2008. Flat Earth News – The Inside View – Part 1 & 2. [online] Available at: < http://www.medialens.org/index.php/alerts/alert-archive/2008/535-%20flat-earth-news-the-inside-view-part-1.html> [Accessed 5 May 2015]. Reddi, C.V.N., 2009. Effective public relations and media strategy. New Delhi: PHI Learning Pvt. Ltd. The Guardian, 2008. Flat Earth News. [online] Available at: < http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/feb/03/society> [Accessed 6 May 2015]. The Guardian, 2012. More PRs and fewer journalists threatens democracy. [online] Available at: http://www.theguardian.com/media/greenslade/2012/oct/04/marketingandpr-pressandpublishing.> [Accessed 6 May 2015]. Read More