The role of public relations in the shaping of news - Essay Example

 The role of public relations in the shaping of news 1. Introduction Journalism is the method of research and inquiry that provides information to readers by dissemination and analysis of news and by analysing various sources of information. A journalist acts as a 'watchdog' on behalf of the public and puts forth, events, without bias, fear or favour to vested interests. Journalists in the earlier era wrote for the print media made up of printed newspapers and magazines and with the advent of TV and the internet, we now have TV journalist and online authors. However, the tenets, code of ethics and high levels of personal integrity remain the same and people who indulge in corruption, those who take to crime and other offenses fear journalists for the intense public outcry that the create. Since the past century, when journalism became an established and highly respected practice, journalists have helped to shape news and public opinion. While journalism involves creative writing and plagiarism is abhorred, a few journalists and media houses have taken up an unhealthy practice called 'Churnalism'. This is a form of journalism in which press releases given out by the Public Relations agencies and news agencies are copy/ pasted to create content for print and online media, without verifying the news or investigating the issues. This has given rise to the 'internet bound writer' whose main source for news and creative ideas is the Internet. Field and investigating journalism that once made erring national leaders and business barons wait with dread for the morning paper is now nonexistent. Taking its place is the ubiquitous PR release that forms the main news source. Overall, crime stories see the highest Churnalism with PR release sent by police departments. PR releases by businesses and NGOs find some more publishers among journalists. (Davies, 2009). The dangers of this 'churnalism' are manifold. There is a strong indication that the PR agency, that releases the news releases are tendentious and in favour of the entity, that pays the agency. For such agencies, truth and facts are secondary and they tend to pile calumnies, distort news, and twist facts until the resulting story meets their prescribed line of thought. Such reports create more trouble when ill-advised journalists, media and newspapers pick up the stories and regurgitate them. The media then acts as a force multiplier and consumes the media bandwidth with such parlous writing. Rationale public opinion is then moulded as the paid news acts as a puissant force to change public opinion. What is even worse is the end of creative writing and investigative journalism (Curtin and Rhodenbaugh, 2001). With this background, this paper examines a case study of Churnalism where parts of content from a PR release and reports were copied by other publications. The paper presents a chapter on the subject of PR and its importance, the perceived hostility of journalists towards PR followed by a detailed discussion of the case. The problem of assessing the authenticity and reliability of articles has become increasingly difficult. To bring some order into the system, many publications have come together to form the Sunlight Foundation's Churnalism website (Sunlight Foundation, 2014). The website uses an open source search engine that allows editors to check the authenticity of an article. They can enter large chunks of text into a text box given in a page of the website and click the submit button. The open source search engine then runs a check to evaluate the extent of match in the words and sentences with other content online. The website compares and checks the content against a large number of PR websites such as PR News Wire. PR News Web, Market Wire and others. Matching text from the document that is undergoing a test is displayed in yellow highlights. The technique is somewhat familiar to the online plagiarism-checking tool used in college, such as 'Turn it in'. In any case, the effort shows the extent to which Churnalism has impacted online publication. The Guardian first released the news about the churn detector and then the content was churned by many publications such as PCWorld, Boing Boing, Ars Technica, The Atlantic, Digital Trends and many other online newspapers, blogs and websites (Page, 2013). However, despite the availability of the churn detector, journalists continue their perchance of copy/ pasting news items. Many times, the copied content can be rewritten and paraphrased with minimal effort and in a few minutes. However, journalists prefer to churnalise either out of laziness, indifference or they do not fear being caught. 1.1 Brief description of the Churnalism case The case study is actually a narration of events where a number of newspapers copied a report released by the Benenden Healthcare Society that released a report quoting a poll stating, "British women spend more money on their looks than their health" (Benenden Health, 2011). The catchy headline and subject impressed many publications and a number of newspapers picked up the story copied it almost verbatim and published it. Some of the publications included Mirror, Sun and the Express and the Daily Mail copied almost 98% of the story. A defined pattern of crony journalism appears along with churnalism, I will call the 'crony churnalism' where a certain publication appears to accept a large number of PR releases from a specific newspaper. It appears that PR releases from Asda and Tesco are picked by the Daily Mail while Waitrose features a number of its press release in The Guardian. These newspaper are extremely well respect and have earned a very good reputation with their frank and fearless reporting on political and financial matters. However, in such incidents the newspaper exposes it desperate need to cover the maximum content and subjects using the available methods (Franklin, et al, 2010). What is more surprising is that initial news reports on this churnalism event was also churnalised and the same sentences appeared in a number of publication. Please refer to the following screen shots given from different publications. This is an extreme example of churnalism on churnalism. Figure 1.1 News from MHP Books (Bogle, 2014) Figure 1.2. Same news Churnalised 1 (UTV, 2011) Figure 1.3. Same news Churnalised 2 (Lewis, 2011) Figure 1.4. Same news Churnalised 3 (Before its News, 2011) Figure 1.5. Same news Churnalised 3 (Vigalant Citizen, 2011) Churnalism is also a type of plagiarism; however, the PR agency that releases the document appears to actively aid and abet wide dispersion of the same news and a large number of publications copy and paste the article. A reduced budget and a reduction in the number of staff in a publishing house, forces the existing staff to compromise on their publishing standards' and the result is a content that is plagiarised by a large number of newspaper, print and offline. The fact that a large variety of publications appears to take up this kind of work indicates a greater acceptance of this practice but it does not cover the fact that the writers are plagiarising the work of another writer. 2. Literature Review The journalist and the PR agencies are often friends and foes, with each having their responsibilities and roles. The role of the PR agency is to present news that highlights their achievements of the clients and ignore the negative aspects. The journalist on the other hand investigates the matter and presents a balanced through where the focus is not just on the positive or negative but attempt to balance the issues (Bosanac and Mandić, 2009). 2.1. The PR Agency and its importance to Journalists Traditionally, PR news was relegated to the products and product advertisement of a large number of firms. The focus was source reported news where the reporter went personally to the site or obtained news from a stringer who visited to site to obtain the required news item. However, with globalisation and increased pressure the TV media, the journalist often needed to compete with the TV and get out stories quick enough so that the online news was synchronised to the TV news. This led to a special breed of writers, extremely with web technologies and who could search for the require news from multiple sources, and publish them even when it became apparent that the journalist could not verify the news story. In this context, the Journalist welcome the PR agency since they provided ready to use PR releases and the journalist only had to copy paste from the document (Cameron, et al, 1995). An article by McCombs and Shaw (1972) suggests that the media and the PR agencies cannot tell their readers what to think but they do succeed in telling people what to think about. The media therefore is important in bringing awareness of a subject among the readers and in initiating a debate among them. PR sets the program for the media since the source in source reporter interactions is done through a PR client or customer and in some cases advertisers that pay huge sums of money to a publication. Modest estimations indicate that PR relations influence around 25%-50% of news content in Europe and USA. In some instances, the estimates place it at 80%. This indicates that well funded organisations that can hire PR agencies with sufficient reach and contacts in the media are assured of a place in the news mainly because of the brand and money power and not necessarily due to news worthiness. Such an observation is rather harsh since the credibility of the media is at stake and publishing stories with substance would place the publication a bad position (Jorgensen and Hanitzsch, 2012). On the other hand, it also becomes apparent that firms with lesser or no PR budget would find the situation tough and they would barely find mention in the news. Since journalists and media gatekeepers cannot cover all events, the PR person plays a useful and helpful role for the news media. The PR reporter carries out many functions in organisation and relates their organisations worldviews to the reporters and relay reporters' questions to the organisation. Therefore, a PR person acts as a buffer between an organisation and the press (Wilcox, 1995). A report by Curtin and Rhodenbaugh (2001) indicates that the authors accuse of PR people of providing content to journalists that focuses and pr-empts a certain agenda. While these accusations have some value since a few instances indicate this behaviour the majority of other instances do not force the journalist to promote a product or view that is dangerous to the society or harms them. As an example, the recent oil leakage and spill in the Gulf of Mexico was a totally unpardonable act. No PR agency could ever claim that the disaster was false and that BP, the offending firm was not at fault. The PR conference and PR kit are two tools that customers and clients of PR agencies use to woo and win over even the most sceptical journalist. It usually has glossy material, brochures, pens, and other gift items. Some firms attempt to pass on vacation booking, basket of chocolates or spirits, all in the hope of being on the right side of the journalist. There is a fine line between gifts for services rendered and bribes for past and future services and favours (Singer, 2006). In any case, Churnalism receives a boost when journalists obtain ready to use PR news, all neatly packaged and that they can directly use in a copy. The problem however appears when a large number of journalists receive the same copy and they publish it verbatim without effort at rewriting and paraphrasing. 2.2. PR Agency and journalists hostile to them Professional journalists and those with some years experience seem to have a hostile attitude towards PR agencies .In a recent publication, the editor indicated that the job of PR people is to call you up and convince you to carry their news. However, this does not mean that one should listen to them. Rather, their handouts can go directly into the dustbin". Journalists charge PR agencies of unethical and manipulative practices that are deceptive and one sided. However, PR people in a subdued manner indicate that PR people are self righteous people who have a narrow and self righteous view of the work, they also feel very self important, but in reality, contribute nothing original. In these debates, the subject of Churnalism is central to the fight between the PR person and the journalist (Harcup, 2002). In the early years of 1900s, PR people were derisively called as 'flacks' and 'publicity crooks' that sought free advertisements for special interests, faked stunts and reduced public confidence in the media. PR people acted as barriers for legitimate reporting of stories and they violated the basic news of writing stories. However, all these incidents happened on the previous century when journalists used the typewriter and the plain old telephone system (Dornfeld, 1983). With the advent of globalisation, journalists realised that PR people could indeed help them; however, they distrusted the news items and stories that were given to them. Journalists of the early years were often ill paid and they worked very long hours, often sitting with criminals and other dregs of the society. The PR people on the other hand had a relatively soft job with better pay and they did not have to visit courtrooms and poor houses (Henderson, 1998). As seen from the previous discussion, it becomes apparent that a love-hate relation exists between the PR person and the journalist. For Churnalism to succeed a give and take, relation is needed between them and any lack of trust can vitiate the relation. 2.3. Is the Fourth estate compromised? The previous sections discussed the manner in which the PR person and the journalist remain friends and allow Churnalism to grow and in the second section, we saw the manner in which the journalist and the PR person are at loggerheads and the obvious fallout is that Churnalism is at risk. However, the main question that arises is if the fourth estate is compromised. Lewis (et al, 2008) carried out a research to understand the extent to which the media adopts news items from PR releases. A study of 2207 items from important newspapers from UK such as Daily Mail, Guardian, The Times, Independent, and Daily Telegraph was done. This was followed up with radio and TV study of 402 items that features in reports by BBC Radio 4, BBC News, ITV News and SkyNews to find the link and identify the influence of specific PR material on these media, indicated a high level of relation (Lewis, et al, 2008). This development raises questions about the neutrality of the news media and if strong PR, probably accompanied by Churnalism and advertisement helps to propound a specific point of view (Larsson, 2002). Journalists face intense pressure to increase their productivity and the pagination and 'hits' of their pages in online pages must increase substantially as this allows a publication to increase the ads displayed on such pages and increase it in the popularity index. As a result, journalists are sometimes forced to seek out specific PR agencies that offer news of a specific nature and quality to them. In some cases, journalists prefer certain amount of aloofness and not like a cosy arrangement since this can compromise the integrity of journalists and they risk being called as collusive. To avoid compromise and conflict, journalists assume the position of a watchdog of power organisations and industries and such behaviour suggests a certain level of independence (Lewis, et al, 2006). 3. Discussions The previous discussions examined the role of Churnalism in the current media an examination of various media indicates a similarity in content and tone across them. Some editors may adopt a critical and sarcastic tone when writing about a topic. However, substantial portions are copied and reproduced verbatim and this aspect is 'mass plagiarism'. A pressing need in taking up such mass plagiarism by a large number of media is not evident. If one or two publications copy the PR news release and pass it off as their own, it may be an aberration. However, when a large number of respectable news media adopt Churnalism, then it appears that a devious and insidious force is at work here. Media editors are somehow lulled into a false sense of security when they obtain PR news and include it in their publication to avoid the work of rewriting the document. However, the PR persons would have their own agenda and subtly take on a tone and stance, suppress or highlight facts that are not very evident but that point to a certain vested interest. The danger is amplified when other publications take the same content and reproduce it in their publications. A large number of readers tend to believe the content that he reads and when other publications repeat the same findings and corroborate it. This kind of a practice forms a common public opinion and people tend to agree with the large number of publications that spew out the same content. This is an example of the manner in which PR agencies use Churnalism to shape a news item or goad people to have a certain viewpoint and opinion. However, it is wrong to assume that all PR agencies and their customers are evil and are out to corrupt or misguide the people. Usually, smaller firms remain away from the opportunity that Churnalism provides. However, a case study of a small project by a Scholl proved very successful. The case is about a campaign that asked people in Norfolk to encourage the appreciation of the local dialect in schools. The school headmaster wrote a press release on a typewriter and used the services of a group called "the small Friends of Norfolk Dialect group" and sent the release to a total of 13 regional outlets and a number of regional news outlets and agencies. The chairman sent the press release to a local radio station showed interest in the story along with news agencies and the story gained popularity (Barkham, 2006). Eventually, the story made it to national papers such as 'The Times', 'the Guardian' and other national media, all of who reproduced the press release. Many other national dailies and TV stations showed interest along with BBC that asked them to help in creating more content through information and programming (Richards, 2006). 4. Conclusion The paper discussed the importance of journalism and PR agencies and the manner in which they shape news and public opinion. The subject of Churnalism assumes significance here since it becomes clear that journalists must remain productive and increase their output. However, the existing workload does not permit them to do more work and travel is limited since they cannot travel overseas to research and follow up on a story. The only choice it appears is to use the PR material, review the content and write a new document after research on the internet. If the journalist is too tired, then he would copy paste major parts and pack up the story. Thus, Churnalism is achieved and the PR agency has helped to shape news in a small way. It was seen that PR agencies use their news releases and get their view published and an unwary journalist carries the content with verifying the implications and facts. This in turn indicates that PR agencies play a role in shaping public opinions. References Barkham, P., 2006. ‘‘Norfolk Schools Seek to Reclaim Derided Dialect’’. The Guardian, 23 March, p. 15 Before its News, 2011. How PRs have taken over the media. Accessed 21 May 2014 from http://beforeitsnews.com/alternative/2011/02/how-prs-have-taken-over-the-media-441335.html Benenden Health, 2011. Study reveals changing attitudes to 'middle age'. Accessed 21 May 2014 from https://www.benenden.co.uk/media-centre/study-reveals-changing-attitudes-to-middle-age/ Bogle , A., 2014. Churnalism: helping you read journalism and not press releases. 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