Public Relations: Media Effects

Abstract

Public relations as an applied communication discipline Public relations is an applied communication discipline that is defined in many different ways. From an organizational perspective, public relations is concerned with maintaining and managing internal and external communication relationships of organizations (corporations, public agencies, nonprofit organizations) and individuals with key stakeholders. Public relations is concerned with influencing perceptions of organizations , persons, and public issues. From a normative perspective, public relations is a contested discipline because of its roots in propaganda and its proximity to marketing , advertising, and other forms of persuasive communication. A commonality of these communication disciplines is deliberateness: Communication efforts are always directed toward reaching certain effects. Desired effects of public relations entail information , attraction of attention, persuasion, engagement, or changes in attitudes and behavior. Public relations efforts aim at various stakeholders, for example customers, employers, voters, activists, or local communities. The news media are a key stakeholder for public relations efforts; therefore media effects are a particularly important effect of public relations efforts. Within the discipline of public relations, media relations emerged as a core activity. Media relations is such an essential activity in public relations because the news media are not just one of many stakeholder groups but perform unique functions in the process of public communication. They report on current affairs, provide background information , and are used not only by the general audience but also by political and economic decision makers. For organizations, the news media act as gatekeeper, disseminator, interpreter, and amplifier of public relations messages. From a public relations perspective , news media are a means to an end. Precisely because the general news media are perceived as being more impartial, public relations efforts focus on getting access to them. This effort is linked to the expectation that, by becoming part of the media coverage , particular interests of public relations gain public attention or are even perceived as general interests. In order to measure the media effects of public relations efforts, public relations scholars and practitioners developed a variety of formal and informal methods. In the early years of public relations, effects of public relations efforts on the media and on the public were simply taken for granted. Gradually the methods for measuring public relations effects were refined. Against the backdrop of ongoing media change, those methods have become more and more diverse and sophisticated.