JOURNALISM, PUBLIC RELATIONS AND

THE MEDIA: ASSIGNMENT ONE

March 20, 2017 nicoledaybellmedia

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 1

It is important to understand the difference between journalism and public relations and the way
that they work together. News Journalism and Public Relations: A Dangerous Relationship
(Maloney, 2013) discusses the way in which PR has begun to infiltrate journalism. As PR has
become a more readily available source to much less powerful clients, it is more widely used
within the media, allowing more favourably manufactured stories to be published. The pressure
upon journalists to create more stories has also contributed to this change, resulting in PR
material filtering directly into the news without facts and sources being checked independently
by journalists. For readers, this can blur the line between what is the objective truth and what is
not. Public Relations: Truth, Trust, Transparency and Integrity (Davies, 2008), highlights this
as the main issue between the two, as publishing unchecked and often biased facts from PR
sources conflicts the agenda of journalism.

Whilst elements of public relations are extremely important to journalism (i.e.- statements from
the prime minister) other areas are heavily biased. However, I dont necessarily agree that the
infiltration of favourable PR is always negative. Whilst journalism uncovers the truth, it is fair to
say that certain areas, such as articles written about celebrities, arent always written from an
objective angle. Favourable reporting is important to these people to balance out negative press.

My opinions are supported by the supplementary reading, which argues that not all forms of
journalism have the purpose of exposing the truth. Many areas of journalism are for
entertainment value, and the success of this often relies on being economical with the truth. This
raises the issue of whether public relations and journalism are all that different. This is an
opinion I agree with, as soft journalism can be made more interesting through merging with PR
(for example, advertorials).

Overall these readings have furthered my understanding of the use of PR and the way that it can
shape public opinion. Whilst I dont believe it to be in issue in areas of soft journalism, it has
made me realise the extent of which the public can be deceived by information that is disguised
as journalism and how I believe this to be wrong. To further research, a study could be
undertaken from these readings to reveal the publics perception of the media and whether they
are aware which journalistic features contain elements of public relations. This could be done
using surveys and interviews.

Bibliography
Davies, F. 2008. Public Relations and Journalism: Truth, Trust, Transparency and Integrity. In
Occasional Working Paper Series, Volume One, Issue One.

Moloney K, Jackson D & McQueen D, 2013 News Journalism and Public Relations: A
Dangerous Relationship in Journalism: New Challenges, Karen Fowler-Watt and Stuart Allan
(eds) Centre for Journalism & Communication Research, Bournemouth University

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 2

An extreme use of PR is spin doctoring. Spinning the War: How PR Made the First Gulf War
(Tynan, 2011), discusses the relationship between journalism, PR and the way in which the
media influenced public opinion during the Gulf War. The reading explores the way in which
lack of media censorship during the Vietnam War allowed distressing content to be published in
the media, making the American public oppose the US military. To avoid the same distribution
of information in the future, censorship was introduced and was first enforced in the First Gulf
War. Only certain journalists had access to information from the military and even then, there
were several restrictions in terms of what could be publicised. The information, often in the form
of press releases, was shaped by the public relations team to downplay the damage and limit the
extent that people knew about what was going on so that they continued to support the war
effort.

This topic is relevant as it brings up the issue of what should be available in the public domain.
Whilst I agree that media coverage of serious and sensitive issues such as war needs to be
censored to a certain degree, I dont believe that it should have the influence of public relations.
It is my opinion that it is the peoples right to know the realities of war and what is going on in
the world that they live in. The example of the Kuwaiti babies supports my opinion also. The
reading explores a PR stunt which fabricated a story and testimony that Iraqi soldiers were
killing premature babies. This persuaded many Americans to support the Gulf War based upon
false information.

Packaging Politics (Franklin, 2004) summarises my own opinion, calling out the use of spin
doctoring as being misleading, not persuading. It focuses on the spin doctoring used in politics
and the way in which politicians rely more on presentation than content. The same principle
however applies, that there is a fine line between persuasion and misleading. I believe this form
of PR seems to be abused by those who have power (government, military etc) to achieve their
own agenda.

This weeks reading has made me consider the consequences of the ability of PR being used
wrongly. To further research, I would suggest investigating the way that the public responds to
spin, for example the Kuwaiti Babies case. This could be done through interviews and focus
groups to reveal how easy it is to detect spin methods.

Bibliography
Franklin B, 2004 Packaging Politics: Political Communications in Britains Media Democracy
2nd edition, London, Bloomsbury.

Tynan L, 2011 Spinning the War: How PR Made the First Gulf War in Bainbridge, J. et al
(eds.) Media & Journalism, 2nd
edition, S. Melbourne: Oxford University Press

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 3

Both journalism and PR both have power over shaping the publics opinion. A Compromised
Fourth Estate? (Lewis et al, 2008) researches to what extent journalistic work is a replica of PR
material. The findings show that a lot of journalism is sourced from PR material, the main areas
being favourable to business and government. It discusses the way in which the everyday
practice of journalism now is heavily reliant on include information provided by PR sources. The
nature of public relations is to be covert in asserting their agenda and the research proves much
of the news is no longer independent journalism. This surprised me and made me feel differently
about how trusting I am of the information given to by journalists. I was more aware of the
dependency upon PR material in print journalism, but oblivious to the way it is used in broadcast
journalism. We rely on the media for a lot of our information about the world and we trust that
their reporting is factual, not favourable. The covert nature of PR means that readers are often
unaware to detect these subjective articles.

I think that stories in broadcast media are less reliant on PR material because of industry
regulations and because of the need to add context to the story as it becomes visual and audible
content. The reading highlights that the infiltration of public relations is not always problematic.
This could include promotion of charities, for example. This is an area of PR that I think is
beneficial to the industry as it gives publicity to causes that would otherwise be unnoticed.

A study by Moloney (2015) highlights how pre-packaged releases speed up the process of
finding and writing stories, helping journalists to meet pressures and deadlines. Without pre-
packaged stories, the demands of the modern journalism industry would not be met. This is a key
reason as to why more PR material infiltrates the media. However, this ready-made news has
also encouraged journalists to become lazier, offering the alternative view that it isnt public
relations that is compromising the trust of independent journalism, but the lazy journalists who
publish the material unchecked and unedited. It is their responsibility and job to investigate and
check facts before publishing them.

Whilst I understand the pressures of the industry, it seems that journalists themselves are partly
to blame for the decline of independent journalism. To further research this topic, I would
undertake qualitative interviews with journalists to get their views on why and how they choose
to publish so much pre-packaged news.

Bibliography

Jackson D and Moloney K, 2016 Inside Churnalism: PR, Journalism & Relationships in Flux,
Journalism Studies [online], Accessed from:
http://www.tandfonline.com.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/doi/full/10.1080/1461670X.2015.1017597?scroll
=top&needAccess=true [Accessed 19th February 2017]

Lewis J et al. 2008 A Compromised Fourth Estate? UK News Journalism, Public Relations and
News Sources Journalism Studies, Vol.9, Issue 1 pp. 1-20

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 4

This week we have looked at celebrity culture and the media. Journalism relies heavily on
celebrities to create news. Stories about those in the public eye encourage people to buy and read
newspapers/magazines. The Economy of the Celebrity (Turner, 2004) discusses the way
celebrities are managed within the media and the effect this has on modern journalism.
Celebrities often have a publicist who manages their image. As celebrity stories are regarded as
being highly newsworthy, journalists are keen to cooperate with publicists to be successful in
achieving their own agenda. Publicists can control exactly what is written about a celebrity by
negotiating the terms on which information and access is given to the journalist. More recently,
celebrity gossip magazines have become more popular and rely on trivial information such as
secret sources and paparazzi images, meaning they are no longer as heavily reliant on publicists
to aid them in their stories. Therefore, more supposed scandals and speculations are beginning to
be published.

Tabloid newspapers tend to rely on the news values of celebrity and negativity to create good
stories, something which can have a detrimental impact on a celebritys career. A publicist is
needed to offer an alternative angle and to maintain the persons reputation. This further raises
the question of whether journalism is remaining objective when articles of this style are
published, with fabricated sources and subjective images. I personally can see why publicists
would want to negotiate terms and become necessary in maintaining the reputation of a public
figure, but I feel a line must be drawn. Celebrity Publicists Pulling all the Strings (Keogh,
1999) highlights the extremities publicists will go to in order to manipulate the news agenda,
discussing how coverage of Tom Cruises persona was managed in 2000. Journalists were not
allowed to print anything which presented him in a derogatory manner and they were also
required to destroy unused footage. This is further evidence to show how much PR controls what
information we receive. It is my opinion that if PR continues to take over, trust in the media will
be lost and everything will eventually become fake news.

If I were to further research this reading I would interview celebrities featured in gossip style
magazines as I feel this is a perspective overlooked. Whilst the effects of the public relations and
journalism industry are explored, the reason behind this (the effects of either industry on the
career of the celebrity itself) has not.

Bibliography

Keogh, J, 1999. Celebrities publicists pulling all the strings Telegram & Gazette, C2. ISSN
10504184. [online] Accessed from:
http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/docview/268746360?pq-origsite=summon
Accessed: 27th February 2017

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 5

The rise of the internet and digital media has changed the way the world works. The Future of
Journalism: Networked Journalism (Van Der Haark, Parks and Castell, 2012) explores the effect
of digital media upon the journalism and PR industries. There are positives and negatives to both
industries. The internet allows for more stories than ever to be published, but has also put a strain
on the industry. Many people prefer to read the news online as opposed to buying a newspaper,
mainly because it is free. This has declined the print industry. However, digital media has also
provided journalists with a plethora of information. Social media, for example, can be used by
journalists as a free and current database to find stories, witnesses and potential leads. This can
help journalists put together content much quicker. However, as anyone can post anything
online, social media and citizen journalism is not always a credible source. This has declined the
principle of objective journalism, as nowadays, anybody can be a journalist.

Digital media has also impacted the PR industry. We Predict a Riot? Public Order Policing,
New Media Environments and the Rise of the Citizen Journalist (Greer and McLaughlin , 2010)
demonstrates the negative impact on the industry. It highlights the case of Ian Tomlinson who
died at the G20 protests. The extensive resources of police PR meant that news reports stated an
autopsy concluded he died of a heart attack. However, several weeks later a video emerged
online which showed the police beating and pushing Tomlinson to the floor where he later died
of internal bleeding. This is an example of where citizen journalism and digital media has
triumphed. The internet enables normal people to regain power over the media. Whilst this is
perhaps a negative impact on the industry, I believe it is for the best. I dont agree that
supposedly trusted figures of society should be able to manipulate the public and abuse their
power.

I think there are pros and cons to the impact of digital media on these industries but ultimately, I
believe that they must evolve and learn to use technology such as online platforms and
immersive journalism to their advantage. Whilst I believe it has damaged print journalism, I
think broadcast and online journalism has replaced it. I have a greater understanding of the way
that digital media has altered both practices. To build upon this research, I would undertake an
investigation into how much citizen journalism features in the mainstream media. I would do this
through content analysis.
Bibliography

Bregtje Van Der Haak, Michael Parks, & Manuel Castells (2012) The Future of Journalism:
Networked Journalism in International Journal of Communication Vol 6 feature 2923-2938

Greer C and Mcalughlin E (2010) We Predict a Riot? Public Order Policiing, New Media
Environments and the Rise of the Citizen Journalist in The British Journal of Criminology
(2010), Volume 50, Issue 6. Accessed from: https://academic-oup-
com.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/bjc/article-lookup/doi/10.1093/bjc/azq039 Last accessed: 10th March
2017

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 6

The Political economy of New News Environment (Freedman, 2010) analyses the way in
which the UK news industry has changed over time. The biggest impact on the industry has been
the improvement in technology, resulting in the decline of print journalism. The traditional
business model for news is now outdated. Due to the low cost of internet businesses, there are
more places than ever to find news, another reason that national newspapers are beginning to
lose readers.

However, the reading also highlights that there is still a very healthy appetite for news (pp 49).
Whilst the internet has challenged the industry, there are many coping mechanisms to enable
news outlets to stay afloat. These include advertising, cost cutting (journalists providing both a
physical and online copy of each article they produce) and online subscriptions. The saturation of
the online industry makes it difficult for significant amounts of money to be made from
advertising. If this form of revenue devalues, the financial capacity of journalism will drop as
people are increasingly unwilling to pay for online content. However, The Business of Media
(Long and Wall, 2012) highlights an interesting point that news providers use readers as a
commodity, creating a niche audience to construct their articles for. The internet makes this even
easier to reach specific audiences, therefore if online news providers demonstrate the ability to
reach specific audiences, their advertising space will become extremely valuable to other
companies and create huge revenue.

The main statistic in the reading which surprised me was that only 6% of people use the internet
as their main source of news content. I thought this would be a lot higher, and it made me think
differently about the extent of which the political economy is changing and whether the internet
is the real reason behind this alteration. I personally believe that a key reason for the decline in
journalism is trust in the media. The public have become more aware of PR tactics and news
agendas, so want to read independent work and use other sources, rather than learn from news
corporations with their own agendas (ie The Sun). For further research, I think I would interview
people in focus groups and ask them about their opinions on whether their trust in the media has
changed the way they choose to access news, as I feel that this is an issue not explored in the
reading about the potential reasoning behind much of the changes in the industry.

Bibliography

Freedman, D (2010) The Political Economy of New News Environment in Natalie Fenton,
(ed) New Media, Old News. London: Sage Publications

Long P and Wall T (2012) The Business of Media in Media Studies: Text, Production, Context
2nd edition, London: Taylor and Francis

NICOLE DAYBELL 16112158 READING DIARY WEEK 7

Researching Media Institutions and the Cultural Industries gives an insight into researching the
media industries. It defines cultural industries the production or distribution of art, entertainment
or information. The reading highlights different aspects to consider when approaching an area of
media research. Understanding the objectives of the producer in a cultural industry is key in any
research. One of these objectives is usually financial motivation, and it must be understood that
most cultural producers have this objective to also understand the context in which their work is
produced. The goal of academic research is to facilitate the growth of knowledge. The reading
explains that much of the existing research in this field is not academic but has functional
purpose for example to help a company achieve its own objectives or understand their
audience.

Society also plays a key role in research. A Marxist view considers the effects of society and
ideologies upon cultural industries. The concept of society and its beliefs directly affect media
content. Businesses, government and social groups all have their own ideologies to enforce.
Those with more power are more likely to be successful in enforcing their ideology. Applying
theories of ideologies to your research can create a deeper understanding to the way it has been
constructed and links back to the objectives of the industry whether that be for financial or
personal gain. The Use of Theory in Research (Klein and Stewart, 2015) highlights the
importance of using theoretical approaches as it informs and improves the quality of your
research. Theories help to provide explanations for the results of research, and adds a wider
contextual understanding.

A point of research needs to be specific to be successful. A broad subject is difficult to research

effectively and the reading suggests a focused aspect of the media with a precise methodology
will work best. Different methodologies work best for different types of research, for example
audience studies are best paired with interviews, whilst research about a company is compatible
with archive research. The reading has made me ensure I consider choosing a research topic
which is accessible. Source orientated research requires a lot of evidence and documents, some
of which can be accessed from university libraries.
As well as this, the reading offers direction with conducting qualitative research, such as
interviews. Choosing appropriate interviewees who can give the information required is just as
important as planning precise questions which will give you the information you need. This
reading has given me a greater understanding of how to approach media research to ensure the
outcome is successful.

Bibliography

Stokes, J (2003) How to do media & cultural studies, chapter 4. London: Sage Publications

Stewart, D & Klein, S (2016) The Use of Theory in Research in The International Journal of
Clinical Pharmacy. Accessed from
http://link.springer.com.ezproxy.bcu.ac.uk/article/10.1007%2Fs11096-015-0216-y Last
Accessed: 16 March 2017