Description
Organizations rely on the work of public relations professionals to build and maintain relationships. Media relations is a primary function of public relations, and it is the intersection of a unique relationship that exists between journalists and public relations practitioners. Previous published research showed journalists maintain pervasive negative perceptions of the general public relations field but report positive individual relationships with practitioners. Guided by framing theory this study employs a multi-method approach of content analysis and survey data to examine the state of the relationship between the Coast Guard public affairs profession and the journalists who work to cover their stories. The findings from those surveyed (N = 58) support the trend that individual relationships between journalists and public relations practitioners are positive and continue to improve. This study found this was based on practitioners being perceived as credible, expert sources by journalists with whom informational transactions occur. The findings from the analysis of the sampled press releases (N = 45) also found the amount of news values present impacted media coverage. The implications of this study serve to advance new definitions of framing theory and confirm the legacy gatekeeping role of journalists. This research also informs the evolution of the relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists.
