Coast Guard public relations practitioners and journalists rely on an established and mutually beneficial relationship with each other. They each have assertive goals: public relations practitioners seek to have their organizational messages published, and journalists seek out information, and story leads for publication. Converging media markets also demand more photos, video, and audio in stories, which give readers an immersive experience. Guided by the Hierarchy of Influences and Framing theory, this study employs a multi-method approach with in-depth interviews of journalists, and a content analysis of press releases and news items. This is designed to examine current Coast Guard public affairs practitioner and journalist relationships, as well as multimedia placement in news publication. Findings show that building and maintaining relationships between Coast Guard communicators and journalists requires nuanced dedication from one another, transparency, and above all, honesty. Additionally, content analysis showed that multimedia has a statistically significant impact on a Coast Guard’s press release publication potential.
