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RESEARCH PRODUCT
Powered by public relations? Mutual perceptions of PR practitioners’ bases of power over journalism
Magdalena ObermaierThomas KochClaudia Riesmeyersubject
business.industryCommunicationmedia_common.quotation_subject05 social sciences050801 communication & media studiesFrench and Raven's bases of powerSpace (commercial competition)Public relationslanguage.human_languagePurchasingTest (assessment)German0508 media and communicationsArts and Humanities (miscellaneous)State (polity)Political sciencePerception0502 economics and businesslanguageJournalismbusiness050203 business & managementmedia_commondescription
Public relations practitioners depend on journalists to report information, and journalists count on public relations practitioners to provide information. This mutual dependence gives the two parties a degree of power over each other that can be wielded if certain resources are available. However, there are many unanswered questions about how public relations exerts power over journalists and how these influence attempts may affect news coverage. We differentiate six bases of power that public relations practitioners may use to influence journalists. To test the use of these bases of power, we conducted a quantitative survey among German journalists and public relations practitioners. Our results show that while public relations practitioners perceive themselves as exerting influence by providing information and maintaining good relationships, journalists state that public relations practitioners exert influence by putting pressure on journalists or by buying advertising space. Also, purchasing advertising space (reward power) and maintaining good contacts (expert power) account for the largest proportion of variance.
| year | journal | country | edition | language |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2017-09-17 | Journalism |