Coy Callison

Media relations and the Internet: how Fortune 500 company web sites assist journalists in news gathering

A content analysis of all 2001 Fortune 500 Company Web sites was conducted to determine how corporations are using the Web to meet the informational needs of journalists. Analyses revealed that the majority of Web sites do not have dedicated press rooms where media content is centralized. In press rooms, news releases, executive biographies and executive photographs are the most commonly included materials. Statistical analyses suggest that higher-ranking companies more often provide press rooms and materials in press rooms than lower-ranking companies.

Imagery Effects on the Selective Reading of Internet Newsmagazines

An Internet newsmagazine was created, involving all features of online interactivity. The text of all available reports was held constant. The imagery of a subset of articles was manipulated, however. The manipulated articles were presented either without images, with text-related innocuous images, or with text-related threatening images in both their headline displays and their text bodies. During a fixed period of time, readers were free to sample articles and to read as much of them as they pleased. Unbeknownst to them, their selective exposure behavior was automatically recorded. It was observed that the incorporation of threatening images fostered more frequent selection of the associated articles and markedly increased reading times of the corresponding texts. The incorporation of innocuous images had similar but more moderate effects. Retrospective accounts of reading were consistent with the recorded exposure behavior.

Effects of Lead Framing on Selective Exposure to Internet News Reports

With headlines and texts held constant, the subheads of articles embedded in an Internet newsmagazine were manipulated in an overview from which articles could be selected. In a control condition, the lead, indicating deplorable happenings,was framed in a factual manner.In the other conditions,the leads were framed either in terms of conflict between feuding parties, the unfolding of disastrous occurrences, the emotional upheaval and agony suffered by the victims of these occurrences, or the economic implications of the incidents. Selective exposure to the articles was accumulated in minute intervals and automatically recorded. Leads projecting aggravated conflict or the agony over suffered misfortunes were found to foster increased reading times of the associated articles. The effects of highlighting misfortunes by themselves or of emphasizing the misfortunes’ economic implications proved to be negligible, however.

Do PR Practitioners Have a PR Problem?: The Effect of Associating a Source With Public Relations and Client-Negative News on Audience Perception of Credibility

Through a 2 × 2 factorial experiment (N = 141), information source type (public relations spokesperson or generic spokesperson) and message topic (client-neutral and client-negative) were varied to determine whether they affect audience perception of source credibility. Results suggest public relations professionals and the organizations they represent are perceived as less credible than unidentified sources and their employers. Also, sources and their sponsors communicating organization-negative news are perceived as less credible than those communicating client-neutral information.

The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly: Perceptions of Public Relations Practitioners

Public perception of public relations practitioners was measured using a telephone survey with a source manipulation experiment interwoven into a standard opinion poll. The nationwide sample (N = 593) revealed that sources affiliated with the organization on whose behalf they speak are viewed more negatively than unaffiliated sources. In addition, public relations practitioners were judged no more critically than other affiliated sources. Finally, a multiitem measure of public relations in general demonstrated that perceptions of practitioners are stable across demographics.

Sounds Exciting!!: The Effects of Auditory Complexity on Listeners' Attitudes and Memory for Radio Promotional Announcements

This experiment tested the ability of a limited-capacity model of cognition to predict listener reactions to changes in the structural complexity of radio promotional announcements. Past research shows that certain auditory structural features cause listeners to automatically allocate cognitive resources to message encoding. This study shows that increasing the number of such features in promos leads to better recognition, free recall, delayed free recall, and more positive attitudes about promos and the stations that produce them.

Quantitative Literacy and Affective Reactivity in Processing Statistical Information and Case Histories in the News

After exposure to statistical information and/or samplings of exemplifying cases in a news report on health risks, quantitative impressions and associated affective dispositions were examined in persons differing in arithmetic competence. Whereas the variation of such competence was without appreciable effect on incidence estimates, it markedly influenced affect-mediated assessments of empathy with victims, safety risks, and protective concerns. Specifically, exposure to sets of pertinent exemplars fostered higher assessments by persons of lower numeric ability than by persons of higher numeric ability. In addition, all presentations involving exemplars fostered stronger affective assessments than did the presentation of statistical data alone. The findings suggest that variation in numeric competence is associated with distinct differences in information processing that serves the formation of affect-mediated risk-related assessments. Implications for cognitive processing styles are considered and applied to the design of informative and persuasive media campaigns.

Company Affiliation and Communicative Ability: How Perceived Organizational Ties Influence Source Persuasiveness in a Company-Negative News Environment

The influence of attributing corrective information to different spokespersons in the wake of company-negative accusations was investigated experimentally. In particular, the research pitted a companys own public relations sources against sources working for a firm hired by the maligned organization and sources employed by agencies investigating negative claims independently. Results suggest that public relations sources are less credible than outside sources. Over time, however, public relations sources are judged as equally credible as hired and independent sources.

Human Face in News Important but Base-Rate Data Inform More

While it is important for journalists to put a human face on a story to highlight an issue, an experiment shows that newspaper readers get a more accurate quantitative picture when stories use explicit base-rate data rather than the use of human examples.

Consumer affective responses to direct mail messages: The effect of gratitude and obligation

The research opens new ways of utilizing emotional content in direct mail messages. The study considered the capacity of gratitude (e.g. to personnel for services received) and obligation (e.g. to make a purchase) to act as separate affective influences upon consumer purchase intent and attitudes toward the company. Participants (N = 120) were exposed to direct mail copy text in mock postcards sent from a hypothetical winery to its visitors. A total of six postcards were used (two gratitude-inducing, two obligation-inducing, and two neutral controls). The study offers strong evidence that gratitude and obligation operate differently in their impact on consumer attitudes and behaviors. Gratitude exerts a more positive influence than does obligation. Communicating through gratitude, and even neutral, messages was found to be more persuasive than those messages conveying obligation.