Glen T. Cameron

Public Relations and the Production of News: A Critical Review and Theoretical Framework

Because the source-reporter relationship forms the focal point of news gathering, it is a significant topic in the media sociology literature. Most of the source-reporter literature, however, focus...

Emotions Matter in Crisis: The Role of Anger and Sadness in the Publics’ Response to Crisis News Framing and Corporate Crisis Response

This experiment revealed that emotional news frames (anger-inducing vs. sadness-inducing) affect people’s emotional response to a corporate crisis such as a cell phone battery explosion accident. The distinct emotions induced by different news frames influenced individuals’ information processing (i.e., heuristic vs. systematic processing) and the evaluation of the company differently. Participants exposed to anger-inducing crisis news read the news less closely and had more negative attitudes toward the company than those exposed to sadness-inducing news. Also, emotional frames affected how individuals perceived the different types of corporate responses (relief-focused message vs. punishment-focused message; emotional appeal vs. no emotional appeal). The advantage of emotional appeals was found contingent on how the crisis was previously framed by the media. Findings demonstrate a potential for developing effective corporate response strategies in a given crisis situation, considering the type of crisis, how it has been framed by the media, the publics’ emotional responses, and the use of emotional appeals.

Compassion Fatigue: Communication and Burnout toward Social Problems

This study establishes the construct of “compassion fatigue,” encompassing desensitization and emotional burnout, as a phenomenon associated with pervasive communication about social problems. The study marks the first-known empirical investigation of compassion fatigue as it relates to media coverage and interpersonal communication about social problems. A telephone survey methodology was used to measure compassion fatigue among a general, adult population toward four social problems: AIDS, homelessness, violent crime, and child abuse. Results indicate the existence of a compassion fatigue phenomenon, in varying degrees of magnitude, for every issue. Compassion fatigue was found to be a situational variable, rather than a personality trait. Cognitive, affective, and behavioral manifestations of compassion fatigue are identified, and significant predictors of compassion fatigue are discussed. The findings support the existence of a mass-mediated compassion fatigue phenomenon and suggest that the nature of contemporary media coverage may contribute to emotional fatigue with societys problems.

Visual attention to programming and commercials: The use of in-home observations

Abstract The study uses in-home observations to examine eyes-on-screen times for both program and commercial viewing. Results indicate that viewers are visually oriented to programming 62 percent of the time and to commercials 33 percent of the time. Men are more apt to change channels during the commercial break than are women. Compared with previous studies conducted prior to the development of the multi-channel viewing environment, program eyes-on-screen times have remained stable while commercial eyes-on-screen times have diminished. Moreover, individuals who view programming are significantly more apt to view commercials. It is argued that eyes-on-screen measures may be valuable in determining exposure to advertising.

China's agenda building and image polishing in the US: Assessing an international public relations campaign

Abstract A content analysis with an interrupted time-series design assessed the impact of an international public relations campaign launched by the Chinese government in the United States. The extent and nature of coverage of China in major US newspapers, particularly the New York Times , during and after the campaign suggest that the press appeared to have been affected by the campaign. This study explored a rarely tapped domain of public relations research, international public relations by state governments, and added to the literature of effectiveness evaluation of public relations and its methods.

Cancer Coverage in General-Audience and Black Newspapers

This article presents findings from the first study of cancer news coverage in a national sample of Black and general-audience newspapers. We compared 2,439 health news stories from 23 weekly Black newspapers to 2,767 health news stories from a constructed week sample of 12 daily general-audience newspapers, both collected between April 1, 2004, and March 31, 2005. Analyses examined differences in the amount and nature of cancer coverage, specifically cancer sites, disparities, localization, and personally mobilizing health information for readers. Cancer was the main topic in a higher proportion of health stories in Black newspapers than in general-audience newspapers (13.6% vs. 9.6%; p = .001). Among cancer stories, those in Black newspapers had more localization (p = .004), disparity information (p = .001), and personal mobilization information (p = .001) than those in general-audience newspapers. In neither type of newspaper did the distribution of stories by cancer site accurately reflect the impact of different cancers on population mortality.

Getting past platitudes: Factors limiting accommodation in public relations

Prevailing thought in academia holds that the ideal model of public relations is two‐way symmetrical. In this model, communication flows both ways between an organisation and a public while both are prepared to change their own behaviour. The result is posited as the most professional, ethical and effective practice. Contingency theory offers qualifications and reservations of excellence theory. One qualification is that dialogue between an organisation and a public may not be allowed for a number of reasons, such as legal constraints or moral convictions against compromising with a public. To build the contingency theory from the ground up, top practitioners are interviewed to learn whether six such proscriptive factors ring true in their experience. The implications of the findings for practitioners, educators and those interested in theories that help define professional practice in public relations are discussed.

Health News Agenda Building: Journalists' Perceptions of the Role of Public Relations

This study uses a nationwide survey of health journalists (N = 774) to explore the agenda-building process in health news, examining how journalists develop story ideas, value expert source characteristics, and perceive the acceptability of using public relations materials. Results indicate that intermedia agenda setting may be a stronger influence on agenda building than are information subsidies, and that journalists rate characteristics associated with public relations training as important in expert sources. Also, journalists who take an audience advocate role are more accepting of news releases than those who take a skeptic role.

Developing standards of professional performance in public relations

Abstract A survey instrument derived from sixty in-depth interviews was administered to 598 public relations professionals across the nation with a 42 percent response rate. Based on a review of literature and the interview phase of the current study, twenty-four elements of professional performance were operationalized in the survey. Survey respondents assessed the extent to which a standard of professionalism currently exists for each of the twenty-four items. Respondents tended to view ethical guidelines, accreditation and writing/editing skills as enjoying well established standards. Licensing, location of public relations on the organizational chart and inclusion of public relations in the dominant coalition were viewed as most lacking in a standard of professional performance. The twenty-four items factored into eight dimensions. Assessments of professionalism along these eight factors differed significantly as a function of age, education, race and both length and geographic region of practice of public relations.

Measuring Contingencies: Using Scales to Measure Public Relations Practitioner Limits to Accommodation

The contingency theory of accommodation in public relations posits that public relations practice moves on a continuum from total client or employer advocacy to total accommodation of a public. A survey of ninety-one top public relations practitioners was used to quantify contingency theory by constructing scales of five theoretical constructs: external threats, external public characteristics, organizational characteristics, public relations department characteristics, and dominant coalition characteristics. While the default response of practitioners was that bridge building is the best public relations practice, specific contingencies were found to limit bridge building or accommodation. Practitioners cited fear of legitimizing activist claims, credibility and commitment of an external public, and the place of public relations in the dominant coalition as contingencies impacting dialogue with contending publics.