María E. Len-Ríos

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.

Tacit Understandings of Health Literacy: Interview and Survey Research With Health Journalists

This research offers both qualitative and quantitative data about how health journalists approach health literacy practically and conceptually. Using interviews with 20 writers and editors for magazines and newspapers coupled with a national survey ( N = 396), this analysis uncovers journalistic techniques and tacit theories for making information understandable. The journalists evince a basic understanding of how health literacy can be enhanced through certain story elements (such as nontechnical word use), but they also maintain false ideas about appropriate comprehension aides (such as statistics). Findings show that journalists struggle to maintain scientific credibility while accommodating different audience literacy levels. Journalists’ definitions of health literacy strategically carve out a place for their work as translators.

Image Repair Strategies, Local News Portrayals and Crisis Stage: A Case Study of Duke University's Lacrosse Team Crisis

The case analysis presented here studies Duke Universitys strategic use of communication to defend its image during the scandal involving its mens lacrosse team. Benoits (1995, 1997) image repair theory is used to analyze Dukes strategy in 54 public statements, news releases, and documents. Additionally, 870 local newspaper stories about the Duke case from The News & Observer (n = 443) and The Herald Sun (n = 427) are analyzed by crisis stage. Results show that Duke initially relied most on simple denial and mortification to defend its athletes, and engaged in bolstering, corrective action, separation, and attacking ones accuser to defend the universitys reputation. Findings suggest a new defense category: expression of disappointment, which is related to the concept of separation. Use of the strategy of attacking ones accuser was associated with the most positive local news coverage.

Minority Public Relations Practitioner Perceptions.

Abstract This is one of the first studies to examine experiences of practitioners of color through in-depth interviews and written responses to interview questions. Through the experience of 13 practitioners, this study explores the status of practitioners of color, identifies areas of concern for both scholars and professionals, and suggests areas for further investigation. Results indicate practitioners feel there has been progress toward including minorities in upper-level management positions in the field, yet their experiences reveal that barriers still exist. The findings categories were similar to constraints found by Richard Shafers 1993 study of minority journalists and newsroom equality.

JOURNALISTIC USE OF EXEMPLARS TO HUMANIZE HEALTH NEWS

Health journalists often use personal stories to put a “face” on a health issue. This research uses a sociology-of-news approach, based on data collected from 42 in-depth interviews and three surveys with health journalists and editors (national, N=774; state, N=55; and purposive, N=180), to provide a first look at how important journalists think exemplars are to their stories. Results show journalists select exemplars to serve the purposes of informing, connecting, and getting attention. Some of the strategies journalists use to locate exemplars pose ethical concerns. Further, journalists rank the use of exemplars lower in aiding audience understanding compared with the use of experts, data and statistics, and definitions of technical terms.

Integration of Advertising and Public Relations Curricula: A 2005 Status Report of Educator Perceptions

The communication environment has changed significantly during the last two decades. While many advertising and public relations professionals embrace a more integrated approach to communication, it is not clear how educators are responding. This study explores the current status of curriculum integration from the perspective of the educator. The most striking findings are (1) a strong association between educator attitudes toward integration and the current level of integration at their institutions, and (2) the similarity of perception between advertising and public relations educators about what skills are most important to teach students.

Does Race Matter? Implicit and Explicit Measures of the Effect of the PR Spokesman's Race on Evaluations of Spokesman Source Credibility and Perceptions of a PR Crisis' Severity

One rationale offered for why there are fewer people of color in public relations is that publics would respond less positively if racial minorities represented the public face of an organization. To determine the plausibility of this rationale, this study employed a 2 (race: Black vs. White spokesman) × 2 (performance history: with prior crisis vs. no prior crisis) × 2 (crisis type: sports vs. product recall) within-subjects experiment (N = 64), using both implicit (reaction time) and explicit (self-report) measures. Contrary to expectations, participants rated Black spokesmen as significantly more credible than White spokesmen using explicit measures. Most significantly, implicit tests, using response time measures, revealed that heuristic cues, such as the spokesmans race, have an influence on perceptions in the absence of a performance history, i.e., when no other information must be cognitively processed. But in cases where there is a crisis history, i.e., when there is more pertinent information, racial cues play less of a role.

Deliberation of the Scientific Evidence for Breastfeeding Online Comments as Social Representations

This mixed-methods study examines online comments (The Atlantic online, N = 326; NYTimes.com, N = 596) generated by two widely read articles challenging the scientific basis for U.S. government breastfeeding recommendations. The analysis focuses on commenter evaluations of the scientific evidence for breastfeeding. Results demonstrate that commenters socially represented breastfeeding science as a means for manufacturing convenience and also as a process that is prone to flaws in its production and application. Online commenters discussed their personal experiences (42%) with breastfeeding more than its evidence base (16%). Personal and social experiences were used as filters to judge the merits of scientific arguments.

Study Asks if Reporter's Gender or Audience Predict Paper's Cancer Coverage

Research shows women and racial and ethnic minorities are generally less represented as subjects and sources in news stories.1 Likewise, they have been under represented in medical research.2 The 1968 Kerner Commission Report, which implicated the news media for not adequately representing the lives of African Americans,3 spurred the news media to reflect U.S. societal groups more accurately. Similarly, government decisions, such as the 1995 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention policy requiring all externally funded researchers to explain their inclusion of women and minorities, are meant to increase the generalizability of medical research findings and increase knowledge of diseases that affect women and racial and ethnic minorities.4 Data show that blacks carry a heavier disease burden than does the general U.S. population5 and that the same disease can affect men and women differently.6Black newspapers have historically served as advocates for their readers, and, in the same way, some research shows female reporters are more likely to advocate for women (e.g., address womens rights and use female sources). The purpose of this research is twofold:* to determine if black newspapers and women appear to serve as advocates* to look at gender representation in both black and general audience newspapers. Researchers have studied reporter gender and the reporting of gender-specific cancers in network TV news and showed that men did most cancer story reporting.7More specifically, this study investigates how black newspapers and general audience8 newspapers serve their readers by reporting on gender-specific cancers relative to cancer incidence and mortality rates. It also evaluates whether the gender of the reporter is associated with cancer reporting, reporting of gender-specific cancers and the use of female story sources. Considering reporter gender is important because it is associated with story tone, content and use of a greater diversity of sources.9Cancer is second only to heart disease as a cause of U.S. death. 10 Prostate cancer and breast cancer are the most common gender-specific cancers.11 Estimates from 2007 showed 29 percent of all men and 37 percent of black men were diagnosed with prostate cancer. Additionally, prostate cancer accounted for 9 percent of cancer deaths in all men and 13 percent of cancer deaths in black men. In 2007, 26 percent of all U.S. women and 27 percent of black women were diagnosed with breast cancer. Breast cancer caused 15 percent of cancer deaths in all women and 19 percent in black women.12 Black men have a higher incidence of prostate cancer, and men overall are diagnosed more often with a gender-specific cancer than are women. Still, genderspecific cancers kill more women.Figures from 2006 specify there were 237 black newspapers,13similar to 1986 figures.14 Surveys demonstrate that African- American publishers and editors believe that their unique content distinguishes them from general audience newspapers.15 This view is shared by their readers.16 One survey revealed that 68 percent of African Americans report reading a black newspaper.17 A North Carolina survey showed that black newspaper readers were also more likely to read a local newspaper.18Black newspapers may be a valuable health news source for black readers. In a survey of black newspaper readers, 80 percent said they read stories that addressed black health risks; 67 percent said stories had influenced them to alter a health habit.19Few studies specifically address cancer coverage in the black press. Studies of Canadian ethnic cancer news suggested that content is culturally tailored20 and that ethnic groups selectively gather cancer information.21 One U.S. study that compared mainstream newspapers with ethnic newspapers found that ethnic newspapers focused more on prevention and that both newspaper types emphasized cancer treatments and breast cancer.22Reporter gender has been linked to gender representation in news stories, source selection and the reporting quality of gendered topics. …

Defining Obesity: Second-Level Agenda Setting Attributes in Black Newspapers and General Audience Newspapers

This content analysis study examines how obesity is depicted in general-audience and Black newspaper stories (N=391) through the lens of second-level agenda setting theory. The results reveal that both Black newspapers and general-audience newspapers generally ascribe individual causes for obesity. While both types of newspapers largely neglected to mention solutions for the problem, Black newspapers were more likely than general-audience newspapers to suggest both individual and societal solutions for treating obesity. For Black newspapers, these solutions more often included community interventions. In addition, Black newspapers more often used a negative tone in stories and more frequently mentioned ethnic and racial minorities as at-risk groups.