Journalism conference paper

What is the impact of PR on journalism?

In this paper I will be analysing both the impact of PR on journalism as well as how it has become increasingly influential in the last decade. Before we begin one must understand the difference between PR professionals and journalists. PR professionals are almost 'guards' of companies or individuals representations. Journalists have a responsibility to reveal the truth if it is in the best interest of the general public. "These two communication types want incompatible outcomes: independent reporting against favourable reporting."1This contributes to many theorists presenting PR in a negative light and showing traditional journalism as being heroic. One other term that must be understood is discourse. In its most basic definition discourse is, "written or spoken communication or debate"2.

The main text I have discovered based around this topic is A Compromised Fourth Estate? UK news journalism, public relations and news sources by Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams and Bob Franklin. They present a lot of the facts around the subject however do not appear to have partaken in an independent investigation. They cover the ethical conundrum which comes with PR carrying "an increasingly influential role"3 in the news gathering process. Lewis, Williams and Franklin state that this formula "signals source supremacy in news making"4, which contributed to my conclusion that PR practitioners take advantage of an over pressured industry for their own agenda. Their argument is further supported by Baistow who claims, "journalists must establish their independence of sources or risk the fourth estate being driven by the fifth estate of public relations."5

Another extremely relevant text is News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen. The piece appears to be favourable of Journalists over PR professionals, which is quickly re-enforced through the suggestion that Public relations "exploit hard-pressed journalists."6 However it cannot be said that the chapter is biased as it does explain how "indiscretions"7 such as the phone hacking scandal by tabloid media, has left the public lacking trust in traditional journalism. A large portion of the paper relates back to the concept of PR-isation. This is defined as "When scrutiny by journalism is absent; when facts and opinions are not checked, and sources are not revealed."8 It is implied that this could also be explained by the manipulation and advantage taking of over-worked journalists by PR professionals to suit their own agenda. Usually this is achieved through PR people writing "detailed briefings of the background to a story, especially in technical areas. These briefings are usually written in a journalistic style and are easy to imbed into news copy."9

This leads quite effortlessly into the ways in which PR are able to impact journalism for a favourable outcome. Due to the demand for news increasing through the constant updatable platforms of social media, journalists have become more desk bound, and harder pressed to churn out quick stories. Due to tight deadlines, it also contributes to not all sources being extensively investigated. This opens up opportunities for PR professionals to take advantage through creating pre-packaged news and press releases. The use of these being printed directly into papers and presented as news in here forth referred to as churnalism. This has become easier due to the decreasing number of journalists in the NUJ by "between 25% and 33%"10, thus making deadlines more demanding and less achievable. This is happening simultaneously to an increase of "6-7%"11 in PR employment.

This concept is made very apparent in news papers such as the Metro. Many pages are presented as beauty articles etc, however upon further exploration they are clear advertisements for selected brands. In order to investigate this further, I would distribute a false press release to several organisations, and see how many interpretations are featured in news outlets. The aim would be to prove, that due to the extensive pressures on journalists, that sources are not checked extensively. A similar investigation has taken part on channel 4 recently through 'fake news week', with the aim to prove that you cannot believe every piece of celebrity gossip posted online. This kind of investigation is very important in times like these, with Brexit and Donald Trump as president, many pieces of false news were created to alter the opinions of impressionable voters before the polls. Although not all 'fake news' can be sourced back to press releases from PR, in many cases it highlights how dangerous the idea of churnalism is from a political stance. During the American 2016 elections, there were many reputation shattering rumours circulating about both Trump and Clinton, usually linking back to either unfortunate relationships with Russia or the email scandal. One could argue that it is possible that the rumours about Trump began due to research by Clintons PR and information leaks and vice versa. One could also argue that this influenced the vote which will consequently impact the country for the foreseeable future.

Unfortunately as I am unable to proceed with an investigation such as this, I instead held a focus group with people of various ages and backgrounds to obtain an idea of what they thought about the topic. The older members of the group appeared to support journalists over PR practioners, claiming that they were "innocent" in situations and examples used. I contributed this down to journalism once being a very respectable career, gaining them a reputation of being for the people, over PR who are more for the individual or company. Members of the group that had no form of media education background didn’t seem to have an understanding of the idea of churnalism and therefore weren't as responsive as I had hoped, however an a whole seemed to favour PR when I asked "Which career path are you more likely to take after this discussion, if you had to choose?". As a general response amongst those who favoured a career in PR it was due to a higher pay and seemingly less work.

As this was not the sort of investigation I had hoped for, I cannot analyse the impact of PR on journalism, however I can contribute into the discussion on how this has impacted the public. Many implied that their distrust in journalism began after the infamous phone hacking scandal, claiming that they are "manipulative" and one person even claiming "they will bring down our government and security". Which is why they were indifferent to the idea of churnalism as they "take the news with a pinch of salt" already. They were also distrusting of PR as "they have their own motives".

In conclusion fifth estate has a very influential role on journalism, due to them being pressurised to keep up with modern demand, thus leading to churnalism. To investigate this I would produce a false press release and distribute it to various media outlets, then analyse how it surfaces in the news agenda. However from my own investigation on the impact on the public, I have discovered that the youth of the masses are already very distrusting of journalism, as were the older members believe what they read, however do not believe PR press releases are anything other than manipulative for their own motives of profit. One thing my research surfaced which was concerning, was that people without a media education background were not knowledgeable about the idea of churnalism, which could mean that previously they have consumed it passively.

1 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen

2 https://www.google.co.uk/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=what+is+discourse last accessed on 19.04.2017

3 Davis, 2002; Fletcher, 2006; Franklin, 1997, 2006; Maloney 2006; Manning, 2008; White and Hobsbawm, 2007

4 A compromised fourth estate? UK news journalism, public relations and news sources by Justin Lewis, Andrew Williams, and Bob Franklin

5 Baristow, 1985, pp. 67-77

6 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen

7 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen

8 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen

9 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen

10 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen

11 News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship by Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson and David McQueen