The Influence of Public Relations in Business News Reporting: Opinions of Editors and Journalists

Abstract

The study addresses the problem of the increasing influence of public relations in business writing. Interviews with editors and journalists at three major English business dailies were used to examine the rationalisations behind the continuing influence of public relations in business writing and the potential for change. The study provides several rationalisations of editors and journalists for the coverage given to PR events. Respondents were asked why they continued to rely on PR-organised events for news and information. Results were analysed using a constant comparative technique. It was found that reasons given by editors and journalists tended to concur. Due to this concurrence, the study proposed that editors were opinion leaders within the journalism field.

Kajian ini menangani masalah peningkatan pengaruh hubungan masyarakat dalam penulisan perniagaan. Temu ramah dengan editor dan wartawan di tiga harian perniagaan utama Inggeris digunakan untuk meneliti rasionalisasi di sebalik pengaruh hubungan masyarakat yang berterusan dalam penulisan perniagaan dan potensi perubahan. Kajian ini memberikan beberapa rasionalisasi editor dan wartawan untuk liputan yang diberikan kepada acara PR. Responden ditanya mengapa mereka terus bergantung pada acara yang dianjurkan PR untuk berita dan maklumat. Hasil dianalisis menggunakan teknik perbandingan tetap. Didapati bahawa alasan yang diberikan oleh para editor dan wartawan cenderung setuju. Oleh kerana persetujuan ini, kajian mencadangkan bahawa penyunting adalah pemimpin pendapat dalam bidang kewartawanan.