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© Newswise.
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| Issue No. 200505
| May 2005
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The PIOnet Newsletter is sponsored by Newswise and Dick Jones Communications
Feature Editor: Dick Jones Editor/Publisher: Roger Johnson
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PIOnet Newsletter is produced monthly to support media relations' vital role in integrated marketing for your institution. This role is not always adequately recognized, understood, or acknowledged. Our goal is to give you data, arguments, evidence, and ideas to enhance the understanding of and appreciation for media relations at your institution.
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When Communication Isn't the Answer, What Answer Do You Give?
by Dick Jones
Dick Jones Communications
Recently a seasoned public relations (PR) professional was questioned by senior administrators about how she planned to encourage diversity on the semirural campus. She offered some communications-based suggestions because she knew that's what they expected.
What she didn't do was question the premise that the small college was doing all it could programmatically to boost diversity. She could have asked why there was no student exchange program with a historically black college or university, for example, or, more positively, actually suggest that as a partial solution.
There is a troubling mind-set among some senior academic leaders at relatively prosperous institutions. Perfection in all aspects of the college operation is assumed. They wonder, then, why "Old Siwash" isn't recognized as being on par with the ivies. It must be the communicators' fault.
This often takes form in the saying, "All we need to do is to get the word out." This is alternately expressed as, "We just need to tell the 'Old Siwash' story better."
Sometimes that's true, but usually the issue is more complex.
Many public relations professionals feel that their input is not sought or valued for programmatic suggestions that could be considered outside their realm of expertise. Higher education is famous for turf protection. Complicating the matter is the fact that PR pros still are not always present in the senior cabinet meetings, and sometimes report to administrators who have no practical communications experience.
As keepers of the institutional reputation, however, we have a duty to suggest programmatic improvements when we become aware of them -- tactfully, of course.
Several years ago, the PR chief of a small, comprehensive public university was getting pressure from faculty and administration to publicize the natural sciences because of declining enrollments. He noticed that the television show "CSI" was number one in the ratings. He got the heads of the chemistry and biology departments to talk with their counterpart in criminal justice administration and with the dean of admissions. Together they worked up plans for forensic science offerings leading to degrees in the sciences and/or criminal justice. The provost bought the plan, and science enrollments have improved significantly.
Instead of grinding out a news release, producing a video, buying ads, or creating a poster, this PR pro initiated a programmatic solution. And surprise, surprise -- a whole lot of positive news media attention has followed. He stayed behind the scenes, of course, and takes pains to publicly minimize his role in the academic initiative; this guy is no political babe in the woods. But it wouldn't have happened without him.
If we college PR professionals want to be considered something other than talented tacticians, we have to show strategic capability. Occasionally such initiative will be welcomed, but even when it's not, let them see your strategic side from time to time.
Tactfully, of course.
We invite your discussion of this topic on PIOnet.
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Perceptions of Women in News and Photos
by Zoltan Bedy
State University of New York at Oswego
Studies over the past 20 years or so have shown that although women make up more than half of the population and labor force in the U.S., they are often underrepresented in studies of news content. And for all the strides women have made toward gender equity during the late 20th century,
a 1985 study of newspapers from 1913, 1933, 1963 and 1983, by W.J. Potter ("Gender representation in elite newspapers." Journalism Quarterly, 62, 636-640) found that the proportion of women portrayed in news stories and photographs actually decreased over time.
A recent two-part study by Len-Rios, Rodgers, Thorson and Yoon ("Representation of Women in News and Photos: Comparing Context to Perceptions." Journal of Communication 2005 55: 152-168) set out to find out if findings from numerous earlier studies held true today. The first part of the study (referred to as Study 1) examined the representation of women in a medium-sized (circulation approx. 200,000), Midwestern U.S. newspaper. The second part of the study (Study 2), was a replication of Study 1, except that it examined the representation of women in a larger (circulation approx. 475,000), Midwestern U.S. newspaper.
Len-Rios, et al, used a combination of content analysis and telephone surveys of newspaper staff and readers to investigate the following hypothesis (HY) and research questions (RQ):
- HY. There will be more males than females in news stories and photographs.
Content analyses of news stories and photos confirmed the prediction in both Study 1 and Study 2. Coders classified 4,851 individuals in news stories in Study 1. Of those individuals, 79 percent were identified as male, while 18 percent were females. Gender could not be identified for three percent of individuals in the news stories examined. In coding 2,193 individuals in news photos in the same study, 67 percent were found to be males and 30 percent were females. Three percent could not be identified.
The findings in Study 2 were quite similar. A total of 6,175 individuals were coded in news stories. Of those, 75 percent were male, 21 percent were female, three percent were unidentifiable. A total of 2,640 individuals in news photos were coded; 68 percent were male, 27 percent were female, and five percent could not be identified as either.
- RQ1. Will females appear less often than men in stereotypically male sections of the newspaper (e.g., business and sports) and more often in stereotypically female sections of the newspaper (e.g., entertainment)? How will women be represented in "gender neutral" sections of the paper (e.g., front page, local)? (Study 1) Are the findings replicated for the larger newspaper? (Study 2)
In looking at news stories in Study 1, females appeared more frequently than males in the entertainment section (a stereotypically female section), while females appeared less often than males in the business and sports sections (stereotypically male sections). In news photos, the pattern was similar. There were fewer females than males in the sports section and more females than males in the entertainment section. There was no real difference in the numbers of male to female photos in the business section. In "gender neutral" sections of the paper, women were represented more often in the local section, in both stories and photos than were men, but men were represented more often in front sections. In Study 2, the findings were, essentially, the same.
- RQ2. How do male and female news staffs perceive the frequency with which females appear in news photos? What are their perceptions of the newspaper's coverage of females across news sections? (Study 1) Are the findings replicated for the larger newspapers? (Study 2)
More female than male staff agreed that a majority of news photos were of men. Female staffers were more likely than males to rate the coverage of females poorer for every news section examined. Study 2, which replicated Study 1, revealed similar findings.
- RQ3. Will male and female newspaper readers' perceptions of the representation of females in news photos and news stories, and the business section differ? (Study1) Are the findings replicated for the larger newspapers? (Study 2)
This question had three parts. First, it asked whether news reader gender was associated with perceptions of how frequently females appeared in news photos. Study 1 showed that more female than male readers concurred that women were in photos less often than were males. The finding in Study 2 was similar.
The second part of this research question looked at whether male and female readers' perceptions would differ on the relative number of females and males in news stories. Study 1 results showed that more male than female readers thought that news stories were as likely to be about males as females. The findings in Study 2, again, were similar. The differences here were not statistically significant. That is, the responses of the males and females in both studies indicated essentially the same thing.
The last part of this research question asked whether male and female readers perceived differences in the representation of women in the business section. While there were no statistically significant differences between readers' perceptions in either study, nearly half of the readers in Study 1 and almost two-thirds of the readers in Study 2 agreed that the business section represented women less than men.
- RQ4. How will the perceptions of both news staff and readers compare to the actual representation of females in news photos, as determined by content analysis? (Study 1) To what extent is this comparison replicated in the larger newspaper? (Study 2)
The content analysis showed greater numbers of males than females in both news stories and photos in both newspapers. Study 1 showed a 4-to-1 male to female ratio in news stories and a 2-to-1 male to female ratio in news photos. These findings were replicated in Study 2. With those findings as the benchmark, researchers examined whether news staff and readers sense a similarly strong weighting toward males. The findings showed that the news staff in Study 1 thought they represented women well in news photos. News readers agreed less about that. Again, the results of Study 2 were similar to those of Study 1.
- RQ5. Is the age cohort of the news staff associated with perceptions of greater importance placed on diversity in news content?
The older news staff in Study 1 agreed more than did younger news staff that news events should be covered without consideration of diversity. Again, the results of Study 2 replicated those of Study 1, but to a somewhat lesser extent. "It appears that older news staff believe diversity should be less of an issue when deciding if a story is newsworthy than do younger news staff."
The overall findings of the two studies, then, can be summarized by saying that the perceptions of news readers regarding equal appearance of women and men in news stories and news photos are not equal. News staff perceive that there is more equality in coverage than do news readers.
Thinking of public relations professionals as reporters of "positive news" about their organizations, it might be beneficial for PR folks to examine their own perceptions vs. the reality of gender representation in their own institutional/organizational literature -- both actual and virtual -- for possible stereotypes being inadvertently promulgated.
We invite your discussion of this topic on PIOnet.
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Book Review: Public Relations: Writing and Media Techniques
by Tom Hanrahan
Lebanon Valley College
Written primarily as a college classroom textbook for those wanting to learn about public relations in the corporate world, Public Relations: Writing and Media Techniques is a must-read for any communications professional, beginner or expert.
Each chapter, and indeed almost every page, of this outstanding work is filled with real-life examples that attest to the effectiveness of the ideals author Dennis L. Wilcox espouses as necessary for achieving any organization's communications goals. Wilcox continually asserts the necessity of thinking like the consumer -- useful for any college or university office that communicates with external or internal audiences, including development, athletics, student services, and alumni.
Wilcox calls on numerous experts in the Professional Tip Boxes scattered throughout the chapters, and provides a helpful index, "expert" websites on most topics, a glossary of terms used, and additional resources listed at the end of each chapter in case you are interested in further exploring a particular area. The Tip Boxes alone are worth the price of the book.
For example, my use of the word "outstanding" in the second sentence may go against number five of the ten classic news release mistakes listed in a Tip Box on page 153 (taken from Alan Caruba's "Classic News Release Mistakes"), one that most of us are likely guilty of in our daily communications efforts -- hyperbole.
That a communications professional should "be accessible at all times," number ten on the list of top mistakes, appears to be an obvious priority to those of us with experience in the field. However, I found that my department was guilty of neglecting this priority and were not always accessible -- our home and cell numbers are cited on our voice mails but were not included in our press releases - and have probably missed many "hits" because of this previously unnoticed omission. All numbers are now included on all our press releases.
Of the "more than one hundred major updates, revisions, and additions to reflect today's public relations practice" (noted on page xii, chapter three), Legal and Ethical Guidelines was particularly helpful, albeit terrifying (hyperbole!). Wilcox cites several lawsuits in the corporate world over the use of identity that could also easily occur in the world of academia. This should shake many of us up in our sheltered world and make us more proactive in obtaining photo and press permissions from our students and faculty -- if you are not already.
Hyperbole aside, this is a must-purchase for any college or university's marketing, public relations, or communications office. One of the more well-known bookstore websites had this text listed for $78.85.
I decided to Google Dr. Wilcox after reading the text, and I found that Public Relations: Writing and Media Techniques is used by more than 125 college and universities and that another of his six textbooks, Public Relations Strategies and Tactics, is used by over 250 colleges and universities. Wilcox, professor and director of the School of Journalism and Mass Communications at San Jose State University, has been recognized by PRWeek as one of the ten leading public relations educators in the US, and has been named national educator of the year by the Public Relations Society of America. At San Jose, he is a Fulbright lecturer-scholar and was recently named "2005 Outstanding Scholar" by the university's College of Applied Sciences and Arts.
Public Relations: Writing and Media Techniques
Fifth (International) Edition, Dennis L. Wilcox, San Jose State University
2005, 2001 Pearson Education, Inc.; Allyn and Bacon, Boston, MA, 578 pages
We invite your discussion of this topic on PIOnet.
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RSS and Media Relations
by Roger Johnson
Newswise
The May 30 issue of Time magazine contains a brief article on RSS (Really Simple Syndication), demonstrating that RSS is becoming a household word. The article discusses how RSS helps users manage information from a large quantity of websites and blogs.
In this report we discuss how RSS may impact media relations.
What is RSS?
RSS is an XML format designed for sharing web content. An RSS service (also known as an RSS channel) consists of a list of items, each of which contains a headline, description, and a link to a web page. The link will take the user to the full content of the item on the original web site that produced the RSS feed.
Why is RSS becoming popular?
RSS allows information, news and blog consumers to gather and screen content from scores of websites without having to browse those websites. New content is automatically channeled to the collectors' aggregator without having to proactivly visit those sites.
"The beauty of RSS is that it lets you build an ad hoc network of experts and friends whose postings you want to tune in to. Then you don't have to think about it again. Along with blogs, RSS fulfills the Internet visionaries' prediction that we'd all find a set of 'human filters' to help us navigate the new information seas," according to an article on
Salon.com
RSS found its first devoted fans in the world of software developers, according to an article on SmartMobs.com. "But it has already leapt out of that subculture and developed avid followings in politics, law, medicine and other fields. As the lines between "publisher" and "subscriber," "producer" and "audience" get increasingly blurred and decreasingly useful, RSS will be at the center of the action -- helping deliver on the Internet's promise of personal publishing for all."
How to use RSS?
Using RSS, requires a special newsreader or aggregator that allows the user to collect and display RSS content. RSS newsreaders permit the reader a view of the services s/he selected all together in the same place and, by automatically retrieving updates, stay current with new content soon after it is published.
There are many different newsreaders available, some for free. Most newsreaders are applications that the user downloads and installs. Some others are web-based services that work inside the browser.
Some current web browsers -- such as Firefox and Apple's latest version of Safari -- offer built-in RSS readers. These browsers display a discrete RSS icon whenever a user is visiting a page which offers an RSS feed, and a simple click allows the user to bookmark, or subscribe to, any particular feed. In the near future, additional browsers will be released with versions that incorporate RSS readers.
How does RSS impact media relations?
At Newswise, we have recently introduced an RSS feed to enhance dissemination of content provided to us by our members. Reporters and other users had begun requesting this option. Clearly it answers a need. We evaluated the numbers of articles accessed per week via RSS since the service was introduced on April 10, 2005. Week after week, the growth in the adoption rate has been strong as is demonstrated in the chart below.
RSS adds value and is a useful tool, but it has a downside: tracking. Although you can track how many articles are downloaded by RSS subscribers, there is no way to know who those subscribers are: journalists or members of the public.
Similarly, RSS does not provide for user authentication -- so access to embargoed news cannot be made available via RSS.
Interest from the media seems to come from those who write about a narrow topic and who need to screen a great deal of information from multiple sources so as not to miss important new developments. However, for general assignment reporters or reporters covering all of science or medicine, RSS does not necessarily solve their problems.
In spite of the possible limitations, RSS remains useful, and its use will grow. RSS certainly helps broadcast the news, both to conventional journalists and to a new array of web-based news services that may incorporate Newswise RSS feeds into their "portals". When sites use RSS feeds in this way, they provide an improved way of tracking where Newswise content is used, because those sites link directly to Newswise.
For more information about RSS and it's implementation on Newswise please visit our RSS page.
We invite your discussion of this topic on PIOnet.
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