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THEORY OF AFFIRMATION:

  A SYMBOLIC INTERACTIONIST APPROACH

TO ENHANCE

  PRESS RELEASE PLACEMENT

 

MARY JACKSON PITTS

Arkansas State University

P.O. Box 2160

State University, AR

Ph: 501-972-3070

 

 

 

 

 

 

Running Head: Affirmation

 

TABLE OF CONTENTS

 

INTRODUCTION ....................................  2

            The elusivity of press release placement....  2                      Factor one.............................  2

                        Factor two.............................  5

          Applying theory to practice............  6

 

THEORY OF AFFIRMATION............................  9

                        Affirmation influence one.............. 10

          Affirmation influence two.............. 12

                        Affirmation influence three............ 13

                        Affirmation influence four............. 15

                        Application of the affirmation theory.. 17

                                   

CONCLUSION....................................... 19

REFERENCES....................................... 21

 

 

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Abstract

            "File thirteen" is a common resting place for many press releases.  Over and over public relations practitioners send out press releases but the return on their efforts is small; journalists seldom use the public relations practitioner's work.  Perhaps, the return is small because public relations managers' fail to effectively take into consideration their initial "public".  The initial "public" is the television assignment editor.  This article offers a theory of affirmation to assist the public relations manager in understanding how the initial "public" selects the news.

            The theory of affirmation combines Dimmick's uncertainty theory with a symbolic interactionist approach to better understand the process of press release selection and rejection.   Application of this theory should improve public relations managers success rate in placing press releases.  This is extremely important as industry cost accounting scrutinizes public relations manager's efforts. 

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INTRODUCTION

            One goal of public relations managers is to persuade television news organization to use their material.  Often, managers find this to be an elusive goal.  Schluese (1988) estimated more than 2.4 million press releases are received by the media in a week.  Editors indicate about 10% of the releases received are actually used (Schluese, 1988; Nicolai & Riley, 1972).  This paper examines why this goal appears to be elusive and offers a theory on how the public relations manager can attain the goal.   

 

 

The elusivity of press release placement

            Two factors contribute to the elusivity of press release placement.  Confronting these factors can improve the placement percentage of press releases.

            Factor one:  Public relations managers must properly identify the initial gatekeeper in a television newsroom.

The television assignment editor is the initial news gatekeeper in most every television newsroom across the country (Adams & Fish, 1987; Stone, 1987).   Where in the past, news directors managed daily news content, today, assignment editors are the managers of day-to-day news content.  

            The television assignment editor determines whether public relation's information is used.  The assignment editor is the person who comes in long before the reporter arrives on the job and narrows the list of possible stories for the day down to a more workable list of topics.   Findings by Berkowitz (cited in Berkowitz 1990) indicated 77.5%  of story ideas (press releases, etc.) for one day are thrown out by the assignment editor before anyone else has a chance to peruse them.  Lagan (1984) found 71.7% of the news assignments are made by the assignment editor. 

            Public relations managers must understand the people who fill the "toughest job in the business" (O'Connor, 1987, p. 30).   Television assignment editors actually control what is included in local news content.  Understanding the editors' news values is critical to the successful placement of press releases.  The lack of success in placing news releases may be attributed to the inaccurate perceptions public relations practitioners hold of journalists' news values.  In the case of television editors, inaccurate perceptions may be attributed to the changing roles of television journalists.  Public relations managers must realize television assignment editors are the first "gate" in the news selection process, not the reporter or the news director.  In a split second assignment editors determine what a large number of people will know or not know, they have received little attention.  From their decisions other people will take over the gatekeeping job, but if it were not for those initial decisions made, nothing would be covered.

            Public relations managers must understand that assignment editors are just as important a "public" as the audience they try to reach.  At the present, news journalists perceive public relations practioners as obstacles to finding the truth (Jeffers, 1977).  Arnoff (cited in Kopenhaver et al., 1985) found journalist see themselves as having opposite news values from public relations practitioners.  Kopenhaver et al. (1985) discovered newspaper editors in Florida held similar opinions.  The editors perceived the practitioners as deceivers;  people who placed to much importance on trivial events.   If journalists' perceptions are to change, public relations managers must understand the news selection process used by television assignment editors. 

 

           

 

 

 

            Factor two:   If the gate is being closed on 90% of the press releases, then public relations practitioners must give careful consideration to research which examines television journalists' news values.  Instead of using anecdotal information to determine what increases the chances of press release placement, scholarly research should be examined to assist the manager in improving press releases.   

            Newsworthy items are most often used by assignment editors (Turk, 1986).  The question is, what constitutes newsworthy?  Schluese (1988) found in a phone survey of print journalists in Texas that 59% of respondents said the local angle is the most important criteria for deciding whether to use the release.  

            Honaker's (1978) survey of journalists revealed journalists had the most problems with releases that are out-dated, have missing information, and no local angle.  The local angle was found to be one of the most important

criteria.  In 1981, Honaker went back to the same journalist and found the same problems.

            Turk (1986) found press releases that attempt to persuade are not as effective as those that simple give information.  She indicated the straight forwarded approach to releases is better received by media outlets.  Turk suggested "if more news releases met journalist criteria of newsworthiness--a local angle, impact upon the public and timeliness in particular-- then perhaps more of the information contained would be used in the stories those journalist write" (p. 25).   

            Based on the aforementioned studies and Schluese's (1988) findings, one can theorize that public relations managers are failing to place 90% of press release because they fail to apply the basic findings of news selection and gatekeeping research to their most important "public", the television assignment editor.

Applying theory to practice 

            Changing journalists' and practitioners' perceptions of one another may be the key to improving the likelihood of placing public relations material.   Parks (1966) would suggest to public relations managers that for them to understand their press release placement problems, they must first understand what influences or controls gatekeepers' news definitions.                         

            Parks (1966) suggested the media link..in this case the television station...is in itself a "public" the manager should consider.  The same methods that public relation's management applies to the "general public" should be applied to the media link.  This is similar to the two way symmetric model used in public relations.  It is also similar to symbolic interactionism.

            Symbolic interactionists suggest that people will act in regard to the actions of the others around them.  Assignment editor are no different.  The interactions around the assignment editors will determine their actions.  Blumer (1969) would contend editors interact with individuals and groups of individuals.  This interaction creates norms, values and traditions.  These norms, values and traditions determine the editor's definition of news.

            Dimmick (1986) said if you want to understand why a certain story made the news then you must understand why it is assigned and how it is covered.            For public relations practitioners to change a "public's" attitude they must interact with the "public".  In the process of interaction with the "public" or in this case the the assignment editor, the manager will begin to understand what influences the gatekeeper.  To understand the television assignment editor and the news selection process he or she uses, public relations managers should consider Dimmick's (1974) contentions.  He suggests gatekeepers are uncertain of their roles as gatekeepers and receive suggestions from a variety of influences that reduce their feelings of uncertainty in the news selections process.  

     Gatekeepers' potential universe identification     

            uncertainty is reduced by: 1) accepting the definition             of news of an "opinion leader" in a group within which    he works, 2) arriving at a group consensus, 3)                       monitoring the output of a reference institution, 4)                 accepting the policy of the organization for which he                   works, 5) accepting the definitions of news promulgated             by his sources and 6) using his own group-related                 attitudes and values (p. 10). 

 

            Dimmick (1974) suggests these six modes help the gatekeeper identify what is newsworthy.  Dimmick (1974) called these uncertainty reduction modes; we call them affirmation influences.  The gatekeeper's definition of news must constantly be reaffirmed or changed to meet the accepted norm.  The gatekeeper develops norms, images and patterns from the past to help in defining the present.  The symbolic interactionist would suggest the public relations manager must identify the affirmation influences which affect the television assignment editor's news selection if he or she is to be successful in placing press releases on television.  Understanding the theory of affirmation and applying it during the creation and distribution of press releases should prove to be an effective step in reducing the elusivity of press release placement. 

THEORY OF AFFIRMATION

            Public relations managers must understand their initial "public".  Little research (Lagan, 1984; Jackson, 1988) has focused on the television assignment editor.  The merging of portions of Dimmick's theory with the symbolic interactionist approach is a constructive step toward improving the public relations manager's knowledge of the television assignment editor.   Increasing the manager's knowledge of its initial "public", should increase the manager's press release acceptance percentages.

            We believe the gatekeeper has a reference institution but it is himself or herself.  All decisions by the gatekeeper must first be filtered through individual biases.  These biases are created through interaction with influences inside and outside of the group.  The gatekeeper's own group-related attitudes and values determine individual biases and serve as the reference institution.   What Dimmick (1974) termed reference institutions are a part of our peer influences.  "Opinion leaders" and the idea of group consensus are actually a part of this peer influence.              Four affirmation influences are used by assignment editors in the news selection process: 1) individual bias (i.e. past and present experiences), 2) peers (i.e. reporters, producers, photographers), 3) station management (i.e. station manager, department heads, news managers or directors), 4) communities (i.e. sources of news).

 

Affirmation influence one: Individual biases influence assignment editors' news judgement.

            The public relations manager must identify the television assignment editor's individual bias to improve press release acceptance.  New selection appears to be highly subjective.  White (1950) in his pioneer study of the gatekeeper examined an individual gatekeeper.  White called him "Mr. Gates".  "Mr. Gates" was a wire editor.  White focused on why "Mr. Gates" used certain copy and did not use other copy.  White found this gatekeeper used his own set of attitudes and experiences to determine what would be used on his two pages of newspaper.   Snider's (1966) replication of White's study reaffirmed White's findings; the editor's decisions continued to be very subjective.   Whitlow (1977) found in his study of newspaper gatekeepers the handling of a news item is influenced by the sex of the selector and the sex of the known principal.  

              Dimmick and Coit (1982) used data from Johnstone's national survey of journalist to measure the levels of autonomy in decision-making among gatekeepers.  The respondents in Johnstone's survey were reporters employed by radio and television stations or daily and weekly newspapers.  Dimmick and Coit's (1982) stepwise regression model revealed broadcast reporters' political beliefs affected their autonomy.  Based on those beliefs, controls would be used more often at the story assignment stage than at the writing stage.  In other words, you might not be assign a story because of your political beliefs. 

            The gatekeepers' decisions are based on the definitions formed from interaction with various situations in the past.  These definitions may be derived from personal, educational and job-related activities.  The interpretations of these interactions will influence the decisions made by the gatekeeper whether they are the first or last gatekeeper. 

 

 

 

 

Affirmation influence two:  Peers within the newsroom influence assignment editors' news judgement. 

            Blumer (1969) suggested "the function and fate of individuals are set by this process of interpretation as it takes place among the diverse set of participants" (p. 20).  Gatekeepers' news values are reflective of the interactions they have with people around them.   Social controls (Breed, 1955; Brown, 1979) and group norms (Warner, 1971) are two factors which often lead journalists to agree on how to define and treat news in much the same way as their news colleagues do (Foote & Steele, 1986; Fowler & Showalter, 1974).

            These values are generated through the interaction of journalists.  Several researchers have identified these news values.   Harmon (1989) studied local television news operations using content analysis and participant observation.  Harmon noted the source and reasons for selection or rejection of a subsample of all stories used.  Traditional news values were give as the reason for the selection of almost 56% of the stories used.  Harmon found audience interest and proximity, not audience needs determined whether a story was used.

           

            Shook and Lattimore (1987) suggested an important news element whether stories contain a proximity element.  This element is not necessarily one of geographic proximity but of emotional proximity.  The question becomes can the source's material be localized?

                Buckalew's (1969/70) study of 12 TV news editors indicated timeliness and conflict were the news values most often used.  Berkowitz (1990) discovered timeliness and significance are news elements found most often in stories that air.  Jackson (1987) in a survey of TV assignment editors found timeliness and impact on viewer are considered significant determinants in deciding what story will be assigned to the local crew.  In a survey of Midwest assignment editors,  Lagan (1984) found TV assignment editors felt conflict and important people are used most often.  No significance test were used by Lagan, only frequency calculations.     

           

Affirmation influence three:  The management hierarchy in a television station influences assignment editors' news judgement.

              Gatekeepers' interactions with the power structure produces an additional affirmer than does the interaction with peers.  Peers do not have the power to hire, promote and fire, whereas management does.  The gatekeepers' interpretation of this type of control will provide a slightly different definition of news.

            Warner (1971) interviewed editors, writers and news heads of the three network evening newscasts.  He asked each how they learned about their network news policy?  Most said they received it through osmosis.  Basically, it was learned through the interaction with other people on the staff.  He found news policy was, according to those interviewed, influenced by economics. 

            Donohew (1967) asked what factors influence gatekeepers' decision-making process.  He found newspaper publisher's attitudes play an important role in the processing of information.  The attitudes of the paper publisher or the station owner or manager may be reflective of the power structure within the community since they interact regularly with it.   

            What decisions are made at the initial gatekeeping stage are influenced by station managers, department heads, and the individual news manager or director.  These are the people who determine station news policy whether it be written or unwritten.  These people do not normally hold the altruistic journalistic attitude.  Where journalist want to search for "truth" no matter the cost, the managers serve as reminders that the cost of "truth" may be prohibitive.

 

Affirmation influence four:  Communities influence assignment editors' news judgement.     

            We suggest that within the community there are two types of sources.  Those which serve to suggest stories and those which actually become a part of the story.  Public relations managers can be found in the story suggester category.  Public relations managers must exploit the story suggester role if they are to effectively place press releases.  To do this public relations managers must understand the role of the story suggester.

            The story suggester can assist the assignment editor by accurately identifying newsworthy stories.  The job of the assignment editor is to take from a sea of information and turn it into a 30 minute pool of information.  The public relations manager must become a part of the group of sources which the assignment editor relies on when determining news content.  Berkowitz (1987) said the news agenda is built by sources.  The people who understand the needs of the TV newsmaking process will have the best chance of getting their information on the air. 

            Research indicates pre-planned events seem to be favored by news journalists (Harmon, 1989; Smith, 1979).  Berkowitz (1987) found in a content analysis of 156 news items that 75% of local news stories and 71% of network news stories appeared to have developed through official proceedings, press releases and press conferences.  TV tended to use more routine sources than did the local newspapers.  Berkowitz attributed his findings to the technical, personnel and time constraints on television journalists.  He also found TV news tends to use executive sources more often than people identified as workers or spokespersons.  Lasora and Reese (1990) and Soloski (1989) found similar evidence to support Berkowitz's findings.

            We suggest use of a source is determined by how effectively the source identifies information that journalists deem newsworthy.  Once the journalist identifies sources that appreciate their definition of news they will use them over and over again.   Public relations managers must be the suggesters of news not the news.  They must create news events which provide journalists with access to executive sources. 

 

Application of the Affirmation Theory

            To understand the four affirmation influences, a symbolic interactionist would suggest that public relations managers place themselves in the position of the initial "public" or assignment editor.  The manager must become the assignment editor in order to understand why press releases are being rejected.  Literally this cannot be done, but hypothetical testing can be a useful tool to create a similar effect.   With little research focusing on the assignment editor, managers must discover whether findings from gatekeeping studies are applicable to television assigment editors.   When public relations managers use this information, they will become more effective managers.

            The success of press releases placement will improve if public relations managers follow these suggestions:

 

Public relations managers who provide assignment editors with access to executive sources will improve press release placement percentages. 

 

Public relations managers who choose to adopt the story suggester position instead of the persuasive communicator position will find television assignment editors much more receptive to all of their information.   Working from this angle will put the manager on every assignment editor's beat call list.  This would be very similar to the two-way symmetric model of public relations.

 

Public relations managers who work to improve their credibility among assignment editors will find their press releases are often used. 

 

Public relations managers who are familiar with individual television assignment editor news values will be more successful at placing press releases.  Public relations managers should find that assignment editors use material which has an emotional impact on the audience, contains conflict, is timely, and pre-planned.  The manager should examine additional individual biases to further discover the editor's news values.   A simple phone call can reveal a good deal about editor's personal views on various issues.   

Public relations managers which propel themselves or the group they represent into the community power structure will receive a better reception from television assignment editors.

 

Public relations managers who know the news policies television assignment editors work under will improve

their ability of getting editors to accept their material.

 

Public relations managers must identify the television assignment editor's peers to determine what type of effect they have on the editor's news judgement.  Often these peers are story suggestors who have a significant effect on assignment decisions. 

CONCLUSIONS

            Managers often hold the same news values (timeliness, proximity, impact, conflict) as journalists but when it comes time to write a press release they do so not because the story is newsworthy, but because they believe the number of releases mailed is indicative of the good job they are doing.  Today, industry's cost accountants do not perceive the number of press releases mailed to be indicative of the success of the public relations managers.  The number of releases used is the ultimate assessment tool.  Managers who have releases successfully placed are the ones who refuse to mail releases with no news value.  These managers are also the people who journalists perceive as the more credible public relations manager.

            The relationship between journalists and public relations managers and practitioners can be altered by using the theory of affirmation.  The theory of affirmation combines the symbolic interactionist approach, which suggests change occurs by understanding the interactions assignment editors have with the affirmation influences (Parks, 1966; Blumer, 1969), with a portion of Dimmick's (1974) theory of gatekeeping uncertainty.  What we now have is an integrated theory upon which public relations managers can become successful in placing material in television newscasts.  When managers evaluate the interactions editors have with the four affirmation influences previously discussed they will understand the gatekeeper's definition of news.  This understanding of the definition of news will allow them to produce material that will be used by the media and at the same time be able to have an affect on its primary target audience.  

REFERENCES

 

Adams, R.C., & Fish M. J. (1987). TV news directors'             perceptions of station management style.  Journalism             Quarterly, 64, 154-162.

Berkowitz, D. (1987).  TV news sources and channels: A             study in agenda setting.  Journalism Quarterly, 64,             508-513.

Berkowitz, D. (1990).  Refining the gatekeeping metaphor             for local television news.  Journal of Broadcasting             and Electronic Media, 34, 55-68.