A theory of influence:

  television news gatekeeping 

Mary Jackson Pitts

University of Southern Mississippi

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

INFLUENCE

 

Table of Contents

 

INTRODUCTION...................................     3

 

Theoretical Framework.........................      4

     Theory of influence......................     11

     The relationship.........................     25

 

SITUATIONAL PROBLEMS..........................     27

 

APPLICATIONS..................................     31

 

 

CONCLUSION....................................     35

 

REFERENCES....................................     37

 

 

 

 

 

 

                          i 

 

                       INTRODUCTION

     Americans watch television news.  Levy (1978/79) may have summed it up best "broadcast news is not the sole source of information for most people, but it is certainly impor­tant" (p. 24).  Cohen (1963) said the press does more than disseminate information and while it may not be powerful enough to change opinions it does get people to think about different opinions.     

     The reliance on affiliates by networks to supply news (Jacobs, 1990) and the shift from the news director as the initial gatekeeper to the assignment editor as the intitial gatekeeper (Adams & Fish, 1987; Stone, 1987) presents the public relations manager with a new set of rules to play by when attempting to get information disseminated.  As the role of television news directors turns from managing news content to managing people and budgets, television assignment editors are turning into the managers of the day to day news content.  

     These television assignment editors will determine whether the public relations manager's information is disseminated.  At present, research indicates public relations managers have not had much success in getting their releases used in print and broadcast and now the problem is complicated by a change in the initial gatekeeper at local television stations.

     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).  Kopenhaver, Martinson & Ryan (1985) found public relations practitioners' news values were very similar to newspaper editors but their perceptions of editors' news values were different.  While this seems to indicate strong similarities, editors' perceptions of public relations people were very different. 

 

Theoretical Framework

     Changing the perceptions held by journalists may be the key to improving the likelihood of having material used.

Parks (1966) suggested all "social problems turn out to be problems of social control" (p. 209).  There are three problems: administration, policy and polity, and social forces and human nature.  Parks believed these problems are dealt with through a series of interactions.  The very action creates the control.  The controls are turned into norms, mores, attitudes and opinions in which the group or public can collectively operate.  The controls, however, are continuously changing as the attention of the group shifts to different situations.

     Parks (1966) said, "society, like the individual man, moves and acts under the influence of a multitude of minor impulses and tendencies which mutually interact to produce a more general tendency which then dominates all the individuals of the group" (p. 223).  How people perceive themselves is dependent upon how they see themselves in a group.  Perceptions of self and the group determine how one will act.  Parks would suggest to public relations managers that for them to understand their placement problems with the gatekeepers, they must first understand what influences or controls gatekeepers' definitions of news.          

     Parks (1966) suggested the media link..in this case the television station...is in itself a public the manager should consider.  The same methods public relation's management applies to the general public should be applied to the media link.  Frazier and Gaziano (1979) suggested Park's theory is one based on the idea that information promotes discussion and discussion promotes change.  This is similar to the two way symmetric model used in public relations.  For public relations practitioners to change attitudes of a public they must interact with the public.

In the process of interaction with the public or in this case the gatekeeper, the manager will begin to understand what influences the gatekeeper.

     To understand the process of news selection, the PR manager could do as Blumer (1969) would suggest and put themselves into the place of another, in this case the shoes of the assignment editor.  Blumer's (1969) theory of symbolic interactionism is based on Parks'(1966) theory and rest on three premises: 1) people act towards things on the basis of meaning that things have for them; things may be objects, actions, people, etc, 2) meaning for these things comes through the interaction of people with other people, 3) people use an interpretative process in modifying the meaning they place on certain things.

     In short, how we place meaning on different situations determines how we will act.  The meaning comes through individuals interacting together.  From the interaction the individual interprets the interaction and then acts.  The act can occur only when the individual interprets the meaning in regard to his or herself.

     For Blumer (1969) social control is organized through the association of people.  It comes from people acting on the actions of others.  Blumer said, "human society is a vast process of defining to others what to do and of interpreting their definitions, through this process people come to fit their activities to one another and to form their own individual conduct" (p. 10). 

     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 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.

For the public relations manager's information to be received favorably by the editor the manager must understand how certain social interactions determine news decisions.  By studying how the editor interacts with various social influences, public relations manager can re-evaluate their role in the dissemination of information.  

     The theory of symbolic interaction allows for change.  The change comes through the interpretation of interactions among people.  What the public relations manager can pull from this theory is a method that can be used to generate positive opinions towards public relations people among journalists. 

     Dimmick (1974) suggested 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.  He proposed four propositions.  This study chooses to look at one of those four.

     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) believed the "opinion leader" would provide the reference for which a collected group works.  Reporters would tend to shy away from material that the "opinion leader" did not believe to be newsworthy.  Group consensus would be used to affirm the opinions of the total group.  In a sense it is pack journalism.  Everyone thinks alike in reference to news.  He suggested reference institutions help reduce uncertainty in news selection, in this case the wire services for newspapers and the New York Times for network news organizations.  For local television stations, networks might be the reference institution.   

     Uncertainty will be reduced by the news policies by which journalist work.  What the written or unwritten policy is towards news will determine how the gatekeeper makes decisions.  The policies are normally governed by the managers that supervise the gatekeepers.  The interaction of gatekeepers with sources over a prolonged period of time can change the gatekeeper's definition of news.  The theory is the longer the gatekeeper associates with the sources   

the more likely the gatekeeper will start to think like the source.  Dimmick finally suggested what the editors think can be influenced by things outside the news organization and its sources.  He was essentially saying news people do have personal lives that do influence how they behave.

     We choose here to pull from Dimmick's theory with the symbolic interactionist approach taken into consideration.

We believe the gatekeeper has a reference institution but it is himself/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. 

     We have four areas of influence: 1) individual bias (i.e. past and present experiences), 2) Peers (i.e. reporters, producers, photographers & others in the industry), 3) station management (i.e. station manager, department heads, news managers or directors), 4) communities (i.e. sources of news).  Dimmick (1974) called these uncertainty reduction modes; we call them influences that affirm decisions.  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 managers consider the influences when attempting to get information accepted by the gatekeeper.

 

 

    

 

Theory of influence

 

Proposal 1: Individual biases play an influential role in determining what decisions the gatekeeper will make.

     White (1950) in his pioneer study of the gatekeeper examined an individual gatekeeper.  He 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.  The wire editor was required to fill to pages of a newspaper with information obtained from three press associations.  After the two pages were full, "Mr. Gates" was asked to go back through all the copy that was rejected and give a reason why it was not used.  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 (1966) went back and replicated White's study.  Several changes had occurred at the newspaper but no real changes in the editor.  The editor's decisions continued to be very subjective.  Warner (1970) found in his study of the television decision-making process that the gatekeepers tended to be largely subjective.    

     Flegel and Chaffee (1971) set out to assess the influence of three factors in news judgement among reporters: 1) the reporter's perceived opinion, 2) what the reporter perceived the editor's opinion to be, and 3) what the reporter considered the reader's opinion to be.  Using a semantic differential scale, reporters were ask to what extent does a given person's opinion influence your own opinion.  They found reporters are strongly influenced by their own opinions. 

     Whitlow (1977) found gatekeepers are not using objectivity to determine news content but are instead being influenced by personal and situational factors.  He 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 (1982) used a stepwise regression model to measure seven levels of analysis on selection of news.  They found 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.  They also found years of experience on the job played a significant role in story selection.

     Ryan (1979) found in a content analysis of metropolitan daily newspaper coverage of social issues reporters used more unattributed and opinion reports than did those who covered event-oriented stories.  Ten-point-two percent of the stories were classified as containing unattributed opinions, inferences and judgements.  One might infer from this that these statements were the beliefs of the reporter.

     On a contradictory note, Drew (1975) found journalism student's attitudes toward sources had little impact on how favorable a story or editorial was written.  Drew selected 71 male and female students enrolled in four sections of a reporting class at Indiana University.  Each section received a different treatment during the experiment: 1) the source of a story is warm and friendly, 2) the source of the story is cold and hostile, and 3) expectations of a future meeting with the source.  Drew then rated the stories written.  An additional finding by Drew (1975) indicated those who expected to meet the source tended to write less favorable stories.  Drew warned, however, that this finding might be indicative of the experimental situation but not in a real world setting.  

     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.  The public relations manager should remember these individual biases are on a continuous course of change as each gatekeeper continues to interpret interactions around him/her.   

 

Proposal two:  Peers within the newsroom and the industry as a whole influence news decision. 

     Others suggest it is not individual biases but peers within the business that influence the news selection process.

     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).

How gatekeepers define news is reflective of the interactions they have with people around them.

     Breed (1955) and Brown (1979) found that the attitudes and experiences of the gatekeeper are in large part determined by the social controls around them. 

Warner (1971) through participant observation observed news workers have a tendency to apply group norms to decision making.  

     Stempel (1985) in a content analysis of 3 network newscast and 6 papers found substantial agreement between the mix of topics that go into filling the newshole.  It was also found the networks tend to select similar stories for air.  Foote & Steele (1986) in a content analysis of network television newscasts found journalists tend to define news as their news colleagues do.  Two of the three networks agreed on the same lead 91% of the time and the third network tended to use the story somewhere in the newscast.

Fowler & Showalter (1974) did a content analysis of ABC, CBS and NBC newscasts and found significant agreement among network editors not only on the selection of news topics but also on their treatment of the story.

   Grey (1966) used participant observation to examine one reporter making decisions as the reporter covered court room proceedings.  Grey wrote down the conversations the reporter had with other people while on the phone and statements made to him by the reporter.  He concluded working in deadline situations there is a tendency by beat reporters to report similar information.

     Sasser & Russell (1972) studied story selection and the length of the story in a content analysis of a daily newspaper, two TV stations and two radio stations.  Their findings seem to contradict in some degree the findings of the others mentioned but on closer examination do indicate that 50% of the time broadcast agree on news selection.

     Peers determine the professional news values of the journalist.  These values are generated through the interaction of journalists.  Harmon (1989) studied local television news operations using content analysis and participant observation.  Harmon (1989) 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 not the need of the audience determined whether a story was used.

      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.   

     Dimmick and Coit (1982) found the industry in which the newsworker operates controls the decisions more than organizational size.  Norms within the industry but outside the initial group appear to influence what stories will be used.  Findings by Geiber (1956) indicated selection of news by editors is influenced by what the wire service considers to be news.  Whitney and Becker's (1982) field experiment of 46 newspaper editors and five TV stations found what is transmitted by the wire service is accepted by newspapers and TV newsrooms without question.  Buckalew (1974) found in a study of radio gatekeepers that most used 50% percent of the stories sent by the wire service.  We suggest the wire service serves more as a story suggester.  Television assignment editors are required to put local crews out on the street gathering local news.  They will try to find a local spin to wire stories and get a video piece for the station. 

    

Proposal three:  The management hierarchy within the television station influences gatekeeping decisions.

     Gatekeepers' interactions with the power structure plays a different role in their definition of news 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.

    Shoemaker (1987) hypothesized news content is controlled by the people who finance the news media.  Shoemaker suggested those who finance the news media are commercial interest within the community.   This influence, according to Shoemaker, will affect all parts of the gatekeeping process.  She suggested the influence is subtle.

    Carroll (1989) applied Shoemaker's theory to the marketplace in which stations operate.  He believed the size of the market determined the influence of the financier.  The larger the market the more competition there would be to gain financial support and approval from a diverse audience.  The competition, he believed, would affect the types of stories that would be covered.  He did a content analysis of 161 news programs broadcast by 57 stations.  Programs were placed into categories according to their market size and then evaluated for the types of stories aired.  Coders analyzed videotapes of all 161 programs.

     Major markets tended to devote more time to their city of license than did small and medium market stations.  The major markets tended to look at on-going situation more than small markets.  This finding, however, could be attributed to the lack of personnel at smaller stations.  Larger markets leaned toward soft or feature news but also reported more unpleasant aspects of the community.  Larger markets also devoted more time to coverage of spontaneous events.  The small market station devoted more time to pre-planned events indicating outside forces do affect news decisions.  Carroll (1989) concluded marketplace forces do not affect the news decisions in small and medium markets any more or less than they do in large market.  One might surmise from this that journalists are cognizant of who butters the bread no matter where they are.  This goes along with Shoemaker's suggestion that the financiers have a subtle influence.  Perhaps a more appropriate line of study to test Shoemaker's theory would be an examination of what budgetary constraints gatekeepers face when deciding to cover a story.

     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.

    

Proposal four:  Communities influence newsmaking decisions.  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 fall into the story suggester category.  Who becomes the source within the story should be the group  public relations managers represent.  

     Skornia (1968) asked how can the job of informing be condensed down into a 30 minute newscast.  He suggested part of the condensing is done by a group of sources that are relied upon by the gatekeeper.  Berkowitz (1987) said the news agenda is built by these sources.  The people who understand the needs of the TV newsmaking process will have the best chance of getting their information on the air.  Berkowitz (1987) surmised this after collecting data from six hours of television newscasts.  A total of 156 news items were coded on the bases of where they came from.  The channels of information were: routine(official proceedings, press releases, press conferences), informal (background briefings, leaks, non-government proceedings) and enterprise (interviews, spontaneous events, independent research). Berkowitz (1987) found 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 that to 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.   

     Robert Smith (1979) found there is a tendency by television news to cover the pre-planned event as opposed to the spontaneous event.  Harmon (1989) in a participant observation study discovered the planned event stories out numbered spontaneous stories 61.5% to 38.5%.  Most stories were assigned well in advance of the air date.

     These pre-planned events are often initiated by public relations practitioners.  Tichenor, Olien, & Donohue (1967) suggested whether the pre-planned event is covered or not is dependent in part on whether the editor views the press material as having high audience appeal .

     This 1967 study was conducted among 88 pairs of agricultural extension agents and editors of community newspapers in Minnesota.  News and feature material from the agent was analyzed when it appeared in each newspaper.  The agents success was measured in column inches and percent of newshole devoted to the material.  Agents news values were closer to the editor's values than were their perceptions of the editor's values.  When the two groups' news values were more closely associated the greater chance there was of the editor giving more space to the agent's material.  Face to face contact among editors and agents did not seem to affect news judgement.  Drew's (1975) findings seemed to support this earlier finding.  However,  Tichenor, Olien, & Donohue (1967) suggested the opposite might be found in smaller markets.  We suggest phone to phone interaction without the persuasive communication would have a positive affect.  

     Lasora and Reese (1990) and Soloski (1989) found sources for most of the stories used tend to be government officials and the elite.  Soloski (1989) noted these sources had a tendency to be well-anchored in the community power structure.  This might indicate that the agenda of the community power source was receiving considerable air time.  Turk (1986) found government sources had a better chance of being used when they did not use persuasive communications in their press releases.  She also noted the source of information had more to do with what gets selected for use than does the selection process by journalist.  We suggest use of a source is determined by how effectively they identify information that journalists view as newsworthy. Once the journalist identifies sources that understand their definition of news they will use them over and over again.        Whitney, Fritzler, Jones, Mazzarella, & Rakow (1989) examined network evening newscasts for two years.  In their content analysis 5,190 newscast items were analyzed.  Forty-two point four percent of these stories contained more than one source.  Seventy-two percent of all sources were officials of the government; 2.7% were former officials; and, 25.7% were unaffiliated.  They also found among institutional and group sources the business spokesperson accounted for just under a third of all institutional sources.  It appears news organizations are reflecting the power structures.  Four states received more coverage than all the rest: California, New York, Illinois and Texas.  These states account for 30% of the U.S. population.  

     Harmon (1988) conducted a content analysis of 1,353 news stories.  From a participant observation study in Cincinnati, Ohio 543 items were taken.  From newscasts selected at random from a news consultant's files 810 items were taken.  He hypothesized lead stories would be more local in nature, more local news would be used over all the newscasts and national and international stories would be used more on slow days.  It was found over half of the stories came from areas within the city limits or home county of the station.  Most lead stories were found to be local in the early evening newscasts.  No significance was found for use of national and international stories on slow days.  The use of stories within the city and county limits is no doubt related to the fact the items covered have a local impact.        

     Shook and Lattimore (1987) suggested an important element of news is 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?

     Public relations managers must be the suggesters of news not the news.  The events they schedule should be the news and the people at those events the sources within the news stories.  If public relations managers want to become the source within the news stories they must become a part of the community's power structure. 

 

The relationship of the four influences

     While researchers in the four areas of influence have found support for what they believe to be the main influence in the news selection process, we suggest none of the influences work without the other.  The symbolic interactionist would tie all these influences together and call them an interacting body of influences.  Gatekeepers interact within each of these influences.  The individual brings biases into the work place.  These biases come from the interactions with people in their lives.  Their education, family life, and work history mold the norms and images they use in interacting with their peers within their news organization and the news industry in which they operate. 

     How their peers interact with them further influences how they make decisions.  If every person in the industry is covering a story, the likelihood of them covering the story is good.  If a large number of their colleagues consider something to be newsworthy then they to will most likely believe it is newsworthy.  Nobody wants to work in an atmosphere of conflict.  Gatekeepers decisions will be compromised to reduce conflict and create a norm within the selection process.

     Situations confronted that may determine job stability will influence gatekeeping decisions.  If a gatekeeper chooses not to cover a story while everyone else is covering the story,  management will question the decision.  Management wants you to be unique but not too unique.  They want you to play by their decisions which tend to be influenced by the marketplace.

     The marketplace contains the community.  The community sources used often within stories exist within the power structure.  Since they are in the power structure of the community their information agenda often becomes the gatekeeper's agenda.

    For those wanting to use the media to link them to the public, their effectiveness will be determined by their ability to make story suggestions that are deemed newsworthy by the gatekeeper.  Instead of thinking of journalists as the gatekeepers they should think of them as a public that can take their suggestions and turn them into a news story.

 

SITUATIONAL PROBLEMS

Before applying this theory of gatekeeping, the public relations manager must be aware of several identifiable situations that may affect the application.

 

Situation one:  Public relations managers do not apply findings from statistical studies.

     Plenty of studies generated have revealed what journalists want from public relations people but the majority of public relations managers don't seem to be taking them into consideration when they prepare releases.

     Jeffers (1977) found news people considered public relations practitioners as obstacles to finding truth.  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.

     Schluese (1988) found in a phone survey of print journalist 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 journalist revealed journalist 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 strong support that news releases get used more often when they are newsworthy.  She also found 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).   

     Stocking in 1985 suggested public relations activities may have no effect on the media unless they have something to offer that is newsworthy.  These findings seem to say the public relations managers are not providing gatekeepers with material that can be used.

 

 

Situation two:  Sources are no longer dealing with the same people at local television stations.  The television assignment editor not the news director is now the person who makes the initial decisions about news coverage.

     Findings by Be­rkowitz (ci­ted in Berkowitz 1990) indicated 77.5%  of story ideas for one day are thrown out by the assign­ment editor before anyone else has a chance to look at them.  Lagan (1984) found 71.7% of the news assignments are made by the assignment editor.  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.

     Television people call the local assignment editor position the "toughest job in the business" (O'Connor, 1987, p. 30).  In this position, decisions are made about what will and will not be covered by the local news depart­ment and in turn these decision will determine the local news output for the day.  Television assignment editors actually control what is included in local news content.

     Berokowitz (1990) suggested the reporter is not the initial gatekeeper.  It 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.  

 

Situation three:  Public relations managers must realize  assignment editors are just as important a public as the audience they try to reach.

     Assignment editors are the initial gatekeeper at local television stations.  And, while in a split second they can 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.

 

APPLICATIONS

     The applications for the theory presented above are two fold.  On one hand we must look at how public relations managers can change poor opinions gatekeepers hold of them and on the other public relations managers must recognize this can be done by showing journalists they do know what news is.  The first cannot be accomplished without also accomplishing the second.  First, we must find out what the assignment editors definition of news is and then we must actually apply that to the information managers release.

 

Political beliefs of assignment editors will influence their assignment decision. 

 

Younger assignment editors will use public relations information more than older editors.

 

Impact on the audience will serve as a strong determinant in story selection.  If the audience would have an interest in the information or the information would affect their daily lives it would be used.

 

Releases that contain conflict will be used more often by assignment editors.  This conflict does not necessarily have to be bad.  Shook and Lattimore (1987) suggested there are four types of conflict: man vs nature, man vs man, man verse fate and man vs himself.  Many times this conflict can be one of triumph over one of these elements.

 

Timely releases will be used by the television assignment editor.  Because editors often pre-plan stories, releases which arrive two to three days before the event takes place will have an increased chance of being used.

 

Television assignment editors will use information that is emotionally close to the audience more than any other material.  Whether the story is used does not hinge on its geographic closeness to the audience but on how close emotionally the audience is to that story.  We propose it is the ability to localize a story that makes it useable.

 

Releases that contain more than one news element will be used more often by television assignment editors. 

A combination of news elements such as timeliness, local angle, impact on audience, conflict within a story will increase the chances of it being assigned.

 

Television assignment editors will assign stories that can be developed through press conference, official proceedings and press releases which have audience appeal more often than spontaneous events.  The spontaneous event(i.e. a fire, accident) normally only affects a small number of people.

 

Small and medium market stations will be more receptive to pre-planned events than large market stations.  This receptiveness of the pre-planned event is due in most part

part to the budget and personnel constraints the television assignment editors work under.  It is much easier for a station short of staff to interview sources at a pre-planned event than to try to track them down.

 

Public relations managers that can provide executive sources for television assignment editors to use in their video stories will have a better chance of material being used. 

 

Television assignment editors use wire services and press releases as story suggester. 

 

Public relations managers which 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 that apply their own news values to material they produce they will have increased success in placing information.  Managers who realize a few newsworthy releases successfully placed will have greater impact than mailing out releases with no news value and that never get used will improve their credibility within their organization and among journalists.    

 

The attitude of the assignment editor toward the source will affect the assignment decisions.  These attitudes, however, are ones that relate to the sources ability to offer newsworthy story suggestions. 

 

Public relations managers who know something about the individual television assignment editor will be more successful.  Discovering individual biases will help the manager in placing information.  A simple phone call can reveal a good deal about editors 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.

 

CONCLUSION

 

     We have taken from those who propose change can be accomplished through the understanding of the interaction people have with various influences (Parks, 1966; Blumer, 1969) and combined it 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 social influences we have 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