Original scientific paper
Public Relations’ Influence on Croatian Media Is There a Difference Between the Opinions of Journalists and Public Relations Professionals?
Ana Tkalac Verčić
Mueller Norman
Abstract
The relationship between public relations professionals and journalists has been a questionable one since the very beginnings of both professions; it is clear that they depend upon each other but at the same time lack mutual trust. Both sides believe that their professional standards differ considerably from other side's professional standards. Although a great number of researches into this relationship have been conducted in the world, this field has not been adequately researched in Croatia yet.
The main goal of this study was to analyze the relationship between Croatian journalists and public relations experts. Two questionnaires of the same type were used to asses the opinions of both sides and compare them to each other. The purpose of the research was to compare the points of view the two professions have on the influence of press releases on the media agenda – the major assumption being that both sides believe that this influence is considerable. However, the results revealed a somewhat different situation.
Although the journalist surveyed agreed that press releases have a certain influence on media agenda, in their opinion this influence is significantly lower than according to public relations professionals. Since the two professions surveyed are undeniably connected, it would prove useful to inform them more on the opinions of the other side in order to achieve better future collaboration.
Keywords
Croatian media; public relations experts; influence of public relations
Hrčak ID:
18043
URI
Publication date:
27.6.2007.
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