News about newspaper advertisers: To what extent can corporate advertising budgets predict editorial uptake and coverage of corporate press releases?
Journal
Journalism : theory, practice & criticism
ISSN
1464-8849
ISSN-Digital
1741-3001
Type
journal article
Date Issued
2017
Author(s)
Abstract
News value theory aims to predict a story’s chance of being selected for publication based on news factors and ascribed news values. News values can also predict the coverage of corporate press releases. For news decisions, a newspaper’s revenue model may force editors to consider whether the source of a press release is an advertising client, despite the ‘separation of church and state’. In addition, for business journalism, corporate press releases have become an increasingly important news source. This study combines news values and advertiser weight to predict news coverage of press releases of banks in the news of partly and fully advertising-funded newspapers in Switzerland.
Results show that advertiser importance can explain press release coverage concerning article length and tone in few cases, but has no universal news value. Public relations material is also not used as editorial subsidy for news. Larger companies are more successful in terms of press release uptake. However, their articles consist of a greater share of non-public relations material. Thus, our findings confirm editorial independence instead of copy-paste or obsequious journalism.
Results show that advertiser importance can explain press release coverage concerning article length and tone in few cases, but has no universal news value. Public relations material is also not used as editorial subsidy for news. Larger companies are more successful in terms of press release uptake. However, their articles consist of a greater share of non-public relations material. Thus, our findings confirm editorial independence instead of copy-paste or obsequious journalism.
Language
English
HSG Classification
None
HSG Profile Area
None
Refereed
Yes
Publisher
Sage
Publisher place
London [u.a.]
Volume
18
Number
10
Start page
1
End page
18
Pages
18
Subject(s)
Division(s)
Contact Email Address
fabienne.buenzli@unisg.ch
Eprints ID
250766
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Name
Lischka, Stressig, Bünzli_2016_News about newspaper advertisers.pdf
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722.13 KB
Format
Adobe PDF
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