The Influence of Public Relations in Business News Report ing: Opinions of Editors and Journalists

The study addresses the problem of the increasing influence of public relations in business writing.Interviews with editors and journalists at three major English business dailies were used to examine the rationalisations behind the continuing influence of public relations in business writing and the potential for change. The study provides several rationalisations of editors and journalists for the coverage given to PR events. Respondents were asked why they continued to rely on PR-organised events for news and information. Results were analysed using a constant comparative technique. It was found that reasons given by editors and journalists tended to concur. Due to this concurrence,the study proposed that editors were opinion leaders within the journalism field