Campus Access Only
All rights reserved. This publication is intended for use solely by faculty, students, and staff of University of the Pacific. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, now known or later developed, including but not limited to photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods, without the prior written permission of the author or the publisher.
Date of Award
2000
Document Type
Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted
Degree Name
Master of Arts (M.A.)
Department
Communication
First Advisor
Kenneth D. Day
First Committee Member
Qingwen Dong
Second Committee Member
Randall J. Koper
Abstract
Because of expanding news programming and a greater emphasis on interpretative reporting, journalists have an increasing need for experts to interview for articles. One common source for experts is colleges and universities, which are interested in gaining the attention that media references to their faculty bring. Past studies of media use of experts show bias toward high-status sources. An Internet-based service called ProfNet gives university public relations practitioners opportunities to offer experts to journalists who have posted queries related to future stories. University public relations practitioners who use ProfNet were surveyed to examine criteria for success in promoting experts. The results found frequent and rapid responses to journalists' queries correlated positively with success in getting experts used in articles. Institutional size as well as complexity, i.e. the number and type of academic degrees awarded, also correlated positively with use of campus experts, though the size of the correlation was not as great as the correlation between frequency of response and frequency of media placements using ProfNet. Institutional reputation, as operationalized by magazine rankings, did not correlate with success. Future study is needed to determine the relationship between the two indicators of media choices of expert sources: effort on the part of public relations offices, and the size and complexity of institutions.
Pages
53
Recommended Citation
Wills, Joseph B.. (2000). Picking the experts : the effect of ProfNet on news media choosing sources provided by university public relations offices. University of the Pacific, Thesis - Pacific Access Restricted. https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/532
To access this thesis/dissertation you must have a valid pacific.edu email address and log-in to Scholarly Commons.
Find in PacificSearchIf you are the author and would like to grant permission to make your work openly accessible, please email
Rights Statement
In Copyright. URI: http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/
This Item is protected by copyright and/or related rights. You are free to use this Item in any way that is permitted by the copyright and related rights legislation that applies to your use. For other uses you need to obtain permission from the rights-holder(s).
