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Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election
G Model PUBREL-1428; No. of Pages 3
ARTICLE IN PRESS Public Relations Review xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Public Relations Review
Research in brief
Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election Spiro Kiousis a,∗ , Ji Young Kim b , Sarabdeep K. Kochhar c , Hyun-Ji Lim d , Jung Min Park e , Jin Sook Im e a b c d e
College of Journalism & Communications, University of Florida, PO Box 118400, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400, USA University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA Institute for Public Relations, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA University of Miami, Miami, FL 33146, USA University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32,611, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 18 March 2015 Received in revised form 8 July 2015 Accepted 13 July 2015 Keywords: Agenda building Political public relations Information subsidies Social media
a b s t r a c t Grounded in first- and second-level agenda building, this study examined the role of political public relations in contributing to the news media agenda during the 2010 Florida Senate Election involving three major candidates. The findings offered support for agenda building at both the object (issues and stakeholders) and attribute levels of salience (issue frames and candidate attributes) between candidate information subsidies and news coverage. Some marked differences were observed across the different types of information subsidies. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The Florida Senate Election was one of the most unique political races in the United States during the 2010 campaign cycle as it involved three major candidates—Charlie Crist (Independent), Marco Rubio (Republican), and Kendrick Meek (Democrat). A chief aspect to understanding the dynamics behind such large electoral change is to scrutinize the role of political public relations efforts during the election campaign. Agenda-building and agenda-setting theories have offered useful conceptual frameworks for understanding the role of campaign communications and media messages during elections (Kiousis, Bantimaroudis, & Ban, 1999; Kiousis, Mitrook, Wu, & Seltzer, 2006; McCombs, Llamas, López-Escobar, & Rey, 1997; McCombs & Shaw, 1972). The 2010 Florida Senate race provides an under-examined venue in political agenda-building analyses because of its inclusion of a major third-party candidate and that the election is at the state-level in comparison to the many national-level investigations prevalent in this area of scholarship. In addition, another distinctive quality of the present inquiry is its integration of multiple campaign communication messages into the investigation as a replication of only a few studies taking such an approach in an agenda-building context. The following hypotheses and a research question are offered: H1. The salience of issues in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of issues in state media coverage of the Florida Senate Election.
∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +1 352 392 3919. E-mail addresses: [email protected]fl.edu (S. Kiousis), [email protected] (J.Y. Kim), [email protected] (S.K. Kochhar), [email protected] (H.-J. Lim), [email protected] (J.M. Park), [email protected] (J.S. Im). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009 0363-8111/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Kiousis, S., et al. Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Public Relations Review (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009
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H2. The salience of stakeholders in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of stakeholders in state media coverage of the Election. H3. The salience of issue frames in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of issue frames in state media coverage of the Election. H4. The salience of candidate attributes in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of candidate attributes in state media coverage of the Election. RQ1. How do the relationships between information subsidies and news coverage of object and attribute salience vary by message type? 2. Method This study conducted a content analysis of the candidates’ public relations materials on their official websites (i.e., news releases, issue platform statements, biographies, fact sheets, television ads, and email messages), social media sites (i.e., blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube), and state news media coverage. A total of 1503 public relations materials were collected. From August 24 to November 2, 2010 (from the end of the Primary to end of the General Election), state news coverage was collected from seven state-wide newspapers: St. Petersburg Times, SF Sun-Sentinel, Tampa Tribune, the FL Times-Union, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Daytona Beach News-journal, and the Palm Beach Post. These newspapers were selected based on circulation size, and four of them were used in a previous gubernatorial election analysis in the state of Florida (Kiousis et al., 2006). Using keywords of the Florida Senate and the candidates’ last names, a total of 709 articles were collected. Among the four trained coders, Scott’s Pi scores were reported as .79, .81, .77, and .79 for issues, issue frames, stakeholder, and candidate attributes, respectively. 3. Results H1 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of issues in candidate public relations messages and state media coverage. Our results are presented at the aggregate level to examine the relationship between information subsidies and news coverage in general, as well as at the strategic level to examine the effectiveness of each candidate’s messages during the campaign. The aggregate results strongly support this hypothesis in eight out of 10 cases. The median correlation value is .68. The data also support H1 when examining the individual candidates in 25 out of 27 possible comparisons. The median correlation value for each candidate was .66 for Marco Rubio, .64 for Charlie Crist, and .49 for Kendrick Meek. H2 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of stakeholders in candidate public relations messages and state media coverage. The data offer strong support for this hypothesis in eight out of 10 cases, and the median correlation value is .61. A similar conclusion is drawn when examining the individual candidate data in 23 out of 27 possible comparisons support the hypothesis. The median correlation value for each candidate is .63 for Rubio, .65 for Crist, and .59 for Meek. H3 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of issue frames in candidate public relations messages and state media coverage. The data support the hypothesis in seven out of 10 comparisons, and the median correlation value is .66. When broken down by specific candidate, the data offer support for H3 in 18 out of 28 possible comparisons. The median correlation values across candidates are .76 for Rubio, .54 for Crist, and .63 for Meek. H4 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of candidate attributes in public relations messages and state media coverage. The data provide support for this hypothesis in seven out of 10 possible comparisons at the aggregate level, and the median correlation value is .84. When examining each candidate individually, the data support the hypothesis in 15 out of 26 cases across campaigns. The median correlation value by candidate is .81 for Rubio, .57 for Crist, and .82 for Meek. RQ1 explored what the differences were with different types of information subsidies and state news coverage regarding object and attribute salience. The most consistently linked information subsidies with news content are news releases, Facebook posts, Twitter messages, YouTube speeches, and email messages. 4. Discussion and conclusion The purpose of this study was to explore the agenda-building role of public relations in influencing news media coverage in the context of the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Supporting the hypotheses, the findings of this study confer evidence for both the first- and second-levels of agenda building. More importantly, the study also looked at whether and how the agenda-building process may differ among different types of public relations messages. Not only traditional public relations messages (i.e., news releases, issue platforms, or biographies), but also online and social media messages (i.e., Facebook, twitter, or e-mail) were explored. Our results suggest that public relations messages in the form of news releases, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and e-mail have the strongest linkages with news media coverage. The present inquiry extends agenda-building theory by integrating the influence of online and social media with the impact of traditional information subsidies. It shows that messages in online and social media also play as crucial a role in the process of salience formation with objects and attributes as traditional information subsidies do. In summary, the Please cite this article in press as: Kiousis, S., et al. Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Public Relations Review (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009
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ARTICLE IN PRESS S. Kiousis et al. / Public Relations Review xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
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investigation offers a strong foundation for further exploration of the influence of multiple communications and news media coverage in the process of agenda building in political discourse. A complete version of the study is available upon request from the first author. References Kiousis, S., Bantimaroudis, P., & Ban, H. (1999). Candidate image attributes: Experiments of the substantive dimension of second level agenda setting. Communication Research, 26(4), 414–428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/009365099026004003 Kiousis, S., Mitrook, M., Wu, X., & Seltzer, T. (2006). First- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting effects: Exploring the linkages among candidate news releases, media coverage, and public opinion during the 2002 Florida gubernatorial election. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18(3), 265–285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s1532754xjprr1803 4 McCombs, M. E., Llamas, J. P., López-Escobar, E., & Rey, F. (1997). Candidate images in Spanish elections: Second-level agenda-setting effects. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 703–717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107769909707400404 McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/267990
Please cite this article in press as: Kiousis, S., et al. Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Public Relations Review (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009
ARTICLE IN PRESS Public Relations Review xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
Contents lists available at ScienceDirect
Public Relations Review
Research in brief
Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election Spiro Kiousis a,∗ , Ji Young Kim b , Sarabdeep K. Kochhar c , Hyun-Ji Lim d , Jung Min Park e , Jin Sook Im e a b c d e
College of Journalism & Communications, University of Florida, PO Box 118400, Gainesville, FL 32611-8400, USA University of Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, HI 96822, USA Institute for Public Relations, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA University of Miami, Miami, FL 33146, USA University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32,611, USA
a r t i c l e
i n f o
Article history: Received 18 March 2015 Received in revised form 8 July 2015 Accepted 13 July 2015 Keywords: Agenda building Political public relations Information subsidies Social media
a b s t r a c t Grounded in first- and second-level agenda building, this study examined the role of political public relations in contributing to the news media agenda during the 2010 Florida Senate Election involving three major candidates. The findings offered support for agenda building at both the object (issues and stakeholders) and attribute levels of salience (issue frames and candidate attributes) between candidate information subsidies and news coverage. Some marked differences were observed across the different types of information subsidies. © 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
1. Introduction The Florida Senate Election was one of the most unique political races in the United States during the 2010 campaign cycle as it involved three major candidates—Charlie Crist (Independent), Marco Rubio (Republican), and Kendrick Meek (Democrat). A chief aspect to understanding the dynamics behind such large electoral change is to scrutinize the role of political public relations efforts during the election campaign. Agenda-building and agenda-setting theories have offered useful conceptual frameworks for understanding the role of campaign communications and media messages during elections (Kiousis, Bantimaroudis, & Ban, 1999; Kiousis, Mitrook, Wu, & Seltzer, 2006; McCombs, Llamas, López-Escobar, & Rey, 1997; McCombs & Shaw, 1972). The 2010 Florida Senate race provides an under-examined venue in political agenda-building analyses because of its inclusion of a major third-party candidate and that the election is at the state-level in comparison to the many national-level investigations prevalent in this area of scholarship. In addition, another distinctive quality of the present inquiry is its integration of multiple campaign communication messages into the investigation as a replication of only a few studies taking such an approach in an agenda-building context. The following hypotheses and a research question are offered: H1. The salience of issues in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of issues in state media coverage of the Florida Senate Election.
∗ Corresponding author. Fax: +1 352 392 3919. E-mail addresses: [email protected]fl.edu (S. Kiousis), [email protected] (J.Y. Kim), [email protected] (S.K. Kochhar), [email protected] (H.-J. Lim), [email protected] (J.M. Park), [email protected] (J.S. Im). http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009 0363-8111/© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.
Please cite this article in press as: Kiousis, S., et al. Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Public Relations Review (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009
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H2. The salience of stakeholders in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of stakeholders in state media coverage of the Election. H3. The salience of issue frames in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of issue frames in state media coverage of the Election. H4. The salience of candidate attributes in candidate public relations messages will be positively related to the salience of candidate attributes in state media coverage of the Election. RQ1. How do the relationships between information subsidies and news coverage of object and attribute salience vary by message type? 2. Method This study conducted a content analysis of the candidates’ public relations materials on their official websites (i.e., news releases, issue platform statements, biographies, fact sheets, television ads, and email messages), social media sites (i.e., blog, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube), and state news media coverage. A total of 1503 public relations materials were collected. From August 24 to November 2, 2010 (from the end of the Primary to end of the General Election), state news coverage was collected from seven state-wide newspapers: St. Petersburg Times, SF Sun-Sentinel, Tampa Tribune, the FL Times-Union, Sarasota Herald-Tribune, Daytona Beach News-journal, and the Palm Beach Post. These newspapers were selected based on circulation size, and four of them were used in a previous gubernatorial election analysis in the state of Florida (Kiousis et al., 2006). Using keywords of the Florida Senate and the candidates’ last names, a total of 709 articles were collected. Among the four trained coders, Scott’s Pi scores were reported as .79, .81, .77, and .79 for issues, issue frames, stakeholder, and candidate attributes, respectively. 3. Results H1 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of issues in candidate public relations messages and state media coverage. Our results are presented at the aggregate level to examine the relationship between information subsidies and news coverage in general, as well as at the strategic level to examine the effectiveness of each candidate’s messages during the campaign. The aggregate results strongly support this hypothesis in eight out of 10 cases. The median correlation value is .68. The data also support H1 when examining the individual candidates in 25 out of 27 possible comparisons. The median correlation value for each candidate was .66 for Marco Rubio, .64 for Charlie Crist, and .49 for Kendrick Meek. H2 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of stakeholders in candidate public relations messages and state media coverage. The data offer strong support for this hypothesis in eight out of 10 cases, and the median correlation value is .61. A similar conclusion is drawn when examining the individual candidate data in 23 out of 27 possible comparisons support the hypothesis. The median correlation value for each candidate is .63 for Rubio, .65 for Crist, and .59 for Meek. H3 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of issue frames in candidate public relations messages and state media coverage. The data support the hypothesis in seven out of 10 comparisons, and the median correlation value is .66. When broken down by specific candidate, the data offer support for H3 in 18 out of 28 possible comparisons. The median correlation values across candidates are .76 for Rubio, .54 for Crist, and .63 for Meek. H4 predicted a positive relationship between the salience of candidate attributes in public relations messages and state media coverage. The data provide support for this hypothesis in seven out of 10 possible comparisons at the aggregate level, and the median correlation value is .84. When examining each candidate individually, the data support the hypothesis in 15 out of 26 cases across campaigns. The median correlation value by candidate is .81 for Rubio, .57 for Crist, and .82 for Meek. RQ1 explored what the differences were with different types of information subsidies and state news coverage regarding object and attribute salience. The most consistently linked information subsidies with news content are news releases, Facebook posts, Twitter messages, YouTube speeches, and email messages. 4. Discussion and conclusion The purpose of this study was to explore the agenda-building role of public relations in influencing news media coverage in the context of the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Supporting the hypotheses, the findings of this study confer evidence for both the first- and second-levels of agenda building. More importantly, the study also looked at whether and how the agenda-building process may differ among different types of public relations messages. Not only traditional public relations messages (i.e., news releases, issue platforms, or biographies), but also online and social media messages (i.e., Facebook, twitter, or e-mail) were explored. Our results suggest that public relations messages in the form of news releases, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and e-mail have the strongest linkages with news media coverage. The present inquiry extends agenda-building theory by integrating the influence of online and social media with the impact of traditional information subsidies. It shows that messages in online and social media also play as crucial a role in the process of salience formation with objects and attributes as traditional information subsidies do. In summary, the Please cite this article in press as: Kiousis, S., et al. Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Public Relations Review (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009
G Model PUBREL-1428; No. of Pages 3
ARTICLE IN PRESS S. Kiousis et al. / Public Relations Review xxx (2015) xxx–xxx
3
investigation offers a strong foundation for further exploration of the influence of multiple communications and news media coverage in the process of agenda building in political discourse. A complete version of the study is available upon request from the first author. References Kiousis, S., Bantimaroudis, P., & Ban, H. (1999). Candidate image attributes: Experiments of the substantive dimension of second level agenda setting. Communication Research, 26(4), 414–428. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/009365099026004003 Kiousis, S., Mitrook, M., Wu, X., & Seltzer, T. (2006). First- and second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting effects: Exploring the linkages among candidate news releases, media coverage, and public opinion during the 2002 Florida gubernatorial election. Journal of Public Relations Research, 18(3), 265–285. http://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s1532754xjprr1803 4 McCombs, M. E., Llamas, J. P., López-Escobar, E., & Rey, F. (1997). Candidate images in Spanish elections: Second-level agenda-setting effects. Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(4), 703–717. http://dx.doi.org/10.1177/107769909707400404 McCombs, M. E., & Shaw, D. L. (1972). The agenda-setting function of mass media. Public Opinion Quarterly, 36(2), 176–187. http://dx.doi.org/10.1086/267990
Please cite this article in press as: Kiousis, S., et al. Agenda-building linkages between public relations and state news media during the 2010 Florida Senate Election. Public Relations Review (2015), http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.pubrev.2015.07.009