EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AGENDA-SETTING IN PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRESS AS AN ISSUE: A CASE STUDY

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1 EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AGENDA-SETTING IN PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRESS AS AN ISSUE: A CASE STUDY AYBİKE PELENK [email protected] Kocaeli University (Turkey) ÖYKÜ GÜL [email protected] Maltepe University (Turkey) Abstract Özet Today, public relations is an important management function as it has the important areas like crisis management, lobbying, relations with the publics reputation management and issue management. Especially, as a function of issue management, agenda-setting efforts has an important role for the public relations practitioners. People are exposed to media messages every single day. According to the agenda-setting approach, the order of the news in media, the manner of the news and the concepts constitutes the media agenda. The transfer of the news messages to the public opinion influences the public opinion agenda, and this influences the political agenda. The base of agenda-setting is that the media proposes the public to think how about and undertake the role of gate keeper. Public Relations attracts attention of public through the agenda-setting and provides to bring up the guidelines of the matters correctly. In other words, it influences the public opinion setting the agenda influencing the concepts of the media. In this way corporations are supported by the public opinion and also have the options to plan the activities being pressure group in local government. In this study, the relationship between public relations and agenda-setting was researched and determined the importance of the agenda-setting efforts for Public Relations. Günümüzde Halkla İlişkiler kriz yönetimi, lobicilik, toplulukla ilişkiler, itibar yönetimi ve sorun yönetimi gibi birçok uygulama alanına sahip, önemli bir yönetim fonksiyonudur. Özellikle sorun yönetiminin bir fonksiyonu olarak gündem oluşturma çabaları Halkla ilişkiler uygulayıcısı için oldukça önem taşımaktadır. İnsanlar her gün medya iletilerine maruz kalmaktadırlar. Gündem belirleme yaklaşımına göre, haberlerin medyada yer alış sıraları, haber biçimleri ve içerikleri medya gündemini oluşturmaktadır. Bu haber iletilerinin kamuoyuna aktarımı kamu gündemini, kamu gündemi de siyasal gündemi etkilemektedir. Gündem belirleme yaklaşımının özü, medyanın, insanlara hangi konu hakkında düşüneceklerini önermesiyle eşik bekçiliği rolü üstlenmesinde yatar. Halkla ilişkiler, gündem oluşturma ile halkın dikkatini çekerek, olayın doğru bir şekilde ana hatlarının ortaya konması sağlamaktadır. Başka bir deyişle, gündem oluşturma yoluyla medyanın

2 804 içerdiği konular üzerinde etkili olarak kamuoyunu etkilemektedir. Bu yolla kurumlar herhangi bir soruna ilişkin kamuoyu oluşturup destek görebileceği gibi kamu yönetimine baskı grubu olma amaçlı etkinlikler de planlayabilmektedirler. Bu çalışmada gündem oluşturma ile Halkla İlişkiler arasındaki ilişki incelenerek, halkla ilişkiler açısından gündem oluşturma çabalarının önemi ortaya konmuştur.

3 EXAMINING THE ROLE OF AGENDA-SETTING IN PUBLIC RELATIONS PROGRESS AS AN ISSUE: A CASE STUDY Introduction Public relations provides an issue to stay in media and public agenda through agendasetting. As Cutlip explains that public relations helps our complex, pluralistic society to reach decisions and function more effectively by contributing to mutual understanding among groups and institutions. It serves to bring private and public policies into harmony (Cutlip, 5). Public relations as a functional practice, provides practitioners many possibilities in communication area. Mass media components are very important for delivering company s public relations messages to the target audience. Mass media has power to make audience pay attention to the messages and to influence their way of thinking about the issues. That is a good reason why PR specialists struggle to place their work in the mass media. Considering the fact that media messages have a power, is it possible for PR specialists to control media messages and it to create harmony between media messages and corporate messages to reach corporate objectives. Agenda Setting Theory Agenda setting theory is about the influence of mass media on the public focus attention who and what people are thinking about. It examines the media effect on the perceived importance of issues held by public. (McCombs, Lymas, Lopez-Escobar and Rey, 1997:705) McCombs and Shaw who are the theorists of agenda setting theory, focused on the two elements: awareness and information in 1968 presidential election campaign, Chapel Hill. Investigating the agenda-setting function of the mass media, they attempted to evaluate the relationship between what voters in one community said were important issues and the actual content of media messages used during the campaign. McCombs and Shaw concluded that the mass media exerted a significant influence on what voters considered to be the major issues of the campaign. ( Agenda setting refers to the media s capability, through repeated news coverage, of raising the importance of an issue in the public s mind. (Severin and Tankard, 2001: 219) Agendasetting, has made its way over the years into newsrooms and think-tank analyses of public debates. (Kosicki, 1993:100) Rogers, Dearing, and Bregman identify more than 200 articles about agenda setting in the social science literature since the publication of McCombs and Shaw s seminal article in Scholarly research has been steady since then, with the widely spaced key years of 1977, 1981, 1987, and 1991 each producing 17 to 20 publications and 1991 share the record for the publication of agenda setting studies. (McCombs, Shaw, Donald, 1993:59) Traditional agenda setting deals with issue or object salience, that is, how media put certain subjects on the public agenda. (Huckins, 1999:76) The newest development in agenda-setting research is a focus on a new level of agenda seeing, a level that McCombs and his associates have called the second level of agenda setting. (Severin and Tankard, 2001:236) 805

4 Second-level agenda setting examines attribute salience, how descriptions of aspects of the object or issue are transferred from media to receiver. (Huckins, 1999: 76) It builds upon the idea that an agenda is an abstract notion and that many things other than issues could be items on the list. (Severin and Tankard, 2001:236) Table 1 An Agenda of Issues at the First Level of Agenda Setting These were issues in the presidential election of 1968: 1. Foreign policy 2. Law and order 3. Civil rights 4. Fiscal policy 5. Public welfare Source: Severin and Tankard, 1997:236 Table 2 An Agenda of Attributes at the Second Level of Agenda Setting In this case, the attributes are subissues under the issue of economics: 1. Income tax reform 2. Balancing the budget 3. Reducing the national debt 4. Interest rates 5. Federal banking regulations Media Agenda Media agenda researchers studied on how media agenda takes form, what effects the media agenda and what sets the media agenda. Rogers and Dearing explained the media agenda as it s a issues and problems list that takes place in a specific period of time. (İrvan, 1997:72) Many issues exist on mass media like pollution, terrorism and high cost of living. These issues make up the media agenda. (Atabek, 1997: 44) The basic studies on media agenda researches are focused on detecting the process of news production which is a compound of how media selects news stories from many issues in the real life, how news stories are produced and how the media content is presented. (Yüksel, 2001:59) Public relations specialists may try to set media agenda through the interests and objectives of the company they work for. First thing to do for public relations specialists is to carry the issue, to the media agenda, by the means of question of availability. (Atabek, 1997:57) Shoemaker and Reese, have proposed five major categories of influences on media content: 806

5 1. Influences from individual media workers, 2. Influences of media routines, 3. Organizational influences on content, 4. Influences on content out of media organizations, 5. Influences of ideology.(severin and Tankard, 2001: ) Public Relations and Agenda Setting Theory Public relations serves a wide variety of institutions in society such as businesses, trade unions, government agencies, voluntary associations, foundations, hospitals, schools, colleges, and religious institutions. To achieve their goals, these institutions must develop effective relationships with many different audiences or publics such as employees, members, customers, local communities, shareholders, other institutions, and with society at large. (Cutlip, Center, and Broom, 1999:5) Political communication has long recognized the role of mass media in setting agendas for public debate. Recent research, however, has indicated that such agendas are underpinned by shared beliefs and shaped in part by early recognizers who identify emerging issues and disseminate them to the public. Clearly, these early recognizers include public relations practitioners who work in media relations. Practitioners involved in activities such as lobbying, co-orientation, and environmental scanning, however, may also influence public discussion. (Knight, 1999:382) Public opinion is a lot easer to measure than it is to influence. However, a thoughtful public relations program can crystallize attitudes, reinforce beliefs, and occasionally change public opinion. First, the opinions to be changed or modified must be identified and understood. Second, target publics must be clear. Third, the public relations professionals must have in sharp focus the laws that govern public opinion- as amorphous as they may be. (Seitel, 2001: 58) As a part of public relations issue management is becoming important for agenda-setting activities. As a basic duty of PR is to constitute corporate identity and to bring it forward where agenda setting and issue management is connected. (Akyürek, 2002:130) Public relations practitioners have an important position between the other external effects to influence the media contents.in this subject Pavlik, explains that media agenda as a public relations function, reflect the corporate agendas. (Yüksel, 2001:88) In this way, corporate can determine public issues earlier. This can be can be effective to influence the issues and provide the mass media in the agenda to solve the issue when it is necessary. Corporates can be supported by the public through public relations, and can have the aims to plan being pressure group in the public management. (Akyürek, 2002:130) Public relations practitioners, in their agenda-building roles, can help to facilitating dialogue between opposed factions by offering alternatives to conflict or value frames. (Knight, 1999: 385) Studies on the impact of PR on the media have been conducted over many years and a considerable body of evidence has accumulated. As far back as 1963 and 1975, a series of 807

6 studies of news media in Milwaukee found 45% of the news items in newspapers and around 15% of news on radio and television news originated in one way or another from PR sources. (Macnamara, 5) Public relations practitioners have a lot pressure on media organizations. This relationship is seen mostly in the USA where the number of correspondents is while the number of public relations specialists is in the country. 40% of news information arrive to news bureau is sent by public relations specialists. (Yüksel, 2001:88) Hypothesis 1. Public relations is effective to build media agenda. 2. Public relations activities for issues that are related to social interests like education, influence the media agenda. Research Design This research aims to bring up the influence of public relations practice to the media agenda. Education is one of the vital issue in Turkey. 1 million and 2 hundred thousand children start to school every year in Turkey. Contrary, the source that government setted is insufficient for contemporary and technically developed education. In this research, examined topics are Is media agenda accepted as a great actor determining the public agenda?, Does media give enough importance to education issue by the effect of public relations actions? and Are public relations activities effective in setting media agenda and media- coverage? Non-profit organizations such as Turkey Education Volunteers Foundation (TEGV), organize civil interests to create funds for education in Turkey. TEGV was chosen for this research because it is the most widespread educational organization in Turkey. It has just completed to be corporate and has a professional relationship with the stakeholders. The Stars Classroom Fest is one of the public relations activities that made in this concept. This project is a television program broadcasted as a night show on December 16th. It was planned to target wide range of group in Turkey where education is a general problem and it s related with public interests as a social issue. The show designed for every group and broadcasted on a national TV channel (Channel D) in prime time. Content Analysis In this research, news about TEGV in Turkish press (newpapers and magazines) were analysed in the period 1-31 December The Stars Classroom Fest happening held at the middle of the month. The sample was chosen by the researchers is 15 days earlier from the event and 15 days later then the event. Printed press is more meaningful than other tools for public relations specialists. Because newspapers and magazines have longer life than televisions and radios. One calendar month is found adequate for analyzing. Totally 124 stories about TEGV exist in the press. 808

7 Star had 2, Hürriyet had 7, Posta had 9, Sabah had 1, Milliyet had 9, Fanatik had 1, Zaman had 1, Takvim had 1, Akşam had 3, Gözcü had 4, Güneş had 1, Türkiye had 3, Dünya had 4, Anadolu da Vakit had 1, Radikal had 3, Hey Girl had 1, Haftasonu had 1, Yeni Şafak had 2, Ulusoy Travel had 3, Cumhuriyet had 3, Cosmopolitan had 1, Harper s Bazaar had 1, Alem had 1, Medical&Teknik had 1, Dolce had 1, Gözlem had 1, Bizim Anadolu had 1, Aktüel Para had1, Medikal Trend had 1, Formsante had 1, Klıps had 1, Önce Vatan had 1, Time Out İstanbul had 1, Aktüel had1, Maıson Françaıse had 1, Finansal Forum had 2, BT Haber had 2, Mimarlık Dekorasyon had 1, Son An had 1, Marketing Türkiye had 1, Son Saat had 3, Ortadoğu had 1, Popüler Tarih had 1, Hürses had 2, Manşet had 2, Sanat Çevresi had 1, Halk had 3, Gala had 2, Diyarbakır Söz had 1, Antalya Ekspress had 1, Halka ve Olaylara Tercüman had 3, Vatan had 4, Dünden Bugüne Tercuman had 4, Marmara Bölge had 1, Yeni Asır had 2, Kıbrıs had 1, Yeni Çağ had 1, Birlik had 1, İlk Haber had 1, Dokuz Sütun had 1, Gündem had 1, Samsun Postası had 1, Yeni Ekip had 1, Politikada Gündem had 1, Magazin had 1 stories about TEGV through the month. All of the media conglomerates national and local examined and reached to numbers of news stories that give an idea of media coverage about TEGV. As long as the main study subject is the TV show the news stories about the event are picked from these 124 stories. The number of stories about The Stars Classroom Fest live night show have found 44. These 44 stories were related with the show and 80 stories were not related to the show, but TEGV. Chosen stories relevant was separated into 3 categories which are positive, negative and neutral, due to the headlines and connotation. Findings Table-3. Distribution of News Stories According to Relevance Publication Relation relevant irrelevant STAR 2 HÜRRİYET 2 5 POSTA 3 6 SABAH 1 MİLLİYET 3 6 FANATİK 1 ZAMAN 1 TAKVİM 1 AKŞAM 1 2 GÖZCÜ 3 1 GÜNEŞ 1 TÜRKİYE 2 1 DÜNYA 1 3 ANADOLUʹDA VAKİT 1 RADİKAL 3 HEYGIRL 1 HAFTASONU 1 YENİ ŞAFAK

8 ULUSOY TRAVEL 3 CUMHURİYET 1 2 COSMOPOLITAN 1 HARPERʹS BAZAAR 1 ALEM 1 1 MEDİKAL & TEKNİK 1 DOLCE 1 GÖZLEM 1 BİZİM ANADOLU 1 AKTÜEL PARA 1 MEDİKAL TREND 1 FORMSANTE 1 KLIPS 1 ÖNCE VATAN 1 TIME OUT İSTANBUL 1 AKTÜEL 1 MAISON FRANÇAISE 1 FİNANSAL FORUM 1 1 BT HABER 2 MİMARLIK DEKORASYON 1 SON AN 1 MARKETING TÜRKİYE 1 SON SAAT 1 2 ORTADOĞU 1 POPÜLER TARİH 1 HÜRSES 1 1 MANŞET 2 SANAT ÇEVRESİ 1 HALK 3 GALA 2 DİYARBAKIR SÖZ 1 ANTALYA EKSPRESS 1 HALKA VE OLAYLARA TERCÜMAN 3 VATAN 2 2 DÜNDEN BUGÜNE TERCÜMAN 2 2 MARMARA BÖLGE 1 YENİ ASIR 1 1 KIBRIS 1 YENİ ÇAĞ 1 BİRLİK 1 İLK HABER 1 DOKUZ SÜTUN 1 GÜNDEM 1 SAMSUN POSTASI 1 YENİ EKİP 1 POLİTİKADA GÜNDEM 1 MAGAZYN 1 Total:

9 During the time period taken into consideration (December 1th- December 31th), all the news stories contains the word TEGV have determined. Totally 124 news stories have been found. All over this amount, 44 stories found mentioning about The Stars Classroom Fest project. 80 stories do not contain any information about the project specifically but about TEGV. Relevant stories percentage is approximately 35.4 % of the sum and irrelevant stories are approximately 64.6 %. Table-4. Distribution of Relevant Stories According to Context Context Publication positive negative neutral STAR HÜRRİYET 2 POSTA 3 SABAH 1 MİLLİYET 3 FANATİK 1 ZAMAN 1 TAKVİM 1 AKŞAM 1 GÖZCÜ 2 1 GÜNEŞ 1 TÜRKİYE 2 DÜNYA 1 ANADOLUʹDA VAKİT RADİKAL 2 1 HEYGIRL HAFTASONU YENİ ŞAFAK 1 ULUSOY TRAVEL CUMHURİYET 1 COSMOPOLITAN HARPERʹS BAZAAR ALEM 1 MEDİKAL & TEKNİK DOLCE 1 GÖZLEM BİZİM ANADOLU AKTÜEL PARA MEDİKAL TREND FORMSANTE KLIPS ÖNCE VATAN 1 TIME OUT İSTANBUL AKTÜEL MAISON FRANÇAISE FİNANSAL FORUM 1 BT HABER MİMARLIK DEKORASYON 811

10 SON AN MARKETING TÜRKİYE SON SAAT 1 ORTADOĞU 1 POPÜLER TARİH HÜRSES 1 MANŞET SANAT ÇEVRESİ HALK GALA DİYARBAKIR SÖZ ANTALYA EKSPRESS HALKA VE OLAYLARA TERCÜMAN 2 1 VATAN 2 DÜNDEN BUGÜNE TERCÜMAN 2 MARMARA BÖLGE YENİ ASIR 1 KIBRIS 1 YENİ ÇAĞ 1 BİRLİK İLK HABER DOKUZ SÜTUN 1 GÜNDEM SAMSUN POSTASI YENİ EKİP POLİTİKADA GÜNDEM MAGAZİN 1 Total: This research s main study field is the news stories about the The Stars Classroom Fest live night show. As seen on Table 1 the number of the news stories about the show is 44. Above this amount 38 stories includes supportive and positive messages. There are 2 stories containing negative messages and 4 stories can be evaluated nor positive neither negative named neutral. The percentage of positive stories is approximately 86.3 %, negative is approximately 4.6 %, neutral is approximately 9.1%. Conclusion Turkey Education Volunteers Foundation (TEGV), defines public relations problem, as insufficiency in education in Turkey, and organizes civil interests and power to create funds for primary education. The basic objectives of the foundation are to increase the number of children that have reached for educate, modernize and expand the capability of educational activities. TEGV, organizes public relations activities to provide fund for these activies and builds sensitivity for education issue. 812

11 Media relations and sponsorship methods are mostly used in this project. And also celebrities who are considered important by public are invited and they supported the organization. In this way, the problem occupies a place on the media agenda. The publicity of the show was made with press releases, ads, and TV serials. TEGV used variety of public relations tools for researching the show s objectives strategically. Famous people persuaded to carry messages to the target audience. They were the best media to deliver that content to the target groups. As an answer the question of How will the outcomes specified in the program goal and objectives be measured? First objective is about gaining fund for foundation s activities. 703 billion Turkish Lira gained for the education. The income is two times bigger than the last year s event. This amount shows that this objective is achieved. Second objective is about the corporate identity, image, changing the target groups attitudes and the media s approach to the isssue. When the results of the media coverage were examined, during December 124 stories appeared in printed media, and all were about TEGV. It was concluded that TEGV managed to be on the media agenda and gave an idea about its line of work with 124 messages in the press. 44 of 124 stories are specifically about the Live TV Show where the money was gained mostly. The content analysis shows that 38 of 44 stories gave positive and supportive messages about the show. Underlining famous people s integration in the show and their complimentary performance by giving them as a role model. This fact shows the importance of using the role models to send messages in social issues to attract the attention of the media. The stories in negative category are seen after the show occurs and they are all criticize the format and the way of staging not the objectives of the show. The two of the stories are negative but when the content is examined, it is obvious that they are criticizing the way of staging the show, not the concept. With a ratio of 86 % shows us that the strategy is achieved in the media coverage. In neutral category stories don t have any subjective meaning at all. They just inform the audience. There are four neutral stories. In general the results of the study, TEGV is effective on the media agenda and arranges activities for this purpose. The Stars Classroom Fest is one of the public relations activities that made in this concept. TEGV has been working with two advertising agencies (Global Publicity Public Relations and Research and Bersay Communication) during two The Stars Classroom Fests. With this media content, news on the press tell how to think about this issue. 813

12 References Akyürek, R. (2002). The Function of Issue Management in Public Relations, Kilad, 1(1) 130. Atabek N., (1997). Comparing the Media and Public Agenda with the Realities in Agenda- Setting Model and Inflation, Traffic and Social Security, Doctorate Thesis, Anadolu University, Eskişehir. Cutlip, Scott M., Center, A.H., and Broom, G. H., (1999). Effective Public Relations. New Jersey: Prantice Hall. Huckins, K. (1999). Interest-Group Influence on The Media Agenda: A Case Study Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 76(1), 76. İrvan, S. (1997). Foreign Politics and Press: Analizing the Foreign Politics News on the Turkish Press from the Point of View of Agenda-setting, Doctorate Thesis, Ankara University, Ankara. Knight, M. G. (1999). Getting Past the Impasse: Framing as a Tool for Public Relations, Public Relations, 25(3), 382. Kosicki, G.M., (1993). Problems and Opportunities in Agenda-Setting Research, Journal of Communication, 43(2), 100. Macnamara, Jim R., The Impact of PR on the Media MASS Communication Group, McCombs, M., Lymas, J.P., Lopez-Escobar, E., and Rey, F. (1997) Candidate Images in Spanish Elections: Second Level Agenda-Setting Effects, Journalism and Mass Communication Quarterly, 74(4), McCombs, Maxwell E., Shaw, Donald L., (1993). The Evolution of Agenda-Setting Research:Twenty-Five Years in the Marketplace of Ideas, Journal of Communication, 43(2), 59. Seitel, Fraser P., (2001). The Practice of Public Relations, New Jersey: Prentice Hall. Severin, W.J., and Tankard, J.W.,Jr. (2001). Communication Theories: Origins, Methods, and Uses in the Mass Media. Fifth Edition. New York: Longman. Yüksel, E. (2001). Medyanın Gündem Belirleme Gücü. Konya: Çizgi Kitabevi. Turkey Education Volunteers Foundation, Monthly Communication Report, December 2003, Prepared by Global Publicity Public Relations and Research