Ever wondered about the relationship between public information officers (PIOs) and local news media? One university communications specialist examined the relationship between PIOs and radio, print and TV media in the Tampa Bay area, and there is a lot of personal commentary to be found in the annexed interviews with general assignment print reporters, editors, television reporters and public information officers.

“I think I’m reflecting the attitudes of our newsroom, that by and large, PIOs are fair, and they’re competent and professional, to do what they do, but we often, usually, don’t stop at the PIO and often go around the PIO to get the information we need, because it’s more efficient, mainly. You know, why do we want to hear the information through the filter of the PIO, when we can go to the mayor, city manager, police chief, investigator, and get the information directly? (Newspaper City Editor)

The commentary gets much more interesting than that. It may confirm preconceptions or prejudices about professional behaviour held by actors on either side of the divide.

“A Qualitative Analysis of Trust Issues in the Journalist / Government Communicator Relationship: An Explanatory Study” by Davina Yetter Gould. (PDF)

This entry was posted on Sunday, March 25th, 2007 at 3:05 pm and is filed under Media Relations, Public Affairs, Messaging. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.