Public Relations Practitioners’ Relationships with Media and Each Other as Moderators of Excellent Health Information and the Local Public Health Agenda

This study addresses part of the process through which health news and information is produced, on routine health information topics, by focusing on the role of public information officers in public health agencies in disseminating health information and their working relationships with health journalists and each other. A coorientational approach was employed; 90 interviews were conducted with local public health information officers and the health journalists who cover their public health beats across the United States. Results reveal high convergence between PIOs and journalists regarding the importance of more routine health issues on the local public health agenda and somewhat disturbing insight into the availed resources and working relationships of practitioners at local, state and federal public health agencies with each other