Press release – a significant or obsolete tool? : A case study of journalists and communication manager’s discussion about the function of press releases

Journalists and communication managers are becoming more professional and to reach out to its stakeholders in society today, organizations must work strategically with communication, to enter the news. Many make use of press releases to provide journalists with information, hoping to influence what is published on the news. With a background in the medial change that occurs is the purpose of this study to elucidate and problematize which role press releases has for newsrooms and for organizations today and in the future. A qualitative interview study has been used, and communication managers from three organizations and journalists from three newsrooms has been interviewed. The study has been combined with a quantitative pilot study of selected press releases and articles from the selected organizations. The interviews has been transcribed and analyzed to identify and question their thoughts about press releases as a part of the daily work for communication managers and journalists. The interviews were analyzed from selected theories and previous research work on press releases as a tool to set the media agenda. Three consistently concepts in the study is Goffmans (1974) theory of framing, Gandys (1982) theory of information subsidies and Zoch and Molledas (2009) theory of agenda building, and their model of how organizations build good media relations. It was seen in the pilot study, that a lot of the content is based on press releases, which indicates that the editors make it appear that they are the initiator of the news. Journalists claims that press releases are not the most influential source of information but significant for their work, especially as it fills a function for web editors. Personal relationships with the journalists and a dedicated work on the social media network is valued higher than press releases, which is seen as an obsolete tool. The communication managers argued otherwise, saying that press releases have a central role in their strategic work with the media, claiming that they are an important source of information. The study indicates therefore that the communication managers, in relation to journalists’ reasoning, have too much confidence to the tool. However, it is difficult to determine whether press releases as a strategic communication tools will be eliminated. But the results of the study to judge, it is still important for both journalists and communicators, although not as strongly as before.