The influence of public relations on news coverage and public perceptions of foreign countries

The purpose of this study is to investigate (1) how government PR activities influence the image of that country in foreign media and publics; and (2) how the public perception of foreign countries is influenced by news coverage. Based on discussions on public diplomacy and second-level agenda-setting theory, this study hypothesized relationships among international public relations, news coverage of foreign countries, and public perceptions of foreign countries.;Secondary data were analyzed from the Foreign Agency Registration Act (FARA) report, and the results of the Chicago Council on Foreign Relations (CCFR) survey. Newspaper content analysis was also conducted to reveal the nature of U.S. news coverage of foreign countries. A total of 24 countries was analyzed.;This study found, first, that news portrayal of foreign countries significantly affects public\u27s cognitive and affective evaluation of those countries. However, this study provided limited influence of international PR efforts on either news coverage or public perceptions