Abstract
Drawing on a range of interviews with public relations (PR) and political communications professionals, and a selective reading of academic literature, this volume investigates the changing relationship between PR and journalism since the advent of digital media. With the rise of the Internet, a vast new area has opened for PR, which made its practices far less dependent on journalism. At the same time, news media have come under pressure to cut their costs by accepting closer ties with providers of promotional content. The first three chapters offer a brief history of PR in general, followed by overviews of key developments in corporate PR and political communications. Chapter 4 is the most valuable and informative of all, as it uses interview data to chart some of the key strategies employed by PR practitioners in response to the opportunities and challenges of the digital environment, ranging from the Pay Per Click advertising models and the gifting of celebrities in exchange for endorsement via social media to the blurring of lines between editorial content and sponsored posts. Chapter 5 extends the analysis beyond the Anglo-American context, and offers a brief description of the changing relationship between PR and journalism in China, France and Russia. Despite its limited engagement with wider academic literature and lack of clarity on data collection and analysis procedures, this volume offers some valuable insights into the changing landscape of promotional culture and journalism in the contemporary world.