Journalism & Mass Communication Educator

A study of news media and strategic communication majors (n = 273) revealed differences in regard to personality indices and impetuses for selecting to pursue degrees. Showing overall agreement in the importance of openness, agreeableness, and conscientiousness, strategic communication students were significantly higher in their ratings of agreeableness. News media students were significantly higher in their ratings of openness. In addition, news media students stated a significantly higher rating of the importance of altruistic purposes. Strategic communication students placed higher emphasis on financial gain. Implications for pedagogy and the profession are discussed.

This longitudinal content analysis study uses the Commission on Public Relations Education’s 2006 report as a benchmark to determine whether master’s education in public relations has evolved over the past decade. Findings show a lack of uniformity across the 75 programs studied. In addition, there is a lack of adherence to the Commission on Public Relations Education’s recommended content areas. The authors theorize that the variety of academic homes and titles partly explains the lack of uniformity. But also graduate public relations curricula may lack standardization because of different models.

This study used the Students’ Attitudes toward Statistics Scale (STATS) to measure attitude toward statistics among a national sample of advertising students. A factor analysis revealed four underlying factors make up the attitude toward statistics construct—Interest & Future Applicability, Confidence, Statistical Tools, and Initiative. Advertising students’ attitudes toward statistics were shown to be more positive than negative. Students in this study were most positive about the use of Statistical Tools and displayed attitudes well above neutral on Interest & Future Applicability and Initiative. Confidence received the lowest evaluation. Advertising students who were drawn to the major because of its creative aspects had significantly weaker attitudes toward statistics than did those who came to study advertising because of the business aspects. Strategies for improving negative attitudes toward statistics in advertising courses are discussed.

Students cheat. For the field of public relations, which continually struggles for credibility, the issue of student cheating should be paramount, as the unethical students of today become tomorrow’s practitioners. Through a survey of 170 public relations majors, this study examined the importance students place on the Public Relations Society of America Code of Ethics, the extent to which they cheat, and the types of cheating behaviors in which they participate. Results of the study indicated cause for concern as close to 80 percent of students admitted to cheating. Moreover, the extent to which students cheated was significantly related to the number of their friends and close acquaintances whom they perceived as engaging in such behaviors.

Enough evidence is available to support the idea that public relations professionals must possess search engine optimization (SEO) skills to assist clients in a full-service capacity; however, little research exists on how much college students know about the tactic and best practices for incorporating SEO into course curriculum. Furthermore, much of the literature on the topic is in trade publications and blogs rather than scholarly journals. To fill this void, this study has two primary objectives. First, it seeks to shed light on definitions, trends, and current practices relating to the use of SEO in public relations. Second, the study seeks to learn how much students know about SEO and where they acquired their knowledge. Educators can incorporate this information into curricula to help students remain current with the profession. Study findings are informative not only for PR professors who are considering adding SEO elements to courses but also for PR professionals who want to learn more about the topic.