Engaging the press: A grounded theory approach

The concepts of “engagement” and “co-creation” have attracted significant research interest in both public relations (PR) studies and relationship marketing studies in the recent years. In public relations, cocreation is the “most striking trend in public relations over the past 20 years” and “centre of public relations research” (Botan & Taylor, 2004, p.651-652). This study explores press engagement strategies from a journalist’s perspective. In relationship marketing studies, customer engagement is one of the top research priorities in Marketing Science Institute (2014-2016). Yet, we rarely see a cross-over between concepts of such a similar nature. The rapidly evolving changing nature of the press room due to the introduction of technology has enabled news to be reported on a 24 x 7 schedule. Both the profit and time pressure of the press room has driven immense pressure for journalists to generate news at an unprecedented volume and speed (Lewis, Williams & Franklin, 2008). Journalists relies heavily on content provided by public relations practitioners. Studies have shown that PR goes way beyond agenda setting with a staggering 60% of news derived from PR-related materials and the trend is rising (Lewis et al., 2008, p.14).