Disclosure of study funding and author conflicts of interest in press releases and the news: a retrospective content analysis with two cohorts

ObjectivesTo examine how often study funding and author conflicts of interest are stated in science and health press releases and in corresponding news; and whether disclosure in press releases is associated with disclosure in news. Second, to specifically examine disclosure rates in industry-funded studies.DesignRetrospective content analysis with two cohorts.SettingPress releases about health, psychology or neuroscience research from research universities and journals from 2011 (n=996) and 2015 (n=254) and their associated news stories (n=1250 and 578).Primary outcome measureMention of study funding and author conflicts of interest.ResultsIn our 2011 cohort, funding was reported in 94% (934/996) of journal articles, 29% (284/996) of press releases and 9% (112/1250) of news. The corresponding figures for 2015 were: 84% (214/254), 52% (131/254) and 10% (58/578). A similar pattern was seen for the industry funding subset. If the press release reported study funding, news was more likely to: 22% if in the press release versus 7% if not in the press release (2011), relative risk (RR) 3.1 (95% CI 2.1 to 4.3); for 2015, corresponding figures were 16% versus 2%, RR 6.8 (95% CI 2.2 to 17). In journal articles, 27% and 22% reported a conflict of interest, while less than 2% of press releases or news ever mentioned these.ConclusionsPress releases and associated news did not frequently state funding sources or conflicts of interest. Funding information in press releases was associated with such information in news. Given converging evidence that news draws on press release content, including statements of funding and conflicts of interest in press releases may lead to increased reporting in news.

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Expert quotes and exaggeration in health news: a retrospective quantitative content analysis

Wellcome Open Research ◽

10.12688/wellcomeopenres.15147.2 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 4 ◽

pp. 56

Author(s):

Francien G. Bossema ◽

Peter Burger ◽

Luke Bratton ◽

Aimée Challenger ◽

Rachel C. Adams ◽

...

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

The Netherlands ◽

Journal Articles ◽

Press Releases ◽

Quantitative Content Analysis ◽

Health News ◽

Quantitative Content ◽

External Expert ◽

Independent Expert ◽

The Uk

BackgroundThis research is an investigation into the role of expert quotes in health news, specifically whether news articles containing a quote from an independent expert are less often exaggerated than articles without such a quote.MethodsRetrospective quantitative content analysis of journal articles, press releases, and associated news articles was performed. The investigated sample are press releases on peer-reviewed health research and the associated research articles and news stories. Our sample consisted of 462 press releases and 668 news articles from the UK (2011) and 129 press releases and 185 news articles from The Netherlands (2015). We hand-coded all journal articles, press releases and news articles for correlational claims, using a well-tested codebook. The main outcome measures are types of sources that were quoted and exaggeration of correlational claims. We used counts, 2x2 tables and odds ratios to assess the relationship between presence of quotes and exaggeration of the causal claim.ResultsOverall, 99.1% of the UK press releases and 84.5% of the Dutch press releases contain at least one quote. For the associated news articles these percentages are: 88.6% in the UK and 69.7% in the Netherlands. Authors of the study are most often quoted and only 7.5% of UK and 7.0% of Dutch news articles contained a new quote by an expert source, i.e. one not provided by the press release. The relative odds that an article without an external expert quote contains an exaggeration of causality is 2.6.ConclusionsThe number of articles containing a quote from an independent expert is low, but articles that cite an external expert do contain less exaggeration.

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Framing the Candidates in Presidential Primaries: Issues and Images in Press Releases and News Coverage

Journalism & Mass Communication Quarterly ◽

10.1177/107769909807500207 ◽

1998 ◽

Vol 75 (2) ◽

pp. 312-324 ◽

Cited By ~ 42

Author(s):

M. Mark Miller ◽

Julie L. Andsager ◽

Bonnie P. Riechert

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

News Media ◽

Media Coverage ◽

News Coverage ◽

Press Releases ◽

Presidential Candidates ◽

News Stories ◽

Presidential Primaries ◽

Computerized Content Analysis ◽

Elite Newspapers

Media coverage of presidential primaries is crucial to voters, and candidates often complain that news coverage fails to present their positions. This study used computerized content analysis to examine how the 1996 GOP presidential candidates framed themselves in press releases and how elite newspapers covered them. The analysis reveals that (1) candidate images were distinct in press releases and news stories; (2) candidate positions were represented differently in both; and (3) candidates were differentially successful in getting news media to reflect their positions. News media covered substantive concerns that were not included in candidate press releases.

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A Comparative Study of the Kashmir Conflict Coverage in Pakistani and Indian Press

Global Social Sciences Review ◽

10.31703/gssr.2019(iv-iii).01 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol IV (III) ◽

pp. 1-9

Author(s):

Ayesha Saddiqa ◽

Farish Ullah Yousafzai

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Comparative Study ◽

Press Coverage ◽

Indian English ◽

News Stories ◽

The Press

The paper compares the coverage of JNK conflict in the Pakistani and Indian English press. The objective of the study is to figure out the differences in the coverage of Kashmir conflict by the Indian and Pakistani press along with determining the prominence of war or peace frames in the coverage. Content Analysis was carried out of the news stories published on the international and national pages of English daily The Nation and Dawn from Pakistani press and English daily The Hindu and Times of India from the Indian press. The results revealed that war framing was recorded as the most dominant coverage pattern with respect to Kashmir conflict. War frames were more dominant in the Indian press coverage as compared to the Pakistani press and the differences in the coverage of the press of the two countries are significant.

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Press releases — the new trend in science communication

Journal of Science Communication ◽

10.22323/2.13030302 ◽

2014 ◽

Vol 13 (03) ◽

pp. C02 ◽

Cited By ~ 18

Author(s):

Charlotte Autzen

Keyword(s):

Public Relations ◽

Science Communication ◽

Press Release ◽

Press Releases ◽

Scientific Institutions ◽

The Press ◽

Long Time ◽

The Media ◽

The University

Scientific institutions have for a long time known the importance of framing and owning stories about science They also know the effective way of communicating science in a press release This is part of the institution’s public relations. Enhanced competition among research institutions has led to a buildup of communicative competences and professionalization of public relations inside the institutions and the press release has become an integrated part of science communication from these institutions. Changing working conditions in the media, where fewer people have to publish more, have made press releases from trustworthy scientific institutions into free and easily copied content for the editors. In this commentary I investigate and discuss the communicative ecosystem of the university press release. I especially take a close look at the role of the critical and independent science journalist in relation to this corporate controlled communication

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Agenda Building Agenda Media Atribut Politik melalui Press Release dan Pemberitaan Koran

Jurnal Studi Komunikasi (Indonesian Journal of Communications Studies) ◽

10.25139/jsk.v5i1.2580 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 5 (1) ◽

pp. 183

Author(s):

Birgitta Femylia E. Parinussa ◽

Theresia Intan Hartiana ◽

Yuli Nugraheni

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Public Relations ◽

Quantitative Research ◽

Press Release ◽

The Political ◽

Agenda Building ◽

Press Releases ◽

Presidential Candidates ◽

Analysis Methods ◽

Political Public Relations

The research aims to analyse the agenda building by political Public Relations of the presidential candidates through press releases and how newspapers highlight it. This is a descriptive quantitative research using content analysis methods. The results of this study indicate that the political Public Relations of the Presidential candidates has well implemented the information subsidies in their press releases.

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Conciseness, an outsider’s perspective and a smooth intonation contour

Pragmatics ◽

10.1075/prag.18.1.06jan ◽

2008 ◽

Vol 18 (1) ◽

pp. 115-142 ◽

Cited By ~ 2

Author(s):

Frank Jansen

Keyword(s):

Press Releases ◽

Corpus Study ◽

News Stories ◽

Forward Analysis ◽

Newspaper Editors ◽

The Press ◽

Backward Analysis

It is the desk editor’s task to revise the press releases presented to the newspaper in order to get news stories that are fit to print. What does that mean: Revise? This question is answered by a corpus study of appositions in press releases and the news stories that are based on them. The analysis is carried out in two directions. In the ‘forward’ analysis, the question is how appositions in source texts are dealt with by desk editors. In the ‘backward’ analysis, the origins are traced in the news stories. It is shown that appositions are revised quite often. From the revision data we may infer a number of motives for editorial interventions. Newspaper editors are more inclined than writers of press releases to favor concise sentences with a smooth, uninterrupted intonation contour and with a neutral outsider’s perspective.

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Communicating concern or making claims? The 2012 press releases of UK child welfare and protection agencies

Journal of Social Work ◽

10.1177/1468017316637228 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 17 (1) ◽

pp. 71-90 ◽

Cited By ~ 5

Author(s):

Gary Clapton ◽

Viviene E Cree

Keyword(s):

Child Welfare ◽

Young People ◽

Press Release ◽

Press Releases ◽

Public Attention ◽

Children And Young People ◽

The Press ◽

Critical Scrutiny

Child welfare and protection agencies play an important role in bringing concerns about children and young people to public attention. The press release is a key tool within this. This article reports on findings from an analysis of press releases from selected UK child welfare and protection agencies in 2012. It demonstrates that the information contained in press releases is neither neutral nor dispassionate. Instead, press releases are found to be political artefacts, whose purpose is to galvanise and shape opinion and garner support for a particular standpoint, campaign or the agency itself. In this respect, they must be understood as ‘claims-making’ activities. Because of this, they should, it will be argued, be subject to the same critical scrutiny that we would expect to bring to the presentation of all ‘evidence’.

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Reconsidering churnalism: How news factors in corporate press releases influence how journalists treat these press releases after initial selection

Communications ◽

10.1515/commun-2019-2075 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 45 (s1) ◽

pp. 718-743

Author(s):

Pytrik Schafraad ◽

Ward Van Zoonen

Keyword(s):

Content Analysis ◽

Capital Investment ◽

Press Release ◽

News Story ◽

Press Releases ◽

News Production ◽

Selection For ◽

Initial Selection

AbstractThis study examines how news factors in press releases influence journalists’ decisions and the journalistic treatment of press release information after its initial selection for the news agenda: These journalists can transform press releases into a news story, which involves little journalistic capital investment, or use these releases for a unique news production, which requires significant journalistic capital investment. The data elicited from the content analysis show that the more profound the presence of certain news factors in press releases, the higher the chance that journalists will choose to invest their journalistic capital in these press releases. This result means that journalists will only invest journalistic capital in press releases that contain specific news factors.

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Social media as public opinion: How journalists use social media to represent public opinion

Journalism ◽

10.1177/1464884919845458 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 20 (8) ◽

pp. 1070-1086 ◽

Cited By ~ 15

Author(s):

Shannon C McGregor

Keyword(s):

Social Media ◽

Content Analysis ◽

Public Opinion ◽

The Public ◽

News Stories ◽

Media Companies ◽

Socially Constructed ◽

The Press ◽

Use Of Social Media ◽

Shed Light

Public opinion, as necessary a concept it is to the underpinnings of democracy, is a socially constructed representation of the public that is forged by the methods and data from which it is derived, as well as how it is understood by those tasked with evaluating and utilizing it. I examine how social media manifests as public opinion in the news and how these practices shape journalistic routines. I draw from a content analysis of news stories about the 2016 US election, as well as interviews with journalists, to shed light on evolving practices that inform the use of social media to represent public opinion. I find that despite social media users not reflecting the electorate, the press reported online sentiments and trends as a form of public opinion that services the horserace narrative and complements survey polling and vox populi quotes. These practices are woven into professional routines – journalists looked to social media to reflect public opinion, especially in the wake of media events like debates. Journalists worried about an overreliance on social media to inform coverage, especially Dataminr alerts and journalists’ own highly curated Twitter feeds. Hybrid flows of information between journalists, campaigns, and social media companies inform conceptions of public opinion.

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