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Media Catching and the Journalist–
Public Relations Practitioner

Relationship: How Social Media
are Changing the Practice of

Media Relations

Richard D. Waters
Department of Communication, North Carolina State University

Natalie T. J. Tindall
Department of Communication, Georgia State University

Timothy S. Morton
Brussels, Belgium

With the changing media environment and the evolving online atmosphere,
traditional media relations strategies (e.g., news release and media kit
preparation and distribution) are shifting to practices that are more relevant
to a social media environment. The purpose of this article is to define the
changing interplay between journalists and public relations practitioners and
to analyze the phenomenon of ‘‘media catching,’’ a reversal of the traditional
media relations’ communication patterns. Given its rapid increase in the past 2
years, journalists are eager to turn the tables and target large numbers of pub-
lic relations practitioners for specific content for story ideas. The researchers
employed content analysis, and the units of analysis were 3,106 reporter
requests sent through the Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO) list and media-
related Twitter updates from HARO founder, Peter Shankman, during a
6-month span. Analysis revealed that traditional news outlets more often used
the Twitter venue, yet new media outlets preferred the LISTSERV technology.

Correspondence should be sent to Richard D. Waters, 201 Winston Hall, Campus Box 8104,

Raleigh, NC 27695-8104. E-mail: [email protected]

Journal of Public Relations Research, 22(3):241–264, 2010

Copyright # Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1062-726X print=1532-754X online

DOI: 10.1080/10627261003799202

241

The importance and value of this study for public relations practitioners and
scholars are in the study’s attempt to profile the trend of media catching, and
to discuss the importance of fielding media requests from a variety of news
outlets because of the importance of intermedia agenda setting.

The activities of media relations, including pitching content to reporters, are
staples of the public relations industry. Spicer (1995) wrote that public
relations practitioners, regardless of title and tenure, engaged in traditional
public relations activities, including a variety of writing and media relations
activities. Additionally, Napoli, Taylor, and Powers (1998) found that
practitioners wrote an average of seven pitch letters per month, and in
Fawkes and Tench’s (2005) survey of 100 public relations employers, the
core competencies desired by employers hiring public relations practitioners
were writing skills and a knowledge of media relations.

Journalists and public relations practitioners celebrate the worst media
relations pitches by publicly pointing out poorly crafted news releases on
the BadPitchBlog (n.d.). Meanwhile, bloggers and journalists have com-
bined forces to scorn practitioners who fail to target their media lists appro-
priately on the PRspammers wiki. Although many public relations texts
state that the journalist–public relations practitioner relationship is an inter-
dependent one, recent action taken by journalists to end media pitching
abuse calls to question the status of the relationship. Indeed, Julia Hood,
an editor at PR Week, declared pitching dead at the 2008 Edelman New
Media Academic Summit (personal communication, June 26, 2008). On his
blog, Micropersuasion, Edelman Vice President and AdAge columnist Steve
Rubel (2008) agreed, shoveling the last bit of dirt onto the media pitch:

To be sure, there are a few companies that get it right all the time—mostly
those with content like ABC News, the New York Times, Pew, Hitwise,
Forrester, IDC and others. The rest simply don’t. However, I can’t fault these
PR pros. They’re doing their job. They are doing what has always worked for
them and I guess continues: sending out lots of email pitches in hopes that
some stick. But those days are coming to an end.

Given the increasing number of practitioners acknowledging that tra-
ditional media relations is beginning to lose its dominance in public relations
programming, it is important for public relations scholars and educators to
explore the emerging new era of media relations. As Rubel (2008) agreed, tra-
ditional media pitching will always play a role in public relations efforts for
some organizations; however, a new trend—termed media catching—is rap-
idly gaining momentum in organizational publicity efforts. Essentially, media

242 WATERS, TINDALL, MORTON

catching is the turning of the tables of the traditional process. Rather than
having practitioners contacting lots of journalists, broadcasters, and bloggers
in hopes of gaining media placements, thousands of practitioners are being
contacted at one time by journalists and others seeking specific material for
stories, blog postings, and Web sites with upcoming deadlines.

The purpose of this research is to examine how the social media
landscape is changing and impacting the relationship between journalists and
public relations practitioners. By conducting a content analysis of the
Help-A-Reporter-Out (HARO) requests, this exploratory research explores
which individuals and media outlets are using media catching to obtain
information and what type of information is being sought.

LITERATURE REVIEW

Journalist–Public Relations Practitioner Relationship
and Agenda Setting

With nearly 40 years of scholarly research on the agenda-setting theory,
ample evidence exists to demonstrate the impact mainstream and Internet
media outlets have on informing and influencing how the public view a
variety of topics (e.g., Sweetser, Golan, & Wanta, 2008; Wallsten, 2007). In
their conceptualization of a media relations theory, Zoch and Molleda (2006)
discussed the role that public relations practitioners play in the agenda-setting
theory when they attempt to place positive news stories about their organi-
zations in media outlets. Whether through news releases, feature pitch letters,
or other public relations materials, information subsidies have a profound
impact on how organizations are portrayed in the media (Davis, 2000).

In recent years, public relations scholars have examined the impact of
media relations efforts on news coverage. For example, research has exam-
ined the impact of news releases on how the media portray political candi-
dates (Kiousis, Mitrook, Wu, & Seltzer, 2006), the use of news tip sheets by
environmental journalists (Curtin & Rhodenbaugh, 2001), the use of orga-
nizational communication to shape an organization’s image (Carroll &
McCombs, 2003), and the impact of media references and live interviews
on donations to crisis relief efforts (Waters, 2007). Media coverage that
stemmed from information subsidies was even found to influence policy
issues that were not salient on either the media or the public’s agenda
(Berger, 2001). These studies, among others, have shown clear linkages
between public relations materials, media coverage based on the materials,
and beneficial outcomes for the sources. For these reasons, publicity and
media relations components of public relations campaigns continues to

MEDIA CATCHING 243

thrive as the discipline is moving more toward relationship management.
However, even in media relations, there is growing evidence that the princi-
ples of relationship management are influencing how both parties of the
relationship communicate with and perceive one another.

A large body of research about the professional relationships, stigmas,
and stereotypes between journalists and public relations professionals exists
(Cameron, Sallot, & Curtin, 1997; Kopenhaver, Martinson, & Ryan, 1984;
Pincus, Rimmer, Rayfield, & Cropp, 1993; Sallot, Steinfatt, & Salwen, 1998;
Shin & Cameron, 2003a, 2003b, 2003c; Shoemaker & Reese, 1991). Tilley
and Hollings (2008) characterized the relationship between journalists and
public relations practitioners as a love–hate relationship with dissonance
experienced by the journalists. Although journalists often have to work with
public relations practitioners, journalists and journalism educators have not
viewed public relations practitioners favorably (Cline, 1982). However,
recent research indicates that those adversarial views may be shrinking
(Shaw & White, 2004).

According to Sallot and Johnson (2006), in 107 interviews with journal-
ists, one-third of them estimated that between 60 and 100% of US news
content involves contact with public relations practitioners, yet 74% rep-
orted that public relations practitioners’ lacked news sense, values, accuracy,
timeliness, and presentation style. Along with the misunderstanding of news
values and misapplication of publicity tactics, journalists worried about the
increasing use of information subsidies as identified by Gandy (1982).
According to Tilley and Hollings (2008), journalists are also worried about
‘‘the ways in which public relations material can shape the news agenda by
providing easier access to content from particular sources’’ (p. 2).

Despite these concerns by journalists, strategic communicators from
every ilk are being encouraged to use traditional media relations tactics to
increase their presence in mainstream news stories. For example, Daniel
(2000) encouraged administrators at community colleges to focus on
relationship building with journalists using online news rooms, and Wells
and Spinks (1999) suggested that manufacturing companies should utilize
media relations efforts to increase brand awareness and strengthen relation-
ships in the business-to-business community. Similarly, political advisors
recommend that politicians incorporate an active media relations program
into their office management (Lipinski & Neddenriep, 2004).

Regardless of the tactics used, media relations focuses on a public
relations practitioner’s interactions with various media for the purpose
of informing the public about an organizational campaign (Howard &
Matthews, 2006). Zoch and Molleda (2006) identified the key strategies
behind media relations efforts, including crafting a message strategy
designed to position the organization appropriately, targeting audiences

244 WATERS, TINDALL, MORTON

that support the organization’s mission and goals, using consistent
messages and organizational spokespeople, and following up on media
inquiries in a timely manner. These strategies echoed a best practices
checklist created by Kent and Taylor (2003) for online media relations
efforts.

When these strategies are followed, organizations are likely to see an
increase in the amount of media coverage for their organization. Comrie
(1997) found a moderately strong positive correlation between proactive
media relations efforts and the amount and tone of resulting media cover-
age. However, proactive media relations efforts are not the only factors
that influence media coverage.

Shin and Cameron (2003a) found that the interpersonal relationships
between South Korean journalists and public relations practitioners
greatly influenced the outcome of an organization’s media relations
efforts. The networking brought about by interpersonal relationships
was a key component to Yoon’s (2005) scale for determining media
relations success. When the relationship between the journalist and prac-
titioner is cultivated, the two parties have a better understanding of each
other. For practitioners, this understanding results in increased aware-
ness of media deadlines and communication preferences while journalists
gain insights into what public relations practitioners can contribute to
their stories.

Cho (2006) found that public relations practitioners have varying
amounts of power in their interactions with journalists; however, to
maximize that power, practitioners must assess the relationship status
with journalists. This assessment includes reviewing how the organization
was covered in past news stories, how the journalists previously responded
to information subsidies, and how influential the journalist is in setting
the agenda on a particular topic.

At the root of the power distribution in the journalist–practitioner
relationship is communication. For media relations to be effective, open
two-way communication must be present in the relationship. Howard and
Matthews (2006) encouraged practitioners to go even further by asking jour-
nalists how they prefer to receive media relations pitches. Research indicates
that journalists ‘‘were impressed with the growing number of public rela-
tions practitioners who regularly ask journalists to update their contact
information and preferences’’ (Sallot & Johnson, 2006, p. 85). However,
updating databases is meaningless if practitioners fail to capitalize from
the information provided by journalists. Gray and Balmer (1998) suggested
that organizations will have more success when they use the contact meth-
ods preferred by the media, and increasingly the preferred form of com-
munication involves electronic media pitching.

MEDIA CATCHING 245

Social Media and Public Relations Trends in Online Media
Relations Outreach

E-mail. Although blast-faxing news releases was a common media
relations practice in the 1990s, it has been replaced by e-mail. E-mail is
journalists’ preferred method of contact when being pitched story ideas
by public relations practitioners (Sallot & Johnson, 2006) although many
prefer not to receive attachments of photographs, fact sheets, and other
materials with the e-mail due to potential Internet viruses. Duke (2002)
found that two-thirds of the science public relations practitioners surveyed
reported that e-mail is essential in media relations. Nearly 90% of these
practitioners felt that e-mail has helped them to increase media coverage
to some degree with 20% reporting e-mail greatly increased their media
coverage.

With one-third of Americans using blogs as an informational source
(Smith, 2008), public relations practitioners are increasingly reaching
out to the blogging community to pitch organizational stories. Prior to
e-mailing bloggers about story ideas, practitioners are encouraged to partici-
pate actively in blogs (Rowse, 2007). Similar to journalists and broadcasters,
bloggers prefer e-mail pitches to all other forms of media relations
communication (Burns, 2008). However, unlike journalists, bloggers
were not wary of attachments to e-mail pitches; instead, the supplemental
information was preferred (Burns, 2008).

Web sites. Previous research has indicated that most large corporations
and most governmental agencies have Web sites (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006;
Callison, 2003); however, the information provided in an online newsroom
is often lacking. Ninety percent of Fortune 500 companies have Web sites,
and most are designed to serve a variety of audiences, including customers,
potential customers, investors, potential employees, and, to a much lesser
extent, media (Esrock & Leichty, 1999). Callison (2003) found that the
organizations ranked higher in Fortune 500 were more likely to have an
online newsroom than those ranked lower. More recent research found that
large companies, regardless of their country or industry, recognize the
importance of online media tools for corporate communications and under-
stand that those tools should be easily accessible (Alfonso & Miguel, 2006).

However, understanding that need does not equate to implementation, as
research indicates that information provided in online media rooms, is
frequently lacking. Esrock and Leichty (1999) found that although 88%
of the organizations included news release on their Web site, only 60% of
the organizational sites provided the names of a media contact person for
follow-up questions. Less than half (39%) of the 2001 Fortune 500 Company
Web sites had an online newsroom dedicated to providing the media

246 WATERS, TINDALL, MORTON

company information (Callison, 2003). Nonprofit organizations did not
fare any better, as Waters and Lord (2009) found that advocacy groups
failed to provide the basic contact information so journalists could contact
them about their concerns.

This dovetails with Reber and Kim’s (2006) research that found
that although most environmental nonprofits provided general contact
information for the organization, they provided contact information for
individuals less often. Additionally, these groups did not have media rooms,
did not post media releases, or did not have other interactive features
that enabled dialogic communication with journalists.

When organized media rooms are present on organizations’ Web
sites, the quality of information included in the newsrooms was lacking.
On average, online newsrooms provided 6.5 pieces of information, with
the most common items being news=press releases, executive biographies,
and executive photographs (Callison, 2003). Backgrounders also were
found to be fairly common in corporations headquartered in Europe
(Alfonso & Miguel, 2006). Other items found in online newsrooms
included financial data and annual reports, audio and video archives,
copies of executive speeches, downloadable graphics, and organizational
histories at for-profit organizations (Callison, 2003) and nonprofits
(Waters & Lord, 2009).

Social media news release. Sweetser and Lariscy (2008) defined social
media as being ‘‘centered around the concept of a read–write Web, where
the online audience moves beyond passive viewing of Web content to actu-
ally contributing to the content’’ (p. 179). The social media news release,
launched in February, 2006, allows for readers and observers to interact,
contribute, and build on the content presented by organizations. Todd
Drefen, principal at SHIFT Communications, launched the social media
news release because ‘‘the banal, unhelpful, cookie-cutter press releases of
yore have outlived their pre-Internet usefulness’’ (Defren, 2006, p. 3). With
the embedding of photos, audio, and video and the linking to microblog
and blog posts, the social media news release is a vehicle to increase the
discovery rates of media releases via search engines and to gain traction with
bloggers and other social media outlets who want quick, compressed details
and information from organizations. Although the social media news release
was still e-mailed to others to pitch organizational story ideas, the new
format of the release allowed for multimedia attachments and other
documents to be attached to the e-mail pitch in a virus-free environment.
Educators have recognized the importance for learning how to use the
redesigned news release as it becomes more prominent in online media
relations efforts (Anderson & Swenson, 2008; Russell, 2007).

MEDIA CATCHING 247

Although e-mail list management software systems, such as
LISTSERV, have allowed groups of people to interact and communicate
virtually since the 1980s, the interactive intent of electronic mailing lists
allow for its classification as a form of social media. To promote online
media relations efforts, several public relations organizations have cre-
ated mass distribution lists so that public relations practitioners can send
their press releases to large numbers of journalists. PR Newswire and
Business Wire are two of the leading services that practitioners can use
to reach targeted audiences. However, other groups have been created
to provide even more targeted media pitching opportunities using
LISTSERV technology. Black PR Wire, Hispanic PR Wire, and Out-
News Wire disseminate media releases and announcements to targeted,
diverse audiences. Christian News Wire and Law.com Newswire, for
example, allow public relations practitioners to focus their efforts on
journalists and bloggers covering specific industries. Although these ser-
vices offer the advantage of pitching a story to a wide variety of news
outlets, the subscription costs are often high, and many practitioners
question their cost effectiveness (Rubel, 2008).

Media Catching

Several expert request services including ProfNet and HARO serve the
needs of journalists who are looking for sources and information and public
relations practitioners who are willing to give. ProfNet is a service of
PRNewswire that serves as an ‘‘online community of . . . professional
communicators, . . . created in 1992 to connect reporters easily and quickly
with expert sources at no charge’’ (ProfNet, n.d.). According to ProfNet,
it has 27,000 registered members and offers services such as geographical
targeting, topic filtering, and topic alerts. ProfNet is free for journalists,
but it requires membership fees for public relations practitioners.

In response to journalists asking for sources for their stories, Peter
Shankman created the HARO group on a social networking site in
November, 2007. Rather than creating an environment that replicated
traditional media pitching where practitioners send their story ideas and
news releases to journalists, the Facebook.com group encouraged journal-
ists to toss specific information requests to the group. As an expert request
service, HARO is a simply formatted list of media opportunities that are
sent to all subscribers. HARO offers a diversity of responses because the
service’s membership extends beyond journalists and public relations
practitioners. HARO allows everyday people who are not professional
communicators to join and become a source. HARO connects journalists
and sources without any intermediaries and without a fee. Also, HARO’s

248 WATERS, TINDALL, MORTON

founder vigorously polices service abusers who send untargeted and
unauthorized pitches; those who do not abide by the rules governing the
service are purged from the membership and are outed to the members.

The concept was received very well, and the group was forced to migrate
to an e-mail mailing list when HARO exceeded Facebook’s capacity limits.
Also, in 2008, Shankman used Twitter to distribute urgent messages from
journalists who needed information before the next edition of the HARO
mass e-mail message.

Using the e-mail mailing list, individual journalists ask for very specific
content for stories they were working on while reaching large numbers
of public relations practitioners. Thus, the concept of media catching
was created. Rather than pitching stories to journalists and competing
for printed space or airtime, practitioners are now attempting to catch
media placements for their organizations by responding to journalist
inquiries. The competition for a journalist’s attention remains; but instead
of submitting a story based on an organizational perspective, practitioners
search for story topics tossed out by journalists that are relevant to their
organizations.

Since HARO was founded in November 2007, its popularity among
journalists and public relations practitioners has grown exponentially.
According to Peter Shankman, the founder of HARO, the service has
80,000 sources and 30,000 journalists and issues 3,000 queries per month
(Abraham, 2009). The researchers chose to use HARO to explore the media
catching concept because this service started as a social media experiment to
connect journalists to sources without intermediaries, without membership
fees, and with the explicit encouragement to share openly received queries.

Research Questions

Based on the literature review of the journalist-practitioner relationship, this
study will profile the phenomena of media catching through a content analy-
sis of the expert requests sent through HARO. The broad research question
guiding this study is the following: What are the common interactions
between journalists and public relations practitioners that facilitate media
catching? The subresearch-questions guiding this study are the following:

RQ1: What topical requests are sent via the expert request service HARO?
RQ2: What outlets are using the expert request service HARO?
RQ3: What types of journalists are using the expert request service HARO?
RQ4: What types of stories are being sought?
RQ5: From what regions of the country are most of the requests for expert

originating?

MEDIA CATCHING 249

RQ6: What response mechanisms are the journalists using to communicate
with the experts?

METHOD

Due to the exploratory nature of this study, a content analysis was determ-
ined to be the most beneficial first step in understanding the growing trend.
In this exploratory research, content analysis allows for the development of
a demographic profiling of the users and organizations that post requests
through the HARO service. The research team decided to code the HARO
requests that were sent through both the e-mail mailing list and the Twitter
updates. This approach allowed the researchers to assess the use of the
service for journalists who had immediate deadlines by examining the
Twitter updates, as well as individuals with lengthier deadlines by coding
the e-mail list requests.

The research team analyzed a total of 3,106 requests. To analyze the
Twitter updates, the team coded all of the messages marked ‘‘URGENT’’
by the HARO team that were sent in a 6-month period from August,
2008 to February, 2009. The urgent label was used to identify all media
requests that had pressing deadlines. The total number of Twitter updates
coded was 304. To analyze the HARO list requests, a systematic sample
was taken from all media information requests. Every third request was
coded by the team by analyzing the morning, afternoon, and evening
editions of the e-mail list for a 5-month period. The total number of list
messages coded was 2,802.

The researchers determined that the best coding strategy was to use
the classification scheme HARO requires those submitting requests to
complete before the messages are sent to the list or Twitter followers.
When submitting a request, users are required to summarize their request
briefly, provide their contact information and type of media outlet,
decide whether they wish to be contacted directly by public relations
practitioners or have information forwarded from the HARO team, state
whether the request is tied to a specific geographic region, and give a
deadline. Additionally, users must categorize their requests into one of
seven topical categories (general information, business and finance, tech-
nology, travel, lifestyle and entertainment, healthcare, and gift bag
requests). It should be noted that gift bag requests do not involve tra-
ditional media placements, but involve events, varying from conferences
to fundraisers, request information from public relations practitioners to
place in registration bags, door prizes, and other opportunities to place
branded-items in front of individuals.

250 WATERS, TINDALL, MORTON

After reviewing the different categories and discussing various ways that
the media outlet type could be interpreted, the researchers coded 20% of
the Twitter updates (n ¼ 60) and 10% of the HARO list requests (n ¼ 280)
to calculate the intercoder reliability scores. Using the Scott’s p formula,
the intercoder reliability scores were deemed acceptable as they ranged from
92.1% to 97.3%. Although content analysis suggests that coders examine
15% to 20% of the overall sample before coding separately (Neuendorf,
2002), the high reliability scores and the standardized scheme derived from
a closed-ended form gave the researchers confidence that further coding of
e-mail list messages was not warranted to demonstrate sufficient intercoder
reliability.

RESULTS

The study sought to explore the media catching trend by exploring who is
actively involved in tossing information requests to public relations practi-
tioners and what type of information is wanted. To draw a picture repre-
senting the current state of media catching, frequencies were calculated
for all of the study’s content analysis variables in the 302 Twitter updates
and 2,802 e-mail messages. As described earlier, the Twitter updates
were sent out throughout the day when journalists had immediate, pressing
deadlines. The list messages, however, were sent through three editions. A
chi-square test (v2 ¼ 6.00, df ¼ 4, p ¼ .19) reveals that the distribution of
messages was mostly balanced with 843 requests (30.1%) being sent in the
morning edition, 972 (34.7%) being sent in the afternoon, and 987 (35.2%)
being sent in the evening list.

RQ1: What Topical Requests are Sent via the Expert Request
Service HARO?

The topical requests from Twitter and the HARO list were similar in their
distribution. Although their ranking varied, general information, business
and finance, and lifestyle and entertainment topics were the most commonly
needed information by users of both HARO distribution channels.
The remaining categories were ranked identically for the two channels.
Not surprisingly, gift bag requests were the least used category given
that this form of media placement is only tangential to traditional media
placements. The undeterminable topics generally fell into a political cate-
gory, and subsequent investigation of the data revealed that these generally
occurred in the 2 weeks preceding the 2008 presidential election.

MEDIA CATCHING 251

RQ2: What Outlets are Using the Expert Request Service HARO?

Table 1 illustrates that a variety of media outlets are participating in the
media catching trend. Mainstream media (television news outlets, newspa-
pers, wire services, and magazines) …