Journalists and public relations practitioners: Comparing two countries

Abstract

The existence and nature of conflict between the journalists and public relations practitioners has sparked a lot of interest in both academic fields. In a study conducted in 2016, we examined some elements of the relationship between public relations practitioners and journalists in Croatia.In this study we extend our previous research into another country – Serbia, and compare the results. Comparing the attitudes of Croatian and Serbian practitioners is essential for the expansion of public relations in those two countries, as well as for the development of global principles. The main goal of this study was to explore the relationship between the Serbian journalists and public relations practitioners. We used the coorientational model to analyze the perceptions and cross-perceptions of journalists and public relations practitioners on their role in organizational reputation building. Our results showed that the difference between the Croatian and Serbian practitioners is not in the general direction, but in the intensity of the connection. This means that the trends which exist among the Croatian public relations practitioners and journalists also exist among their Serbian colleagues, but that the level of understanding is different. In this study, both the journalists and public relations practitioners believe they have a significant influence on the organizational reputation. Both groups showed a certain level of pluralistic ignorance of the other side.The results of this study have pinpointed some interesting similarities as well as significant differences between the two groups of practitioners. Even though the trends in Croatia and Serbia are similar and show an increasing understanding between public relations practitioners and journalists, Serbia has quite an unhappy group of journalists and a very confident group of public relations practitioners. We have confirmed the findings suggesting that the situation has improved and that the animosity has been on the decline, but Serbia still has a long way to go. Just as we concluded in our previous study the only way forward in further improving this relationship is by educating the journalists about the specifics of the public relations practice and by raising the level of how each of the fields perceives the value of their own efforts.