Public Interest Communications Research Articles

Partnerships for a Nonprofit Organization’s Human Trafficking Digital Activism, Training, Legislative Advocacy, and Survivor Support Efforts

Although partnerships are a widely used approach to combat human trafficking, little research has been done on nonprofit partnerships for digital activism on human trafficking. This paper combines the public interest communication (PIC) theoretical framework with critical trafficking studies to understand one nonprofit’s digital activism strategies for human trafficking awareness. Employing grounded theory to analyze 54 pages of text, qualitative surveys, and interviews, data revealed organizational partnerships focused on the key areas of training, legislative advocacy, and survivor support. However, partners can potentially derail strategic efforts for social change if misaligned with PIC dimensions and human rights approaches to human trafficking. Based on these findings, recommendations for nonprofit partnerships for digital activism on human trafficking are presented.

Confirming Dr. Lisa Cook to the Fed

On May 10, 2022, Dr. Lisa Cook was confirmed by a 51-50 vote in the U.S. Senate as the first Black woman to join the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. A coalition of groups supporting her nomination worked to counter attacks from Republican senators with a track record of targeting nominees of color and to contain the impact of right-wing critics on social media. A comprehensive communications strategy built around emphasizing her experience and expertise included tactics to prevent racialized attacks on Dr. Cook from becoming mainstream. Identifying a clear opposing figure, depriving social media trolls of amplification, and turning the phenomenon of white privilege to her advantage all played a role in the public interest communications strategy that aided Dr. Cook’s successful confirmation.

“City by city:” reclaiming people of color voices through the Narrative Justice Project

AbstractThe Narrative Justice Project (NJP) challenges master narratives and creates more complex understandings by delving into the human-interest aspects of mass communications. For people of color (POC), the mass media is a racialized tool used in the historical context to justify the lack of rights or equality. This study illustrates how counter-stories function as a redefinition of humanity. The NJP training presents those communication values for POC to understand how to explain their complex narratives while also giving communities the ability to advocate for themselves. Utilizing observation and focus groups, this study examined how public interest communication campaigns generate conversations that challenge hegemonic thinking of who is accepted into the public.

Conversing or Diffusing Information?

This study examines the one-way information diffusion and two-way dialogic engagement present in public health Twitter chats. Network analysis assessed whether Twitter chats adhere to one of the key principles for online dialogic communication, the dialogic loop (Kent & Taylor, 1998) for four public health-related chats hosted by CDC Twitter accounts. The features of the most retweeted accounts and the most retweeted tweets also were examined. The results indicate that very little dialogic engagement took place. Moreover, the chats seemed to function as pseudoevents primarily used by organizations as opportunities for creating content. However, events such as #PublicHealthChat may serve as important opportunities for gaining attention for issues on social media. Implications for using social media in public interest communications are discussed.

Sexual Health on Television

Television drama series have the potential to create awareness about sexual health problems and solutions. This study deployed a qualitative analysis of framing to understand how the Netflix show Sex Education framed sexual health concerns. Findings indicate that some sexual health concerns were depicted in the context of teaching sexual responsibility and destigmatizing processes such as seeking information or coming out as LGBTQ+. The show also portrayed the negative consequences of sexual violence and how people might choose to seek help related to sexual trauma. Overall, this study discusses how Sex Education frames sexual health issues in both expected and novel ways compared to those previously explored in public interest communications research.

When “Tried and True” Advocacy Strategies Backfire

A core principle of policy advocacy is that to engage decision makers in the urgency, complexity, and controversy of problems, advocates must effectively tell the story of those issues. Policy stories, or narratives, paint mental pictures of what a problem is, who is affected, and how it came to be. Yet, the persuasive effects of narratives on one key group, state legislators, remain understudied. Drawing from the Narrative Policy Framework (NPF), media advocacy, and public interest communications, we sought to inform advocacy strategy by illuminating state legislators’ responses to messages about public investments in quality childcare for all. Contrary to expectations, we found that narratives can have unintended effects challenging or even diminishing legislator support. We discuss implications for advocacy strategy.

Acculturation, Pluralism, and Digital Social Advocacy in Nonprofit Strategic Communications

This qualitative study investigates the use of acculturation-themed images in nonprofit strategic communications and digital advocacy efforts of 13 organizations serving Hispanic and Latinx immigrant communities in two U.S. states. The study analyzes data from 14 in-depth interviews with the public relations and marketing communication professionals responsible for the website content and digital strategy for the organizations. Based on study findings, the authors argue that these nonprofits are using their websites in soft advocacy efforts to promote positive prototypes of the populations they serve to majority audiences and leverage the flexibility of social media for most of their digital advocacy efforts. This analysis applies acculturation theory to a study of digital social advocacy and extends the literature on nonprofit public relations and public interest communications.

A Phenomenological Study Exploring the Meaning of Global Engagement Among Former Participants of a Backpack Journalism Program

This phenomenological qualitative study explores the meaning of global engagement among former students who participated in a Backpack Journalism course from 2010 through 2016. Through semi-structured interviews, the researcher explored the meaning of global engagement as it relates to global education, experiential/project-based learning, and public interest communications. The resulting participant themes (community, unexpected/eye opening, discomfort, making a difference, and reflection/discernment) will further inform classroom instruction for upcoming Backpack Journalism courses and may serve as a guide for global educational experiences and public interest communications in other settings. Future research also is explored.

Formative Research on Promoting Car-Free Youth Transportation

Car accidents are the leading cause of death among U.S. 10- to 24-year-olds (CDC, 2018). Motivating youth to drive less by choosing car-free mobility may reduce fatalities and contribute to positive environmental impact. Yet, little is known about how youth perceive car-free transportation or what may motivate them to choose it more often. Results from focus groups analyzed through the lens of the theory of planned behavior explore youth perceptions and experiences about car-free transportation. Perceived effectiveness of car-free messages also is presented. This study contributes to understandings of the theoretical underpinnings of an understudied area of public interest communications. Practical recommendations for strategic communication with youth about car-free transportation include appealing to their agency and autonomy and reinforcing their safety.

#GunViolence on Instagram and Twitter

The February 2018 Parkland school shooting quickly initiated passionate social media response on Twitter and Instagram. Research on the effect of large-scale mass shootings, particularly on social media dialogue, is lacking, at a time when emerging research suggests potential for both driving mass contagion and enhancing risk perceptions for public interest communications. This study examines response to the shooting through a content analysis of Instagram and Twitter. Findings revealed that gun violence advocacy and risk perception variables were present more frequently on Instagram, while Social Ecological Model policy-level factors were observed more frequently on Twitter. Advocacy drove engagement on both platforms; however, anger was associated with higher Instagram engagement. Details of gun violence, associated with potential for mass contagion, drove engagement on both platforms.

Corporate Social Advocacy as Public Interest Communications: Exploring Perceptions of Corporate Involvement in Controversial Social-Political Issues

Through a nationally representative U.S. survey of 1,214 participants, this study examined attitudes toward the role of corporations in public interest communications and response to a series of recent high-profile corporate social advocacy cases. Findings provide preliminary evidence for what types of public interests are most appropriate for organizations to address, based on perceived motivations, commitment to advocacy, and dimension of corporations as actors for social change. Results from this study suggest demographic differences by political viewpoints, age, income, education, and gender. However, an overall level of agreement across all respondents indicates that corporations should engage in addressing important social issues, which is particularly noteworthy given that the U.S. population skews conservative.

Bridging Borders in the Public Interest: La Peña Cultural Center’s Promotion of Intercultural Understanding and Social Justice

To illustrate the interdisciplinary breadth of public interest communications (PIC), this study explores the societal importance, engagement strategies, and public impact of La Peña Cultural Center in Berkeley, CA, an internationally known nonprofit organization founded in 1975. It responds to Downes’ (2017) advice on approaching PIC investigation and his call for “research readily informed by those ‘in the field,’” (p. 34), or those engaged in actual social/cultural changes resulting from PIC consciousness. Drawing from past scholarship on practices in community-based social justice organizations and public interest communications, interviews with La Peña’s leaders, the author’s own experiences as one of its founders, and source materials from its documentarian, this study encapsulates La Peña’s 44-year history of serving as a change agent through amplifying marginal voices.

African Story Time: An Exploratory Study of Narrative as a Reporting Technique in U.S. News Coverage Of Nigeria’s Missing Girls

News reports about nearly 300 kidnapped Nigerian schoolgirls spread globally in April 2014. Ongoing updates on the tragic incident permeated social media through digital advocacy efforts. Though research on U.S. news coverage generally indicate underreporting regarding missing women of color and negative reporting on African current events, news of Nigeria’s missing schoolgirls managed to make waves in U.S. media and elicit longstanding compassion and interest among readers. This study explores the use of narrative storytelling by U.S. news outlets as a way to create commonality, engage audiences in public interest communications and encourage the story’s resonance among U.S. readerships.

Raining on SeaWorld’s Parade: PETA’s Direct Action and Public Interest Communication

PETA is well known for creative animal rights activism, with studies exploring how its text-based advocacy creates change regarding societal treatment of animals. What is less explored is how PETA uses on the ground direct action strategies as public interest communications (PIC). For PIC scholars, these strategies are relevant, as direct action provides communicators with experiential ways to persuade stakeholders of new perspectives to push for social change. Building on previous studies in public relations activism and PIC, this essay argues that PETA’s direct-action strategies complement its text-based advocacy by shaping stakeholder perception through encounters with material realities, specifically by using embodied forms of persuasion. Answering how public interest communicators create effective persuasive messages on the ground is crucial in understanding contemporary social change.

Mediated Vicarious Contact with Transgender People: How Narrative Perspective and Interaction Depiction Influence Intergroup Attitudes, Transportation, and Elevation

The emerging intergroup perspective-taking narrative has become a mainstream representational strategy in the rise of transgender media visibility. Taking an experimental design approach, this study investigates how narrative perspective (Ingroup Perspective vs. Outgroup Perspective) interacts with intergroup interaction depiction (Positive vs. Negative) in transgender-related media content to redirect people’s attitudes toward transgender people, transportation, and elevation responses. The findings reveal that the outgroup perspective is more likely to elicit 1) positive attitudes toward the featured transgender character and the transgender outgroup; 2) transportation; and 3) meaningful affect, mixed affect, and motivational responses. However, the positive depiction of transgender-cisgender intergroup interaction only prompts positive attitudes toward the transgender character, meaningful affect, and physical responses. Implications of such intergroup communication strategies in public interest communications are discussed.

Electronic Cigarette Companies’ Twitter Messages: Public Interest (Mis)communication

Despite increased controversies over the health effects of electronic cigarettes (e-cigarettes), little is known about how the public interest issue has been discussed by e-cigarette companies on social media. Using arguments from the theory of planned behavior as a guide, this study examines how e-cigarette companies engage with potential customers on Twitter. Using quantitative content analysis, this study examined 525 tweets from the top five e-cigarette companies that occurred between July 9, 2016, and September 9, 2016, one month before and after the U.S Food and Drug Administration implemented a new regulation limiting sales and distribution of tobacco products to minors. Results indicate that the deeming did not affect e-cigarette companies’ message strategies on Twitter. Theoretical and practical applications for public interest communications are discussed.

Constructive Advocacy: Positivity and Solutions-Based Information in Activist Communication

Drawing from positive psychology and journalism studies, this article proposes constructive advocacy as a theoretical and methodological arena for public interest communications. Through a case study of a transnational advocacy network, this research employs a thematic analysis of in-depth interviews with 40 activists, exploring positivity and solutions-based information for social change. This study contributes to the new body of literature on public interest communications, opening up theoretical and methodological arenas in understanding how activists plan and execute strategic communication.

Globalization, Pluralization, and Erosion: The Impact of Shifting Societal Expectations for Advocacy and Public Good

This research contributes to the theoretical conceptualization of public advocacy in several ways: First, this research positions the emergence of corporate engagement in controversial social-political issues within a broader multidisciplinary conversation about shifting societal expectations surrounding the roles of business and governments in a democratic society. This research explores the implications for democracy as a public good when business plays an increasingly central and powerful role as decision-makers and problem-solvers of the most important issues facing society. Next, this research discusses how globalization, pluralization, increased corporate power and pressures, and the erosion of traditional institutions contribute to a politicized corporation. Finally, this research concludes with theoretical propositions for moving forward with an advocacy and public interest communications research agenda.

When Organizational Advocacy and Public Advocacy Intersect in CSR: Examining Stage of Partnership and Activism in CSR Partnerships

CSR partnerships have evolved and taken various forms as companies and nonprofit organizations work toward creating societal change for the public good. This study examined public relations advocacy in the context of CSR communication through a 2 x 2 online experiment with a sample of 240 participants. Specifically, this study examined interactions between CSR fit, stage of partnership, and individuals’ activism levels on individuals’ attitude toward a company, a nonprofit, and skepticism levels toward the CSR partnership. High fit and philanthropic stage of partnership became significant factors on attitude toward the company. Individuals’ activism levels had a positive interaction with stage of partnership in predicting skepticism toward the partnership. Theoretical implications and practical applications for public interest communications are discussed.

On Communications War: Public Interest Communications and Classical Military Strategy

Strategic communication disciplines routinely use terms such as strategy, tactics, and objectives that originated in strategic military science. I argue here that a better understanding of classical military strategic thinking is relevant to public interest communications (PIC). Case studies of unscrupulous public relations (PR) campaigns on behalf of vested interests that apply deception, misdirection, and fake news in a war fighting mentality are examined. I argue that such practices need to be understood in the military sense to be detected early and effectively countered in legitimate and honorable ways by organizations fighting for the public interest. The article proposes that a key function of a PIC professional in an organization is to become a PIC Communications Strategos—strategic communications war leader.