Absence of Trade Press Coverage of Mass Communication Academic Research: A Bittersweet Victory for Public Relations

Abstract

A content analysis of 2,077 articles randomly sampled at five distinct points in the past decade (2000, 2003, 2005, 2007 and 2010) from five mass communication trade magazine titles was conducted to determine how professional-focused publications cover academic research and how specifically the PR trade press address scholarly work. The analysis revealed that academic research appeared in 10 of the total articles sampled (0.5%) while industry research was more prevalent and discussed in 125 of all articles (6.0%). The lack of research coverage, however, was not consistent across the trade journals. While publications targeting professionals in advertising, newspaper, magazine and broadcast all mentioned research in less than 10% of articles, PR News articles detailed research nearly 25% of the time.