PR NEWS is pleased to announce the recipient of the first annual PR NEWS Student Scholarship. Martin Eichholz, a doctoral candidate at Syracuse University, received $500 to support his research surrounding how various cultures define and interpret news. We caught up with Eichholz last week to find out where his work will carry him in the coming months, and how his findings will affect PR.
PRN: How will you use the scholarship money?
Eichholz:
For my dissertation research, which will lead me to Germany and Israel. We're going to conduct interviews with journalists, PR practitioners and general audiences to find out why they are interested in certain types of news.
PRN: Why Germany and Israel?
Eichholz:
These countries suit the purpose of our study, which is to compare two very different cultures and their interests in the news. Each is very different in terms of its culture, political systems, history and geography.
PRN: Have you done any preliminary research?
Eichholz:
We're preparing a content analysis right now. In addition to the qualitative data we'll be collecting through interviews [on location], we're currently sampling news content in two cities in each country. We plan to analyze two TV stations, two radio stations, two newspapers.so that we can start out with definitions of news [as defined] by existing news.
PRN: What type of data do you hope to come away with?
Eichholz:
We want to get beyond the standard news value sets - timeliness, proximity, conflict, impact. Theoretically, we want to get deeper. For example, why are we more interested in something that's closer in proximity to us than farther away? Why is something that is more unusual more newsworthy than something that's less unusual?
PRN: Are there any existing theories driving the research?
Eichholz:
My research will be conducted with Pamela Shoemaker, the John Ben Snow Professor at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications. Her theory essentially asks why are human beings interested in news, [assuming] it's a biological thing. If we look at concepts connected with biology and deviance [we see news trends relating to patterns of deviance]. It's the caveman standing in front of the cave looking out for the tiger. Anything that's different in the environment could be a potential danger, or could be an opportunity - in other words, bad news or good news. It's about thrive and survive. So we have developed biologically this gene that makes us monitor our environment. This [fundamental tendency] should be equal for everyone across cultures.
PRN: So the whole world will define news the same way?
Eichholz:
The differences arise at the cultural level. Your socialization. How your parents brought you up. What you saw in the media. So we have a basis of biology that's the same for everybody.
But then things differ from one culture to the next. What's deviant in your eyes might not be deviant in my eyes. Maybe rape is deviant in our culture but not in yours.
Plus, definitions of deviance change over time. Something that was outlawed 20 years ago may be something nobody cares about anymore. A lot depends on perspective.
PRN: How do you see this research being of interest to the PR community?
Eichholz:
We are including PR practitioners in the study because they have enormous influence on the news. There have been various studies that explain how and why PR has so much influence on the news -which is something that journalists don't want to hear. Because PR has such pull (studies estimate anywhere from 15 to 80 percent of news content being influenced by PR in some way), it's very important to know how PR people define news. Because what they value, and what they deliver, has influence.
If they think certain things are newsworthy and certain things are not, that should [in theory] be reflected in the actual news.
We assume there will be differences [among the sample groups]. If we find out that the general public audience values different things than PR practitioners, that information could be of value [to the PR community].
PRN: You have worked in both the U.S. and Germany. In your estimation, how does the PR community in the U.S. differ from that in Germany?
Eichholz:
This is stereotypical to say, but the American "can-do" attitude really comes through.
People just try things out here - like doing online focus groups, for example. Whereas in Germany, we are a little more cautious. Everything has to be thought out and planned. That's why we lag behind usually - in e-commerce and that sort of thing. It takes some time to come across the ocean.
PRN: Do you think Americans are egocentric when it comes to exploring new business strategies?
Eichholz:
No, I think if there's one place that "globalization" became a buzzword and made its way around the world, it was here. It's best to compare the U.S. [business community] to the European community as opposed to individual European countries. As such, Europeans might be equally "eurocentric" in their business practices.
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