LIST OF CONTENTS

RESEARCH TOPIC2

RESEARCH QUESTION2

ABSTRACT2

INTRODUCTION3

RESEARCH PROBLEM AND METHODOLOGY5

LITERATURE REVIEW5

PRESS FREEDOM5

PROFESSIONALISM7

FINANCIAL AND TECHNOLOGY SITUATION8

CONCEPTUAL DEFINITIONS8

BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TAMBINI'S PAPER10

IMPACT OF STOCK EXCHANGE NEWS SERVICE (SENS)11

SUMMARY16

RESEARCH METHOD17

DATA COLLECTION AND PROCESSING PROCEDURES17

DATA ANALYSIS PROCEDURES19

QUALITY AND VERIFICATION20

SUMMARY21

DATA ANALYSIS AND KEY FINDINGS22

LIST THE CRITERIA23

EXPERIENCE AND KNOWLEDGE23

REWARDS23

ROLE ASSESSMENT23

INSIGHT23

AGENDA SETTING23

TAKING EACH OF THE FINDINGS IN TURN24

KNOWLEDGE24

REWARDS24

ROLE ASSESSEMNT25

INSIGHT25

VALUE26

AGENDA SETTING27

SUMMING UP28

CONCLUSION29

REFERENCES33

APPENDICES (INTERVIEWS)36

RESEARCH TOPIC

This research examines the interface between the financial Public Relations industry (PR) and journalists in South Africa and its implications for the production of content.

RESEARCH QUESTION

How is the production and framing of financial news shaped by the interaction between financial PR and journalists in South Africa?

SUB-QUESTIONSThe focus question - statedabove - can be broken down into the following sub-questions:

What is news framing and how does it relate to financial journalism, where news framing is defined as presenting news in a manner that serves a particular interest group

How do journalists on the one hand and PRs on the other define their roles?

What can we learn about the relative resources and skills of the two that clearly affects news framing?

What are the stated or implicit professional goals of financial journalists in South Africa, and how are these shaped by, for example, social controls in the newsroom?

What are the stated or implied professional goals of corporate communicators and how are these shaped by company policies or established values and routines?

ABSTRACT

The extent to which financial PR and journalists collaborate in the production of news is important given the fact that authorative financial news has become a priority in the public sphere after the global meltdown of 2008-2009. Financial news is now high on the public agenda.

Structural factors rather than any deliberate conspiracy are most likely to explain the form that financial news coverage takes. Journalists and PRs are both gatekeepers in their own ways, their actions being shaped by personal, professional, institutional and social pressures, which translate into professional ethics and modes of behaviour. On both sides there are explicit and implicit agendas for financial news coverage. This research project examines these agendas by asking both journalists and PRs what they do in relation to each other, how they do it,why they do it and whether transformation in South African society is having its impact on the relationship between enterprises and the media.

INTRODUCTION

In South Africa both PRs and journalists acknowledge the tensions that exist, but admit their mutual dependency. How this relationship is interpreted by both sides, becomes a question of attitude. Particularly in times of crisis, when the news is hot to handle, these attitudes have shaped the way PRs and reporters have dealt with each other. Although, in effect, PRs and journalists collaborate to frame the news, the relationship has never been uncomplicated.

It is no longer possible (if it ever were) to regard the exchange of information between PRs and journalists as merely a two-way trade, as many more voices, pressures and influences are coming into the picture. The overall effect is to make enterprises more accountable and hold them to higher standards of performance.

Scandals ...