Perceptions of journalists and public relations practitioners toward their own and each other's roles: Coorientation and factor analyses

The purpose of this study was to examine perceptions the print journalists and public relations practitioners have about their occupational roles, news values, and role relationship. Using role and attribution theories as theoretical frameworks and the coorientational model and Q-methodology as measuring and data collection devices, this study attempted to describe and compare the predominant perceptual patterns the journalists and public relations personnel have of their own and each other's roles. Correlation analysis determined the levels of agreement, congruency and accuracy of the perceptions of both groups. Through the Q-sort technique and factor analysis, predominant patterns of perception were clustered and compared.; Twenty-two journalists and PR practitioners comprised the sample of the study. They were asked to complete two Q sorts of the 58 statements about their roles, news values, and their working relationship. The first sort represented their own perceptions of the role statements; the second represented their estimates of their counterparts' perceptions.; The study found low agreement, low congruency, but high accuracy between the journalists' and PR persons' perceptions. The results showed that each group perceived the journalistic roles and PR roles differently. Each group, however, was able to estimate accurately its counterparts' actual perceptions. The two-factor solution of the Q analysis produced two uncorrelated types--the Journalists Type and PR Practitioners Type. The Journalists Type demonstrated three journalistic role orientations--neutral observer, representative, and translator. The PR Practitioners Type was strongly oriented toward the manager role. The three-factor solution produced one type of journalists and two types of PR practitioners. The Journalists Type was similar to that in the two-factor solution. The first type of practitioners was oriented toward the manager and the promoter roles, while the second type was purely PR managers who shared many journalistic concepts with the Journalists Type.