The portrayal of public relations practitioners in popular media: A content analysis of films and television show

Public relations is a very misunderstood profession. Thus, the focus of this thesis is to identify where people obtain their ideas of the public relations profession and practitioners. Previous research claims that the public relations professions and public relations practitioners are misunderstood, and sometimes, have a negative reputation that could be due to representations in movies and television. The cultivation theory provides a foundation to this idea as it suggests that television can have a strong and lasting impression on what society believes. This thesis is a qualitative content analysis of public relations practitioners in feature films and television shows. This study examines and compares the character portrayals outlined in film and television to that of the professional standards of the Public Relations Society of America, specifically the public relations definition and the Membership Code of Values. This study also analyzes how characters are portrayed through cinematography to examine each character from a film analysis point of view. It is found that the depictions of the public relations professionals shows practitioners with a lack of responsibilities and clear disregard for ethical guidelines. The study concludes that the films and television shows that feature public relations practitioners have an effect on how the general public views the public relations profession and contributes to the profession having a bad reputation.