Engaging the press - A grounded theory approach

The concepts of “engagement” and “co-creation” have attracted significant research interest in both public relations (PR) studies and relationship marketing studies in the recent years. In public relations, co- creation is the “most striking trend in public relations over the past 20 years” and “centre of public relations research” (Botan & Taylor, 2004, p.651-652). This study explores press engagement strategies from a journalist’s perspective. In relationship marketing studies, customer engagement is one of the top research priorities in Marketing Science Institute (2014- 2016). Yet, we rarely see a cross-over between concepts of such a similar nature. The rapidly evolving changing nature of the press room due to the introduction of technology has enabled news to be reported on a 24 x 7 schedule. Both the profit and time pressure of the press room has driven immense pressure for journalists to generate news at an unprecedented volume and speed (Lewis, Williams & Franklin, 2008). Journalists relies heavily on content provided by public relations practitioners. Studies have shown that PR goes way beyond agenda setting with a staggering 60% of news derived from PR-related materials and the trend is rising (Lewis et al., 2008, p.14).