<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>Public relations (PR) professionals and journalists act as builders of societies’ communication atmospheres, and their inter-relationships are of importance. The aim of the present study is to describe and compare PR professionals’ and journalists’ professional self-images and perceptions of the other group's profession in Finland. The study is part of the ProfCom project and makes use of the project's Finnish quantitative questionnaire data. The results indicate clear perception differences. PR professionals identify themselves with bond- and trust-building objectives, whereas journalists perceive marketing and financial goals as the main objectives of PR professionals. Journalists identify themselves with information sharing, criticism and service roles, whereas PR professionals perceive opinion sharing, advising and informing about scandals as the main objectives of journalists. In addition, the study indicates a need for further research on the underlying reasons for conflicting perceptions and the effects of the developing Internet communication arena on relationships between professionals.</p></abstract>

Public relations (PR) professionals and journalists act as builders of societies’ communication atmospheres, and their inter-relationships are of importance. The aim of the present study is to describe and compare PR professionals’ and journalists’ professional self-images and perceptions of the other group's profession in Finland. The study is part of the ProfCom project and makes use of the project's Finnish quantitative questionnaire data. The results indicate clear perception differences. PR professionals identify themselves with bond- and trust-building objectives, whereas journalists perceive marketing and financial goals as the main objectives of PR professionals. Journalists identify themselves with information sharing, criticism and service roles, whereas PR professionals perceive opinion sharing, advising and informing about scandals as the main objectives of journalists. In addition, the study indicates a need for further research on the underlying reasons for conflicting perceptions and the effects of the developing Internet communication arena on relationships between professionals.

The Other Stance: <italic>Conflicting Professional Self-Images and Perceptions of the Other Profession Among Finnish PR Professionals and Journalists</italic>

NIINA NISKALA, Ph.D. Candidate, Researcher, Department of Communication

PERTTI HURME, Ph.D., Senior Lecturer Emeritus, Department of Communication

Nordicom Review

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Public relations (PR) professionals and journalists act as builders of societies’ communication atmospheres, and their inter-relationships are of importance....

The Other Stance: Conflicting Professional Self-Images and Perceptions of the Other Profession Among Finnish PR Professionals and Journalists

Published Online: Dec 18, 2014

Page range: 105 - 121

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2014-0018

Keywords
PR professionals, journalists, professional self-image, role, image, perception

© 2014 Niina Niskala and Pertti Hurme

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

The Other Stance: Conflicting Professional Self-Images and Perceptions of the Other Profession Among Finnish PR Professionals and Journalists

Published Online: Dec 18, 2014

Page range: 105 - 121

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/nor-2014-0018

KeywordsPR professionals, journalists, professional self-image, role, image, perception

© 2014 Niina Niskala and Pertti Hurme

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 3.0 License.

Keywords
PR professionals, journalists, professional self-image, role, image, perception