News

===Public relations===
{{Quote box
| quote = If important things of life to-day consist of trans-atlantic radiophone talks arranged by commercial telephone companies; if they consist of inventions that will be commercially advantageous to the men who market them; if they consist of Henry Fords with epoch-making cars—then all this is news.
| source = [[Edward Bernays]], ''Propaganda'' (1928), pp. 152–153.
| width = 39%
}}
As distinct from [[advertising]], which deals with marketing distinct from news, [[public relations]] involves the techniques of influencing news in order to give a certain impression to the public. A standard public relations tactic, the "third-party technique", is the creation of seemingly independent organizations, which can deliver objective-sounding statements to news organizations without revealing their corporate connections.<ref>Rampton & Stauber, ''Trust Us, We're Experts'' (2001), pp. 13–20.</ref> Public relations agencies can create complete content packages, such as [[Video News Release]]s, which are rebroadcast as news without commentary or detail about their origin.<ref>Rampton & Stauber, ''Trust Us, We're Experts'' (2001), pp. 22–24.</ref> Video news releases seem like normal news programming, but use subtle [[product placement]] and other techniques to influence viewers.<ref>Straubhaar and LaRose, ''Communications Media in the Information Society'' (1997), pp. 395–396.</ref>

Public relations releases offer valuable newsworthy information to increasingly overworked journalists on deadline.<ref name=Matthews>Jamie Matthews, "Journalists and their sources: The twin challenges of diversity and verification", in Fowler-Watt & Allan (eds.), ''Journalism'' (2013).</ref> (This pre-organized news content has been called an [[information subsidy]].)<ref>{{cite journal | last1 = Curtin | first1 = Patricia A. | title = Reevaluating Public Relations Information Subsidies: Market-Driven Journalism and Agenda-Building Theory and Practice | journal = Journal of Public Relations Research | volume = 11 | issue = 1| pages = 53–90 | year = 1999 | doi = 10.1207/s1532754xjprr1101_03 }}</ref> The journalist relies on appearances of autonomy and even opposition to established interests—but the public relations agent seek to conceal their client's influence on the news,. Thus, public relations works its magic in secret.<ref name=VanLeuvenJoye /><ref name=MoloneyJacksonMcQueen />

Public relations can dovetail with state objectives, as in the case of the [[Nayirah (testimony)|1990 news story]] about Iraqi soldiers taking "babies out of incubators" in Kuwaiti hospitals.<ref>Parenti, ''Inventing Reality'' (1993), p. 169.</ref> During the [[Nigerian Civil War]], both the federal government and the secessionist Republic of Biafra hired public relations firms, which competed to influence public opinion in the West, and between them established some of the key narratives employed in news reports about the war.<ref>Karen Rothmyer, "What really happened in Biafra? Why did themes such as mass starvation and genocide alternately surface and fade? A study of media susceptibility to public relations manipulation." ''Columbia Journalism Review'' 9.3, Fall 1970.</ref>

Overall, the position of the public relations industry has grown stronger, while the position of news producers has grown weaker. Public relations agents mediate the production of news about all sectors of society.<ref name=MoloneyJacksonMcQueen>Kevin Moloney, Daniel Jackson, & David McQueen, "News journalism and public relations: a dangerous relationship", in Fowler-Watt & Allan (eds.), ''Journalism'' (2013).</ref>