Making a Good Impression

Abstract

While many studies have investigated what social and political movement actions are covered by the mass media from a largely event-based media routine perspective and many studies have investigated what activists want to say, few studies have looked into the signaling process by which movements let media know when the movement has information it wishes to express. In particular, there has been little quantitative methodological research on the critical link that press releases provide between movements and media. Are movement press releases more likely to be covered by the news media when the press releases are of good quality? Using Israeli newspaper coverage of two Israeli peace movements and press releases by the two groups, the author tested the relevance of knowing the attributes of a press release independent of event-based information. After controlling for time, place, and manner information that can be derived from an event-based approach, information that can be derived either solely from press releases or most accurately from press releases remained significant predictors of newspaper coverage. Peace movement press releases that (1) emphasize socially resonant themes,(2) emphasize the movement’s possession of new factual data, (3) have short and informative titles, (4) are part of a group of releases on the same issue or event, and (5) are written or presented by the movement’s regular spokesperson are more likely to be reflected in newspaper media coverage.