“…Nonetheless, in view of the combined circumstances of cost-cutting in newsrooms and the professionalization of non-journalistic actors that have overwhelmingly started to use public relations tools, it is no surprise that ample research shows that journalists habitually incorporate press releases and other PR material into their news output (Boorstin, 1962(Boorstin, , 1992Buijs et al, 2009;Carsten, 2004;Curtin, 1999;Davis, 2000aDavis, , 2000bDe Keyser, 2010;Franklin and Carlson, 2011;Gandy, 1982;Jongbloed, Lauf and Negenborn, 2009;Lewis et al, 2006;Paulussen and Ugille, 2010;Reich, 2010Reich, , 2011Salter, 2005;Van Hout and Jacobs, 2008). The increasing use of PR material results in a further shrinking of the public sphere, as it is mainly politicians, large companies and other established parties that possess the necessary financial and social resources to produce -information subsidies‖ as a means to expand their news access (Cottle, 2000;Curtin, 1999;Davis, 2000b;Franklin, 2004;Gans, 1979Gans, , 2011Lewis et al, 2006).…”