Painting a picture of America's nonprofit foundations: a content analysis of public relations photographs distributed through online wire services

Abstract

Studies have shown that nearly 75% of news coverage in print publications stem from public relations information subsidies, such as news releases, fact sheets, and position papers. Often, organizations send photographs along with these materials in hopes that the media will publish these pictures; thereby, increasing readership of the news story and maximizing the organization's exposure to key audiences. This study examines 339 randomly sampled photographs distributed by American nonprofit foundations through online news wire services from 2006 to 2009. The results indicate that the majority of photographs are staged rather than more intriguing live-action photographs. The implications of these results are further discussed with formal suggestions for improving this element of media relations.

Telling a different story: How nonprofit organizations reveal strategic purpose through storytelling

“…Using content analysis (Waters & Wang, 2011), the one hundred stories in the sample were then analyzed to identify which of these four leading characters was at the heart of each narrative (Pera & Viglia, 2016). The coding was enabled by the simple story structure adopted by the NPOs within the sample, with each story tending to be anchored on one character (Dixon, 2014).…”

“…It reveals which source angle the NPO believes will be most effective at reaching one or more of their stakeholder groups. Drawing on the character theme from the metanarrative literature (Escalas, 2004), Using content analysis (Waters & Wang, 2011), the one hundred stories in the sample were then analyzed to identify which of these four leading characters was at the heart of each narrative . The coding was enabled by the simple story structure adopted by the NPOs within the sample, with each story tending to be anchored on one character (Dixon, 2014).…”

Political Photography, Journalism, and Framing in the Digital Age

“…A managed technique that is evolving is the photo op whereby journalists are invited to visually document a pseudo-event, such as a news conference adorned with visual symbols, props, backdrops, and slogans (Adatto 2008; Grabe and Bucy 2009). In the age of e-marketing, the news release and press kit have gravitated to electronic distribution, and digital cameras and Internet bandwidth expansion have turned photographs and video into significant direct marketing tools (e.g., Waters and Wang 2011). Image bytes have become integrated into the marketing of leaders through the clarity, simplicity, and consistency of visual messages.…”