Beyond ‘love-hate’ stereotype: Reflecting on the new dimension(s) of relationship between public relations and journalism in the ‘post-truth’ era

Abstract

Considerable research has for long characterised the relationship between public relations and journalism using a ‘ love - hate ’ motif . On one hand, journalists have increasingly relied on public relations leads, contacts and content. On the other hand, journalists have been continually concerned , even to the extent of hostility, about the sheer volume of public relations information and its manipulative intent (Macnamara, 2015) . In the digital age, the prevalence of ‘ fake news ’, either derived from algorithms based on economic interests or constructed by individuals through social media, present s new threats to both professions being able to maintain integrity and authenticity of news production. Despite the common challenge of declining public trust and reputation risk to both journalism and public relations (Allcott & Gentzkow, 2017) , little research has interrogated and reflected on how the relationship between them has evolve