Project Outline

Professional Communicators in Europe

A Comparative Study on Self-Concepts of Journalists and Public Relations-Managers.

Journalism and Public Relations

The two communication professions journalism and Public Relations (PR) influence to a high degree many people’s view of the world. Modern media societies are hardly imaginable without these two communication occupations.

Journalists and PR-Managers in their daily work usually have a lot of professional contact with each other. For many years, this has inspired communication science to take a closer look at the relations between journalism and PR.

International Comparison

In March 2009 we started a cross-cultural comparative study at the University of Vienna on this topic.

We want to grasp the current self-image and perception by others of these two professional groups in a constantly growing Europe. We are interested in similarities, but also differences in the professional self-conception of both groups. The international comparison shall reveal how big these differences and similarities are within Europe.

Against the background of constant development of the European Union and with regard to the importance of both these professional groups, these pieces of information are of great national and international relevance. The development of a professional communication culture does not only pose a vital prerequisite for the quality of a country’s democracy, but also determines to a high degree the cooperation, competition and conflict management between the states and their civil societies.