16 pages, via online journal, One of the nation’s most important industries, agriculture, has adopted social media to communicate with consumers and the public. At the same time, traditional news media remains important to the agriculture industry because many consumers still receive information about agriculture from sources such as newspapers and television. Little literature at the time of this study explored how social media is used specifically as a media relations tool. The purpose of this study is to examine how agricultural organizations in Ohio communicate via social media and how the messages could impact central Ohio traditional media outlets’ coverage of agricultural issues. The study is grounded in uses and gratifications theory, and previous social media studies. Data were collected from seven Ohio agricultural organizations’ Facebook pages and four central Ohio news outlets. Researchers found that Ohio agricultural commodity organizations use social media, but not necessarily to communicate with the news media. The industry received limited news coverage during the time studied, and we were unable to discern a relationship between social media and news media coverage beyond a commonality of stories. By communicating the results of this study with agricultural organizations and researchers, effective social media strategies can be developed to guide the future of social media as a media relations tool.
Agricultural Communications Documentation Center, Funk Library, University of Illinois Box: 124 Document Number: D11226
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Via online Better News. 7 pages., Describes how the Sacramento Bee newspaper experimented with serving specific audiences for food stories in an effort to grow digital subscriptions. "The sprint terminology is borrowed from developers. We liked it because it allowed us to learn and get results quickly. If we failed, that was fine. If we found success, we kept going." Sprint efforts run from six to eight weeks. A drafted plan includes the strategy and tactics used to achieve SMART goals (SMART standing for specific, measurable, aggressive yet achievable, relevant and time-bound.) Team members measure "obsessively," meeting every week to discuss results and build new story plans. In a reported sprint example, digital subscriptions increased by more than 50 percent in 2018.
Online via UI subscription., This study explores how South Korean newspapers reported the issue of AI (avian influenza) by employing framing, and the concepts of media advocacy and mobilizing information (MI). Results indicate that news stories were more likely to attribute blame to the government. Government, scientist/researcher, and farmer sources were most prevalent in news coverage. Mentions of tactical MI for the preventive actions increased. Overall, findings indicate the increased media advocacy efforts during repetitive outbreaks of AI.
