Increasing Publicity and Thematic News Coverage: The Impact of Localizing News Releases in a State-Wide Experimental Field Study

In a statewide experimental field study, Kansas newspapers were sent news releases over a four-month period addressing four children’s health issues. Half of the releases contained state-level data; half contained county-level data. A content analysis showed that the effect of localizing content was overwhelming, with county-level data published 6-to-1 times more than state-level news releases. Additionally, front-page placement of news releases occurred one-quarter of the time. A last paragraph that provided resources for additional information was included in publication almost 70% of the time. Moreover, key text presenting children’s health issues as a chronic rather than an episodic event was retained nearly 95% of the time. Utilization of readily available, public data and relational software can efficiently increase publication frequency and prominence of motivated messages — in this case, children’s health — and impact the rhetorical framing of those topics in newspapers.