Are You New(s) Here? - Media Relations in a Startup Context

Abstract: The purpose of this study is to explore how startup organizations use media relations to influence their coverage in news media. Although a vast body of research has unveiled how large organizations and professional PR practitioners engage in such efforts, media relations practices in the context of startups is largely unknown. To address this research gap, we conducted a qualitative study, interviewing thirteen startup representatives responsible for media relations, as well as five journalists from leading news media outlets. Applying a sociologic model on news production and existing theory on media relations, we find that the relationship between startups and the news media is characterized by an asymmetric mutual dependency, where the startup adapts to the practices and preferences of the media. We find that promoting media relations strategies are particularly effective for startups to influence their news coverage. Startups engage in such activities by tailoring news content to individual journalists, contextualizing their news to journalistic newsworthiness criteria, exploiting journalistic source routines and offering stories exclusively. By doing so they can alter their power in relation to the media, get recurring media coverage and influence news content in line with their interests.