International Agenda Building

International Communication Gazette
http://gaz.sagepub.com International Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting: Exploring the Influence of Public Relations Counsel on US News Media and Public Perceptions of Foreign Nations
Spiro Kiousis and Xu Wu International Communication Gazette 2008; 70; 58 DOI: 10.1177/1748048507084578 The online version of this article can be found at: http://gaz.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/70/1/58
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The International Communication Gazette COPYRIGHT SAGE PUBLICATIONS 2008 LOS ANGELES, LONDON, NEW DELHI AND SINGAPORE 1748-0485 VOL. 70(1): 5875 DOI: 10.1177/1748048507084578 http://gaz.sagepub.com
INTERNATIONAL AGENDA-BUILDING AND AGENDA-SETTING

Exploring the Inuence of Public Relations Counsel on US News Media and Public Perceptions of Foreign Nations Spiro Kiousis and Xu Wu
Abstract / To explore the inuence of international public relations on US news media and public perceptions of foreign nations, this study used a triangulation of methods by comparing public relations counsel for foreign nations, media content and public opinion data in 1998 and 2002. The results indicate that while the relationship between public relations counsel and media coverage was minimal at the level of object and substantive attribute salience, noteworthy linkages were observed with affective attribute salience. In general, public relations counsel was associated with a decrease in the amount of negative news coverage. At the level of individual news stories, it was connected to increased positive valence in media content. For the dimensions of news coverage associated with public relations, media salience was related to public salience and attitudes regarding foreign nations. Theoretical and practical implications of the ndings are discussed. Keywords / agenda-building / agenda-setting / attributes / framing / international public relations
Introduction
In its traditional conceptualization, agenda-setting research has focused on the transfer of issue salience from one agenda to another, primarily from the news media to the public (e.g. McCombs and Shaw, 1972). However, more contemporary scholarship has suggested that the agenda-setting metaphor could be applied not only to public issues, but also to political candidates, products, corporate images and other objects in the news (McCombs, 2004; McCombs and Ghanem, 2001; McCombs and Reynolds, 2002). Of particular importance to international public relations and mass communication scholars are the images of foreign nations as objects. Indeed, the inuence of such images in the US is critical given the emphasis on terrorism in political discourse since the 9/11 attacks in 2001. A particularly vexing question often posed in analyses of foreign countries is how the media agenda is engendered with respect to such news content (Wu, 2003). In addressing this question, the concept of agenda-building is quite useful, especially for tracing how public relations efforts (among other inuences) increase the salience
KIOUSIS AND WU: INTERNATIONAL AGENDA-BUILDING AND AGENDA-SETTING
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of certain topics over others in news media content (Ohl et al., 1995). Though past studies have shown that countries receiving professional public relations counsel are successful in enhancing their images in US news coverage (e.g. Albritton and Manheim, 1987; Manheim and Albritton, 1984; Zhang and Cameron, 2003), they have been limited to content analysis and have not explored linkages with public opinion. Such relationships are vital though for evaluating the effectiveness of public relations counsel on impacting public perceptions of foreign nations a likely goal of such activities. Recent inquiries have revealed that news coverage of foreign nations can have strong agenda-setting effects on public opinion (Wanta et al., 2004), but the role of public relations has been largely ignored to date. To ll this gap in scholarship, the purpose of this study is to examine the inuence of public relations counsel for foreign nations on US news media and public opinion.
Theoretical Background Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting

Numerous investigations have indicated that media concern with objects in the news is a key determinant of their perceived salience in public opinion (Dearing and Rogers, 1996; McCombs, 2004). With the explication of second-level agenda-setting, recent research has also connected the concept with framing by suggesting that, in addition to object salience, news media attention can inuence how people think about a topic by selecting and placing emphasis on certain attributes and ignoring others (Ghanem, 1997; Lopez-Escobar et al., 1998; Wanta and Hu, 1993). Such relationships regarding the transfer of object and attribute salience posit a deeper type of media inuence on public opinion. Specically, agenda-setting may not just sway peoples cognitions, but may also play a role in shaping public attitudes (Kiousis, 2005; Kiousis et al., 2005; McCombs and Reynolds, 2002). Whereas extensive research has emerged looking at issues and political gures, minimal attention has been paid to the images of foreign nations. In examining forces affecting news content, research has demonstrated that public relations activities are crucial to building the media agenda (Curtin, 1999; Curtin and Rhodenbaugh, 2001; Turk, 1985; Williams, 2004; Zoch and Molleda, 2006). In essence, public relations practitioners contribute to the agenda-building process by providing information subsidies to journalists via news releases, media advisories, press conferences, interviews and so forth. Some scholars estimate that public relations may impact between 25 and 80 percent of news content (Cameron et al., 1997; Lee and Solomon, 1990). For example, Turk (1986) found that news releases coming from state government public information ofcers (PIOs) in Louisiana were inuential in elevating the salience of those state agencies in subsequent media coverage. Turk and Franklin (1987) later extended those ndings to international contexts. In a political campaign environment, Kaid (1976) observed that candidate press releases are often run in newspapers exactly as they are disseminated by public relations practitioners. Examining congressional elections in Michigan, she reported that releases focusing on campaign announcements and
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THE INTERNATIONAL COMMUNICATION GAZETTE VOL. 70 NO. 1
personal information were published more frequently than those highlighting political issues. More recently, Ohl et al. (1995) investigated the impact of news releases on media coverage of corporate takeovers. Their study provided support for agendabuilding, not only in terms of the frequency of coverage, but also in the ability of companies to get their points of view expressed in news stories. Specically, increased salience of news releases was linked with longer news stories containing a favorable tone about corporate takeovers. These ndings are suggestive of what might be called second-level agenda-building in that public relations efforts were associated with changes in media salience of attributes (Kiousis et al., 2006; Weaver et al., 2004). Huckins (1999) also uncovered similar relationships when probing the impact of the Christian coalitions ofcial newspaper on US media coverage. He found effects not only on the salience of issues (rst-level agenda-building), but also on the tone used to report those issues in news content (second-level agenda-building). A major gap that remains in these inquiries, though, is their inattention to considering how public relations and news media work together to shape public opinion (Zoch and Molleda, 2006). Despite this limitation, scholars have continued to generate such relationships conceptually (e.g. Lancendorfer and Lee, 2003). In the world of business communication, Carroll and McCombs (2003), for instance, contended that public salience of major corporations should rise when news coverage of companies and organized corporate communication efforts (primarily coming from public relations sources) are increased. However, they did not carry out an empirical investigation to test these assertions. One exception to this trend is Bergers (2001) analysis of corporate agenda-building and agenda-setting by the Business Round Table, an association of CEOs from several major American companies. When examining the associations efforts to raise the salience of four issues, the studys ndings showed that the group exerted the strongest inuence on the policy agenda.
International Agenda-Building
With respect to foreign countries, scholarly concern with the role of international public relations in foreign nation image cultivation is growing (Kunczik, 1997, 2003; Manheim and Albritton, 1987; Taylor and Kent, 2006). Zaharna and Villalobos (2000) describe the importance of such efforts for Latin American countries in swaying policy, media and public discourse in the US. In one of the earliest empirical analyses in this area, Manheim and Albritton (1984) scrutinized New York Times coverage of six countries to assess how hiring American public relations rms altered media coverage of those nations. By comparing coverage before and after the hiring of the rms, they found that countries receiving public relations counsel were able to improve their visibility and valence in news content. It is important to note that decreasing the frequency of coverage for some countries was indicative of success because the prior coverage was predominantly negative. In a related piece, Albritton and Manheim (1987) found that Rhodesia also through formal public relations counsel was able to decrease negative coverage
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in The New York Times that previously had been emphasizing the countrys domestic violence problems. Zhang and Cameron (2003) also reported parallel trends for Chinas image in The New York Times, The Washington Post and Los Angeles Times. This recurring pattern of public relations activities leading to a decline in negative coverage is not surprising given that prior research has reported a substantial amount of negative content in international news (e.g. Galtung and Ruge, 1965; Gozenbach et al., 1992; stgaard, 1965). Similar to other agenda-building research, a comparison between media coverage and public opinion is absent in international agenda-building scholarship. In addition, little attention has been given to the role of attribute salience. Nevertheless, such relationships are paramount for better understanding the agenda-building and agenda-setting processes of foreign nation image cultivation.
Framing and Second-Level Agenda-Building and Agenda-Setting

As outlined in the previous section, research suggests that the salience of attributes and frames can greatly impact how an object is covered in the news and is subsequently perceived in public opinion (e.g. Ghanem, 1997; McCombs, 2004; McCombs and Ghanem, 2001); however, considerable debate exists regarding the relationship between agenda-setting and framing (de Vreese, 2003; Hester and Gibson, 2003). According to Entmans (1993) often cited denition, to frame is to select some aspects of a perceived reality and make them more salient in a communication text, in such a way as to promote a particular problem denition, causal interpretation, moral evaluation, and/or treatment recommendation (Entman, 1993: 52, emphasis added). In explicating the relationship between second-level agenda-setting and framing, Chyi and McCombs conclude that thinking of frames as attributes of an object provides the theoretical link between agenda-setting and framing research. . . . Salience is, of course, the central concept of agenda-setting theory (Chyi and McCombs, 2004: 24). Much of the research on second-level agenda-setting has probed how media emphasis on political candidate attributes affects their perceived public salience (e.g. King, 1997; Kiousis et al., 1999; McCombs et al., 1997), but analyses of foreign nation images remain scant. Though understudied, scholars have argued that public relations plays an integral role in the framing of objects and their attributes in communication messages (Miller and Riechert, 2001). Indeed, Hallahan asserts that:
In developing programs, public relations professionals fundamentally operate as frame strategists, who strive to determine how situations, attributes, choices, actions, issues and responsibility should be posed to achieve favorable objectives. Framing decisions are perhaps the most important strategic choices made in a public relations effort. (Hallahan, 1999: 224, emphasis in original)
Thus, an investigation of second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting offers a unique opportunity to examine attribute salience relationships between public relations, news media and public opinion.
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Two major classes of attributes identied in previous research are substantive and affective elements (McCombs, 1995). Substantive elements refer to those characteristics of communication messages that help us to cognitively structure and discern among various topics. Two substantive attributes that consistently emerge in studies of foreign nations are the conict and US involvement frames (e.g. Peterson, 1981; Wanta and Hu, 1993). Affective elements refer to the valence dimension of attribute salience. Kiousis (2004), for example, found that the positive, neutral and negative tone present in news coverage of political issues during the 2000 presidential election was a vital part of media salience. Moreover, several studies stress that valence (particularly negativity) is ubiquitous in international communication messages (e.g. Pasadeos, 1982; Peterson, 1981). As such, the substantive attributes examined in this study are the conict and US involvement frames, and the affective attributes are positive, neutral and negative descriptions of those frames and their referent objects (the foreign nations themselves) in news.
Dimensions of Public Opinion

In classic agenda-setting research, the core dimension of public opinion monitored has been perceived public salience, but the attitudinal consequences of the process have also been highlighted. Some studies have reported a linkage between increased salience and attitude strength (Kiousis and McCombs, 2004; Weaver, 1984). Priming scholarship has also noted that the issues emphasized in media coverage become the issues used by voters to evaluate political leaders (Iyengar and Kinder, 1987; Krosnick and Kinder, 1990). Relevant to this study, research has observed a positive relationship between salience and attitude preference. Smith (1987), for instance, found that appraisals of government were connected to media salience of various political issues. Specically, higher levels of media coverage of issues in Louisville, Kentucky, were associated with greater public salience of those issues and with negative assessments of local governments performance to address them. Further, Entman (1989), in an analysis of editorial page content on conservatives, moderates and liberals, found that media attention to topics unfamiliar to the public led to greater attitude change than for those that had been on the public agenda for longer periods of time. Finally, Wanta et al. (2004) discovered that greater negative coverage about foreign nations in broadcast news was correlated with more negative attitudes toward those nations. Guided by this prior literature, the current project consequently examines public opinion in terms of perceived salience and attitude preference.
Hypotheses
Based on the aforementioned literature review, the following hypotheses are offered. The rst two probe rst- and second-level agenda-building inuence, while the latter pair examine rst- and second-level agenda-setting effects. Hypothesis 1: Public relations counsel will be related to media salience of foreign nations and their attributes.
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Hypothesis 2: Increased public relations counsel will be related to a decrease in the amount of negative news content regarding foreign nations. Hypothesis 3: For the dimensions of news coverage associated with public relations counsel, media salience will be related to perceptions of public salience regarding foreign nations. Hypothesis 4: For the dimensions of news coverage associated with public relations counsel, media salience will be related to public attitudes regarding foreign nations.
Methods
This analysis used a triangulation of methods by comparing public relations counsel for foreign nations, media content in The New York Times and public opinion data obtained from the Chicago Council for Foreign Relations in 1998 and 2002. The dates and foreign nations were selected based on their availability in public relations, news media and public opinion data. By using two time periods, we were able to compare relationships before and after the 9/11 terrorist attacks in 2001, thereby enhancing the generalizibility of the results through replication. Twenty-ve foreign nation images were analyzed. These countries represented a wide range of geographic, cultural, ethnic, religious and economic contexts. They include: Italy, Russia, North Korea, Germany, Iran, Japan, Mexico, Israel, Iraq, India, Canada, Brazil, England, Saudi Arabia, China, France, Taiwan, South Korea, Poland, South Africa, Cuba, Argentina, Pakistan, Nigeria and Turkey. In essence, this produced an agenda of countries for investigation.
Public Relations Counsel

To determine the extent of public relations counsel a country received, data were gathered from the US Department of Justice. By law, individuals, groups or organizations representing foreign principals in the US must register with the Foreign Agents Registration Act Unit. Established in 1938, the Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA) was passed to insure that the American public and its law makers know the source of information (propaganda) intended to sway public opinion, policy, and laws (US Department of Justice, n.d.). The unit generates a biannual report that identies foreign principals who have hired American representatives for a variety of purposes. These data are available on the Department of Justice website for the two time periods chosen (www.usdoj.gov/criminal/fara). While we ideally would have liked to analyze information subsidies as part of this study (as has been the case in traditional agenda-building research), this would have been logistically impossible given the large number of countries and foreign agents examined here. The main advantage of the present approach lies in the ability to look at the efforts of several countries simultaneously and therefore strengthen external validity. FARA data have been used in previous scholarship to measure the public relations activities of foreign nations in the US (e.g. Lee, 2006; Zhang, 2005).
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The current analysis located those representatives providing formal public relations advice for the selected nations. Two coders reviewed all the biannual reports to identify foreign agents. Using Holstis (1969) formula and Scotts (1955) pi calculation, intercoder reliability between coders was 0.97 and 0.94. The latter gure is included to protect against chance agreement (Riffe et al., 1998). Table 1 presents the distribution of agents supplying public relations counsel to foreign nations in 1998 and 2002.
Media Content
Patterned after Manheim and Albrittons (1984) piece on agenda-setting and foreign nations, The New York Times was used to track media coverage due to its prominence and its likelihood to cover international news. Media content data were collected from the Lexis-Nexis database. The time-lags employed in agenda-setting
TABLE 1 Number of Foreign Agents Providing Public Relations Counsel to Foreign Nations Countries Italy Russia North Korea Germany Iran Japan Mexico Israel Iraq India Canada Brazil England Saudi Arabia China France Taiwan South Korea Poland South Africa Cuba Argentina Pakistan Nigeria Turkey Total Foreign agents (1998) 3 0 0 8 0 31 8 3 0 8 0 1 2 6 0 2 17 10 1 3 0 0 2 2 5 112 Foreign agents (2002) 3 0 0 3 0 29 9 4 0 3 0 0 3 4 0 1 5 7 1 2 0 2 1 2 5 84
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research have varied widely, ranging from a few days and weeks (e.g. Wanta and Roy, 1995; Zucker, 1978) up to several months (e.g. Sohn, 1978; Stone and McCombs, 1981). To capture a broad range of content, news coverage was gathered for the three months preceding public opinion polls to establish time-order. Keyword searches of a countrys name in news stories were used to gather the sample (N = 872 in 1998; N = 1392 in 2002). An individual news story was the unit of analysis. Object salience was dened as the frequency of stories mentioning foreign nations in New York Times content (Kiousis, 2004; McCombs and Shaw, 1972). Each story was also coded for the presence of substantive and affective attributes. The two substantive attributes examined were the conict and US involvement frames. The conict frame identied news reports describing a confrontation or dispute concerning a foreign nation. The US involvement frame identied news reports describing the intervention of the US in a situation concerning a foreign nation. Affect for the conict frame was coded as unfavorable, neutral or favorable. Affect for the US involvement frame was coded as hostile, neutral or friendly. Finally, affect for the overall description of the country in the story was coded as negative, neutral or positive. Two coders were used to determine reliability with a randomly selected subsample of 120 stories. Using Holstis calculation, agreement ranged from a low of 0.88 for the tone of the overall description of the country to a high of 0.96 for the presence of the US involvement frame. The corresponding gures using Scotts pi were a low of 0.80 and a high of 0.88.
Public Opinion
Survey collection by the Chicago Council for Foreign Relations ran from 15 October to 10 November 1998, for the rst time period and from 1 June to 30 June 2002, for the second time period.1 Public opinion was measured using indicators for perceived salience and attitude preference from the surveys. Based on prior research (e.g. Wanta et al., 2004), public salience was measured by a question asking respondents whether the US has a vital interest in a particular country. The percentage of respondents answering that the US had a vital interest measured perceived salience. Public attitudes were gauged by an item asking respondents to rate countries on a 100-point feeling thermometer. Negative (049 degrees), neutral (50 degrees) and positive attitudes (51100 degrees) were gauged. This parallels the attitudinal measure employed by Kiousis and McCombs (2004) to rate political gures.
Data Analysis
To explore agenda-building inuence, Spearmans rho correlations were calculated between the degree of public relations counsel a country received and media salience of that country and its attributes in news coverage in 1998 and 2002 (e.g. McCombs and Bell, 1996; McCombs and Shaw, 1972). Subsequently, agenda-setting inuence was assessed with correlations comparing media salience of foreign nations and their attributes with pubic salience and attitude preference regarding those countries.
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Due to its exploratory nature, the correlational approach implemented in this study is appropriate for establishing the linkages among the various agendas. However, more accumulated evidence would be needed across several studies to determine the extent of causal relationships. The emergence of meaningful associations in this project can lay the foundation for future research looking at potential causal relationships, but the absence of meaningful associations would falsify the proposed theoretical framework (McCombs et al., 1997).
Results Agenda-Building Inuence

Hypothesis 1 stated that public relations counsel would be linked to media salience of foreign nations and their attributes. In general, minimal associations between public relations counsel and news coverage were observed with respect to overall media salience of countries and their substantive attributes. While the relationship between public relations counsel and media coverage was minimal in terms of object and substantive attribute salience, several noteworthy linkages were observed with affective attribute salience (described later). Thus, some marginal support for the rst hypothesis was observed. Hypothesis 2 expected an inverse correlation between public relations counsel and negative news coverage. Table 2 reports the relationship between public relations counsel and media salience of affective attributes. Consistent with prior scholarship (Manheim and Albritton, 1984, 1987), increased public relations counsel was linked to a decrease in negative news coverage of foreign countries, supporting the second hypothesis. Specically, increased public relations counsel was tied to fewer stories portraying the US involvement frame as hostile and the conict frame as unfavorable. These relationships at least approached statistical signicance in all six possible comparisons (median correlation = 0.34), both in terms of general attention to the country and with respect to the tone of specic substantive frames. The robustness of this association is bolstered by its presence in both time periods.
TABLE 2 Correlation between Degree of Public Relations Counsel and Media Salience of Affective Attributes for Foreign Nations Overall attention
Negative Neutral Positive
US involvement frame
Conict frame
PR counsel 1998 PR counsel 2002
0.29 0.32
0.03 0.22
0.20 0.15
0.40*
0.10
0.09 0.39*
0.31 0.36*
0.23 0.15
0.34* 0.35*
0.54** 0.06
p 0.10; * p 0.05; ** p 0.01.

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In addition to being linked with declining negative portrayals, greater public relations counsel was also associated with increased positive coverage for the conict and US involvement frames in three out of four comparisons (median correlation = 0.35). At the level of individual news stories, public relations counsel was signicantly related to higher average valence scores for countries mentioned in New York Times content. In other words, countries receiving greater public relations counsel were portrayed more positively on a per-story basis than those receiving little or no counsel. The correlation coefcients were 0.51 ( p < 0.01) in 1998 and 0.37 ( p < 0.05) in 2002. This additionally implies that public relations counsel was connected to greater quality coverage of foreign nations. In total, public relations counsel is linked to media salience of affective attributes. The results collectively propose that public relations mainly benets the images of foreign nations by decreasing the amount and intensity of bad news, which prior research reported was a major characteristic of international coverage in US news media (e.g. Peterson, 1981).
Agenda-Setting Inuence
Although the initial evidence indicates that public relations counsel is associated with some dimensions of media salience of foreign nations, we now turn to examining how media salience is associated with various dimensions of public opinion. Because the agenda-building portion of the investigation showed that public relations inuence on media content was strongest for affective attributes, our analysis of public opinion principally examines the valence dimension of media content. For affective attributes, the data offer some evidence that media content portraying foreign countries in a negative light is positively associated with public salience of those countries, partially supporting Hypothesis 3. Table 3 displays the correlations. Strong evidence was observed in 1998 with all three relationships attaining statistical signicance (median correlation = 0.47), but not in 2002 with only one approaching signicance (median correlation = 0.27). Because public relations counsel is inversely associated with negative media portrayals, it should ultimately assist public images of foreign nations by decreasing public concern with those
TABLE 3 Correlation between Negative Media Coverage and Public Opinion of Foreign Nations Negative media attention to foreign nations Public salience 1998 Public salience 2002 Negative public attitudes 1998 Negative public attitudes 2002
Negative tone in US involvement frame 0.51* 0.23 0.65*** 0.55**
Negative tone in conict frame
0.44* 0.27 0.24 0.47**
0.47* 0.33 0.46** 0.40*
p 0.10; * p 0.05; ** p 0.01; *** p 0.001.

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countries that is founded on negative depictions. To conrm this theorizing, path analysis was used to examine the sequence of inuence among public relations counsel, media coverage and public opinion in 1998. Using the US involvement frame, Figure 1 presents an example path model predicting public salience.2 The model suggests that public relations plays an essential role in public perceptions of foreign nations by decreasing the impact of negative news on the perceived salience of those countries. That is, it appears to limit the availability of negative information about foreign nations that might be used to generate unfavorable public images about them. Hypothesis 4 predicted that media salience of foreign nations and their attributes would be related to public attitudes regarding those nations. According to Table 3, increased salience of negative news content is also linked to increased negative views of foreign nations on thermometer scales, offering some support for the fourth hypothesis. Unlike the salience associations, strong evidence was found in both time periods for media inuence on public attitudes. In particular, ve out of six comparisons were signicant with a median correlation value of 0.51. Public relations counsel again seems to contribute to the images of foreign nations by decreasing the impact of negative news content on public opinion toward foreign nations, as depicted in Figure 2. Using the US involvement frame again (but with 2002 data), Figure 2 provides an example path model predicting negative public views, which conrms this theorizing.3
FIGURE 1 Path Model of Public Relations Counsel and News Media Inuence on Public Salience of Foreign Nations in 1998
PR counsel 0.40* Negative tone in US involvement news frame * p 0.05. 0.61*
Public salience
FIGURE 2 Path Model of Public Relations Counsel and News Media Inuence on Negative Public Attitudes towards Foreign Nations in 2002
PR counsel 0.54*** Negative tone in US involvement news frame *** p 0.001.

0.57***
Negative public attitudes
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The role of public relations may not just be limited to indirectly decreasing negative attitudes. Because greater public relations resources were linked to an increased positive tone in individual news stories, we additionally probed the relationship between the average valence of individual stories and positive thermometer ratings for foreign nations. The data revealed signicant positive associations for both time periods (rs = 0.42, p < 0.05 for 1998, and rs = 0.59, p < .001 for 2002), suggesting that public relations counsel can indirectly contribute to more favorable evaluations in public opinion. It is also noteworthy that increased public relations counsel was directly correlated with greater positive attitudes toward nations (rs = .39, p < 0.05 for 1998, and rs = 0.29, p < 0.10 for 2002). This may be reective of the effectiveness of communication activities outside of news media coverage. Additional path analysis illustrated that public relations counsel was indirectly linked with positive thermometer ratings (via the valence of news content).
Supplemental Analysis
To explore the robustness of the aforementioned relationships, supplemental statistical analyses were performed controlling for the nature of the diplomatic relationships between the US and the countries examined. Specically, a dummy variable was created indicating whether a country did or did not have diplomatic relations with the US, as compiled from the US Department website (www.state.gov). Using partial correlations and path analysis, the previous comparisons were rerun. The results of these supplemental tests showed few appreciable differences with the main ndings. Thus, the robustness of the observed bivariate relationships was veried.
Discussion
In summary, this study explored the relationships between international public relations activities, US news media coverage, and public perceptions of foreign countries. As the results indicated, while the relationship between public relations counsel and media coverage was minimal at the level of object and substantive attribute salience, noteworthy linkages were observed with affective attribute salience. In general, public relations counsel was associated with a decrease in the amount of negative news coverage. At the level of individual news stories, it was connected to increased positive valence in media content. In terms of linkages with public opinion, increased media salience of negative news portrayals was correlated with greater public salience and negative attitudes toward foreign nations. The path analysis models showed that public relations counsel plays an essential role by constraining the impact of negative news depictions on public salience and attitudes regarding foreign countries. Moreover, public relations counsel can indirectly contribute to more favorable evaluations of nations in public opinion.
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Implications
The principal theoretical implication of this study was the simultaneous support of agenda-building and agenda-setting inuence within the same investigation (Zoch and Molleda, 2006). By incorporating the agenda-building phase into the traditional agenda-setting formulation, this inquiry synthesized the media agenda-setting and public agenda-setting processes into a single conceptual framework (Dearing and Rogers, 1996). Agenda-setting scholars have long been criticized for taking the media agenda as a given and for granting them too much credit in the overall agendasetting process (e.g. Carragee et al., 1987). At the same time, most public relations research on agenda-building has not incorporated public opinion data (e.g. Zhang and Cameron, 2003), leaving an unclear picture of the impact of public relations efforts. As a consequence, the approach used here not only allowed us to explore the role of public relations as an active agenda-builder in news coverage of foreign countries, but also provided the missing link with public opinion that few studies have addressed. Evidence for attribute salience inuence was also observed in this study, conferring support for both second-level agenda-building and agenda-setting effects (Huckins, 1999; Weaver et al., 2004). These relationships are theoretically important because they suggest that public relations can not only shape the salience of objects, but also have an impact on how objects (foreign nations in this case) are covered in news media and subsequently perceived in public opinion. In fact, this study found the strongest associations for attribute salience. Had it not been integrated, many of the meaningful relationships found would have been missed. Future research should examine relationships concerning both object and attribute salience. As Hallahan (1999) noted, the role of public relations professionals as frame strategists may represent one of their most crucial functions for clients. Thus, future research concerned with framing should use agenda-building and agenda-setting as major theoretical perspectives for better understanding the dynamics of international public relations activities in foreign nation image cultivation efforts. By changing agenda-setting theorys agenda from a list of issues to a list of countries, this study also demonstrated that the object metaphor has myriad applications. It has nearly become custom for agenda-setting scholars to quote Bernard Cohens (1963) remark on what to think vs what to think about. However, few seem to notice that he was referring to the press and foreign policy. This study offers a unique opportunity to rekindle this emphasis. Public relations scholars have frequently looked at agenda-building and agendasetting within the domains of corporate image-building or social issue promotion. Although several public relations rms spend a large amount of time, resources and effort on foreign country clients, little research had been done to evaluate the effectiveness and inuence of their practice. This study begins to systematically examine the impact of such activities and can provide some guidance for practitioners in this area. For example, a chief practical implication derived from this study is that increased public relations counsel can help reduce the amount of negative information associated with client nations. While the data here suggest it is unlikely that such efforts
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will result in a greater frequency of positive stories (except for those framed in terms of conict and US involvement), the tone of individual stories that were published did become more positive for nations with greater public relations resources. Thus, public relations counsel appears to play different roles concerning the quantity and quality of coverage of foreign nation clients. As such, practitioners should take different approaches in developing their objectives and strategies for such efforts. Finally, the ndings do suggest that international public relations counsel for foreign nation image cultivation can have benets in American public opinion, a major criterion for demonstrating effectiveness.
Limitations and Conclusions

Despite its implications, this study was not without its limitations. For example, the correlational design of our study precludes any causal assertions among variables. Nonetheless, the observed relationships do suggest a need for future research addressing such questions. In addition, the lack of information subsidies data prevented us from examining the exact messages used by public relations professionals for client nations. Such data would be helpful in identifying key attributes that resonate in news coverage and public opinion. As mentioned earlier, the key benet of the current approach was to expand the scope of previous research and examine several countries simultaneously rather than a few isolated cases. The use of one media outlet also limits our ability to generalize from our data, although The New York Times is viewed as one of the most inuential in terms of foreign policy coverage. Finally, the nature of events themselves was undoubtedly a factor affecting the nal coverage of foreign nations in US news media content and its subsequent impact on public opinion. It is difcult to control for the severity, timing and location of a breaking world event. Having considered the large inuence of the 9/11 terrorist attacks in the US, two time periods (pre-9/11 and post-9/11) were used in this study to assess its impact on both media coverage and public perceptions. Nevertheless, this watershed event not only dramatically altered news media attention toward international issues, but also substantially changed the publics criteria of judging foreign affairs and countries. Such inuence is so complicated and nuanced that it could not be fully controlled for in the current analysis. Thus, it is collectively recommended that the impact of information subsidies, multiple media outlets and real-world events be taken into consideration for future research on the role of international public relations in foreign nation image cultivation efforts. In addition to aggregate analyses, we suggest exploring the impact of regional differences given the trends in previous research concerning public relations efforts and news media coverage from different geographic areas (e.g. Lee, 2006; Pasadeos, 1982; Stevenson and Gaddy, 1984). In conclusion, agenda-building and agenda-setting are two phases of one integral process. As indicated by this research, public relations counsel played an effective and essential role in its interactions with mass media and the public. Although it may not be as signicant as the gatekeepers of mass media in sending and shaping
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messages directly, the evidence here posits that public relations helps lter and frame messages present in news discourse and their consequences in public opinion. From the public relations professionals perspective, the ndings of this study are rather encouraging. It supplies further evidence that the practice of international public relations cannot only help build the media agenda regarding foreign countries, but also impact public perceptions of foreign affairs.
Notes
1. The 1998 and 2002 surveys had sample sizes of 1507 and 3262 respondents, respectively. The population from which the samples were drawn is US national adult. 2. Similar models emerged when using negative valence in overall coverage and the conict frame as intervening variables. 3. Similar models again emerged when using negative valence in other facets of coverage as intervening variables.
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